Oxbow Western Timothy Hay 40 lb Review: Worth Buying Bulk?
An Oxbow Western Timothy Hay 40 lb review: cost per pound against small bags, hand-sorted quality, storage and freshness, and who should buy a smaller box.
The bulk box, the price per pound, and the storage problem nobody warns you about.
The verdict: Buying Oxbow's Western Timothy in the 40 lb box cuts the cost per pound dramatically against the small bags, and hay is the one rabbit purchase where buying more is almost always right because it should be 80 to 90 percent of the diet. Buy it if you have somewhere dry, dark and airy to store it and more than one rabbit or a big appetite. Skip it if you have a single dwarf and a damp flat, where a 40 lb box will go stale or musty before it is eaten.
Oxbow Western Timothy Hay, High Fiber, 40 lb
~$85
Forty pounds of hand-sorted, de-dusted long strand Western Timothy grass hay, grown in the USA with no additives or binders.
Check price on AmazonSpecifications
| Quantity | 40 lb |
|---|---|
| Type | Western Timothy, natural long strand grass hay |
| Processing | Hand-sorted and de-dusted |
| Additives | None. No additives or binders |
| Origin | Grown in the USA on Oxbow's family of farms |
| Suitable for | Rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, hamsters and gerbils |
| Role in diet | Supports digestive health, dental wear and daily forage enrichment |
Specifications above come from Oxbow's published product information. Treat pricing as approximate, since Amazon pricing moves.
What it does well
- The cost per pound falls sharply against the 40 oz and 90 oz bags, and since hay is the largest single ongoing cost of owning a rabbit, that compounds.
- Hand-sorting and de-dusting matter more than the marketing makes them sound, because dusty hay irritates a rabbit's airway and puts fine particles into your own.
- Long strand structure is the point of timothy. The chewing action that wears molars comes from long fibre, not from short chopped material or pellets.
- No additives or binders, which means you can see exactly what your rabbit is eating and there is no molasses making a poor batch palatable.
- A 40 lb supply removes the most common cause of a rabbit going without hay, which is running out on a day you cannot get to a shop.
Where it falls short
- Hay quality varies batch to batch in a way no brand fully controls, because it is an agricultural product. Some boxes arrive greener and softer than others.
- Forty pounds is a lot of volume. It needs a dry, dark, ventilated place, and stored in a sealed plastic bin it will sweat and go musty.
- For one small rabbit, 40 lb is roughly a year's supply, and hay loses aroma and palatability long before that. Fussy eaters notice.
- Shipping compression flattens long strands. It is still perfectly good hay, but it looks worse coming out of the box than out of a small bag.
- The price is the highest single line on this page, and a rabbit that turns its nose up at a batch leaves you with a lot of expensive rejected hay.
What owners report
Published owner reviews of Oxbow's Western Timothy in bulk are consistent on two points. The first is value, with owners of multiple rabbits or guinea pigs describing the switch from small bags to the bulk box as the single biggest saving they made. The second is variability, and this is worth understanding rather than treating as a defect. Hay is farmed, so colour, softness and leaf-to-stem ratio genuinely differ between cuts and seasons, and the same brand can arrive greener one time and coarser the next. Owners who buy bulk consistently report accepting more variation than they would in a small bag.
Storage is the recurring practical complaint, and it has a straightforward answer. Hay needs to breathe. A cardboard box in a cool cupboard, a fabric laundry basket or a slatted crate all work, and an airtight plastic tub is the one thing to avoid, because trapped moisture turns hay musty and mouldy hay is genuinely dangerous. Our guide to how much hay a rabbit needs gives you the daily volume so you can work out whether 40 lb lasts three months or twelve.
On the diet itself, hay should be 80 to 90 percent of what an adult rabbit eats, with pellets a measured portion and greens on top. Our daily diet amounts by weight chart gives the pellet portion for your rabbit's size. If you are choosing between brands, the Oxbow versus Small Pet Select comparison is the head-to-head, and if you are choosing between grasses, timothy versus alfalfa is the one that matters most, because alfalfa is for young rabbits and feeding it to an adult is a common cause of urinary problems. For alternatives see our Small Pet Select 2nd cutting review and Oxbow orchard grass review, and the full timothy hay roundup.
