Are small bags of 'feeding hay' sending out the wrong message?

It's 3am and I've been thinking about hay instead of trying to sleep :lol: When I used to give my boys forage/herbage hay, they'd easily get through a 1kg pack every day or two. I keep seeing these 'feeding hays' being advertised that only come in packs of 500g or 1kg, and they're really expensive :shock: I feel like if I was an 'average' rabbit owner and saw these fancy £6 bags of feeding hay I'd assume that I could feed my rabbits much less of it than the standard pet shop bale, and I'd certainly expect it to last more than 1-2 days. It reminded me of the whole food cube argument, uneducated owners are likely to think yes great there's plenty of nutrition, that's all my rabbit needs, neglecting the fact that rabbits need unlimited hay for dental health, not just a small amount for nutrition

I suppose just getting the message out that hay is a required foodstuff is a good thing, but I was interested in seeing what other people's thoughts are about the high price/tiny pack sizes

My take is, as long as there are people who buy it at this prices it will be sold. It's not exactly the same as with those multicoloured junk treats in small bags, since what I've seen the hay is good quality at least. And with small rodents and little storing space it may be a good solution. It's expensive, though, but packaging, handling, logistics, transport and distribution all cost money. I wouldn't think those very small bags are the sensible solutions for rabbits, and there is no real need to buy really overpriced stuff, there are enough other options.

Just thinking about what one can spend on "premium" cat and dog food...

Anyway, horse grade farm hay is good enough for rabbits too, there may be somewhat more waste, but since I use that as litter it doesn't matter, also for 6 rabbits 8-10 bales at 3,50€ each get me through winter with enough left for the rest of the year when they are fed forage and greens. But I reckon not everyone has the space for storage, or means to transport the bales from the farm.

I bought one for when our rabbit was going through Stasis, because it looked extra yummy. They seem to prefer it, but you're right, I don't want it to be their every day hay.

Our rabbits have unlimited hay, topped up daily/twice daily some days, although they probably don't eat as much hay as they should (bad habits from previous homes, but they're getting better). They have lots of sticks and toys to help teeth too though. When it's more expensive than pellets, the incentive isn't there though.

I think that's maybe the problem, that a lot of people won't have storage space for 'horse' bales, and no way of transporting them either. I'm lucky I live in a rural area, and my local pet food shop (a real old-fashioned shop that sells everything to do with pets and livestock) will deliver really top quality bales of hay and straw to me. I store it in my garage (no room for the car!) and store bales for our Rescue too. The mess in my car when I take bales down to the Rescue has to be seen to be believed. I have a bag big enough for 2 bales (it's one of those bags they deliver sand, etc from builders' merchants) but I still get loads of seeds and bits everywhere.

I buy small bags of Readigrass and they last about a week or so with my 3, but they only get a handful or so every other day, their main hay is the baled stuff, which is their bedding as well.

I buy the odd small bag of things like oat green which I think small bags are ok as it can be quite a fattening hay so probably more suited as a treat and not the best for a main hay source, but I agree having timothy and meadow hay in such small bags is giving the wrong message.

We just got ourselves stocked up for a while: