What feed do you use?

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Petlover500

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What feed do you use, how much, and for what breeds? meat or pet rabbits? how much does it cost?

I use Nature Wise premium rabbit feed that I get from Ranch and Home. It is $15 for a 40lb bag. It lasts me about a month and a half, with having 4 grown rabbits and 4 kits at the moment.
My dutch rabbit gets 1/4 a cup of feed, my NDs get 1/4 cup of feed, and my medium sized mixed rabbit gets 1/2 cup of feed. The babies are almost 8 weeks and share 1 cup of food daily, given throughout the day.
 
I tried Manna Pro and it wasn't working well (2 bags of moldy feed in a row and that's the first experience I have had with it), so we went back to Dumor. I am trying to get into Purina, but they are constantly out of 40-50 lb bags at my local tractor supply, and I want to find something that is often in stock so that I don't have to worry about changing them when they are out very often. So I guess I am sticking with this for now. Good quality, I raised my first litter on it, and no mold. Just a worse value, but then that's a trade off for quality feed too.
 
Unfortunately the handling of feed here leaves a great deal to be desired. I've been feeding a mixed diet of grass/hay/grains with limited pellets and mineral lick with unlimited water. Well about 3 weeks ago they pulled my feed and told me that they would no longer carry it (no warning, just a sorry and then the nerve to ask me and say, well rabbit feed is all the same right? I mean rabbits are just rabbits?). I was doing so well and had show coats for the first time in a while (expecting litters too). Litters are due any time now and I'm a nervous nelly. I have had feed issues almost wipe out every one before.

I'm feeding a third rate feed I'd rather not buy for $11.99 to $15.99 plus tax at the moment. I was paying $21.99 plus tax for Manna Pro Show feed and driving an hour and fifteen minutes to get it. I am trying to find a better feed, they aren't eating it like I want and they lost show coats and condition over all. They pick at the food, which is not a good sign. I spent today trying to call any where in a 100 mile radius that can or might be able to get feed in I'd feed. Got the I don't know, call back Monday, and then the local in Weston TSC said they had 1 of the ones I was looking for in stock but they'd have to check tomorrow to see if they could order it again and keep in stock for me (of course I said I knew I'd have to pay ahead and possible have a min quantity to order). Its Blue Seal Show Hutch Deluxe, its very small pellets like those round balls into pellet guns. Ingredients look good and match up to MPS and is my only other option that doesn't have corn in it that I would consider good. They do have regular Manna Pro, but the last bags I got had mold/odd colored pellets/wet feed....wasn't the same batch but was the same truck and was unloaded that way...or so I was told.
 
I started out feeding Mana Pro Select (16%) from TC .... and always seemed to have problems: Mold , heavy corn and clumps of molasses and it was expensive at $19.99+tax for a 50lb bag.

I changed to Lone Star 18% which is $14.00 for a 50lb bag when I buy 10 or more , $14.50 otherwise .... It's been a very consistent product with not a single problem in the 18 months I've used it.
 
Ramjet":186zcfr6 said:
I started out feeding Mana Pro Select (16%) from TC .... and always seemed to have problems: Mold , heavy corn and clumps of molasses and it was expensive at $19.99+tax for a 50lb bag.

:yeahthat:
My story starts the same, except that I was feeding Manna pro Sho. I had enteritis issues the entire time I fed manna pro products, despite late weaning ages.

About a year ago we switched to Purina complete, and then Purina show just a few months ago as it became available here.

No problems whatsoever with the feed since then. No problem transitioning between the two feeds either. It's certainly not the healthiest pellet out there, but I haven't lost single kit to enteritis since the switch.

I think it costs a dollar or two less then the manna pro. Somewhere in the $17-$19 range for 50 lbs. How often we buy it really depends on how many kits are here and how much other stuff the buns are eating, peaking at a 50 lb bag/week during early spring when there is little forage and all the does have babies.

We also feed grass hay, alfalfa cubes, oats, boss(mostly just in winter), pumpkin seeds, and a variety of kitchen scraps, garden trimmings, and forage plants.
 
We have settled on the Producer's Pride brand from TSC. We go through 2-3 bags a month, unless we have kits and are free-feeding. The feed is about $15for 50 pounds.

Our buns also get hay, alfalfa cubes, and tons of greens. Right now, we are growing kale, mustard and turnip greens, cauliflower, broccoli and lettuce. They love kudzu, but it's about gone for the year.
 
I used to use Purina Complete till it hit $20. Now I use the cheaper Country Acres at $17 for 50 pounds. Feed is at least twice as much as when I first had rabbits.
 
We have a Mill that makes feed about 3 hours away. Cache Commodities in Ogden, Utah. They ship it by the pallet load here for 12.40 per 50# bag. Sure makes it nice when I pick up the feed for my larger meat bunnies.
 
I used to feed a crappy walmart brand, simply because that's all I was aware there was, But my more doe Elviras fur was *always in such a cruddy state and the food was way too dusty) the petstore was always too expensive and has generic brands anyway sold in tiny 5lb bags. This was back when I only had two rabbits and just the two of them would go through about 2lbs of food every other day, so you can see where spending 16$ on 5lbs of food wouldn't have cut it lol.


Then when Rural King opened up down town last summer I started getting the only thing they carry, Manna Pro. 40lb bags for 20$, I love it. Elvira looks so much better since switching and really, the buns eat it a lot better than they did the old crappy walmart brand.
 
