Wild rabbits are known to graze on land which has previously been grazed by larger animals. Typically cows and horses can eat longer grass, with goats and sheep better designed to nibble the grass even closer to the ground, and then come the rabbits.

Therefore the grass that wild rabbits eat will be a combination of mature grasses and wild plants which have been grazed by larger animals, and that could be of any age, together with new shoots.

Unlike larger animals, fields are not a barrier to rabbit traffic and they are free to graze roadside verges and hedgerows. Plus of course the farmer’s grain fields! But their natural diet is grass and some wild herbage.

Young grasses are high in protein, lower in calcium and lower in fibre than mature grasses. As the grass grows, the fibre and calcium levels increase. When seed heads form the phosphorous level increases in relationship to calcium and the seed heads provide carbohydrate which is used as an energy source.

Rabbits in the wild breed on a cycle of ‘rising nutrition’. In other words the does become fertile when they sense the nutritional value of the grass starting to increase. That way, when they are suckling their young, they will themselves be feeding on grass which is high in protein and lower in fibre than their winter maintenance diet.

The seeding grasses provide energy for the winter when food is scarce and allow the rabbit to put down fat to sustain itself through the winter months.

Wild rabbits eat frequently at dawn and dusk. After eating they retire to their burrows and ingest the caecal pellets which are high in protein and B complex vitamins, safe from predators.

Rabbits obtain most if not all of the moisture they need from grass and other herbage. When grass is scarce they will strip bark from trees for nourishment and moisture.

In the course of excavating their burrows they will chew through roots and these will provide important nutrients, though they would not actively seek roots out otherwise if fresh grass was available.

Grass is the best food for rabbits. It is what they were designed by nature to eat. BUT and it is a BIG BUT, the captive diet we feed them on, especially if it is a commercial muesli, is a long way from nature.

That is why rabbits must be weaned onto a more natural diet of grass at a sensible pace. Their digestive tract, the enzymes and bacteria within it, all need to adjust to a healthier diet.

Putting rabbits fed on muesli out onto lush, rich, summer grass is asking for trouble! And if the grass is wet it can be even worse.

Grass cuttings can be lethal as they start to break down and ferment as soon as the grass is cut. This is part of the hay curing process however, and once dried, the grass is once again safe and digestible.

Cut grass fed to rabbits can also ‘go off’ in warm weather if you feed more than can be eaten in a small meal.

The best way to introduce muesli or pellet fed rabbits to grass is to put them put on it when it is low in nutrition but dry. Mid to late spring, or mid autumn.

Then they will adjust to the changes of the grass cycle and have fewer problems.

Once used to grass, rabbits can play in the rain and snow if they choose to and will eat only what is good for them if they have ad lib hay, some veg and a few pellets indoors.

The higher % of (short) natural growing grass a rabbit’s diet contains the healthier that rabbit will be if it has been properly re-introduced to it’s natural diet.

Cheap rabbit food; plus it mows and fertilises the lawn at the same time. What more could you ask?

So hay is not the *best* food for rabbits, grass is – hay is the best we can do in captivity to provide the essential fibre for dental abrasion and gut motility. It lacks moisture, it is unnaturally long, but it is the best solution in captivity because it is balanced in terms of energy, protein, fibre and minerals.

Hay echoes the mature grass stubble which remains after larger animals have grazed the land and the high protein shoots of grass which emerge inbetween the stubble, combined.

The length of the strands in hay keep the rabbit busy and replicate the constant grinding action of the teeth which grazing the stubble and young grass shoots would provide. It does not matter whether the hay is long or chopped. The important things are the grinding action of the teeth, the abrasive action of the silicates and fibre in the hay, and the through-put of essential indigestible lignified fibre in the hay to promote healthy gut motility.

Hay is a substitute for grass. Grass, if properly introduced to a captive rabbit is a much better food than hay. They need hay because we do not normally leave our rabbits out for 24 hours per day! When we lock them up at night they need something to keep them going – by the time we’re ready to let them out in the morning, most wild rabbits would have a good few hours feeding under their belts and would be returing to their burrows to ingest their caecal pellets at their leisure.