Country Acres Rabbit Pellets

[MamaSheepdog]

I am trying out a new feed, and wanted to get everyone's thoughts on it. This is a 16% pellet.

Ingredients:

Wheat middlings
Sun cured Alfalfa
Ground rice hulls
Whole pressed Safflower Seed solvent extracted
Cane Molasses
Dehulled soybean meal
Calcium Carbonate
Ground Wheat
Salt
*Assd. Vitamins/minerals
10% Ground Rice Hulls
Ruminant Meat and Bone Meal Free

 

[MaggieJ]

The actual ingredients don't sound too bad, but...
I'd prefer to see alfalfa at the top of the list.
Not to sure about solvent extracted oils.
10 % rice hulls seems high... what do they contribute nutritionally?
Why do they specify ruminant meat and bone meal free instead of just meat? Does that mean some other kind of meat products are included?

Just my off-the-cuff thoughts.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Thanks for the input Maggie- I did a bit of research as a result. I have both alfalfa hay and cubes as well as grass hay that I have been feeding the herd, so I thought alfalfa not being the first ingredient might be a benefit.

I couldn't find any meat products listed, with the possible exception of Calcium Pantothenate, which according to Wikipedia: "In animal feeds, the most important sources of the vitamin are rice, wheat brans, alfalfa, peanut meal, molasses, yeasts, and condensed fish solutions." and calcium carbonate, "is a common substance found in rocks in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, coal balls, pearls, and eggshells."

Rice hulls are high in fiber (39%), and are used as a pellet binder, but have little available nutrients (less than 10 percent), but overall performance and digestibility can be improved by adding a source of nitrogen (protein) and can enhance RH as a feed source.

 

[akane]

Looks like a whole lot of fiber with a little oil and vitamin and minerals. Basically a fiber and multivitamin/mineral pill in pellet form. Nothing else useful there. I'd rather see them get some of their nutrients from actual food sources rather than added forms since those are absorbed much better. However I have seen worse. At least there's nothing bad on the list. There's just nothing good.

 

[boundarybunnyco]

I have used this feed ... I don't love it. My rabbits don't love it, in fact some will barely touch it. It is in my opinion mediocre feed, and I have had bags freshly opened, that were full of mold. I only use it if I absolutely have to. The price where I can get it is about 15 dollars for a bag. The Pfaus brand I buy costs 22. I gladly get the Pfaus over the Country acres any day. To get any other brand of pellets I have to drive 30 miles.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

BBco., I was afraid of that... but I have been trying to find smaller name brands, and this was the only type I have found so far. I was on MannaPro, but found corn in it. Before that I used Purina Show, but I have never used their dog or cat food because of poor quality, and so don't really trust it for rabbit food either. I guess the search will continue...

 

[akane]

Smaller name brands are crap. Unfortunately it's true 99% of the time. One site I was reading about animal feeds said do not touch anything that's named country something because it's often a small brand with crappy ingredients and we have country lane here that is 10 times worse. It's all byproducts. The companies just don't have the resources the big ones do to get good ingredients so they use the leftovers from everyone else and then try to add flavorings and vitamins/minerals to make up for it.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Smaller name brands are crap.

<Sigh> Okay. I guess it is back to MannaPro... but I am going to ask to open a bag at TSC to make sure there is no corn in it. If there is, I'll go back to Purina Show.

 

[boundarybunnyco]

I've used the Purina and am just so so with it. I can get the Pfaus for 17 dollars a bag, when I'm in "the big city" of Sandpoint. have to go there at least once a month anyhow...what is MannaPro costing? I've never tried it.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I've used the Purina and am just so so with it. I can get the Pfaus for 17 dollars a bag, when I'm in "the big city" of Sandpoint. have to go there at least once a month anyhow...what is MannaPro costing? I've never tried it.

*sigh* Sandpoint....I love Sandpoint....

 

[akane]

I've had no problems with manna pro here and just bought 6 bags but found it's gone up to $20/50lbs which is what kent cost and I much prefer the kent ingredients. When these bags are up (I plan to mix with oats and barely so that may be 6months) we may see if we can buy kent by 5-10bags at a time. The problem with the kent was it's a small feed store and everytime I requested bags they'd sell them off to someone else before I could get there to pick up but if I buy more than 1 or 2 they are more likely to reserve them for me and possibly give a discount.

 

[skysthelimit]

all the brands around here cost basically the same, from the cheap walmart brand to manna pro, about $15. Purina is more expensive, but as MamaSheepdog said, I wouldn't feed Purina dog food, so I won't feed anything else Purina. Right now I'm using Buckeye, which is an Ohio based company. It's a small step down from Manna Pro, but it seems to be ok. I haven't noticed any difference.

 

[akane]

Rabbit pellets vary a lot and are expensive here which is why we went without for so long, then fed pellets only every 4 days, and now we are going to still only fill the feeders every 4 days but we'll cut it with oats and barley and fill them up further. Nutrena is a little cheaper than manna pro now at $17/50lbs when it was the reverse but it's full of corn and other stuff I don't want to feed. The good feeds which cost $20 or more are hit or miss whether they will have them in. Even the big chain feed stores may go weeks without stocking them and the 6 bags we just bought was nearly the entire stock they got in. They sell out within days so we have them call us and yet they won't stock more of it while the nutrena sits there in stacks as tall as me not going anywhere. It's annoying. I have to special order to get enough bags anyway to keep on hand past the gaps in their ordering and the price is up I might as well go back to dealing with the smaller feedstore.

All we really need are the missing vitamins and minerals from hay that are found in the pellets but a good source for that is difficult. Mineral blocks are rarely complete and they aren't thrilled with the loose mixes but they've been using them when given no choice from pellets being sold out for 3 weeks. Half the time they are sold out of oats or barley and a few times pelleted bedding as well. I think they need a new manager for ordering shipments.

