This is the product that used to be called Meadow Hay Cookies, renamed rather than reformulated. It is mixed Bavarian meadow hay, barn dried with warm air and dust extraction, then compressed into solid bales. The point of compressing it is mundane and worth saying plainly: loose hay gets pulled out of a rack, walked on, wee'd on and thrown away, and a pressed bale does not.

The hay itself contains over twenty grasses and edible plants, among them tall oat grass, orchard grass, smooth stalk meadow grass, sorrel, dandelion, plantain, red clover and tufted vetch. That mix is the reason it smells of something rather than nothing. Dust extraction during drying matters more than it sounds, because hay dust is a respiratory irritant for rabbits and for the person filling the hayrack. The stated analysis is 26.3% fibre, 14.9% protein and 0.8% oils.

• Mixed meadow hay from Bavaria, barn dried and dust extracted
• Over 20 grasses and edible plants including dandelion, plantain and red clover
• Protein 14.9%, Fibre 26.3%, Oils 0.8%, Ash 8.4%
• Can be fed freely to rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas and degus

Compressed hay is not a replacement for loose hay. A rabbit needs to pull, sort and chew long strands, and a bale is denser and quicker to eat than a pile. Most people who get on with it use it alongside a hayrack rather than instead of one, or in a pen where loose hay would be trodden into the bedding within the hour.

Who it's for: anyone whose rabbit or guinea pig wastes most of a hay bag, and anyone in a flat where loose hay is a losing battle. Less useful if your hayrack is already working.