Looking for feed opinion

[REDMIST]

I am looking for some opinions on feed. I started out with Purina Rabbit Chow 16% protein. seemed to be ok but the price kept creeping up. I switched to Blue Seal Hutch 17. I have been on it for a few months now, but the rabbits do not seem to finish the food like the Rabbit Chow. Blue seal is $5 cheaper and 1% more protein. I also have the option to purchase ADM rabbit feed at 16% protein. It say it has added yucca. I can also get Manna Pro but I have seen many bad comments on this brand. I also have a TSC Dumar brand available.
I feed mostly pellets and hay. If this was you what would you be looking at to make a decision on feed?

 

[Miss M]

With 1% more protein, perhaps they aren't finished because they are satisfied with less. Then again, it could be they don't like it as well.

Yucca helps lessen urine odor, which is definitely a plus for indoor rabbits and some outdoor setups.

$5 is a LOT, if you are feeding a good number of rabbits.

Your Blue Seal 17%: Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Wheat Middlings, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Soybean Hulls, Wheat Flour, Oat Mill By-Product, Cane Molasses...

Purina Complete 16%: Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Wheat Middlings, Ground Soybean Hulls, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Ground Corn, Wheat Flour, Cane Molasses, Ground Oat Hulls...

How do your rabbits act and look? Run your fingertips down the spine, from the head and down the back. Do you feel gentle bumps? Spikes? Nothing? Some commercial lines will have very well-developed loins to either side of the spine, which can make evaluating the spine difficult. Aside from those rabbits, you should feel gentle bumps.

If they're perky, curious, and happy, and the only difference is that they don't eat as much, a few months is plenty of time to evaluate whether they are doing well on the feed. Do they come up and beg for feed if they run out, and bury their noses in it when you refill their feeders? Or do they beg a little, and then halfheartedly nibble when you give them more, simply because they're hungry and this is what they've been given?

If their backs feel good, their bodies feel solid, their waste is normal, they have clear eyes and noses, they're perky, and they're excited to get more food, I'd stay with the Blue Seal!

 

[REDMIST]

They are in good shape. I have meat rabbits and they wean at 5 pounds and are 7 pounds by 10 weeks. I think they are in good shape. Some does jumpbinto feed some stay in back and not move.

 

[Zass]

If they are growing well on what you are feeding, I'd keep right on feeding it. The blue seal looks to be just a bit better than the purina. I'm pretty sure it's the extra corn/carbs in the purina that really packs the fat on my buns.

 

[REDMIST]

Thanks all.

 

[michaels4gardens]

JMHO---
-most negative comments about a brand of feed, are related to the local mill where it was made, or the distributor that mishandled it,-- not really about the brand of feed. I agree with above comments, - feed what works well for your rabbits, and you. All of the "brands" of feed you mentioned, work just fine for most folks, - but- occasionally there is a regional feed mill that uses bad , or old ingredients, or ships bad feed...or a distributor that stores feed outdoors, or puts old, or bad feed on the shelf. The best thing you can do-- is check manufacture dates, and carefully check each bag of feed before you feed it-and return bad feed to the store, and voice your complaint, -- that is the only thing that lets them know they have a problem that needs addressed.

-- as most of us here have already noticed, -- most people continue to do things they know are wrong, as long as they think they are getting away with it-- so let them know you are not a satisfied customer, if you see old or bad feed from any distributor.

 

[fhjmom]

I read a post on another rabbit group about feed from a long time successful show breeder that basically said "cull to your feed". Her opinion (in my paraphrase) was to find a good, decently priced feed that you can get locally that is consistently fresh and your current herd does reasonably well on it. Commit to that feed and cull your herd to those that do well on it. Her experience was that it may take a few generations, but then you will have consistent results without questioning the feed. I would add that for this to work, you should choose a brand of feed known for keeping a consistent formula. We haven't been breeding long enough to see this in practice, but it does seem to have some validity.

 

[michaels4gardens]

I read a post on another rabbit group about feed from a long time successful show breeder that basically said "cull to your feed". Her opinion (in my paraphrase) was to find a good, decently priced feed that you can get locally that is consistently fresh and your current herd does reasonably well on it. Commit to that feed and cull your herd to those that do well on it. Her experience was that it may take a few generations, but then you will have consistent results without questioning the feed. I would add that for this to work, you should choose a brand of feed known for keeping a consistent formula. We haven't been breeding long enough to see this in practice, but it does seem to have some validity.

