Best type of hay?

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Pikku

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I feed manna pro pellets and have very healthy rabbits. I have also been giving them Timothy hay, which they love. Unfortunately my local feed store has stopped carrying Timothy. They have alfalfa and Bermuda grass. Which of these is healthier for rabbits? I have a doe due in a week, so she is going to get the last of the Timothy I have so I don't change her diet, but it looks like I have to change them over. I checked craigslist, and no go there.
Any ideas on which is healthier for the buns?
Thanks,
Pikku
 
What breed and what are you raising them for? All grass hay is pretty equal if you want to keep them on grass. Some are a little more palatable than others due to being sweeter versus higher fiber but nutritionally the differences in properly cut grass hay are not big enough to be important. Whether you want grass or alfalfa though depends what you are raising.
 
I have standard rex for meat. They are pretty young. Six and seven months or so. Just getting into rabbits and this will be my first littler of popples.
 
I'd recommend Bermuda (a grass) over alfalfa (a legume and not a grass) as it has a higher fibre content and your rabbits are getting alfalfa in their pellets already.
 
Awesome, thanks! I definitely want the kits to be able to free feed hay when they come and start eating pellets (yes, a couple weeks away, but I would like to be prepared). I will get some burmuda and start weaning them over to it.
 
Technically a pellet is supposed to have all the fiber they need and that level is not higher than alfalfa hay. My manna pro is 16-21% and my alfalfa is 30%. Pretty much everywhere there isn't a lower value of fiber than 21% on alfalfa with most 27% or more and bermuda is in the 27-30% range too. What does counter the fiber is the amount of carbs in legume hays versus grass hays. That can cause too much weight gain and digestive upset if they have not been getting any carbs but again the carbs in alfalfa hay is lower than the carbs already in your pellets from grains. The differences in those 2 values are far more important when building your own pellet free diet. The main concerns for a pellet diet is that alfalfa has more energy sources and more calcium which can cause problems in rabbits not being bred often enough or growing fast enough to use the nutrients.
 
Sorry, but the Neutral Detergent Fibre (NDF) of Bermuda is 77% vs 30% for alfalfa - I believe your values are from the Acid Detergent Fibre (ADF) and this value was abandoned my most nutritionalists as it is not an accurate value of the digestible fibre in feed stuffs.
 
Pikku":1m4enlbm said:
I will get some burmuda and start weaning them over to it.
Click to expand...
Bermuda will be fine for your rabbits. I fed it for several years. Where I live now, Bahia is more common, and that's what I usually end up with.

Unlike with pellets or most grains, you do not have to wean hay. You can change hays suddenly, with no issues (I imagine this would not be the case with alfalfa hay, since it is not grass).
 
I agree with Miss M.
Whatever grass hay is fine for your purpose, so long as it isn't moldy or dusty.
and I've never had them react to a change from one type of grass to another.
Grass hay is mostly for digestive health and dental health. Rabbits love to chew, so it keeps the buns busy and happier.
Alfalfa is more of a feed supplement.
But, I still think quality is more important than type in this context.
If I had to choose between quality alfalfa and junky grass hay...I'd get the alfalfa.
 
I fed alfalfa for quite a few years...but learned the "climate" here in Missouri
isn't conducive for good drying conditions after it's been cut. Too much humidity.
Which leads to a tendency of mold growth...that ain't good for rabbits.

Switched to brome hay last year and the rabbits really like it. I keep the hay
in front of the grow-outs 24/7 as it lends assistance to their digestive tract.
Once the youngsters come out of the box, I keep hay available to that pen
until the youngsters are moved to the grow-out room.

Grumpy.
 
I received some free hay, but not sure about quality. It's brown and the rabbits are eating it. Does brown hay have any nutritional value?
 
It depends on why it is brown but generally brown has has less nutrition than green, however most people feed rabbit hay for the fibre and not as their rabbits main source of calories and vitamins and hay that is brown because it was cut later in the season has significantly more fibre than earlier cuts.

Straw and core woods have zero nutrition but lots of fibre and rabbits love to gnaw on them to alleviate boredom, file down their teeth and they add value to a rabbits life in a different way.
 

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