Why is there variability with Oxbow hay?
Sun, wind, humidity, field location, maturity at harvest, and storage conditions all play a vital role in determining the physical and nutritional attributes of hay. An optimal balance of all these conditions is necessary to achieve a quality hay product. John Miller, the owner and founder of Oxbow Pet Products, hand-selects the hay himself. John has won many awards and is considered an expert in the field of hay science. Oxbow’s Quality Control Team inspects every load of hay packaged under the Oxbow name. Several factors are graded: No hay that scores under 85 percent is accepted; Oxbow hay rarely scores under 90 percent. • Packaging • Color • Texture • Seed head percentage • Smell • Dust level • Stem-to-leaf ratio • Brown leaf percentage • Stem percentage Because Oxbow’s hay comes from a number of fields in a wide region of North America, there will easily be variability from bag to bag. Some of the most common variations are colour, size, and texture. • Colour Variation When a hay
