Buying timothy hay in the Bay Area

[tim]

Bunny experts agree that you're a terrible bunny owner if you don't feed your bunnies timothy hay. Problem is, the usual way to buy it is in tiny bags at the pet store, at a factor-of-100 markup. Also, there has been some sort of timothy hay price explosion in the past few years, so even if you want to drive 20 miles to a feed store (and have a car to do it in), it's harder to find places that sell it at all.

Mostly for my reference (but if it's helpful to you, cool), here's a list of places near me that sell it in more economical quantities than a 1-pound bag for $5:

• Alamo Hay and Grain is where I bought my last bale of hay, back in March. I'm guessing the bale was about 100 pounds. My two bunnies finished it in ten months. (I was also using hay as bedding for most of this time, so it's not like they ate all of that.) It was around $25 if I recall correctly. They are apparently still stocking it as of now.
  
• For Other Living Things in Sunnyvale is probably the best place around here to get timothy hay without leaving the urbanized/suburbanized metropolitan area. They sell a 50-pound box of Oxbow timothy hay for $56, which is quite a bit more per pound than if you're buying a bale at a feed store, but still much better than the 2-pound bags you get at Petco and similar places. Also, they're a really nice independent store.
  
• The time before last, I bought a bale at Dave's Hay Barn, not too far from downtown San José. However, when I called them later on, they told me they weren't stocking it and didn't have plans to.
  
• Felton Feed has a 9-pound bag for $25, which is a much worse deal than For Other Living Things, but might be convenient for you.
  
• The House Rabbit Society in Richmond sells small amounts of hay for reasonable prices, but for me they're a bit far.
  

That's what I know of in the Bay Area. There are farms that sell bales for cheaper in Chatsworth and El Centro (at least), so I should have bought some on my road trip to SoCal!

Feel free to add your suggestions.

Comments

[ranyart]

By far the best hay I've ever had was from KM's Hayloft. I brought it back from Seattle as checked baggage the two times I bought some (I'd been visiting a friend that did guinea pig rescue so she regularly picked up huge shipments from the farm); shipping is kind of pricey but the hay is SO NICE. I think Oxbow is the best hay that's generally commercially available but this was definitely better. I've had their timothy and a timothy/bluegrass mix and the pigs went nuts for it. It's a splurge with the shipping charge but if you ever have the chance, it's fantastic hay.