Who it suits
- Households with two or more rabbits, or with rabbits and guinea pigs.
- Owners of large breeds, who get through hay far faster than a dwarf does.
- Anyone with a dry garage, utility room or cupboard to store it properly.
Who should skip it
- Owners of a single small rabbit, who should buy the 20 lb box or smaller.
- Anyone in a damp home or without a ventilated storage spot.
- Owners of a fussy rabbit that has not yet settled on a hay it reliably eats.
Alternatives worth considering
Oxbow Western Timothy Hay, High Fiber, 20 lbs
~$52
Half the volume, so it stays fresh for a single rabbit, and still far better value than the small bags. This is the size most one-rabbit households should actually buy.
Check price on AmazonSmall Pet Select 2nd Cutting Perfect Blend Timothy Hay, 12 lb
~$37
Second cutting has a different balance of stem, leaf and seed head, and it is noticeably softer. It is the one to try when a rabbit rejects coarse first-cut hay, and the box is designed not to compress the strands.
Check price on AmazonOxbow Western Timothy Hay, High Fiber, 90 oz
~$22
The sensible way to test whether your rabbit takes to this hay before committing $85. If your rabbit eats it happily for two weeks, buy the bulk box.
Check price on AmazonKeep reading
- Timothy vs alfalfa hay
- Oxbow vs Small Pet Select hay
- How much hay rabbits need
- Daily diet amounts by weight
- Best timothy hay for rabbits
This review draws on published specifications, manufacturer figures and the consensus of verified owner reviews. We have not tested this product ourselves, and we say so rather than implying otherwise. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How long does 40 lb of hay last a rabbit?
A rough working figure is that an average adult rabbit eats a body-sized pile of hay a day, which is somewhere around 100 to 150 grams. On that basis 40 lb is roughly nine to twelve months for one medium rabbit, or about four to six months for a bonded pair. If your rabbit is eating markedly less hay than that, the reason is worth investigating, because reduced hay intake is often the first visible sign of dental pain.
How should I store bulk timothy hay?
Somewhere dry, dark and ventilated. Hay needs airflow, so the cardboard box it arrives in, a fabric laundry basket, a slatted crate or a paper sack all work well in a cool cupboard, garage or utility room. Do not seal it in an airtight plastic tub, because residual moisture cannot escape and the hay goes musty. Never feed hay that smells sour, looks grey or white, or feels damp, as mouldy hay can make a rabbit seriously ill.
Is Oxbow timothy hay worth the price?
For most owners, yes, mainly for the sorting and de-dusting rather than the grass itself. Cheap pet-shop hay is often dusty, short-chopped and full of stalk, and rabbits eat less of it, which defeats the purpose. That said, if you have access to good quality horse-grade timothy from a local feed store and can inspect it yourself, that can be excellent value. The test is simple: whichever hay your rabbit eats most of is the right one.
Timothy or alfalfa hay for my rabbit?
Timothy for any rabbit over about seven months old, and alfalfa only for babies, pregnant or nursing does, or a rabbit a vet has specifically asked you to put weight on. Alfalfa is a legume rather than a grass and is much higher in calcium and protein, and feeding it long term to an adult is a recognised contributor to bladder sludge and stones. This is one of the most common and most avoidable diet mistakes in rabbit keeping.
My rabbit will not eat hay. Should I buy a different brand?
Try a different cut or grass first, since orchard grass and softer second-cutting timothy tempt many fussy rabbits. But if a rabbit that used to eat hay stops, treat that as a health question rather than a shopping one. Dental disease, particularly molar spurs, makes chewing long fibre painful and is the most common reason a rabbit goes off hay. A rabbit that has eaten nothing for twelve hours needs a rabbit-savvy vet the same day.
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