I used to feed Blue Seal because it had a dedicated formula, -- but-- I now believe this is less important than good quality, fresh feed, from a trusted manufacturing plant and distributor.

 

[skysthelimit]

I agree with judging on bad comments. I'm one of those people who will never use a Purina product, for my rabbits or dogs. But I know many who do quite successfully. On the flip side, MannaPro has done very well for me, except the store never seems to have it in stock. Now I'm using a feed based in my state, I love it, and my rabbits love it.

 

[ZRab]

They are in good shape. I have meat rabbits and they wean at 5 pounds and are 7 pounds by 10 weeks. I think they are in good shape. Some does jumpbinto feed some stay in back and not move.

Wow, 7lbs at 10 weeks, those are impressively big.

 

[bigfoot_158]

I feed Country Acres at 18%, My rabbits are eating me out of house home. I also feed fresh grass and dryed grass they eating like its going out of style. And some banana peels and cucumber skins for treats.

 

[REDMIST]

Just a update, I found a moldy bag of Blue Seal 17% two weeks ago. I took the bag back to the mill who than advised they could not refund my money since they had no way of knowing the bag with mold was from their store or the last bag they sold to me. I had the receipt in hand the bag was full. So I contacted Blue Seal direct to post a complaint and the email back was we fully support the local mill. So as of May 25 I switched to Southern States rabbit feed which is 18% and a dollar cheaper. The store is a semi feed mill. They guaranteed me that the feed will be fresh for me and if I had any issues to bring it back and they will make it right. I have since pulled all my feed for the farm from the original mill and placed with this location. We will see how the rabbits do with 18% protein. I think its a little high but it was comparable with the Blue Seal feed with a little more vitamin A. hope it works out.

 

[michaels4gardens]

Just a update, I found a moldy bag of Blue Seal 17% two weeks ago. I took the bag back to the mill who than advised they could not refund my money since they had no way of knowing the bag with mold was from their store or the last bag they sold to me. I had the receipt in hand the bag was full. So I contacted Blue Seal direct to post a complaint and the email back was we fully support the local mill. So as of May 25 I switched to Southern States rabbit feed which is 18% and a dollar cheaper. The store is a semi feed mill. They guaranteed me that the feed will be fresh for me and if I had any issues to bring it back and they will make it right. I have since pulled all my feed for the farm from the original mill and placed with this location. We will see how the rabbits do with 18% protein. I think its a little high but it was comparable with the Blue Seal feed with a little more vitamin A. hope it works out.

after the switch is complete, I am sure the rabbits will do just fine--- I think nursing does, and growing litters perform just a little better on the higher protein feed. Now days I put more value on fresh feed from a local source than name-brand, or dedicated formula. - especially if the local source is good to their customers. - any feed supplier who would treat a customer with a receipt, bringing back a sack of moldy feed like you describe, should be avoided at all costs. Those are the type folks who would purposely sell old / bad feed to customers to avoid inventory loss.... If it were me-- I would talk to your "new mill" people about feed formula changes-- and ask them if they would let you know when/ if they change ingredients so you can be sure to transition your animals to the new feed formula--- in my experience--- this helps make a mill operator aware that changing formula can cause problems... JMHO

 

[a7736100]

Which pellets are people using these days? I want to find the ingredients list for Southern States but can only find the Guaranteed Analysis.

 

[akane]

What works for each person's location. Manna pro is the best I found here but others find their bags have corn contamination from the mill frequently. Even brand names are often made locally because it's mostly just sticking the same ingredients into the same size pellet feed die so cheaper than shipping the feed from one location to the whole US. That makes even nationwide brands impacted by the quality of your local mills or at least from the closest major agricultural area. Some brands are a little more local to an area just because of how far the company has contracted mills from their startup location. There are 2 popular brands that most of my rabbits from the states between Iowa and Canada were on when I bought them but I can't find within Iowa. Kent is very common here for lots of animal feeds but rare in many other areas. If the kent store was more reliable the kent pellets worked fine too but they tend to only sell in kent specific feed stores that are small store fronts attached to warehouse space and order custom for each person. The local store just kept selling my bags with the person who ordered the most instead of holding any despite my requests.

