Standlee Forage for Exotic Hoofstock and Small Animals: A Buyer's Guide
Goats, llamas, donkeys, guinea pigs, and rabbits all eat hay, but they don't eat the same hay for the same reasons. A donkey fed like a goat can end up overweight within a season. A guinea pig on the wrong hay can develop dental or urinary problems that take months to surface. The species differences are real, and they should drive what goes in the feeder, not the other way around.
Exotic Animal Supply carries Standlee's full line of premium western forage, compressed bales, cubes, pellets, and chopped hay, shipped same-day from four climate-controlled warehouses. This guide breaks down what each of these animals actually needs, then matches it to the specific Standlee products already in stock for each one.
Why "hoofstock" isn't one diet
Hoofstock gets treated as a single category in a lot of buying guides, but goats, llamas, and donkeys don't share a feeding program. Goats are what the Merck Veterinary Manual's goat nutrition guidance calls intermediate browsers: they select browse, forbs, and other readily digestible plants and eat some grass, unlike sheep, which graze primarily on grass. Llamas and donkeys are a different case again, efficient foragers built to survive on sparse, low-quality vegetation rather than to browse selectively. Goats and llamas are both ruminants that ferment forage in a multi-chamber stomach, while donkeys digest hay in a hindgut system closer to a horse's, which is part of why donkeys tolerate rich hay so much worse than goats do. A ration built around one species can easily be the wrong ration for the other two.
What goats need from hay
Hay is the backbone of most goat diets, and the base should be a grass hay like timothy or orchard grass rather than straight alfalfa. Alfalfa runs higher in protein and calcium, which makes it genuinely useful for specific life stages: lactating does, growing kids, or bucks recovering from a hard breeding season. Feeding it as the sole forage to a mature, non-breeding goat, though, usually delivers more protein and calcium than the animal needs.
Standlee's Certified Timothy Compressed Bale, Orchard Grass Compressed Bale, and Timothy Grass Mini Cubes work as grass hay bases in our goat feed and hay collection, alongside Alfalfa Pellets and Alfalfa Cubes for adding protein in measured amounts instead of switching the whole ration to alfalfa hay. Certified Chopped Straw works as a low-calorie filler for goats that need more bulk without more calories. Rather than feeding by a fixed percentage, body condition score is the practical way to judge whether a goat is getting the right amount: a healthy goat carries moderate fat cover over the loin, sternum, and ribs, and a goat that scores too thin or too heavy usually points back to the amount or quality of hay in the diet.
Llamas: similar forage, lighter protein load
Llamas share a lot of the same forage options as goats, but they run leaner on protein. A moderate-protein grass hay, closer to what's grown for horses than for dairy cattle, is usually the safer long-term base. Our llama collection's Standlee line carries the same core products as the goat lineup: Timothy Compressed Bale, Orchard Grass Compressed Bale, Teff Grass Pellets, and Alfalfa Pellets for the young, growing, or nursing animals that need the extra protein.
One camelid note worth flagging honestly: Exotic Animal Supply's current alpaca lineup runs through Mazuri rather than Standlee, so alpaca owners looking for hay-based forage should check with our team on availability before assuming the llama products apply directly.
Donkeys: the metabolic outlier
Donkeys need less, not more. Their metabolism evolved for desert scrubland, and rich alfalfa hay or lush pasture puts them at real risk for obesity and laminitis. A mature, lower-sugar grass hay, fed by weight rather than free-choice, is the standard approach most equine and donkey welfare organizations recommend. Exotic Animal Supply doesn't carry a donkey-specific collection, so the practical move for donkey owners is sourcing straight grass options, timothy, orchard grass, and teff grass, from our hoofstock collection, which gives you a low-sugar base without the added protein load of alfalfa.
Guinea pigs and rabbits: hay isn't optional
Guinea pigs and rabbits share a requirement goats, llamas, and donkeys don't: unlimited access to grass hay is a daily digestive and dental necessity, not a preference. Both species have teeth that grow continuously, and chewing long-stem grass hay is what keeps those teeth worn down correctly. Search demand reflects how common this need is. Owners search "timothy hay for guinea pigs" roughly 18,000 times a month and "timothy hay for rabbits" around 40,000 times a month, and the answer for both is the same: timothy hay, available around the clock.
