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pastelsummer

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ok if i use
hulled/roalled oats
alfalfa pellets
wheat berries
barley
yucca
flax seed
black oil sunflower seeds

how much of each do i need? I am calling my feed mill tomorrow and ned to know measures for it all.

my idea was..........
3 parts oats
2 parts alfalfa pellets
2 parts yucca
1 part wheat
1 part barley
1 part flax
one part boss
 
Holy smokes, I just looked up yucca powder, that stuff is EXPENSIVE. Plus, 2 parts seems like a lot. Beyond that, I don't have much advice, except I expect the protein content of this mix will be low. What is the protein % of the alfalfa pellets? Are you planning to also feed alfalfa hay? If not, alfalfa will need to be the bulk of your mix to get to a reasonable 16-17% maintenance formula. I'm also concerned that having one full part of both flax and BOSS may make that fat content a bit high, but I'm not sure on that.
 
that seems rather high for yucca. it's like usually less than a 10th of the pellet I think. You're only supposed to give like 1/2 tsp/rabbit or something like that.

should the alfalfa be a bit higher??


But I"m not an expert in this area of making your own feed.
 
I am not either i was trying to base on the grain fix i founf on ht wich is

6 x oats
4 x alfalfa
1 x wheat
1 x barley
1 x boss

but i wanna add flax and yucca to it so should i just keep this one and add one part each flax and yucca?
 
Dont have much advise to offer but I love the idea of mixing your own feed. Would love to start doing that for my bun as well. When I had my white pekin duck I mixed his own feed and it was a wonderful healthy alternative to store bought feed. Not to mention that he thrived considerably on it.
 
Well, here's what you need to do. Gather up the labels on all these different parts. Especially fat and protein content. All oats and alfalfa pellets are not created equal. Are you planning on having the mix pelletized, or just doing a textured mix? You will only be able to add the yucca powder and flax meal if you're going for pellets, otherwise I would just add them as a supplement separately because they will go to waste in the blend.

After you get the analysis on the grains and alfalfa, we can help more. But, I can practically guarantee that with this mix you will either have to offer alfalfa hay on the side, or adjust the mix to be mostly alfalfa pellets.
 
Trinityoaks has a useful grain mix formula based on Oren Reynold's classic mix but minus the antibiotics. I know she has it posted somewhere here... it would give you something that we know works to compare to.
 
ok here is what she said in the post you mentioned and it is the same i was looking at but just adding yucca and flax seed

trinityoaks":10bgbu7e said:
Here is the recipe from the late Orren Reynolds (as described in the Storey book by Bennett), along with protein calculations:

Code:
GRAIN	      PARTS	      PROTEIN %        TOTAL	
Oats	        6	x	14.0	=	84.0	
Wheat	        1	x	12.5	=	12.5	
Sunflower seed	1	x	26.3	=	26.3	
Barley	        1	x	12.3	=	12.3	
Alfalfa hay	4	x	20.0	=	80.0	
TOTALS	       13		               215.1	

	215.1	÷	13.0	=	16.5% protein

(I think the formatting got messed up, but it should be readable.)
 
Ok, well just check the alfalfa pellets you're using to be sure they are the right protein amount. None of the ones I was able to locate up here hit 20%. :( They were all in the 16% range, which would make this recipe a bit off. Seems like you could just do the grain mix and feed the alfalfa hay separate, I think that's what Trinity does.
 
LOL! I already replied to your thread on HT, but yes, I feed the grain and alfalfa separate (they get free-choice alfalfa hay).

Between here, HT, and Meatrabbits (where there has been quite an active discussion about grain feeding lately), I'm starting to lose track of what I said to whom and when, so if I'm repeating myself, please forgive me!

