Thoughts on winter grasses?

[CanineWild]

Hey all, hope everyone's keeping safe and well!

Anyway, I went for a hike today (first really nice day here- wore t-shirt the whole time, first day of the year that was possible!), and after seeing all the dead and dried standing grasses largely unburied from snow now, I had a thought.

Is that suitable for rabbit feed? Can anyone think of any reason having spent the winter outside might cause it to lose nutrients or become otherwise unusable? Assuming of course that nice dry stuff is selected and not obviously wet and rotting stuff.

 

[Bunny-Wan Kenobi]

Most (If not all) grasses are safe for rabbits to consume, so as long as you keep out the rotting stuff like you said, I don't imagine it would be much different from feeding them hay. (If somebody corrects me on this, definitely listen to them, though.)

 

[michaels4gardens]

although dry ,overwintered, mature grass has less nutrition than hay harvested at its prime,
it is still "good" for feed, and a "great" source of long stem fiber.

 

[CanineWild]

Ah, thanks a lot guys! I appreciate the info, and I know it'll come in handy in the future!

 

[robeyw]

While it is safe, my rabbit won't eat it even if it is this year's growth. Even when eating late season grass with brown tips, she eats up to the brown and drops it, treating it like straw. (She dislikes most hay but will eat it.)

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

Nutritional content will vary depending on winter weather conditions and the forage. Different grasses and forbs will keep their nutrition better than others. If you're interested look up articles on winter grazing livestock. The biggest problem for rabbits is that the winter forage is much easier to graze cows or sheep on that to try and human harvest and bring to rabbits.

 

[CanineWild]

@ohiogoatgirl Oh, I hadn't thought to look for livestock winter grazing studies- that's a great idea, I'll do that!

Now that I've postponed getting rabbits till this spring rather than last fall, I should have plenty of time gathering summer grasses, but the info is still interesting to me