Alfalfa hay is too rich in calcium for adult guinea pigs and rabbits fed as a staple. Veterinary Partner's guide to urinary stones in guinea pigs links excess dietary calcium to bladder stone risk in the species, which is why alfalfa should be reserved for young, growing, or nursing animals rather than fed long-term to adults. A common daily guideline is a pile of fresh timothy roughly the size of the animal itself, refreshed at least once a day since guinea pigs and rabbits will pick through and discard hay that sits too long.
Matching products to your setup
Standlee's Hand-Selected Timothy Grass is the everyday staple in our guinea pig hay and supplies and rabbit hay and supplies collections, Hand-Selected Orchard Grass works as a rotation option for picky eaters, and Hand-Selected Alfalfa Forage covers the growing and nursing life stages mentioned above. These come in household-sized boxes rather than farm bales, which matters for anyone storing hay indoors.
For larger operations, the same species logic applies at scale. A breeder or sanctuary feeding forty goats isn't shopping the way a household with two guinea pigs is, but the compressed bales, cubes, and pellets across the full range of Standlee formats scale up without changing the underlying feeding logic. Same-day shipping from four warehouses means a facility running low doesn't need to stockpile months of hay to avoid a gap, which matters most heading into winter when hay supply tightens and prices climb.
Switching hay without upsetting digestion
Whatever species you're feeding, an abrupt full switch from one hay type to another, or from pasture to baled hay, is one of the more common triggers for digestive upset. Goats, llamas, and donkeys can develop bloat or loose stool; guinea pigs and rabbits can stop eating altogether if a new hay smells or feels unfamiliar. Mixing the new hay in with the old over five to seven days, increasing the new portion a little each day, gives the gut microbiome time to adjust and gives picky small animals time to get used to a different texture or scent.
This matters most when moving a facility or household from loose bales to compressed formats, or from a grass hay to anything alfalfa-based, since both the fiber length and the nutrient load are changing at once.
Sourcing it in one place
Exotic Animal Supply carries Standlee's compressed bales, cubes, pellets, and Hand-Selected boxed line alongside Mazuri, the world's largest Mazuri feed dealer lineup, and the rest of a full exotic animal nutrition catalog, all shipped same-day from climate-controlled warehouses in Fort Worth, Houston, Orlando, and Durham. For the broader rundown on Standlee's bale, pellet, and cube formats and which one fits which animal, see our Standlee Forage Guide.
FAQ
What is the best hay for goats?
A grass hay like timothy or orchard grass is the right base for most goats. Alfalfa is useful for lactating does, growing kids, or bucks recovering from a hard season, but it runs too rich in protein and calcium to feed as the sole forage to a mature, non-breeding goat.
How much hay does a goat need?
There isn't one fixed amount that works for every goat, since intake depends on body weight, activity level, and production stage (growth, maintenance, pregnancy, or lactation). The more reliable check is body condition score: a goat with visible fat cover over the loin and ribs, without being overweight, is getting roughly the right amount, while a goat that's too thin or too heavy needs its hay ration adjusted.
What is the best hay for guinea pigs?
Timothy hay, available around the clock, is the standard recommendation for adult guinea pigs. Alfalfa is too rich in calcium for daily feeding and is linked to bladder stone risk, so it should be reserved for young, growing, or nursing guinea pigs rather than fed long-term.
Is timothy or alfalfa hay better for guinea pigs?
Timothy is the better everyday choice for adult guinea pigs because of its lower calcium content. Alfalfa has a place during growth and nursing, but the switch back to timothy should happen once that life stage passes.
What is the best hay for donkeys?
A mature, lower-sugar grass hay such as timothy, orchard grass, or teff grass, fed by weight rather than free-choice, is the standard recommendation for donkeys. Rich alfalfa hay and lush pasture both raise the risk of obesity and laminitis in this species.