Do You Need to Feed Hay to Meat Rabbits? Should You?

There are basically two camps among meat rabbit raisers -- those that feed hay to their rabbits and those that don’t.

So which is right?

Do you have to feed hay to your meat rabbits? Should you feed hay?

Jump to:

• Meat Rabbits Need a Solid Feed Base, and It’s Usually Pellets
• The Arguments Against Feeding Hay to Production Meat Rabbits
• Why I Choose to Feed Supplemental Hay to My Meat Rabbits
• No “Right” or “Wrong,” Just Different Choices

Meat Rabbits Need a Solid Feed Base, and It’s Usually Pellets

Regardless of where you fall with the hay-or-no-hay issue, you need to have a good, solid feed base for your meat rabbits. It needs to be one that is

• Balanced in nutrition, including salt, vitamins, minerals, and nutrients
• Has adequate protein with a minimum of 15%, but 16% to 18% protein is even better and more the norm (in fact, you won’t find a lot of meat rabbit feeds with lower than 16% protein)
• Provides adequate fiber of at least 15% (sources vary on the amount of fiber rabbits need, but a minimum of 15%, veering more towards 20% to 25%, seems to be an agreeable consensus)

This is, of course, a brief summary of the feed needs of meat rabbits. There’s a lot that goes into what makes a good feed, but the bottom line is that a good quality pellet from a reputable feed mill will be balanced in protein, fiber, and nutrition. On its own, a good-quality pellet will be a complete feed in and of itself.

There are other feed options, too, like growing your own and raising rabbits in tractors or on forage. For the purposes of this discussion, I’ve left those out. (Because, for one, I don’t have experience with it, and for two, this isn’t what most people mean when they ask this question. Also…hay would undoubtedly have a place in most plant or forage-based feed programs at some point during the year, so for them, it’s probably not a question.)

So why would you need to feed hay?

In short? You don’t. Not if your pellet is of good quality and nutrition. (By the way, pet store rabbit feeds are almost always not that and are exponentially more expensive, so avoid them!)

You can, and many meat rabbit raisers do, choose to feed only a high-quality rabbit pellet that is at least 16% protein.

But. You still might choose to feed hay with your pellets. Many of us do.

The Arguments Against Feeding Hay to Production Meat Rabbits

What’s so bad about feeding hay to meat rabbits? (Besides nothing?)

Here are a few of the arguments against it:

They don’t need it

This goes back to the basis that feeding a good quality pellet provides a balanced ration and fiber. Pellets have everything a rabbit needs.

It’s true, and if you don’t want to deal with feeding hay or if it creates an unwieldy expense for you, then you shouldn’t.

Feeding hay slows meat rabbit growth rates

In most cases, it is true that the path to the fastest, most efficient meat production in meat rabbits is to feed a controlled, high-protein pellet. But it seems to often be overstated how big of an impact this is.

In my experience, the slowed rate of growth is minimal, and it is worth it on the balance. I believe I produce cheaper meat, even if there is a little less of it (which I’m not convinced is true, either), or even if it takes a little longer to get the rabbits to harvestable weights (which I have also not found to be true).

For me, I select the feed program I keep and breed towards that end. I have no problem hitting five pounds of live weight by 12 weeks, with some lines like the champagnes achieving this in 9 to 10 weeks. So, at least for me, it makes sense to utilize hay and capture some of its benefits while still growing fast, efficient meat.

Feeding hay is extra work

This is also true. Feeding hay adds one more step to your daily feed routine. It’s not a lot of extra work, but it can’t be argued that feeding hay doesn’t require an (albeit small) extra step.

With the hay racks I use, it might add five minutes for 40 cages. It’s negligible.

It does add some mess to the floor, though, and there is sometimes hayseed in the waste, which might be an issue depending on how you use your manure and whether you hot compost it first. Because my hay racks hang outside the cages and not over the drop pans, this isn’t much of an issue for me, either.

Feeding hay to meat rabbits makes them fill up on hay instead of pellets

This, I imagine, is a personal experience. It would probably depend a lot on the lines of rabbits you keep and some on the individual rabbits, too. I can say that I have a few individuals who like their hay more than their pellets, but even they still eat both.

My experience and this has been backed up in conversations online and off with other meat rabbit breeders, is that most of the time, the rabbits prefer the pellets and will go to them first. Hay seems to be a secondary choice for them. I’ve never had one that doesn’t at least go back and forth.

I do have some individuals who will clean out the hay rack every night. I have others that won’t finish theirs in three days. Most fall in between. They eat all or almost all of their expected pellet ration and have some hay left in the feeder, usually half or more.

Why I Choose to Feed Supplemental Hay to My Meat Rabbits

The list of reasons why people feed hay to their meat rabbits probably varies from breeder to breeder. I’d expect that many repeat or overlap.

Here are the reasons why I personally prefer to feed my meat rabbits hay:

I have good access to affordable, quality field hay

This is the top reason why I feed hay to my meat rabbits. I live in a farming community where there is good access to affordable hay. In fact, a lot of my hay is “free” to me (or at least, cash money doesn’t need to change hands), simply because we help neighbors hay and barter or trade labor for it.

So here, hay is accessible and affordable. Truth be told, if hay were not readily available at a cheaper price than pellets, I probably would not feed it.

