A Day in the Life of a Rabbit Pellet

By: Dr. Ed Bonnette, Ph.D., Companion Animal Nutritionist

Hi, my name is Roger’s Rabbit Pellet. I thought I would share my life story. In many ways I’m complex (especially in the way I positively affect your rabbit), but I have a simple beginning.

I started as an idea from a rabbit expert. He wanted something better for rabbits. So the rabbit expert went to work with an animal nutritionist. The nutritionist figured out what specific nutrients I needed to have and what ingredients will do the best job.

At this point in the process I started to feel like the Six Million Dollar Man. A good solid mixture of alfalfa meal and other fiber sources, grains for energy and just the right mixture of vitamins and minerals was a great beginning. But I was dramatically improved by the infusion of up-to-date feed ingredients in my mixture: Compounds like chelated minerals for better absorption, yeast & probiotics to help the hindgut work better and enzymes that help break down hairball mucus or other grains.

A computer became my best friend during my developing years. It helped make sure I have all the nutrients needed for optimal growth, put together in the most cost-effective way. Notice I didn’t say least cost. I only hang out with the good guys. These computers today stay very busy keeping my ingredients and nutrients consistent.

Once everyone agreed I look pretty good on paper, then we really put me to the test…IN THE MILL. More of my computer friends are fed information: what I should look like and what feeds can be made before me (so I do not have a little feed from a previous mixture that may have bad things like drugs in it). After all that is decided the computer puts all the ingredients together.

And as the old saying goes, “You can only be as good as the ingredients you started with.” Ingredients that go into my matrix are randomly tested to meet certain standards before they are even unloaded from the truck.

All these quality ingredients are mixed together, usually two tons at a time. As I start to take shape, I feel like I am riding a “tilt-a-whirl” at a local fair. First I am turned for several minutes in the big mixer, and then I take a ride up an elevator to the pellet-making machine. Before I visit the die press, I have the pleasure of taking a steam bath. After a short time in the steam bath, I am then sent to an artist - the pellet mill operator. He takes my plain green color, adds a little steam, a little time, and maybe a little love. As I am pushed and pulled through a die, I look like spaghetti. After that trip I am cut into my perfect length. I now look beautiful.

This is a lot of fun for me, but I’m very hot and need to cool off, so I’m sent to one of my favorite machines, a cooler. Once I have cooled down enough, I am sent to the storage bin in a nice, dry comfortable bag. I also leave a little piece of me at the mill each time so the nice mill folks have a record of when and how I was made. They do that so that anyone who gets a bag of me will know. I even donated a little of myself to be analyzed to make sure I am nutritionally what I say I am. The final process I go through is getting a label on my bag that has a concise, beautiful, colorful tag with the date I was born. Again, this helps whoever buys me know where I am and where I have been.

From here I go to the mill’s warehouse, to the dealer’s warehouse and to your home.

To help me live the longest, happiest life possible, there are a couple of things you can do. One is to make sure that I do not become too old. If you get two or more bags of feed at a time, make sure to be polite and allow the oldest feed to go first. Please don’t store me on an old, dirty floor. Put me on something like a pallet and remember to protect me from moisture and those nasty old rodents.

As you can see, I am pretty busy just trying to get everything together before I ever see a rabbit. Once I have been fed to a rabbit, the real magic (and science) begins. But that’s a story for another time. For now, I hope you feel more comfortable knowing a little more about my family and me. Together, we will make other great stories about you and your winning rabbits.

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