Do I need to give my buns grass as well as hay?

[sarahthegemini]

Hi guys, sorry for all the questions I’ve been asking but here’s another! I feed my buns Timothy Hay  (the brand is Alfalfa King – it looked greener than the other hays in the store, including ones by BURGESS, it also looked longer-stemmed) Anyway, I put in an order with The Hay Experts for some dried weeds and I received a free sample of Friendly Timothy Readigrass which is a mix of Timothy and Rye grass. Which of course got me thinking, should I be providing grasses as well as hay? (Although isn’t hay just dried grass? So is it worth giving Timothy Hay AND Timothy grass?) I’m just a tad confused ! I want to make sure I’m giving my bunbuns everything they need.

[Bam]

You don’t have to give your buns grass as well as hay – but you can if you want to. Many bunnies like readigrass a lot. Hay is more important though, readigrass is a little bit richer. You can use readigrass as a hay topper or a special treat.

So readigrass is for spoiling the littlee one with a healthy treat, and hay is the basis of the bunny food-pyramid. At least 805 of a bun’s daily food intake should ideally be hay.

[VivaLaBunz]

Hi Sarah! Bunnies get most of their nutritional intake from their pellets and hay so fresh grass is really not necessary, although they love eating it! I’m not 100% sure but I think fresh grass is basically like feeding any other fresh green or veg. It is beneficial if they get it daily but in limited amounts (information on feeding fresh vegetables can be found here:

http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet )

 

Fresh grass and vegetables are good because of their water content too, more hydration!

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By bam on 11/17/2016 10:37 AM

You don’t have to give your buns grass as well as hay – but you can if you want to. Many bunnies like readigrass a lot. Hay is more important though, readigrass is a little bit richer. You can use readigrass as a hay topper or a special treat.

So readigrass is for spoiling the littlee one with a healthy treat, and hay is the basis of the bunny food-pyramid. At least 805 of a bun’s daily food intake should ideally be hay.

Thank you Bam! So, I could just mix some of the Readigrass in with their hay (like I would with the weeds I bought) rather than giving them large quantities of it? Would it be suitable as an ‘every day hay topper’ or would that be too much? Perhaps I could alternate it with the weeds?

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By VivaLaBunz on 11/17/2016 10:41 AM

Hi Sarah! Bunnies get most of their nutritional intake from their pellets and hay so fresh grass is really not necessary, although they love eating it! I’m not 100% sure but I think fresh grass is basically like feeding any other fresh green or veg. It is beneficial if they get it daily but in limited amounts (information on feeding fresh vegetables can be found here:

http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet )

 

Fresh grass and vegetables are good because of their water content too, more hydration!

Thank you VivaLaBunz! That link you posted is incredibly informative. I will study it and make notes!

[Peri and Poe]

Our rabbits are very picky, we found that although they tolerate other hays, they absolutely love Readigrass. I think its fine giving one or the other but it may be nice to mix it up once in a while.

[Chelsea]

Hay is dried grass, so timothy grass and timothy hay should be the exact same thing, except with different water contents. It is true that when grass is harvested to dry into hay it is usually fairly well-grown and often has seed heads with a higher fat/protein content, which would likely make it different from what you might normally call “grass.” I would think the nutrient value in fresh grass would be higher, but I don’t know if there are any studies to back that up. I imagine it would be like fresh vs. dried herbs though for people.

If you are talking about a different species of grass and hay, they would of course have different nutrient values.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Chelsea on 11/18/2016 5:53 PM

Hay is dried grass, so timothy grass and timothy hay should be the exact same thing, except with different water contents. It is true that when grass is harvested to dry into hay it is usually fairly well-grown and often has seed heads with a higher fat/protein content, which would likely make it different from what you might normally call “grass.” I would think the nutrient value in fresh grass would be higher, but I don’t know if there are any studies to back that up. I imagine it would be like fresh vs. dried herbs though for people.

If you are talking about a different species of grass and hay, they would of course have different nutrient values.

So nutritionally speaking, it would be better to get a different type of grass, say oat grass for example  (I think I saw an oat variety by Readigrass) to mix with the Timothy Hay? 

[Vienna Blue in France]

Hay is last on Henry’s list of scrumminess… but give him fresh grass and he chomps until it’s gone !!

So not sure what the attraction is but I give it to them everyday in the summer – less in winter cos there’s not much growth…

[sarahthegemini]

I popped to the farm shop today to check out what veggies they have and saw a big bag of Meadow hay for only £2.75! So I bought that to mix with their Timothy Hay. All I need now is oat grass and I think that’ll be enough My Mum thinks my bunbuns are spoilt but there’s nothing wrong with taking good care of them and keeping things interesting for them!

[Chelsea]

That sounds great!

Like Vienna Blue, during the summer Silas eats half mixed grasses I harvest from my property (where I know it hasn’t been sprayed and it grows tall just for him), and half timothy hay. During the winter he just gets timothy hay.

