A Study on Feeding Mulberry Leaves to Rabbits.

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Where marketing opportunities does not
necessitate rapid weight gains, producers may chose to
substitute more concentrate or even feed mulberry
leaves as a sole diet to achieve satisfactory gains at
even lower costs
Click to expand...
yaHOOOO!! (must plant MORE mulberry)

Interesting research paper. I know my buns love the stuff (except for Aztec..she won't touch it unless there's nothing else green..but then she doesn't like APPLE leaves, either) They gnaw all the bark off, as well.
 
Just for the record, I am not a big fan of single-item diets. I firmly believe that a diversified diet is safest and most enjoyable for the rabbits. I'm not aiming this comment at you, Ann, because I know you feed a wonderful variety, but just wanted to chime in with my two cents worth for other readers of this thread. :)
 
Funny, mine don't like apple leaves either, not the young growing tips or the older leaves. They would rather eat anything else and maybe even just not eat until the next meal. I started putting the prunings on the compost.
 
awesome. We have a side yard full of mulberry, and hope to start a bit of coppicing this year! our girls eat anything, and the buck will eat tender tips and baby leaves. Ive found they grow back very twiggy if you dont trim too hard.
 
My rabbits are weird to begin with but after I gave them Mulberry they reached an all new level of weirdness :lol:
 
This is an old post, but I just got some mulberry leaves today to test them as bunny food. The last time I found the "perfect" forage for bunnies it had high marks in everything except palatability. The mulberry leaves were different, though. All the bunnies munched them up right away. So, now to plant a mulberry hedge! Bunny feed is getting expensive and according to the scientific papers, up to 40% of their intake can be made of mulberry leaves. Plus mulberry pie and jam for me! What's not to like? Now all I need is a mulberry hedge.
 
i like to tell the story of the culls from last summer. They were in the outdoor pen, just awaiting processing size, so I put them all together and really just fed them some yard scraps and mulberry branches. the REW doe, grew and grew, and grew larger and grew larger than her sibs in the barn, faster than any Rex I have had so far. She reached 4lbs before 16 weeks, so I took her out of the cull pen and back into the barn, and to a show, where she got nice comments. I'll be feeding mulberry to buns this summer.
 
I've been mulling over planting a mulberry bush and after seeing this I think I might just do that.
 
skysthelimit":pv6zl9sf said:
i like to tell the story of the culls from last summer. They were in the outdoor pen, just awaiting processing size, so I put them all together and really just fed them some yard scraps and mulberry branches. the REW doe, grew and grew, and grew larger and grew larger than her sibs in the barn, faster than any Rex I have had so far. She reached 4lbs before 16 weeks, so I took her out of the cull pen and back into the barn, and to a show, where she got nice comments. I'll be feeding mulberry to buns this summer.
Click to expand...
When you come pick up that Dog Food and sweet feed, you'll need to bring me some cuttings!!!
 
Will they take root?

I have never tried to root them, Mulberry bushes are much hated around here for staining things with those berries, but neither on my trees have had berries in the 4 years I've lived here.

I will be along this week.
 
skysthelimit":c22iu6i1 said:
Will they take root?

I have never tried to root them, Mulberry bushes are much hated around here for staining things with those berries, but neither on my trees have had berries in the 4 years I've lived here.

I will be along this week.
Click to expand...

A quick look for sources indicate one has to have differing varieties within a certain distance for most to produce fruit... the way some apples and cherries do.. Any softwood/spring growth should root, if done properly-- at least 6 inches long-- coat ends with vaseline when cutting, to prevent drying out too fast...
 
When I grew up,there was only only tree in our backyard, it always had berries. Perhaps it was two tangled together then?
 
I found ONE variety that was self pollinating-- And there was one self pollinator out in 'Bula near where I used to live-- never realized they came with differenet colors of berries either---
 
There are non fruiting Mulberry trees, too.

Our nursery has both fruiting and non, upright growth and weeping.

I want weeping, fruiting ones- have you ever tasted the berries? They are so-o-o-o good!
 
Wow, this is fascinating.
Never knew mulberry's could be so great for bunnies. Going to have to try it this summer, we have a handful of mulberry trees out in the pasture.....
 

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