Rabbits in pet homes are used to eating their standard pelleted “trail mix”, a handful of overpriced hay, and maybe a few bagged treats, which can cost owners a lot of money while potentially causing numerous health problems for the pet. If there is one thing that should be replaced quickly, it’s the rabbit food with lots of seeds, treats, and other goodies in it; it’s not good for the rabbit to ingest.
Rabbits on the homestead tend to receive a more pure form of rabbit hay pellets without the carbohydrate-rich treats, some high quality baled hay, and fresh produce or a handful of greens. This effort to feed the animals a cleaner, more natural diet ensures they’re healthy, happy, and growing until processing day comes. However, this can be quite expensive, too.
So, how about feeding rabbits naturally? Getting back to the roots of a rabbit’s natural diet could drastically reduce your feed costs; in fact, if done properly, you may not pay for feed at all.
Let’s check out of some the questions and answers related to feeding rabbits in a natural, healthy way that will not only be good for the rabbits, but good for your wallet too!
Can Bunnies Eat Horse Hay?
Horse hay tends to be very clean, free of most weeds and noxious plants. Horses must also have barn kept, or “never-wet” hay. This simply means that once the hay was baled in the field, it NEVER got wet. If a bale of hay is rained on, there is a significant risk of mold. Mold is very dangerous for horses and rabbits. Farmers take baling and hay storage very seriously; if hay is to be marketed as “horse quality”, it is generally perfectly safe for rabbits.
Horse hay is far cheaper than those pretty little bags of bunny hay, as well. As a matter of fact, most of those little bags are much the same thing! While you might pay $10 for a tiny bag of “rabbit” hay, you could be paying $5 for a bale of high quality, first cutting horse hay during the spring time. In some cases, you could pay even less if you can pick it up from the field on baling day!
However, please ensure that you are buying hay that is pesticide and herbicide free. If you are raising your rabbits for meat, it is unlikely that you want them ingesting these chemicals. They may also be excreted in the rabbits’ waste, which could then make its way into your compost pile, your garden beds, your vegetables, and back onto your table disguised as a hot meal. This is, of course, personal preference; however, many beginner homesteaders might not consider this IF they are pursuing an all natural, organic homestead. A single bale of hay can and will introduce these compounds throughout the homestead, so it is important to do your research if you are all-organic.
What Type of Hay Is Best for Rabbits?
When raising rabbits, you must think of your inactive breeders, pregnant/lactating does, and grow outs as three separate groups.
Inactive breeders require the lowest protein content food, and they will require rationed feedings. You do not want overweight breeders, as they may refuse to breed or have a low conception rate; excess protein can also cause health issues. Therefore, alfalfa hays, clover hays, and any other high protein hay should not be fed if pellets are rationed, as well. These rabbits will require a standard grass hay, such as timothy or orchard.
For pregnant or lactating does, a higher protein content is required within their meals. If they are fed pellets, this is not a large concern. However, naturally fed rabbits will require hay that has a higher protein content, such as alfalfa or clover. Be sure to offer regular grass hay to them as well, so that they can choose between the two as needed. They must be free fed, as it is difficult to predict how much food a mother needs to ensure her kits are thriving.
Growout bunnies require high protein food, and they must be free fed, as well. If you restrict food access to the grow outs, you could limit their growth. When dealing with meat breeds such as New Zealands or Californians, you will be expecting a bunny to weigh approximately 5 pounds by 8 to 10 weeks old. This is over 1/2 lb per week when breeding good, heavy lines! These bunnies tend to be offered free choice grass hay when fed unlimited pellets, but they can be raised on some high protein clover or alfalfa hay and fresh pasture, as well. They may grow a bit slower if the protein content isn’t quite as high, which may result in a later dispatch date. However, naturally fed rabbits on hay are worth the wait!
Best Grass for Rabbits: The Most Natural Method of Feeding Meat Rabbits
If you want to go extremely natural when feeding your buns, try out some grass, and leave the pellets behind! I always recommend keeping hay on hand and available to rabbits, though; rabbits may eat their fresh food quickly, or it may begin to rot/decompose, at which point the rabbit will opt for the hay instead.
Grass, such as rye grass, bermuda grass, timothy grass, orchard grass, and many more species grow through the country, and even throughout the world. Most grasses are perfectly fine for rabbits to eat; you must be more concerned with identifying weeds (such as broad leafed ones), as that is where any toxic species may lie. The best grass for rabbits will be free of any pesticides, herbicides, and insects; avoid feeding grass that is covered in ants or slugs, because neither you or your rabbits will be very happy about that.
Dutch or White Clover is another common plant that grows freely in most lawns, but you must limit the amount of clover that adult rabbits eat. Instead, allow the bunnies to enjoy a majority of the clover. The higher protein content will help them to grow. Again, this high protein content is not ideal for inactive breeding does, adult bucks, or adult pet does.