I feed Coastal hay and Seminole Grow and Show which is made locally. I've tried Manna Pro and Nutrena (which I give my hens their layer pellets) but everything just smells and looks like lower quality. The smell is like nothing, sort of like dust if anything and the color is a dull brown-grey. Even Oxbow which I tried when my feed store was out of Seminole had the same poor quality as other brands. It is possible most of these feeds are old by the time they are delivered to local feed and pet stores in my area. When I open a bag of Seminole though the smell of alfalfa could knock you over. The smell is so fresh and sweet and the pellets are very green. The difference in quality in my area is night and day. They even include papaya enzymes in their feed by default and all for less money than every other brand I mentioned ($15/50lb) and often on sale.
 
I buy my feed from a "local" mill- only about 165 miles away!- and pay $11 per 50lb. bag, including tax.

I buy one ton at a time, so even adding fuel costs and drive time I save quite a bit as opposed to buying 50lb. bags of feed from a feed store.
 
MamaSheepdog":27dmf7c2 said:
I buy my feed from a "local" mill- only about 165 miles away!- and pay $11 per 50lb. bag, including tax.
I buy one ton at a time, so even adding fuel costs and drive time I save quite a bit as opposed to buying 50lb. bags of feed from a feed store.

I buy the same feed. only I only have to drive 120 miles to get there :lol: And it is a beautiful drive! I listen to David Whyte or Eckhardt Tolle CDs on my drive and it's a wonderful trip. I'm due to go again soon :)
 
Manna pro and previously kent for giant to dwarf breeds and all in between at various times. The local mill comes into play though. Many find their "corn free" manna pro is just full of corn especially toward one end of the bag. Some have mysterious deaths periodically until they change brands. It's how your local mill handles things. Finding a local brand produced by a specific mill would be ideal. Here kent has it's own mills and it's own feed stores in the small towns.
 
I started with Country Acres, and I'm back to Country Acres. It may not be the highest-quality feed out there, but I don't have problems with it. I have a very conscientious Ace Hardware in the area that sells it. Very impressed with them and the way they handle their feed.

It was the first feed I used. One day, the feed store was out of it, so I bought Purina Complete and continued with that. When we moved out here, after doing some reading, I decided to try 14% horse feed with the rabbits. I think the bags I got at first must have been part of a low-molasses special order (which this one feed store does do), because when I got the mix a few more times, it had more molasses. The rabbits weren't very enthusiastic about it. It did have corn, but they largely ignored it... but it seemed like they were always hungry even though there was food left. They just weren't getting what they needed. So I changed to Prime Quality, until I had a moldy feed issue (it got to the feed store that way... I bought it the day they received it, and it was kept nice and dry). I decided to try Manna Pro, but started having to scrape poops that were cemented to the wire with Super Glue. I went back to Purina Complete, still trying to stay with a feed with a definite ingredients list, but it didn't eliminate the problem created by the Manna Pro. So I went back to Prime Quality, but I finally had a second feed quality issue. Back to Country Acres, no more problems.

It has gone up to $15-16/50# bag these days... it was $13.50 when I first started with it.

I'm using this with Standard Rex, Californians, and a couple of mutts. The lionhead gets Manna Pro Gro (18%) because he can't grow wool well on less. I keep the feed in gallon bags in the deep freezer. :roll:
 
With the steadily increasing guinea pig population I groan at my $12/50lb bags :lol: Well I could cut it with oats but nope they are the same price from the feed store. Same for beet pulp, barley, wheat, soy.... I need to get some oats straight from the field next year to cut the number of bags of pellets I go through. Oats went for $3/bushel (~30lbs) last fall.
 
Teton Peak":30qr3e4b said:
We have a Mill that makes feed about 3 hours away. Cache Commodities in Ogden, Utah. They ship it by the pallet load here for 12.40 per 50# bag. Sure makes it nice when I pick up the feed for my larger meat bunnies.

I like that feed as well, however-- we still have to carefully inspect each bag / batch, [like any other feed company's products] for manufacture dates, mold or bugs .-- a local rabbit producer fed some with mold clumps in it [to avoid $ loss] and lost a lot of rabbits just lately, -- turned out it was not the feed manufacturer at fault, -- the distributor let it get wet before it was stocked in the store...
 
caroline":33qfpbj0 said:
MamaSheepdog":33qfpbj0 said:
I buy my feed from a "local" mill- only about 165 miles away!

I buy the same feed. only I only have to drive 120 miles to get there :lol:

Only 120 miles?!? Lucky you! :lol: I know of one breeder in Arizona that feeds it- we are better off than her at least! :p Templeton Feed is excellent- all the breeders up and down California who buy it can't be wrong. ;)

I also like the fact that it is a family owned and run mill. It's nice to be able to support a family business, and their customer service and support are excellent.

The time before last, I was picking up a ton for myself and a ton for a friend, so had a flat bed trailer. After loading a pallet of feed, we discovered that one of the tires had gone flat :x , so they lifted the trailer with a forklift and filled the tire back up. :p It is one of those "tubeless" tires, so I was very relieved that they got it to seal.
 
I feed Heim's 18%. After tax, its $18.20/50lbs. I also sprout wheat fodder, which I get for $19/50lbs at a mill 50 miles away. During the winter when its cold (-31 this morning) the fodder is nice because they get a lot of water from it. Even using hot water, their crocks are frozen within an hour. When they need the extra calories to stay warm, each bun gets a full cup of pellets plus hay, and 8oz of fodder. In warmer weather, I cut the pellets to 1/2 cup. I grow the same amount of fodder year round, so when there are litters, pellet rations fluctuate, but right now I just have 1 buck, and 3 does.
 
We use this from Family Farm & Home. $10.49 for 40# but is on sale quite often for $9.49/bag. It has 16% protein. All our bunnies are pets. They seem to love it.

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