Drying your own Hay.

[Altah]

Hi all! I hope everyone has had a great summer, I know BT had had a blast cruising through his outside pen all day. As fall has arrived however he's back inside his tortoise table. However even though it's to cold for him there is still lot of grass growing in his pen, I was wondering if anyone has experience harvesting and drying grasses to use over the winter? I would hate to waste all that potential food!

 

[Len B]

I cut and dry my grass and weeds and chop up leaves from some trees.I dry it in nylon clothes hamper.If it real moist I dump it out daily mix it up and replace back in the hamper. After it is completely dry I store it in large paper bags in a weather safe shed.

 

[Dizisdalife]

I have a patch of orchard grass that I regularly cut and dry into hay. So much better than anything that I can buy at the feed store. Also, I dry mulberry leaves.

 

[Prairie Mom]

Hello I've been drying and freezing tortoise food like crazy! Turtulas-len taught me how to dry lawn clippings in his thread...
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/my-young-sulcatas-winter-diet-worked.115259/

I've also been experimenting with freezing things too. You can freeze a surprising amount of weeds and leaves. I'm freezing even more than I have listed here...
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/these-can-be-frozen-thawed-and-retain-good-texture.128563/

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

I have short term bursts of overabundance of many things and dry them laid out on flat surfaces with a fan running in the room. This includes mulberry, plantain, opuntia, many kinds of flowers, and sometimes a few others. I use them year round so that there is not too much of a "BIG" change all at once. They are used alongside the fresh, and all mixed in with easy to get grocery stores greens, and some small amounts that I can keep growing all year.

The dry is always part of what is fed, just the proportion might change. That way they don't get fixated on just fresh, or oddly just dry. I really hate the non verbal arguments that tortoises offer by refusing to eat.

https://www.facebook.com/KapidoloFarms

 

[Prairie Mom]

The dry is always part of what is fed, just the proportion might change. That way they don't get fixated on just fresh, or oddly just dry.

That is really good advice! I'm inspired to make a greater effort to include some dried food even when the fresh free greens are in abundance.

 

[Prairie Mom]

Will's response made me think I should mention how I dry my leaves too. I dry my grass as Len teaches in his thread, but I lay out my leaves in a kiddy pool in the garage sandwiched between layers of old sheets and fabric.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

I have short term bursts of overabundance of many things and dry them laid out on flat surfaces with a fan running in the room. This includes mulberry, plantain, opuntia, many kinds of flowers, and sometimes a few others. I use them year round so that there is not too much of a "BIG" change all at once. They are used alongside the fresh, and all mixed in with easy to get grocery stores greens, and some small amounts that I can keep growing all year.

The dry is always part of what is fed, just the proportion might change. That way they don't get fixated on just fresh, or oddly just dry. I really hate the non verbal arguments that tortoises offer by refusing to eat.

https://www.facebook.com/KapidoloFarms

see
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/live-naked-people.126107/page-3 post #43

 

[Yvonne G]

An important thing to remember when drying anything like grass or hay, don't allow it to mold. You keep mold out by keeping it loose, turning it occasionally.

 

[DawnH]

I have huge bag of grasses/weeds I have dried. It's working great. Basically I just mowed the "clean" areas of our yard (pesticide free for 15 years, dogs have no access too) with the bagger, then spread the mix out on a few old sheets on the cement drive (full sun.) I did a lot of this in the heat of summer and would "stir it" (shaking the edges of the sheet to the middle then spreading out that pile) every hour. I kid you not when I say the entire lot was bone dry within a few hours (our 100 degrees day paid off.) Yvonne is dead on, you really want to make sure it is bone dry or the entire batch will be shot. You can do this over a few days in full sun as it will go faster. Some folks rehydrate the grasses but I think I am going to try them dry this year and see what Mr. Pissy Pants thinks.

Good luck and let us know how it goes for you or if you encounter any tips or tricks along the way! Quite a few of us are really excited to try this a bit more aggressively this year!

 

[DeanS]

I have a patch of orchard grass that I regularly cut and dry into hay. So much better than anything that I can buy at the feed store. Also, I dry mulberry leaves.

What is the BEST way to dry mulberry leaves?

 

[Len B]

It might not be the best way but it works and doesn't cause a mess. I fill paper bags about half full and and mix the leaves around and up and down at least once a day. I do this inside where we either have the air conditioner or heat on. .As they dry you can mix the bags together to reduce the number of bags. The grocery stores around here.have paper bags but you have to ask for paper in all but one family run store. I use paper bags because they breath and don't hold moisture.

 

[Dizisdalife]

It might not be the best way but it works and doesn't cause a mess. I fill paper bags about half full and and mix the leaves around and up and down at least once a day. I do this inside where we either have the air conditioner or heat on. .As they dry you can mix the bags together to reduce the number of bags. The grocery stores around here.have paper bags but you have to ask for paper in all but one family run store. I use paper bags because they breath and don't hold moisture.

I use bags too. Mine are bags used for storing pelleted timothy hay that we feed the horses. Like Len said ( and others) the key is to not trap moisture. I tried drying them on the patio, but as soon as they get a little dry the wind blows them all over the yard. When I cut branches off a tree I just let them dry on the branch. Then I can cut them off and let them drop into a storage bag.