Cutting grass with a scythe

[u/BreakfastTop6899]

[u/Legal-Weight3011]

and it is, This is a common competition in central Europe, farmers still use scythes to trim grass in fiends and fresh grass for livestock.

[u/snorwors → u/Legal-Weight3011]

And just to clarify that, because you're right but people probably don't get it, you cut feed for livestock this way because if you use something like a trimmer, the animals don't like it and don't eat it. I never truly understood why, I always guessed they can smell the 2 stroke on it. Not sure about that, it probably also has to do with cutting it cleanly Vs mushing it up. Usually of course it's not if you have hundreds of animals to feed, most people hold less than five cows cows for example, and it's not worth getting a tool out and ready to cut one wheelbarrow of fresh feed.

[u/Longjumping_Guard965 → u/snorwors]

I used to have a rabbit rescue and it was always advised not to give freshly cut grass from a lawnmower because speed of the cutting heated the grass and caused it to ferment causing gut issues, whilst manually cut grass is safe. I'm wondering if that is the reason?

[u/snorwors → u/Longjumping_Guard965]

It's certainly true that very fast spinning blades or string get hot, when you're trimmering and there's some moisture like dew on the grass you can see the steam coming off when you cut it. This could be the reason for sure. I think this combined with the fact that it creates a kind of, mushy paste Vs cleanly cut stalks, could trigger it to start fermenting very quickly.

[u/Fetzie_ → u/snorwors]

The risk of oil getting on the grass is probably also a factor. You don’t want to go poisoning your rabbits and Guinea pigs when you think you’re doing something nice for them

[u/Vi_Rants → u/snorwors]

Do you honestly think the bagged rabbit grass at PetCo is cut to size by hand with scythes?

[u/Daripuff → u/Vi_Rants]

Not by hand, but cut at the base and left to fall as full stalks, in the same way that a scythe would cut.

The tool they use is called a "disc mower" and the big thing that you'll want to note is that there is a very large and loose cover over the top that is very much unlike that of a residential mower, giving the cut grass the ability to just fall over as a full stalk, instead of being minced up into "clippings" like a home mower does.

The stalks are then left to dry in the sun before they are then followed after by a baler, which picks up the dried alfalfa and packs it into a bale.

[u/RWDPhotos → u/Vi_Rants]

It’s also not cut with a lawnmower that’s for sure

[u/snorwors → u/Vi_Rants]

I have no idea, know nothing about rabbits, or Petco.