This graphic is built on outdated assumptions, not rabbit nutrition science. • Pellets are not a “supplement” in modern rabbit nutrition. Properly formulated MEASURED pellets are designed to be a complete, balanced diet • “LOOSE Hay as the foundation” is not evidence-based. When fed as the primary diet, it pushes nutrients through the gut too fast, leading to chronic under-nutrition despite full stomachs. Meat rabbits fed hay-heavy / pellet-restricted diets routinely take 12–16 weeks to reach fryer weight. The same genetics on a balanced, pellet-based ration reach fryer size in 8–10 weeks. That difference isn’t “corners being cut” — it’s chronic under-nutrition for excessive forage and tractor setups ie ." Feeding naturally " based on internet myths. Loose Hay-forward systems also increase disease risk: • Higher exposure to coccidia and enteric pathogens • Greater fecal contamination when hay is fed loose or in litter areas • Increased GI instability from excess indigestible fiber lignin and NDF. Longer grow-out time = more parasite cycles, more feed waste, more mortality, not healthier rabbits. FULL article for Premium members: Let's Talk about Homestead Myths - Rabbit Education Video Archive · MMC BunClub

Adding foundation studies to a new materials section. 📚 MASTER COURSE SUPPLEMENT STRUCTURE (Use this for every decade chunk going forward) First chunk is papers from 1984-1994. 🔬 1984-1992 Set Is Best Described As 👉 Foundational metabolic nutrition era 👉 Establishing intake regulation principles 👉 Early amino acid requirement modeling 👉 Transition from crude fiber to detergent fiber science And I'll be adding blocks broken down by decades and topics for the whole Course for easy reference for students in the course.

This is why I push back so hard against the “80% loose hay” diet myth. It’s not a difference of opinion — it’s a welfare issue. I’ve seen rabbits seriously harmed and killed by owners following that advice exactly as it’s been promoted. If people want the FACTS , DEEP DIVE in the Rabbit nutrition course. Rabbits are not biologically designed to live on hay. They are selective browsers. In the wild they target high-protein new shoots, leaf tips, bark, buds, and woody browse, plus specific grasses at early growth stages. Mature, lignin-heavy hay is fallback food—what they eat when nothing better is available. Calling it “80–90% of the diet” is simply not supported by the literature. The modern “hay-based diet” idea traces back to non-experimental essays from the early 1990s, not controlled nutrition trials. That framework stuck because it was simple, marketable, and profitable for hay producers—not because it reflected rabbit physiology. When you actually read the research (Gidenne, De Blas, Lebas, Maertens, COST 848, etc.), a different picture emerges: • Rabbits require adequate digestible protein and energy to maintain gut motility, muscle mass, immune function, and reproduction • Excessively lignified fiber dilutes energy and amino acid intake • Chronic hay-heavy feeding leads to subclinical malnutrition, poor growth, reproductive failure, and increased GI pathology Hay doesn’t “prevent starvation.” Hay-heavy diets cause it—slowly. If someone wants to approximate a natural diet without pellets, the closest approach would be: – Fresh woody browse (blackberry, raspberry, mulberry) – Early growth cuttings(28%protien, 32%fiber), not mature stems – High-quality protein sources (legumes like alfalfa, or Clover properly processed14-18% protien) -- Yucca leaves to control urea order and bind to amonia -- ground soy bean, measured, hulls for fiber, center meal for protien(28%DM) to balance legumes --Steam rolled Oats and Barley also boost and balance protien – Balanced minerals and micronutrients

I’m wrapping up the next short module in the Fats & Energy section of the nutrition course. This one focuses on the difference between maintenance diets and production diets before we dive deeper into how fats actually function in rabbit feeds. Current outline (subject to refinement as always): • Intro • Energy balance: pet vs. meat rabbits • Fats as energy sources (growth & coat) • Energy density & feed conversion • Safe vs. problematic fat levels in pellets (and why) The goal is clarity without redundancy — if something can be taught cleaner, I adjust. Before I record the next pieces, I want to hear from you: • What have you been told about fats in rabbit diets that never fully made sense? • Were you warned about fats being “dangerous” or “unnecessary”? • Have you ever been told pellets are “too fatty” without anyone explaining why or how much? • What nutrition advice do you wish someone would actually explain instead of just repeating? Drop your questions, myths, or things you’ve heard that you’d like fact-checked or clarified. A lot of the next modules are being shaped directly by what people are confused about — and chances are, if you’ve wondered it, someone else has too.

A lot of the confusion around rabbit diets comes from how the term “long fiber” gets passed around without context. In the actual nutrition research, “long” or “structural” fiber is not defined by hay strands. It’s defined by measured particle size — in millimeters. In the post-weaning rabbit fiber study (Pakistan Journal of Nutrition, 2019), fiber was classified by particle length, not by whether it came from hay or pellets. The optimal outcomes occurred when rabbits received: • Adequate NDF fiber • Medium particle size: 0.5–1.5 mm That combination produced: – 0% mortality – Lower E. coli counts – Lower immune stress markers – Better overall gut stability When fiber particles were larger and more heterogeneous, outcomes got worse — even when total fiber was high. Larger particles increased immune activation, stress, and disease susceptibility. This matters because what is often promoted as “long fiber” in pet advice is actually coarse, loose, lignified hay, which is not how fiber is defined in the studies being cited. It is not false to say rabbits need medium to longer NDF fiber. What is misleading is implying that rabbits can only get that fiber from long-stem, loose hay, particularly timothy hay. In the research, the “longer” fiber fraction is still measured in millimeters, not inches. That fiber is routinely delivered inside pellets, where particle size, digestibility, and nutrient ratios are controlled. Timothy hay, by contrast, is: – Very low in protein – Extremely high in mostly non-fermentable fiber – High in lignin and cellulose – Nutrient-diluting when added to an already balanced diet The problem isn’t veterinarians or owners acting in bad faith. It’s that much of the advice circulating today comes from advocacy materials and summaries, not from direct engagement with the primary nutrition literature. As that information gets repeated, “long fiber” quietly turns into “hay,” even though the studies themselves never make that leap. Rabbits need structural fiber, not hay by default.