[Bam]

There’s quite a lot of variation nutrition-wise depending on in which state of growth the grass/hay is harvested. Here’s a chart just to demonstrate this: http://www.guinealynx.info/hay_chart.html (The chart is made by a person who keeps Guinea pigs.) In addition to this, nutritional value depend on the soil and the weather the hay was grown in. You get richer hay on fertilized grounds. You get more simple sugars if the weather has been really sunny.

Adult rabbits need really skinny, high fiber food. Spring grass is particularly high in simple sugars. For this reason, many horse-owners don’t let their horses graze freely in the spring. Horses and bunnies have similar digestive-systems. Both species have evolved to eat skinny, fiber-rich food on many occasions during the day.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By bam on 11/19/2016 10:03 AM

There’s quite a lot of variation nutrition-wise depending on in which state of growth the grass/hay is harvested. Here’s a chart just to demonstrate this: http://www.guinealynx.info/hay_chart.html (The chart is made by a person who keeps Guinea pigs.) In addition to this, nutritional value depend on the soil and the weather the hay was grown in. You get richer hay on fertilized grounds. You get more simple sugars if the weather has been really sunny.

Adult rabbits need really skinny, high fiber food. Spring grass is particularly high in simple sugars. For this reason, many horse-owners don’t let their horses graze freely in the spring. Horses and bunnies have similar digestive-systems. Both species have evolved to eat skinny, fiber-rich food on many occasions during the day.

It’s never simple is it 

[sarahthegemini]

I don’t think my buns appreciate the Meadow hay – they got all excited and then lost interest. I think they thought it was their regular Timothy Hay. I put some Timothy on top to entice them but I don’t think it’s for them! Ah well, it was only £2.75 so no great loss.

[Bam]

sarah, no it isnt =)

But as long as the buns eat a lot of grass hay, a little bit of quality pellets and some fresh greens, they’ll be fine. Readigrass and weeds would work great as hay-toppers. It’s really best to rotate toppers, because they tend to get bored with any one type if they always get the same. If you rotate toppers, chances are greater they’ll be exited every time.

[Gina.Jenny]

My six buns spend 12 hours a day outside in the summer, eating lots of fresh grass, then tucking into unlimited hay when they come indoors overnight. In the winter, they get a big handful of dried or fresh grass per bun per day, plus the all important unlimited hay

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By bam on 11/19/2016 12:18 PM

sarah, no it isnt =)

But as long as the buns eat a lot of grass hay, a little bit of quality pellets and some fresh greens, they’ll be fine. Readigrass and weeds would work great as hay-toppers. It’s really best to rotate toppers, because they tend to get bored with any one type if they always get the same. If you rotate toppers, chances are greater they’ll be exited every time.

I’ve got 5 different weeds/flowers so far and I plan to get quite a few more as well as the readigrass so they shouldn’t get bored They get excited for their Timothy Hay every time,  they try and jump in the bag  

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Gina.Jenny on 11/19/2016 12:49 PM

My six buns spend 12 hours a day outside in the summer, eating lots of fresh grass, then tucking into unlimited hay when they come indoors overnight. In the winter, they get a big handful of dried or fresh grass per bun per day, plus the all important unlimited hay

I’ll start giving my buns a handful of that oat Readigrass (obviously once I’ve bought it!) along with their Timothy Hay Hopefully that will please them…along with all the lovely hay toppers

[Gina.Jenny]

Fresh oat grass gives some of my buns upset tums, I would use even dried sparingly til you see how it affects your bun’s tum.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Gina.Jenny on 11/19/2016 2:03 PM

Fresh oat grass gives some of my buns upset tums, I would use even dried sparingly til you see how it affects your bun’s tum.

Gosh I hadn’t thought that hays and grasses can give upset tummies. I’ll start off slow then,  thanks for the heads up Gina!

[Azerane]

Really GJ, dried as well? That is unusual, the most common hay type for bunnies here is oaten so I guess that just surprises me.

[Gina.Jenny]

Only tried the fresh, grew it myself, but it gave Podge and Pippi upset tums, so the piggies got the rest!

[Bam]

Since you are in the UK you can get Burn’s green oat hay. That’s a big fav with my bunny Bam. I order it for him from the UK.

But honestly, you don’t need it. Not if they love their timothy. The only reason why I don’t feed a lot of timothy is that I myself am allergic to it. It’s great for bunnies.

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By bam on 11/20/2016 12:45 AM

Since you are in the UK you can get Burn’s green oat hay. That’s a big fav with my bunny Bam. I order it for him from the UK.

But honestly, you don’t need it. Not if they love their timothy. The only reason why I don’t feed a lot of timothy is that I myself am allergic to it. It’s great for bunnies.

I saw that Burns green oat hay and was tempted but I ended up getting the friendly green oat Readigrass to try out. I’m glad to hear it isn’t a necessity, especially as they are so happy with their Timothy. But what can I say, I just wanna spoil them 

[Bam]

Rabbits are too cute not to be spoilt!

[MyPets101]

You dont need to give them grass, but as long as you are absolutely positive there are no chemicals or anything on it, I’d say go for it! I give my buns fresh grass that I grew myself, and they LOVE IT!!

[Author]

Messages