Feeding grass/types of grass

[CanineWild]

So I have a fair grasp on local plants and what I can feed my rabbits when I hopefully get them next year- I want to feed as much foraged stuff as possible along with a bit of pellets and hay.

Wild grasses though- I assume they can eat pretty much any variety? Are some worse or better, and is it as good for them as the various other plants I'd find? If I'm feeding hay, would it be more worth it to get a variety of non-grass plants, or would the fact that I'd be collecting different grasses make it worth it?

I'm talking stuff I'd go and cut handfuls of myself in the unkempt areas rather than buy as a bale, which around here would probably be an alfalfa blend.

 

[michaels4gardens]

I have successfuly fed a lot of "forraged feed", most grass varieties are OK,
but feeding some varieties ,and expecially after a frost can be a problem.[like Johnsongrass]
I have avoided problems by feeding several "safe things" at a time.
Rabbits will stop eating a plant if it is a problem, as long as they have other choices.

 

[CanineWild]

That sounds like a good rule of thumb- will certainly keep that in mind! Hopefully I can make some positive identifications next growing season so I can look them up more definitively. I have a rough idea what's out there, but i find grasses tough to ID ;P

 

[Rabbits by Accident]

I hope my rabbits survive LOL. I just wait for the yard to get tall and then I mow it and dry it and bag it and feed it to them. I have no idea what's in it.

Liz

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

We have grass that grows pretty long so when the people come and cut it and turn it into hay bales we go out and collect the extra hay lying on the ground. (You can see some of the grass in my picture)
<--

 

[eco2pia]

Typically, Fescues, which are great for lawns and turf because they are tough and resistant to walking, have less nutrition than other grass varieties. Any kind of grain bearing grass (cereal grains I mean) are nutritious, particularly before the seed heads have fully matured. The types of grasses I look on as less nutritious are those that are especially "tough" and fiberous. If they seem like a great thing to make rope out of, then they probably are mostly fiber. Sometimes that is determined by the variety, sometimes that is determined by the time of harvest.

Some grasses have sharp and spiky seeds (awns) that can irritate and become embedded in tissues, like eyes and ears, and I would avoid those. Most native grasses are non-toxic, but with all the ornamental grasses around now...I would just avoid most of the ornamental types automatically. Usually they are "deer resistant", which means they are either yucky or toxic for eating.

 

[hotzcatz]

Here's a website which may be of use to find the most nutritional grasses: Feedipedia: An on-line encyclopedia of animal feeds | Feedipedia I last used it to look up Guinea grass (Megathyrsus maximus) | Feedipedia We have the Guinea grass around here, it's a fast growing nutritional grass which the buns like to eat. There's a lot of different grasses out there, though. Some are more nutritious than others, some are more palatable than others, too.

Other than grasses, leaves and twigs can add a lot of feed for your bunnies. Mulberry is especially nutritious. We feed our buns mulberry, moringa, citrus, roses, pigeon pea, ti, all sorts of leafy twiggy things. They seem to enjoy chewing the bark off the twigs and branches about as much as eating the leaves.

The university gave me some leucaena (a small tree) which was supposed to be very nutritious for rabbits, but it was a good thing I tried feeding the leaves to the buns before planting the stems since the buns didn't like the stuff at all. They took one bite and then spit it out.

 

[Softie]

From NC: I use yard weeds a lot. Is motherwort okay? I have an abundance of it. Mine no longer free range so I pluck grass clumps - but I have 10- 20 rabbits in three colony cages. They didn't eat black raspberry canes (? - surprised me) or stinging nettle. They adore lambs quarters.

 

[Murphy]

I have my rabbits in a tractor on pasture. A mix of annuals and perenial grazing grasses so theres always something growing. I.e. its not lawn grass.
They are fed the weeds, varied types, some poisonous, and watched them avoid the poisonous ones.( I was ready to intervene just in case). They will be exposed to these as we move the tractor.
They dont eat supermarket veg. Nor will any of my chooks. Only organic home grown.
The absolute favourite so far: strawberry leaves!