Grow out pasture, anyone?

So I have this idea. I have plenty of space here. Many paddocks that I usually end up mowing to keep things tidy. The paddocks are within the barnyard which is fenced with stucco wire. Stucco wire is the best! It is 4 1/2 feet tall with 2'x2' holes. Over the years the grass at the edges has grown up and through it forming a great woven secure seal to the ground. I find my main predators are foxes, coyotes and ravens. The first two seem to stay away, as there are easier pickings outside the fence.

Anyway, the idea. I plan to make two huge grow out pens for weanlings. One for bucks and one for does. I will divide each in four and rotate pastures every week. The pens will be covered with deer fence, a 1'x1' plastic mesh to keep the ravens out.

Here are things I need to think about. Will the young rabbits dig out? How deep will I have to bury the wire? Will the pasture be enough nutrition? Should I add grain? What kind? I have easy access to cheap wheat, oats and barley as well as field peas. What about salt or minerals? Will I have to contend with fights? How about worming...how often and what do you suggest? Shelter would be movable wooden 'sheds'.

Have I missed anything here? Do you have any suggestions for me? Thank-you!

Is the "shed" inside the area? Or is the shed the area?

If the latter, I would recommend slotted floors or stucco wire to stop digging. Also, they bred these rabbits over 20 years to get them adapted to forage. Barley fodder could work too. I give my rabbits treats from my garden often and I've never seen a rabbit with diarrhea , but I've never put them in the lawn yet either. (dogs) I gave them some tall bermuda grass once or twice and they were fine.



Once I let my buck out to play for a while and I ran in to make my kid lunch. Came back 20 min later and he was halfway to China! He was having a good ol time though, covered in dirt. He went much further than I anticipated in 20 min.

Also if you build one with slotted floors, move it they same direction the slots in the floor go. I've read the rabbits will ride the slats like skis, less risk of injury. and please post some pics, I'd love to see it all done.

The area would be fixed, the small sheds for shelter, movable from one pasture to another.

I love your little tractors, but I will not be able to do something similar as the area I plan to fence is huge. I guess I will be burying wire in the ground. How deep? I certainly don't mind them digging as long as they do not dig out! They will only be in one part of the pasture for a week, then rotated to another unused section. I plan to have four sections.

The area is not lawn, it is planted for hay and contains different grasses like brome and timothy. I am wondering about planting a little alfalfa in there as well. Come to think of it, I could plant a few hearty perennials or bushes that are rabbit-friendly. Any suggestions? We are cold- a zone 2.

Now I have a vision of a lovely rabbit playground!

I love your little tractors, but I will not be able to do something similar as the area I plan to fence is huge. I guess I will be burying wire in the ground. How deep? I certainly don't mind them digging as long as they do not dig out! They will only be in one part of the pasture for a week, then rotated to another unused section. I plan to have four sections.

Those aren't my rabbits. I'm sorry I should have stated that. this pic is from the Polyface Farms website. They've been working this line of rabbits for a long time to get them adapted to pasture. This could take time and work before it becomes truly beneficial to you.
with the tractor, a fence is not necessary. you could move the tractor to all the same spots in your area. wouldn't something similar be less work than building a rabbit proof pasture? What about airborne predators like hawks? I'd be nervous about escapees because I know that bun will find that weak spot.
IMO pasture diversity is huge. the grasses and perennials you mentioned would probably beat anything you could buy, as long as your rabbits are adjusting well Native species would be best, but you could try any grain/grass/salad that will sprout for you.(oats, rye, barley, sunflowers, kale) regardless, they will show responsive growth and come in thicker after being eaten once or twice. then you'll really be cookin!

Actually I could probably have the whole area trenched for wire, posts in the ground and wire up within a day. I have four chicken tractors and they took me a couple weeks to build.

I think I mentioned I would roof it with deer mesh to keep out the arial predators. My ravens are deadly, but there is so much else to eat around here the predators seem to prefer the easy lunch rather than breaking into anything I build here.

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/livest ... t-dig.html

I found a previous convo on this subject. hope that helps

It sounds like a fun idea to me. I have a pen that's 18 by 22 ft.
The rabbits have their favorite pooping areas in my outdoor pen. It tends to build up there, just like a rabbit using a litterbox in the corner of a cage.

You might want to give them an object to live in and to dig around in the center of your pasture(like a little bunny house).

