Tuesday 3rd October 2017
'We're not eating that!!'
We have a bit of an issue: NONE of our animals like the new hay we have just bought in for them. Last night we topped up the hay rack and trolley for the cows, sheep and alpacas and this morning we topped up the goat racks in their shelter. Around lunchtime we became aware that the rack and trolley in the 4-acre field were still untouched and that when the goats had walked away as we topped up their racks, it was not cos they weren’t hungry (we did wonder at the time...).
The hay is this year's hay and from the same fields (belonging to a friend) as last year but obviously, something is different!!
We thus had a bit of a panic and whilst the 4-acre animals were okay with their grass only for a day or two, we knew we could not leave the goats without any hay at all. Fortunately we were able to grab a couple from a friend's smallholding to tide us over and then we began an earnest Facebook session to try to find a new supplier...
It's all a bit odd, we have never before had ALL our animals reject a batch of hay – sometimes one set might refuse it but then another would eat it. The friend who made it wonders whether it might be too green still (it was made at the end of August). There can be a fine line between an animal enjoying the grass but not enjoying it when cut until it really dries!! We have no idea why this is!!
So tomorrow is ‘hunt the hay’ day!!!
It's all a bit odd, we have never before had ALL our animals reject a batch of hay – sometimes one set might refuse it but then another would eat it. The friend who made it wonders whether it might be too green still (it was made at the end of August). There can be a fine line between an animal enjoying the grass but not enjoying it when cut until it really dries!! We have no idea why this is!!
So tomorrow is ‘hunt the hay’ day!!!