Can cattle eat rabbit feed/pellets?

[mazurzoo]

Our pet rabbit ran away, and we have 50-100 lbs of rabbit feed/pellets left. I am wondering if it is safe to feed this to our yearling steer and heifer? I know the main ingredients are safe, but are the minerals/vitamins ok? These 2 cattle have only been grass fed, currently only on hay as we are in winter here, but they could use a little more weight on them. So if this is good for them I would like to add a little into their diets. The ingredient list from the website that makes the feed is:

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS
Crude Protein, min. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.0%
Crude Fat, min. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5%
Crude Fiber, min. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.0%
Crude Fiber, max. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.0%
Calcium (Ca), min. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.7%
Calcium (Ca), max. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2%
Phosphorus (P), min. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.6%
Salt (NaCl), min.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.3%
Salt (NaCl), max. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.8%
Vitamin A, min. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 IU/lb
INGREDIENTS 6
Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Soybean Meal, Wheat
Middlings, Feeding Oat Meal, Soybean Hulls, Distillers
Dried Grains with Solubles, Dicalcium Phosphate,
Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate,
Vegetable Oil, Animal Fat, Salt, DL-Methionine, Dried
Streptococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried
Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Yeast
Culture, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Papain, Vitamin A
Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E
Supplement, Menadione Dimethylpyrimidinol Bisulfite
(source of Vitamin K Activity), Riboflavin Supplement,
Niacin Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12
Supplement, Choline Chloride, Folic Acid, Biotin,
Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C),
Magnesium Oxide, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Copper
Amino Acid Complex, Manganese Amino Acid Complex,
Calcium Iodate, Manganese Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate,
Copper Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Sodium
Selenite (source of Selenium), Natural Mixed
Tocopherols, Citric Acid & Rosemary Extract.

[Shelby]

You could add a handfull or 2 to the feed their getting now, to use it up, Most rabbit feed is alfalfa based so shouldn't hurt them.

Hopefully someone else will chime in here to help you out with this.

[mazurzoo]

Yeah, judging by the main ingredients I know they can handle it, but its all the minerals/vitamins I am concerned about. For example, sheep cannot have excess copper, so sheep cannot eat cow minerals, because cow mineral has too much copper for sheep. So I just need to make sure there is nothing like that going on here!

My hubby lost his job monday, so using this up like this if it is safe will be a nice supplement to what we are already doing, instead of running out and buying grain.

[AnnB (NE)]

It'll be fine.
While it's not readily apparent on the outside, rabbits and cows are very similar in their digestion and their nutritional requirements.
Rabbits are pseudo-ruminants and are basically little cows, 1/100th scale.

Rabbit pellet is a TMR (Total Mixed Ration), every pellet, every bite, supplies complete balanced nutrition for the ruminant/pseudo-ruminant. If you could afford it, good rabbit pellet would be a GREAT cattle/goat/dairy ration -- except for the lack of long fiber.

I wouldn't hesitate to feed up to 5 lbs a day each, in that 5 lbs you'd be giving 3-1/2 to 4 lbs of alfalfa with the major part of the balance being grain.

Ann B

[mercyme-joanne ok]

I totally agree with Ann B, my cows and goats love rabbit pellets.!!

Some can be really high priced tho.

[spiritedrose]

You could compare the minerals to a bag od dairy feed to see how they differ.

[mazurzoo]

Thanks so much! It makes me happy to reuse something!

[roanhorse]

Sorry to hear about your husbands job. A large factory that employed approx 800 people went out of business here. Several places have had layoffs. I guess all of us are lucky with our small farms and cows. Hope he finds something soon. I guess he can spend his free time working on the cow barn and fences :-)
Angie