About Our Hay

The premium quality Northern Hay from Dunlea Farms is grown in Ontario’s excellent soils. It has a rich sweet flavour, delicious aroma, and soft texture that pets love. Our hay is harvested and packed without any preservatives or pesticides, so that your pets can enjoy the fresh taste of our 100% Natural hay – straight from our farm to your home.

The family at Dunlea Farms has over 30 years experience growing top quality hay, and pioneering innovative ways to harvest, dry, store, and package hay. Our meticulous growing process ensures that we always have a supply of delicious green sun dried hay ready to pack and ship, and that your pets will enjoy every meal.

Timothy Hay

100% Natural Source of Essential Fiber

Hay is the name for a variety of grasses and legumes which are the natural food for herbivores like Rabbits, Guinea Pigs and other small pets. The stems and leaves of quality hay provide fiber that keeps digestive systems healthy, supplements important dietary nutrition, and provides essential chewing material that helps wear down continuously growing teeth. It’s also a stimulating source of food that gives pets important variety and lets them indulge in their natural foraging behaviour.

From our Field to your Home

Hay is a farm crop – that means that it’s grown in the warm months of the year. Farmers harvest hay several times, each harvest is called a ‘cut’. It’s mowed, allowed to dry and cure in the sun, and then gets baled up and stored by the farmer.

Field Inspection Cutting & Drying Baling Storage

Most of hay’s nutritional value comes from the leaves, flowers, and seeds that are present when it is harvested. Cutting is timed for optimal maturity and nutritional balance and to ensure that they handle hay in a way that preserves the leafiness and plant structure that is naturally created on the field.

Historically hay was cultivated to ensure enough feed is available when there is not enough pasture land. Hay fields and meadows form a natural food filled habitat for small animals like rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, etc, and hay is essential to the nutrition of these small pets.

Hay Varieties and Life Stages

Over the life of pets, we recommend that you feed progressively more grassy hay varieties – this ensures adequate fiber intake while providing more nutrients to growing pets, and an age-appropriate amount of calcium and protein at all life stages as pets age.

Alfalfa Hay Timothy & Alfalfa Timothy Hay
Characteristics

  • perennial legume valued for its hardiness and higher feed value than most grasses
  • small  clover-like leaves
  • branching stems
  • clusters of small purple flowers
  • rich scent
 Characteristics

  • a naturally grown mixture of legumes and grasses to blend the qualities of each in a single crop
  • small leaves and flowers of alfalfa
  • long leaves, heads, and smooth stems of timothy
  • uniform mixture of plants
 Characteristics

  • perennial grass that’s high in protein and fed to herbivores in many parts of the world
  • timothy heads
  • long leaves
  • smooth stems
  • rich scent and often pollen

image of alfalfa

 image of timothy & alfalfa

image of timothy
Feeding

  • most pets prefer this flavor over timothy
  • high feed value – lots of energy
  • richer in protein and calcium – promotes growth and strong bones
  • Good for younger pets, but older ones need to be weaned to a grassy hay.
 Feeding

  • combines rich feed value of alfalfa with higher fiber content of timothy
  • helps your pet adjust to the taste of timothy hay
  • a more nutritious substitute to timothy for pregnant, nursing, or older pets that have trouble maintaining their weight
 Feeding

  • higher in fiber and lower in protein
  • promotes good digestion and a healthy weight
  • appropriate for pets of all ages
for Babies for Weaning for Adults


  

Learn More

Find out about our hay products and about feeding your pets on our products page.

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