Can Rabbits Eat Grass Clippings?
When you mow your yard, you might think that all of that fresh cut grass looks like a delicious shredded salad for the bunnies. But can rabbits eat grass clippings? While they might eat them with zero issues, there are several that could arise.
I would not feed rabbits grass clippings from a gas powered lawn mower or weed trimmer, firstly. There is the risk that fuel or exhaust could have contaminated the clippings. If this is true in toxic amounts, your bunnies may become very ill or potentially pass away.
Another thought is this: when grass is cut, the decomposition process starts rapidly; especially in hot weather. These tools chop and shred the foliage, which accelerates decomposition by destroying the cell walls. Imagine, if you will, a head of lettuce. If you cut the lettuce off at the stalk, it will stay healthy and crisp for days on end. However, if you stomp on that lettuce a few times, it will rot quite quickly. This decomposition could make the bunnies ill for various reasons.
Backyard, Pastured Meat Rabbits
Have you thought about pastured meat rabbits? Backyard meat rabbits can be raised on pasture; in many cases, this simply means placing the rabbits inside of a tractor or colony pasture system in order for them to forage for their own food. Pastured rabbits simply need to be moved from time to time and supplied water; ensure that the rabbits are growing well and holding decent weights, if they are not growing or maintaining weight, you may need to move the rabbits to fresh pasture more frequently.
By raising the rabbits on pasture, you can effectively feed your rabbits 100% naturally without added feed. This is what many self sufficient homesteaders strive for, as commercial alfalfa pellets just aren’t feasible to produce on a family homestead.
Growing Fodder for Rabbits as a Free Ranging Alternative
Fodder systems are excellent if you are raising rabbits. A 50 lb bag of seed (whether you are using a wheat fodder system, barely fodder system, or oat fodder system, you can buy the seed in bulk), tends to cost between $8 and $15 per bag. Wheat berries are on the cheaper end, and produce quite well. a 50 lb bag will yield between 200 and 400 lb of fodder; for $10 and some of your time, you really can’t beat an average of $0.03 to $0.05 per pound with the fodder system for rabbits!
Growing fodder for rabbits is excellent for homesteads with very little land that are using intensive rabbit breeding practices. Since rabbits can exhaust a standard sized lawn quickly, fodder can quickly step in to provide the buns with a nutrient-packed, cheap, easy to grow, natural, green, and LIVE food source. Just be sure to use fodder growing practices that reduce or prevent mold, so that your animals do not become seriously ill from contaminated fodder. 
Feeding Rabbits without Pellets
If you’re making the move to raising rabbits naturally and feeding rabbits naturally, you’re probably trying to plan your colony’s program so that you’re feeding rabbits without pellets. Pellets are largely made of ground hay and mineral mixes, combined with a binder and/or water, then extruded through a pelleting machine. To be perfectly honest, pellets are unnecessary unless you are breeding your does intensively (not recommended, you can get far more healthy litters and a longer reproduction life out of a properly maintained doe), or trying to grow meat kits as fast as possible. However, you can still manage this if you are paying close attention to the forages that your rabbits eat!
You need to be on the lookout for symptoms of any deficiencies among your rabbits, and this includes the rabbits’ weight. Try gathering or growing higher protein grasses, forage, or fodder for your breeding does and growing bunnies. If you can offer your rabbits the right balance of natural food, you may not notice a very large difference in their growth rates! The flavor of the meat could be vastly different, but this is commonplace when raising your own food rather than buying caged, grain-fed meat at market.
Do Rabbits Need Salt?
You walk into any kind of pet store or pet section within a department store, and there they are: cute little salt blocks, some shaped and colored like veggies, with their hardware to attach them to the cage. They’re so commonly used and so widely available that a rabbit owner might assume that their rabbits ACTUALLY need them. Do rabbits need salt? Absolutely not! Rabbits don’t require additional salt like many other animals do. Pellets actually contain salt, perhaps too much salt in some cases. Don’t waste your money on salt licks for all of your rabbits; it’s a waste of your valuable time, money, and cage space, as they truly don’t need them. For many rabbit owners, they’re simply cute cage decorations as they find that their rabbits simply don’t use them.
Salt licks will also increase the salinity of rabbit waste, increasing the amount of salt that goes into your compost. You don’t want a high salt content in your garden beds, as many plants are very sensitive to an overabundance of salt.
Will Rabbits Eat Tomato Plants?
When trying to feed rabbits from the garden to add to their dietary variety, you might be tempted to feed them excess fruits, veggies, or spent plants. Will rabbits eat tomato plants once you’re done with them? Well, rabbits will eat the tomatoes you don’t want; but as for the tomato plant, rabbits will not, and should not, eat it. Tomato leaves are toxic to rabbits, and this is very evident in an unprotected home garden with a large wild hare or cottontail population nearby. Wild rabbits will not eat your tomato plants, because they know better.