What Do You Think About Hay Pellets?

[Mags]

Hi, returning member here. Yesterday I went to go get hay for my animals (both large and small). The supplier is a local hay, grain, and beef bussiness. Anyway, when I was there, I couldn't help noticing that they had "hay pellets" for all stock. I have never seen this before! (FYI, I am a North Idahoan, so I don't normally see this kind of stuff in the local shops that the rest of the nation is probably familiar with. We can be very limited in our options for feed, and I don't buy from big companies like Purina, only local processing). I have seen "alfalfa" before, but this is a mix primarily of bluegrass. Protien composition: 10%. I feed a high quality, complete pellet feed, and supplement with hay on a regular basis. As most of you know, rabbits love to waste hay, or at least make a mess of it. QUESTIONS: Are hay pellets just as effective as normal hay for their GI health? Or is it too processed already? Can I supplement using hay pellet only (no stems)? Thanks!

 

[Mags]

...And is bluegrass acceptable to feed rabbits?

 

[Buknee]

Hi, returning member here. Yesterday I went to go get hay for my animals (both large and small). The supplier is a local hay, grain, and beef bussiness. Anyway, when I was there, I couldn't help noticing that they had "hay pellets" for all stock. I have never seen this before! (FYI, I am a North Idahoan, so I don't normally see this kind of stuff in the local shops that the rest of the nation is probably familiar with. We can be very limited in our options for feed, and I don't buy from big companies like Purina, only local processing). I have seen "alfalfa" before, but this is a mix primarily of bluegrass. Protien composition: 10%. I feed a high quality, complete pellet feed, and supplement with hay on a regular basis. As most of you know, rabbits love to waste hay, or at least make a mess of it. QUESTIONS: Are hay pellets just as effective as normal hay for their GI health? Or is it too processed already? Can I supplement using hay pellet only (no stems)? Thanks!

Hello Mags,

I feed my goats the bluegrass pellets and the alfalfa pellets from Seeds Inc. in Worley. I have considered giving my rabbits the alfalfa pellets, but thus far have only given them a few. Avron (I think that's his name) from there said that his has people that feed their rabbits the alfalfa pellets all the time. It is definitely a whole lot cheaper than the rabbit pellets but I worry about the full nutrition. So I guess that isn't much help cause I would like to hear from someone who has been feeding it to their rabbits for a considerable period of time.

Yes, rabbits can have bluegrass. Also, if you are looking at Wood's or Twin Lakes for the pellets, they come from Seeds Inc. but are more expensive.

What breed of rabbits do you raise?

 

[Mags]

Ok, thank you. I feed Wood's rabbit maintainer. I saw those hay pellets at Twin for $10 per 50lbs. I would use it just as a supplement, and mix it with Woods. I'm trying to limit the waste of feeding normal hay. I raise New Zealands for meat, and have a couple of pets.

 

[Buknee]

Ok, thank you. I feed Wood's rabbit maintainer. I saw those hay pellets at Twin for $10 per 50lbs. I would use it just as a supplement, and mix it with Woods. I'm trying to limit the waste of feeding normal hay. I raise New Zealands for meat, and have a couple of pets.

I guess Twin Lakes is less than Seeds Inc. then. I think I paid $12 per 50 pounds. I think mixing should be perfectly fine, especially for bucks. Are your NZs pedigreed? My DinL is just switching to NZ.

 

[MuddyFarms]

Hi @Mags ! I have tried feeding Standlee’s Timothy pellets, with little success. My rabbits wasted quite a bit because the pellets were 1/4 inch in diameter, so they would drop it after chewing only a little bit off of it. The pellets were long enough that it was too much waste for me. Plus most of them didn’t like the pellets. Maybe it would still end up being less waste than loose hay, but my rabbits love the Standlee alfalfa/Timothy hay cubes so much I just feed those instead. I used to also feed loose Timothy/grass hay in addition to the cubes, but now I only use cubes. I also ran into the extra task of having to put and maintain separate crocks in all the cages for the hay pellets, whereas I can just throw a few cubes into the cages for them to devour much more efficiently.

I know using alfalfa pellets for rabbits is done, and often it’s helpful for people with goats and other animals that need hay, too, because they can just provide the same hay pellets to all of the animals. I’m thinking overall that would be less waste than feeding loose hay to all of them?

I have never fed them bluegrass, so I have no idea if mine would like that. Maybe you can let us know if you end up trying it? I mean if you have the rabbits try it!

 

[Mags]

I guess Twin Lakes is less than Seeds Inc. then. I think I paid $12 per 50 pounds. I think mixing should be perfectly fine, especially for bucks. Are your NZs pedigreed? My DinL is just switching to NZ.

Yes. I have pedigreed NZs. Once in a while I will sell out some out of my grow out pens. At the moment I have sold all of my pedigreed does (I eat the bucks, sell the does). They are decedents of the Harris Rabbitry in WA. I still have purebred does and bucks right now. I think they are 6 mo, they were born in June. I wouldn't have pedigree-able kits until Spring. Just throwing it out there. Thanks for the imput.

 

[Mags]

Hi @Mags ! I have tried feeding Standlee’s Timothy pellets, with little success. My rabbits wasted quite a bit because the pellets were 1/4 inch in diameter, so they would drop it after chewing only a little bit off of it. The pellets were long enough that it was too much waste for me. Plus most of them didn’t like the pellets. Maybe it would still end up being less waste than loose hay, but my rabbits love the Standlee alfalfa/Timothy hay cubes so much I just feed those instead. I used to also feed loose Timothy/grass hay in addition to the cubes, but now I only use cubes. I also ran into the extra task of having to put and maintain separate crocks in all the cages for the hay pellets, whereas I can just throw a few cubes into the cages for them to devour much more efficiently.

I know using alfalfa pellets for rabbits is done, and often it’s helpful for people with goats and other animals that need hay, too, because they can just provide the same hay pellets to all of the animals. I’m thinking overall that would be less waste than feeding loose hay to all of them?

I have never fed them bluegrass, so I have no idea if mine would like that. Maybe you can let us know if you end up trying it? I mean if you have the rabbits try it!

I understand; I never had success feeding those big pellets either. I think these ones are smaller, so I will try using this feed. If they don't like bluegrass, I can just feed it to the other critters. Thanks!

 

[MuddyFarms]

I understand; I never had success feeding those big pellets either. I think these ones are smaller, so I will try using this feed. If they don't like bluegrass, I can just feed it to the other critters. Thanks!

Oh good! Smaller should be great.

 

[rockyhillrabbits]

I have fed the alfalfa pellets but not a single rabbit would eat them. I tried hay cubes too, same thing. They didn't touch them. So I buy hay and made wire hay racks in the vain hopes it would reduce hay wastage. Did it help? Maybe just a little. But they love hay and like going through it to find the tastiest bits and it gives them something to do/play with.

 

[Skai]

I've struggled with how to keep my buns from wasting hay. I now put a thick-ish layer of straw in one corner and put the hay on top of the straw. The straw packs down and keeps the hay from falling thru the wire and as long they don't decide to use it for their bathroom it works good.