Supplementing with chopped dried grass

[Imogen Rose]

Hello, I have just discovered a dried grass product and am wondering if anyone on here uses it/ has heard of it.
Its called Baileys ultra grass, comes in a big sack, and is dried chopped grass. It looks and smells lovey.
My bunnies and GP's have gone MAD for it!
They are fed a pellet free diet, and im now wondering how much of their diet could consist of ultra grass?
They are free fed meadow hay, supplemented with an oat, barley, alfalfa pellet mix. In the evening they get a pile of leafy greens, either foraged or supermarket stuff if I don't have time.
Here is a link to the website that makes it...
http://www.baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk/what ... agrass.htm

 

[Dood]

The protein level of 11% is too low to be the main diet of any rabbit except a sedentary adult or senior

I suspect the reason your rabbits like it so much is that it is very low in non-digestible fibre and high in sugar and this can cause digestive upset.

 

[Miss M]

It's only 11.5% protein, so you would just have to be sure they are getting enough protein elsewhere. Some hay is as little as 7%, so I'd imagine you can use a nice amount of it with your buns.

The other thing about it is that it contains soybean oil. Most soybeans are GMO. If you are trying to feed non-GMO, you'll want to make sure that the soybean oil they use is non-GMO.

 

[Imogen Rose]

Thanks I was only thinking of using it more heavily for my older rabbits. I have a trio in a colony who are FAT. They are on a handful of grain mix once a day, and hay. I was thinking of just giving them hay until they have lost the weight, then giving them hay, dried grass and greens?
There is another similar brand, would this one be better? The protein is much higher.
Crude Protein 15%
Crude Fibre 21%
Crude Oil and Fats
3%
Calcium 0.55%
Phosphorus
0.27%
Ca : P Ratio 2 : 1

They are just for show and pets, there is no market for farmed rabbit meat in the UK. So im not too worried about the GM... Still would prefer to be GM free though.

 

[Dood]

A high sugar, low lignin grass would not be a good choice to loose weight :/

Unfortunately feeds don't list the calories per pound (or ounce ) but a first cut hay processed later in the year or one that is stiff or resembles straw :mrgreen: will have less calories