Is Sherwood superior to (already good) premium pellet food? Is its price justifiable?

More or less, the ingredients listed in Sherwood appear to, on paper, be practically perfectly aligned to rabbit dietary needs, and I like idea behind them making a specific pellet food formulated exclusively for rabbits that are NOT the best hay eaters. I have used Oxbow Bunny Basics Adult for many years, and Oxbow Natural Science for a few years. Overall, I am quite happy with them, but I'm not as brand loyal to Oxbow as I once was because they discontinued several rabbit products that I liked very much and did not bring any new product to the market as direct replacements.

I purchased a bag of the Sherwood Premium, the one with higher grass contents made for rabbits that are not the best grass eaters (the rabbit I adopted isn't). When I opened the bag, it had a fresh aroma that I have never smelled with any other rabbit food. From a coloration perspective, it was GREEN...clearly this is fresh stuff. The date of manufacture was less than 10 days prior to it being shipped to me. I tasted a piece of it and was quite satisfied to find it had that distinct sweet undertone that hay has only when it is very fresh. My rabbit digs it roughly the same as her current Oxbow - she really likes both.

I am not opposed to buying this pricier food, but only if there is reason to believe that it does or likely will yield health benefit gains over the brands that are less expensive, easier to find, and already very good products (like Oxbow.) In this instance, superior does not just mean how something stacks up on paper, but also in regards to health outcomes. Is the quality of this food at a point where the health benefits may justify the cost? (If the health gains of this food are negligible compared to some of the less expensive premium foods, than I would not be able to justify it.)

Any thoughts? Anyone use both Oxbow and Sherwood long term and have any outcome observations or opinions?

Thanks!

Great post! I too have fed Oxbow for many years and while I am not unsatisfied with the brand (I feed pellets, various hay types and treats all made by Oxbow), I have heard many good things about Sherwood. I will be following this, thanks for posting!

I don't know the brand, as it is not commercialized in France - I never gave Oxbow either, but I know a lot of rabbits who lived long happy lives eating it, though ^^. Is it this one :

http://store.naturalrabbitfood.com/adult-rabbit-food/#label

I took a look at the composition and the ingredients aren't that great. I'm especially not impressed with the addition of salt, which is no good for rabbits. The flax sounds odd to me (it is a grain, rabbits don't eat flax, and the brand claims the pellets are "grain free"), and if the analysis is globally in the norm, the fat is more than twice what it should be (ideally, should be around 2% for an adult rabbit).

Honestly, I can't really help you chose because I'm using JR Farm Grainless which is in my opinion the best (the ingredients are ALL plants, vegetables and fruits - no salt, no sugar, no oil, no additives except for vitamines) and I'm pretty sure it's only available in Europe. But in the end, pellets are only a supplement anyway, so as long as it has vitamines and nothing really harmful... In my opinion, a very good hay and vegetables is the most important thing - no need to bankrupt yourself over pellets XD