If I cant dry food, can I perhaps pellet it?

Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Rabbit Talk Forum

Help Support Rabbit Talk Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
G

GBov

Well-known member
Joined
May 25, 2012
Messages
2,616
Reaction score
63
Location
Cumbria, UK
Central Florida, daytime humidity over 80%, nighttime even higher so while I can get a partial drying, everything just molds unless I dry it inside the house with the airconditioning on and then KEEP it inside.

Space is a premium though so trying to dry and store food for the buns is a no go. I already have a bale of hay under the dining room table to keep it fresh. :lol:

So I was wondering if I could somehow make my own pellets? Blend up the whatever it is that is growing best and maybe pipe it onto a cookie sheet and dry it like that?

Or am I being silly?
 
I think Michael is right that fresh feeding year around would be your best solution, if you have the space to grow what they need. It might be possible to make a homemade pellet the way you describe -- people have done it as rabbit treats -- but I think if you are using heat to dry the mixture you would also lose vitamins. Interesting idea, though! :)
 
MaggieJ":2031bt3l said:
I think Michael is right that fresh feeding year around would be your best solution, if you have the space to grow what they need. It might be possible to make a homemade pellet the way you describe -- people have done it as rabbit treats -- but I think if you are using heat to dry the mixture you would also lose vitamins. Interesting idea, though! :)
Click to expand...

I was thinking more along the lines of getting a dehydrator or air drying inside where the AC keeps the humidity down.

Things are green and growing here year round but the likes of sweet potato leaves, peanut plants and canna lily leaves are freshest and most nutritious in the summer so would like to try to carry some over to the winter months to bulk out what is still growing.
 
You'll probably lose as much nutrition drying any method as picking not in an ideal season. Drying destroys vitamins. Even hay loses several water soluble vitamins followed by the fat soluble vitamins. That's one reason why we require supplemental feeds and trace mineral blocks. If they are grazing part of the year most large livestock you don't see a problem but stalled horses and other show livestock often have complex mixes of vitamin and mineral bags or packs they get every day on top of their pellets because dried greens just don't have everything anymore. As a supplement to the diet that's not as big of deal and if it's more convenient it might have a point but if you are going through all the effort just to try to get the most nutrition you are shooting yourself in the foot. All it would do is reduce some compounds that can build up in older growth but all that does in most cases is make them less tasty and not harmful.
 
I once scored a free sweater drying rack with fan on Kijiji, something like the one in the link below. I thought it might work well to dry greens for the buns, but I had to give up the rabbits before I got around to trying it. I was shocked to see how much they cost new, though! Still, if you could find one on CL or at a thrift shop, it might be useful.

https://www.amazon.ca/Hamilton-Beach-11 ... B000R8E8OE
 
akane":1f3r9471 said:
You'll probably lose as much nutrition drying any method as picking not in an ideal season. Drying destroys vitamins. Even hay loses several water soluble vitamins followed by the fat soluble vitamins. That's one reason why we require supplemental feeds and trace mineral blocks. If they are grazing part of the year most large livestock you don't see a problem but stalled horses and other show livestock often have complex mixes of vitamin and mineral bags or packs they get every day on top of their pellets because dried greens just don't have everything anymore. As a supplement to the diet that's not as big of deal and if it's more convenient it might have a point but if you are going through all the effort just to try to get the most nutrition you are shooting yourself in the foot. All it would do is reduce some compounds that can build up in older growth but all that does in most cases is make them less tasty and not harmful.
Click to expand...

Ah, I was wondering about this, and about why fermented feeds are so nutritious when stacked against dried feedstuffs.

Perhaps I will just take advantage of what I have and see how the buns get on with it. So far they seem to have no problems with their weed allowance.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top