Natural Feed Formula List : Natural Feeding for Rabbits - Page 3

akane wrote:Simple feed
1/2lb rolled oats
1/2lb barley
1/4lb black oil sunflower seeds
unlimited 20% protein organic clover/alfalfa hay off a field treated for increased trace minerals
a soft mineral block for horses per colony
as needed oats or pellets rolled in horse coat supplement: soy oil, sunflower oil, flax oil

Fell back to manna gro temporarily and currently working on this much more complete mix with the same hay and no fresh foods most of the year
how-is-this-supplement-and-chamomile-question-t20670.html


Yes it may be overkill. Part of the excessive mixture aside from covering everything is palatability testing. Number crunching is in process to see exactly the protein, carbs, fat, Ca:P, fat soluable vitamin numbers and trace mineral percentages. Then things will probably get cut from the mix and others adjusted to reach my goals and have something that everyone will finish off happily.

I was wondering... do you make the horse coat supplement or do you buy it..

Does any one know the cal per 100grams of BOSS

As feed cost is getting a bit expensive i've turned to my farm.. i have just started using these on a new batch of weaned wil let yall know how it goes.
Here's my list not a formula but its feed

1.Sweet potato leaves and vines (Ipomoea batatas)
2.Guinea grass (Megathyrsus maximus) as much as they can eat
3.Mulberry leaves (Morus) as much as they can eat
4. Moringa oleifera
5.Spanish Needle (bidens pilosa) as much as they can eat
6.Banana leaves

Any input will be greatly appreciated

I was surprised when looking back at my notes from summer to find that we had fed 39 different plants with no ill effects observed yet. The safe plant list here was a much used resource although we tried some things that had cautions. This winter the variety is less of course. We're feeding oats, wheat fodder, hay, and carrots or parsnips each day. We also have dried willow, comfrey, raspberry canes, field peas (cut and dried before the pods matured), nettles and burdock leaves that we'll feed occasionally through the winter.

Since we make our own hay, the only feed we're buying is the grain, oat in the summer and oats and wheat this winter. Each cage also has a piece of mineral block chipped off what we give our goats. We hope next season to spend less time foraging, planting a bit more rabbit food in the garden and encouraging some of the preferred wild plants like chicory which seems to grow mostly along the roadside. Has anyone here grown it intentionally or know anything about the varieties developed for livestock feed?

Rainey wrote:I was surprised when looking back at my notes from summer to find that we had fed 39 different plants with no ill effects observed yet. The safe plant list here was a much used resource although we tried some things that had cautions. This winter the variety is less of course. We're feeding oats, wheat fodder, hay, and carrots or parsnips each day. We also have dried willow, comfrey, raspberry canes, field peas (cut and dried before the pods matured), nettles and burdock leaves that we'll feed occasionally through the winter.

Since we make our own hay, the only feed we're buying is the grain, oat in the summer and oats and wheat this winter. Each cage also has a piece of mineral block chipped off what we give our goats. We hope next season to spend less time foraging, planting a bit more rabbit food in the garden and encouraging some of the preferred wild plants like chicory which seems to grow mostly along the roadside. Has anyone here grown it intentionally or know anything about the varieties developed for livestock feed?

I grow a lot of vegetables for rabbits, Chicory is among those, there are several varieties of large leaf [sort of like an open romane ] that work well,"Pain De Sucre" is one of them, as well as "Italian Dandelion" that is also a chicory and works well. Toscano Kale [dino kale ] is also very nutrient dense, and hardy, and can [along with sugar beet] completely replace grain in the ration. --- seed sources --

http://www.gourmetseed.com/category/gou ... ry___leaf/ [just one source, there are many including Baker creek seed http://www.rareseeds.com/ ] Tranquility-Cottage http://stores.ebay.com/Tranquility-Cott ... 34.c0.m322 [also a good source of traditional Kale varieties]