 

[Hucksdaddy]

All this talk is concerning me. I thought all I had to worry about was corn. So I went to my feed's website (tucker mills) and got the ingredients. Not too specific.

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS

CRUDE PROTEIN................. Min. 16.00 PCT

CRUDE FAT..................... Min. 2.00 PCT

CRUDE FIBER................... Min. 17.00 PCT

CRUDE FIBER................... Max. 23.00 PCT

CALCIUM....................... Min. 0.75 PCT

CALCIUM....................... Max. 1.50 PCT

PHOSPHORUS; TOT............... Min. 0.50 PCT

INGREDIENTS

FORAGE PRODUCTS, PROCESSED GRAIN PRODUCTS, ROUGHAGE PRODUCTS, PLANT PROTEIN PRODUCTS, CALCIUM CARBONATE, SALT, DICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, GROUND LIMESTONE, MANESIUM OXIDE, YEAST CULTURE, CHOLINE CHLORIDE, FERROUS SULFATE, VITAMIN A SUPPLEMENT (STABILITY APPROVED), D-ACTIVATED ANIMAL STEROL (SOURCE OF VITAMIN D-3 STABILITY APPROVED), VITAMIN E SUPPLEMENT, MENADIONE SODIUM BISULFATE COMPLEX (SOURCE OF VITAMIN K ACTIVITY), THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN SUPPLEMENT, NIACIN, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, BIOTIN, FOLIC ACID, VITAMIN B-12 SUPPLEMENT, ASCORBIC ACID, ZINC PROTEINATE, MANGANOUS OXIDE, MANGANESE SULFATE, COPPER SULFATE, ZINC OXIDE, ZINC SULFATE, COBALT CARBONATE, SODIUM SELENITE, ETHYLENEDIANIME DIHYDRIODIDE, ETHOXYQUIN (PRESERVATIVE).


I chose this feed by trial and error. The bigger named feeds range $15-20, and I didn't get the results with those that I get with this feed. Most were too high in calcium and caused calcium deposits from urine everywhere. This feed that I use is $9 and seems to have a better grow out rate and no calcium deposits, with higher protien content than the $15 feed. With "processed grain products" you'd think "corn," but there is no evidence by sight. What should be my concern with this ingredient list? I've had good production. My does tend to have a good two years of production. Are there other concerns I am overlooking?

I hope I'm not hijacking the thread. If I am, I can start another thread.

 

[akane]

If your rabbits are doing fine I guess feed it but it's really a list of mystery ingredients and byproducts. The company could also change what's in the feed at any time because they do not list detailed ingredients. Forage products and roughage products could be anything. I never have gotten a straight answer on that one. Grain products is whatever leftovers from whatever grains they can get their hands on cheaply which may include corn and it's going to be ground in to powder so it would all just look like slightly different colored flour if you saw it before it went in the pellet. You won't see corn. Odds are it's in there. Plant protein could be some type of soy or any high protein plant matter. The rest is vitamins and minerals. Like I said it's mystery feed and they could do whatever they want to the actual ingredients because they put no details down. It's a trick by the manufacturers. This is like that country lane stuff I refused to touch because I had no idea what was actually in it and started feeding a horse pellet until I researched grain mixes because at the time it was a 50mile drive to get any other rabbit pellet.

Missed this on the first pass

ETHOXYQUIN (PRESERVATIVE).

Red flag in any animal feed. It's a cheap preservative no longer allowed in human foods and highly regulated in animal feeds going to food animals because it is proven toxic and carcinogenic. The pet crowd refuses to feed anything with ethoxyquin in it and so most companies have removed it and any good company won't use it. You do still find it in some livestock and lower end pet foods though. However a meat rabbit is not going to live long enough to get cancer and the same for other food animals which is why it's allowed so long as the levels stay low enough not to pass to humans. Personally I'd prefer none of it risked passing to me and my dogs and cats.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

The first four ingredients are so vague so that they can compile the feed from the least expensive ingredients at the time of processing. Since they do not specify "corn free" they could include that under "processed grain products".

I do know that the best feeds for man or animal are made from whole ingredients, not parts. Also, guaranteed analysis can be misleading... it shows overall levels of nutrients, but does not consider if they are digestible. I think it was Science Diet dog food that had an ad campaign years ago showing how you could take an old boot and assorted other indigestible ingredients and come up with an acceptable guaranteed analysis.

 

[boundarybunnyco]

looking up the website for the pfau feeds, and it says "artisinal and custom feeds" what the heck does artisinal mean? now they list two kinds of pellets, have an updated web page, and online ordering...hmmm.
they also have mini hay bales made from sun dried montana timothy hay. and they claim their pellets are 13 percent protein...I thought they were 18 percent. gonna throw on my muck boots and go look at the bag!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I went to the Pfau website, and even though I clicked on rabbit feed, the ingredients and guaranteed analysis are for one of their horse products, at least according to the feeding instructions!

 

[boundarybunnyco]

haha I'm a dork! I was sure they were 18 percent! the bag says 17. I called the company and asked! they say the heritage blend varies from 17 to 18.7 percent protein. I let them know what their website says, and they about had a fit! it's a new site, and turns out, right under Heritage Rabbit pellets, it says 13 percent protein, then goes on to tell instructions on how much to feed per 100 lbs of body weight...for horses! lol guess some web designer screwed up! Scott the owner has been informed and is getting it fixed asap!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

The same thing happened to me on the MannaPro site too. I haven't checked it recently, but when I had the bags with corn in them, the ingredients were the same for whatever product I clicked on.