 

[michaels4gardens]

Which pellets are people using these days? I want to find the ingredients list for Southern States but can only find the Guaranteed Analysis.

If the brand does not have a 'dedicated formula" the ingredient list is worthless- the best pellet I have ever used, is also the one that killed most of my rabbits-- the main ingredients was wheat, and alfalfa- it had no corn-- the mill added too much vit. D, -they killed thousands of rabbits in Idaho, and Utah, -... but-- my rabbits performed better on that- than they did on Blue seal, and Blue seal is hard to beat in my estimation ... Blue Seal has a dedicated formula..

http://fox13now.com/2016/10/25/warning- ... 00-deaths/

 

[WVForestGirl]

Thanks for this, it has been really helpful. I've been a little worried about my pellets but haven't been able to find a good alternative in my area.

My concern was that the ingredients list starts with several 'products' instead of defined ingredients. I was seeing this as a red flag for inferior product (the food is quite inexpensive) but recognize that it can also be a way of large chains to use local mills that may have different formulations.

The thing is, it's always fresh, always available and my bunnies do jump at it like it's yummy. I'm no rabbit but the stuff smells great, like a freshly mown field. My bunnies are healthy, bright eyed, and happy, and seem to be keeping condition. So, I'm going to stick with it.

 

[MaggieJ]

Which pellets are people using these days? I want to find the ingredients list for Southern States but can only find the Guaranteed Analysis.

Sometimes the tag on the bag will only have the Guaranteed Analysis, but if you contact the company's customer service they should be able to provide an ingredients list.

 

[akane]

Vague names and mysterious byproducts instead of defined named ingredients is often a way for them to use whatever is cheapest at a given time. The consistency and quality of the formula depends a whole lot more on the company and their relationship with the mill you get it from because they can put whatever restrictions or not on ingredients that they feel like. Some might simply choose the lesser cost of a couple quality local ingredients and make only small changes season to season or year to year that is not really noticeable in your rabbits. Others might just go with cheapest even when it means inferior to downright risky for their health and make changes that end up being a huge difference to the rabbit digestive tract. It's most often done by the latter type of company or mill and hard to sort out the ones that are good so usually avoided.

 

[Deer Heart]

I used feed from a local mill for many many years but then the quality suddenly started dipping significantly over the last couple years (it used to be so green and you could just smell the fresh alfalfa, I loved just inhaling the bags right after opening them - but then they gradually turned browner and now they just smell like any other pellet) and I finally found out why - they stopped actually making it locally (they proudly proclaimed one day on my facebook feed that they actually only made their horse feed locally anymore - to reduce the risk of horse feed being "contaminated by other feeds") I tried contacting them to find out where the frick they get their rabbit feed from then as the label specifically claims their mill as where it is made. They wouldn't reply. SO. I tried the $3 cheaper option of Manna Pro, which was a heck of a lot easier to find anyway. All feed stores here carry it (except for the aforementioned local feed mill who only sells their brand) and honestly would never go back. My buns are coming out far less fatter and because of it are going into regular heat cycles on their own (no more repeated failed dates) and popping out babies much easier. A lot of things I thought were normal before, weren't, and unfortunately breeding to that feed hadn't worked out well. A herd that had been on that feed and the offspring of those on that feed, and their offspring's offsprings... they had been on that feed all of their lives - only to thrive on manna pro in the end. So I'd say carefully experiment until you find one that gives you the results you want with easy availability and a price tag that is affordable. Also good hay, really good hay. I still get my hay from that feed mill because they mostly cater to horses and you'd better not sell bad hay to a horse person in this town. My buns eat mostly hay and a small amount of pellets even when I keep my J feeders full. I top dress the pellets of breeding does with a small amount of wheat germ oil.

I could go slightly cheaper on rabbit feed as we have Country Road (would save about $3 more a bag) for even less at rural king and most of the locals tell me that's what they use without any breeding or health issues, but we'll see.