see the book, "raising poultry and rabbits on scraps " Goodchild 1941 , Penguin Press.
[Sugar Beet can also be sliced and dried to feed year round]
JMHO -- if you want to raise Rabbits on "Natural Feeds" , you should memorize this book [and - add Jerusalem Artichoke to the list of feeds you grow, as it is not mentioned in this book]. J.Artichoke has almost the same feed value as Potato, but does not require cooking. again -- JMHO

michaels4gardens wrote:I grow a lot of vegetables for rabbits, Chicory is among those, there are several varieties of large leaf [sort of like an open romane ] that work well,"Pain De Sucre" is one of them, as well as "Italian Dandelion" that is also a chicory and works well. Toscano Kale [dino kale ] is also very nutrient dense, and hardy, and can [along with sugar beet] completely replace grain in the ration. --- seed sources --

http://www.gourmetseed.com/category/gou ... ry___leaf/ [just one source, there are many including Baker creek seed http://www.rareseeds.com/ ] Tranquility-Cottage http://stores.ebay.com/Tranquility-Cott ... 34.c0.m322 [also a good source of traditional Kale varieties]

see the book, "raising poultry and rabbits on scraps " Goodchild 1941 , Penguin Press.
[Sugar Beet can also be sliced and dried to feed year round]
JMHO -- if you want to raise Rabbits on "Natural Feeds" , you should memorize this book [and - add Jerusalem Artichoke to the list of feeds you grow, as it is not mentioned in this book]. J.Artichoke has almost the same feed value as Potato, but does not require cooking. again -- JMHO

Thanks for the specifics about what you're feeding. I have the book, have read it and will continue to refer to it. I notice that it gives times of year to feed different things and I want to work on that for our place and rabbits. We have Jerusalem artichokes--had been trying to get rid of them from a corner of the house before we got rabbits. Cut and fed the tops through the growing season and dug some to start in another place where they'd have more room. At what stage do you dig the roots to feed and can they be stored in our root cellar along with carrots, potatoes, etc? Do you dry kale for winter or just keep feeding it until the snow buries it or it freezes too hard to keep growing? I know the plants left in the ground put up new growth in spring before the newly planted greens get a start. We got a start this year, getting the rabbits we started with off pellets, and I'd like to get them off the purchased grain (not organic) when I am confident of meeting the nutritional needs with what we can grow/forage ourselves.

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Thanks for the specifics about what you're feeding. I have the book, have read it and will continue to refer to it. I notice that it gives times of year to feed different things and I want to work on that for our place and rabbits. We have Jerusalem artichokes--had been trying to get rid of them from a corner of the house before we got rabbits. Cut and fed the tops through the growing season and dug some to start in another place where they'd have more room. At what stage do you dig the roots to feed and can they be stored in our root cellar along with carrots, potatoes, etc? Do you dry kale for winter or just keep feeding it until the snow buries it or it freezes too hard to keep growing? I know the plants left in the ground put up new growth in spring before the newly planted greens get a start. We got a start this year, getting the rabbits we started with off pellets, and I'd like to get them off the purchased grain (not organic) when I am confident of meeting the nutritional needs with what we can grow/forage ourselves.[/quote]

I either dig and store, or leave in the ground and dig as needed, J.artichoke stores well if kept damp, and cool, [like under damp sand] J. artichoke left in the ground can be hard to get when the ground is frozen. - Kale can be dried, or fed fresh, I like to dry alfalfa, and grass hay, and feed kale fresh, but-- it can be dried. When the kale freezes out, I just feed hay and root crops. But in the spring I feed kale leaves and also let it go to seed , so- I can save my own seed, [plants started from seed -from plants grown in your garden, and soil type, will out perform plants started from imported seed.]
- Nutritional requirements, -- most soils are nutrient deficient-- so an effort should be made to correct this-- collection of leaves from trees will help, as the trees bring nutrients up from deep in the soil where they have not been depleted yet. --and ,of course putting the manure back on the garden also keeps the cycle going in the right direction.