Hay is cheaper than pellets, so it helps to minimize my feed costs

Even if I were to buy it, hay is cheap in comparison to pellets, ounce per ounce, where I live. This does not mean I would replace pellets with hay. Only that I supplement pellets with hay.

I still let the pellets do the heavy lifting and rely on them for the known analysis of contents and nutrition.

Adding some hay to the feed program reduces the overall feed costs of my rabbitry, which, as the University of Michigan says, accounts for about 75% of the production costs in a rabbitry.

Hay’s fiber promotes good digestive health in meat rabbits

Fiber is critical to rabbit health. It is what keeps their digestive system moving. Hay is full of fiber. That fiber promotes good digestive health and prevents a lot of problems with GI stasis and other ailments.

Supplemental hay will generally help keep your meat rabbits in good digestive health, and that is essential to efficient meat growth.

It does not guarantee that you will never have a digestive problem in your rabbitry, but it also should be said that those problems often have other root causes. Examples include stress, heat stress, low hydration, not enough access to water, viral illnesses, imbalanced microbiome/probiotics in the gut (and fiber promotes healthy gut flora), parasites, and blockages from hair (which is often, but not always because there is not enough fiber to push the fur through the intestinal tract).

It’s generally lower in protein than pellets, which helps in some instances

In many cases of gastrointestinal illness, the answer is fiber, and more specifically, a blander diet with lower protein. Simply put, hay is that. It is typically the first go-to, the answer to digestive distress in rabbits.

Hay helps transition kits through pre-weaning and weaning

The fiber in hay helps kits transition through the vulnerable times of weaning. It helps to maintain a good gut flora as the kits transition away from receiving their essential probiotics from their mother’s milk and cecotropes.

The lower protein can be helpful here as well as the fiber, as higher protein can sometimes be too hard for kits to take during this transitionary period. This is one of (but not the only) causes of weaning enteritis.

Hay is one of the best preventions of that frequently fatal disease.

The rabbits know hay and are used to it, so it can be an emergency fallback

Hay is not foreign to my rabbits, so they do not turn their nose up at it. That means that, even if I can’t get hold of my regular pellets for some reason, I have a secondary food source that they will readily accept and that will not cause GI stasis, stomach upset, diarrhea, or other issues.

I have not ever had an instance in which I could not get my regular pellets, but there have been times when there were limits on bags, which means their being out-of-stock was only one step away.

And one never knows what the future really brings.

Also, while pelleted feed is largely regional (meaning that the brand and formulation that I can buy in my area might be different than what another grower can get), hay really is not. Good, basic, horse-quality field hay will almost always be tolerated by the rabbits without having to transition them onto it.

They know and accept hay, which is helpful in times of digestive stress

Feed shortages are not the only times when I might want to feed only hay. I might also limit a meat rabbit or rabbits to hay if they are experiencing digestive stress. It is my first line of offense in dealing with gut and stomach problems in the rabbitry: Good, plain hay and water with probiotics.

Because my rabbits know and accept hay, it is not a problem for them to accept it if I need to limit their pellets.

https://youtu.be/YbWkCGMr0ww

Hay helps reduce rabbit boredom (which leads to other issues in the rabbitry)

Rabbits can get bored, and when they do, they often get destructive. Hay, like sticks, pinecones, and other “chewies,” keeps the rabbits occupied. They have to work a bit harder for the hay, and they have to chew it a bit more to consume it.

This reduces the amount of chewing on things like cage cups, feeders, cage wires, and rest mats. Of course, nothing will eliminate it completely, but hay helps!

Mischievous pellet-scratchers still have feed in front of them

In every litter, there seems to be at least one rabbit that likes to scratch at its feed and waste it. And it doesn’t seem that there is a feeder that will stop them from doing it if they are determined.

Someone always seems to figure out how to spill their feed, too.

When this happens, because they have hay available, I at least know they are not going hungry and that the lack of feed for a number of hours is not working completely against me in that all-important growth rate and rate of muscle (meat) gain.

The fiber analysis of pelleted feeds is not strictly guaranteed

If you look at the analysis on pellet feed bags, they’ll often list a range for the fiber rather than an exact amount. For example, the pellet I feed lists a “Minimum” Crude Fiber and a “Maximum.” The range is 15% to 20%, respectively.

What this tells me is that the fiber content can vary without new labeling.

And so, by offering hay as an additional source of fiber, my rabbits can make up the difference on their own.

My Feed Company Recommends It

Lastly, the tag on my rabbit pellets, which is from a reputable regional mill (Poulin Grain), does, in fact, recommend feeding hay. It may be to even out the fiber content, as mentioned above. It may be because it is proven good practice for meat rabbits.

Regardless, while this is not the reason why I feed hay to my meat rabbits, it does reinforce my instinct that feeding hay is, at least for me, good practice.

No “Right” or “Wrong,” Just Different Choices

At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong in the discussion of whether or not to feed hay to your meat rabbits. The answer is different for everyone. A lot depends on cost, access to hay, and access to quality pelleted feed.

The only right answer is for you to consider with an open mind the reasons why others choose to feed hay and the reasons they choose not to, as well. That, and the experience and performance of your rabbits (along with, perhaps, their overall cost and efficiency), is what should guide your decision as regards whether or not you should feed your meat rabbits hay.