Can rabbits eat haylage?

Does anyone know if rabbits can eat haylage? I know that it is processed differently to regular hay. I'm going to assume the answer is no because it seems very rich in comparison to hay bales (just going off of the smell).

I'm just thinking about trying to find a more affordable local alternative to the hay I buy online now - I'm in the process of buying my first horse and will be spending the same amount of money on her hay monthly as I am my four rabbits, yet she will eat in 1 day what they eat in 1 month, so I'm thinking there must be a more savvy option than the fancy stuff I buy online at the moment.

I know a lot of you guys get £5 bales from local farms, if I can find some that the bunnies actually like it would be so much more affordable (and nice to support local businesses too )

P.s. I have missed you all, this is a crazy time of year for me with my business and with entering horse ownership on top of that, I've just been swamped. Hope I can catch up on here in the new year <3

No, sorry for blunt reply

No. It is made from wilted grass, so contains moisture rather than the grass is dried, and so it is fermented.

I suggest you have a look online to see where your nearest hay farms are. Then it would be a case of visiting them, looking at what they have and trying the best looking ones on the bunnies.

Thank you guys, I assumed as much just from looking at it. I think yes, I'll look into lots of different farms and see what the quality is like. If the online stuff is superior I will continue to buy it, obviously I will always give them what is best for them, but if I can do it for less money then it's a win-win

Yeah it's the fermentation that makes it unsuitable, I think I queried it on here once aaaages ago. Hopefully you can find a hay that both your horse and your buns will like, I've been buying from timothyhay.co.uk for quite a while but my rabbits didn't like the last batch I got, so I bought a bale from the yard owner where my share horse is. It does work out so much cheaper to be able to buy from an equine supplier, saying that though sometimes even the horses turn their nose up at a particular batch of hay from time to time!

I'm always so envious of people who say they've got great hay nearby. Whenever I've bought a bale of hay from a farm I've always ended up with something horrible, in huge quantities, that I then spend forever trying to get rid of!

Speaking of the horse, I had to laugh the other day, as I had my hideously expensive Oxbow hay turn up for the piggies and the driver said 'is it for a horse?' I thought to myself how quickly I'd be bankrupt, feeding Oxbow to a horse!

Orenoko said:

Yeah it's the fermentation that makes it unsuitable, I think I queried it on here once aaaages ago. Hopefully you can find a hay that both your horse and your buns will like, I've been buying from timothyhay.co.uk for quite a while but my rabbits didn't like the last batch I got, so I bought a bale from the yard owner where my share horse is. It does work out so much cheaper to be able to buy from an equine supplier, saying that though sometimes even the horses turn their nose up at a particular batch of hay from time to time!

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Ooh interesting, and your bunnies liked it? Earlier in the year I bought a lovely big bale from a local farm, but my buns turned their noses up at it. I think they might be Haybox snobs now! I'm definitely going to look around at other farms because the savings would be massive if I can find some that they like. As you say though, they can be fussy from batch-to-batch, regardless of the price of the hay!

SarahP said:

I'm always so envious of people who say they've got great hay nearby. Whenever I've bought a bale of hay from a farm I've always ended up with something horrible, in huge quantities, that I then spend forever trying to get rid of!

Speaking of the horse, I had to laugh the other day, as I had my hideously expensive Oxbow hay turn up for the piggies and the driver said 'is it for a horse?' I thought to myself how quickly I'd be bankrupt, feeding Oxbow to a horse!

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Haha! That's brilliant :lol: My horsey friend was shocked when I told her how much I spend per month on the equivalent of one hay net for her horse (which he would devour in an evening) - fancy bunny hay is expensive!