The fence isn't even buried, but it is lined inside and out with big rocks, and no bun has ever even tried to dug out, they all just dig under the shed. I've never had mature does out for very long so I don't know if one would get out. I have a livestock salt and mineral block in my pen.
And if it were me, I'd supplement the growouts with some grains, at least at first. You could always reduce the amounts slowly and see how they do.

From Redbird's link...How deep will a rabbit dig? All the way to the bottom! *smirk*

Zass, I am considering two pens each about 25'x25'. I am wondering then, if I put a house in the middle, then curve the wire at the bottom of the perimeter inwards, 90 degrees, then place a heavy pipe on it (I have no rocks) will this work? Does that make sense?

I can't say for sure what your buns will do, but I'd consider it worth a shot. Laying some wire or fence flat on the other side would also help discourage fox and other preds from digging in.

I can't wait for all the snow to melt. I want to start this NOW.

my young rabbits ( less then 5 months) and bucks never dug out of their outdoor tractor. I didn't have a floor or wire on the bottom of it. But the does started to dig when they were getting ready to kindle. I moved their tractor daily so it wasn't a problem as they never got all the way out until I "parked" the tractor. Then it took 1 doe 3 hours to get out and release the whole crew - halloween night. It was awesome

I found that I still had to suppliment with hay, and some feed. I had 3 does, 1 buck and they ate 1.5 cups of pellets mixed with wheat/oats/barley but didn't finish it. If there were kits in there I would free feed. They were in a 12x8, and had 6x4 ft of clean 6 inch+ grass each day, and ate that down. Were on very fertile soil here and they really mowed it down, like sheep.

For the growouts I had 4-5 in each and they got 1.5 cups per day. They took about 4 months to reach weight.

I have Argente's and they are suppose to be pretty good at foraging.

I love having them on grass and seeing them do happy bunny hops. can't wait for spring either!!!! This week has been such a tease.

Good news then, since the youngsters will only be there until butcher time. I will have to think about the size of the pasture as well and err on the side of too large rather than too small.

It sounds like a wonderful idea sue, few months yet till the snow melts though.

I would give the growers some of the grains you mentioned as well as grass.

I keep my rabbits in outdoor pens with stucco wire on the bottom. Last summer I put 13 growers in a pen, in one corner there was a tiny area, maybe 3" x 4" where the wire wasn't fixed to the side proerly. They found that hole almost right away, I filled it in and put rocks on top, but to no avail. Within 10 days I lost all 13 of them. Needless to say, that pen will be used for chickens this coming summer, not rabbits

Yes, Ivory, if I build and they try to dig out, I will have to make it into a chicken pen.

Can anyone address worming for me? How often and with what?

I use Ivemectrin for my tractor rabbits. 0.01 cc per pound give orally after one month in the tractor, another does 14 days later, then a repeat series the day I pull them out of the tractors for the winter. If I had them out there beyond 4 months, I'd worm every 60 days but, mine need to get back in the rabbit barn and have time to settle in to barn life again before breeding so, just 4 months out grazing/foraging. Of course if one ever did show obvious symptoms of parasites, I'd worm that one as needed, same drill as routine worming.(for breeders only, fryers do not get ivemectrin, just garlic green which I have randomly planted so they eat that while foraging. If I need to worm the early fryers on garlic, they get 1 TBS greens or 1 clove crushed per day, every day. I have never opened a fryer and found any parasites in them so, garlic is effective for them, and safe for us to eat.)

I've tractored rabbits for almost a year now (I think there's more detail about what I do in other posts...), and my tractors definitely have bottoms. Substantial ones - wire decking panels for pallet racks. No escapees ever, though in theory a kit could probably squeeze out... I have yet to have a problem with worms or cocci (knock on wood), and I know for sure since I butcher grow-outs every 9-11 weeks that have been on pasture. It's probably a function of living in the high desert, we don't have problems with fleas or ticks on the dogs, either.

Anyway, I don't pre-emptively medicate any of my stock. Perhaps hold off on the worming until you see a problem? Oh, and I do supplement with some pellets. Mostly so I can avoid adding salt blocks, but I do think it is necessary for decent growth rates and nursing does. My bucks get all of 1/4 cup pellets only, though, and are fine.

You are fortunate, here I have to worm everything routinely. It's one of those areas that any animal that has outside access at all needs wormed (99% of puppies here are born with worms, every horse has worms repeatedly, etc... Even pigs and chickens have to be wormed routinely here. Ivemectrin does most and the chickens and quail get Wazine in the water to worm them.