Can goats have Rabbit Feed

[ladyfarmer10]

This is a post for my neighbor,he rasies rabbit's and want's to feed his goats the rabbit feed also,I dont know if it will hurt them ,so I thought I would ask on here.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

I am going to guess that the answer is no they should not. I would need to see what is in it and I do not have rabbits but goats have a very specific diet and eating the wrong thing can cause them to bloat and die, develop mineral deficiency which leads to a host of issues. Pretty sure goat food would kill a rabbit which means that it contains things that a goat needs and a rabbit feed would not have it.

Goats really should have the majority of their diet be a good hay (and some people use that alone with success). If he is going to add in a feed to supplement the hay, it should be on made for goats with all the right amounts of copper and a correct calcium/phosphorus ratio.

 

[20kidsonhill]

rabbit feed is mostly alfalfa. Goat feed would be cheaper to feed. First you would have to make sure their are no ruminant products used in the rabbit feed, probably not, but always need to check when using nonruminant feeds.

Calcium to phosphorus ratio if feeding to bucks would be important, although with so much alfalfa it is probably pretty good.

and ofcourse rabbit feed probably doesn't have enough copper or selenium in it for goats. So supplementign with a loose goat mineral would be very very important.

 

[CrazyCatNChickenLady]

I was wondering if you could feed the alfalfa pellets that you feed to goats to rabbits. I was thinking more along the lines of flemish giant because the pellets are big.. but if a little lionhead can eat the smaller pellets are the ones that come in the 50lbs bags from TSC too big for large rabbits?

I dont feed my goats hay. I feed them browse and supplement with alfalfa pellets and loose minerals.

 

[ksalvagno]

I think my concern with feeding the regular alfalfa pellets to rabbits is that it is not fortified with all the vitamins and minerals for rabbits that would be in a rabbit pellet.

I have been to a few goat seminars and giving rabbit feed to a goat has come up a couple times. Both times the vets didn't recommend doing that since the rabbit feed is formulated for rabbits and not goats. It is important to make sure the calcium to phosphorus ratio is correct and it is also important that the right balance of vitamins and minerals are there too.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

I have used alfalfa pellets for an overweight rabbit to fill her up some in addition to her regular rabbit pellets (for good nutritions sake), but there wouldn't be enough (vitamins and minerals) to sustain a rabbit very long, keeping them healthy in the long run. Larger rabbits may benefit from some straight alfalfa pellets mixed in their regular feed to cut a few calories if weight is a concern. I would not feed rabbit food to a goat for their regular diet....though if they say, picked up some spilled rabbit pellets from around an outside cage....I wouldn't worry at all.

 

[ladyfarmer10]

I have printed all the replie's and gave them to my neighbor.
Thanks everyone

 

[mama24]

I actually think straight alfalfa would be higher in calories than rabbit pellets! The rabbit pellets are mostly alfalfa with some oat and/or wheat chaff, oats, and vitamins and minerals. I feed a handful to my goats once in a while b/c they seem to think anything they aren't supposed to have is a treat. I wouldn't say it's bad for them, but I wouldn't feed it in place of goat feed if you want to feed grain.

 

[Del Holcombe]

I have been wondering the same thing... We are about to aquire two Nigerian Dwarf wethers, as pet's for wife, and although I will buy alfalfa for them, we have access to 16% rabbit food, which we purchase 4 tons at a time. We take care of ranch and two herds of endangered, north African Gazelles, Slender-Horned and Cuvier's... Aside from what they graze upon here in the Sonoran Desert, we feed them, 16% rabbit food... We found out, that is what all the Zoos feed these gazelles... I just thought I could supplement the Alfalfa with a bit of rabbit food...