Beginner hay buying questions

[little_critter]

Usually I get hay through the yard but I'm a bit short and need to top up. I bought a couple of tester bales today which looked and smelt good, I checked it was ragwort free and the field it came from looked good.
Got it home and opened it up to find it felt very slightly damp (barely noticeable) and the middle of the bale was musty. I think it must have been baled damp rather than got wet after baling.
Is there something else I should have checked before buying or do you just buy test bales until you find a supplier you trust?

 

[honetpot]

First of all you are going the right way. Because the summer has been so wet in some areas some of the hay has been baled to early and the hay either goes musty or mouldy.There are have been longer periods of dry weather later in August so dependin were you are in the country later made hay although not so nutritionaly good may be better, so basically ask when it was made.