Lawn Clippings

So my yard is all natural meaning no chemicals or pesticides of any kind. After I mow the lawn and my grass bag is full is there anything wrong with giving the rabbits a bunch of that cut grass on the way to dumping it in the compost? I know it seems like common sense would answer this for me but I've watched enough scary bunnie bloat videos on youtube to frighten me a little!

The general rabbit advice is no- because the mechanical action of mowing the lawn bashes the grass up a lot and it starts fermenting- which can cause problems for the buns. Unless you mow by scythe...

I think a little handful would be ok, as long as you remove anything uneaten, within an hour or two of cutting - before it starts to ferment. But, better for the buns, if you can arrange it, would be to let them have some munching time, before you cut it.

Don't know about bunnies, but I know they say never to feed cut grass to larger ruminants because they eat too much too fast and it can basically block up their stomachs.  Exception might be if you make it into silage first, or if you can dry it and make it into hay.  That results in a compacted block that would slow them down enough to not cause a problem.

Unless people with more experience chime in I'd say no.

Dustin,

That sure does make sense doesn’t it?  I mean rabbits eat green stuff all day right?

My daughter has a beloved bunny and she is INCREDIBLY picky about what he gets.  He does not get grass clippings.  I honestly don’t know if this is warranted or not, but my daughter did have a scary experience once.  

The bunny wasn’t eating his kale—his absolute favorite snack.  My daughter even grows her own organic kale for the rabbit, she is that fastidious.  But on that day she came up in tears and told me that she thought the bunny had the beginning of GI stasis.  She wanted to take the bunny to the vet.  I thought this was ridiculous but I eventually caved.

Turns out she was right.  The vet found that while the bunny did not have GI stasis, it was in the process of developing.

Bottom line is that our bunny at least needs a very particular diet and lawn clippings are not on the menu.

I don’t know if this helps, but you just heard my experience.

Good Luck,

Eric

Thanks everyone! I think I will not do lawn clippings but I am interested in turning lawn clippings into hay. Would I just spread it out to dry in the sun?

Pretty much. Then, gather it up, and get it protected from the weather.