BTW, I finally found out why I can't seem to find kaffir corn (sorghum) here, even though I've seen fields of it growing here. They grow it for hay, not grain (apparently a cheaper hay to feed than alfalfa). I'd never heard of that before.<br /><br />__________ Sun Jan 02, 2011 11:06 pm __________<br /><br />Wait, it was Meatrabbits I answered you on. My head is spinning. :stars:
 
i am on all 3 and figured if i cross posted i would find out more of what everyone else does! Sorry will warn everyone next time<br /><br />__________ Mon Jan 03, 2011 9:24 pm __________<br /><br />ok i am using nature wise rabbit pellets and supplementing with 3 parts wheat berries 1 part whole oat 1 part flax seed. does it need tweaked any do you think?
 
Unless the yucca has more omega 3 than 6 you need to keep the flax higher than the sunflower seeds. Sunflower seeds are a good supplement but not balanced in omega fatty acids and can actually be inflammatory while flax is balanced and while I couldn't find the exact values for yucca it appears to be even in everything.

I would also calculate the Ca:p of everything if you haven't. Usually you want to aim for 2:1 but I don't know the specifics for rabbits.

For mixing with pellets I do
3parts pellet
3parts steel cut barley
1part flaxseed
1 part wheat bran
.5 part boss

2 bags of pellets with the mixture fills about 2 large rubbermaid containers and we go through 1 a month so far.
 
pastelsummer":2k5ju9sf said:
ok here is what she said in the post you mentioned and it is the same i was looking at but just adding yucca and flax seed

trinityoaks":2k5ju9sf said:
Here is the recipe from the late Orren Reynolds (as described in the Storey book by Bennett), along with protein calculations:

Code:
GRAIN	      PARTS	      PROTEIN %        TOTAL	
Oats	        6	x	14.0	=	84.0	
Wheat	        1	x	12.5	=	12.5	
Sunflower seed	1	x	26.3	=	26.3	
Barley	        1	x	12.3	=	12.3	
Alfalfa hay	4	x	20.0	=	80.0	
TOTALS	       13		               215.1	

	215.1	÷	13.0	=	16.5% protein

(I think the formatting got messed up, but it should be readable.)

Wheat and barley are almost identical in nutrients and kernel makeup. Most likely, in your area either one or the other will be more available (or cheaper due to transportation) so you might double the amount of one and eliminate the other. If you have a choice, hard red winter wheat has a bit more protein than soft(spring) wheat. One needs to find out if the sunflower seed is hulled or not, and whether it is the black oil type or the striped type, they differ quite a bit in their fat content and somewhat in their protein. The other components of the feed are what the ratios of roughage (starch) and fat come to. I suspect with this recipe that has already been figured to be in the correct range. You will probably need a spool or chunk of a good mineral salt with this recipe. Sorry, I don't know any statistics on the nutrients in yucca.<br /><br />__________ Tue Jan 04, 2011 3:43 pm __________<br /><br />
trinityoaks":2k5ju9sf said:
BTW, I finally found out why I can't seem to find kaffir corn (sorghum) here, even though I've seen fields of it growing here. They grow it for hay, not grain (apparently a cheaper hay to feed than alfalfa). I'd never heard of that before.

Hey Trin, hope your doing well! :)
Sorghum has a bunch of different varieties which look like anything from Johnson grass to Milo. Each has been developed for a different use: hay, silage, sugar (syrup), kaffir and milo. Each of theses has multiple varieties (for instance there is red milo and white milo)

If you feed stores don't have any kaffir, ask them about milo (my-low) they may know it only by that name. My own experience with milo is that rabbits don't care for it all that much. I think it may be more due to the small size than the flavor. One of the troubles one sometimes has with Milo, is that some farmers spray it with a chemical that gives it a bad flavor to keep swarms of blackbirdfrom eating it before the harvest. When I raised pigeons, it was an integral part of the feed, i bought it from a local farmer as sometimes they would not eat the stuff from the feed store. I guess hogs and cattle don't care about the taste, or maybe it is eliminated by the heat of pelletizing.
 
avdpas77":sd8ojd13 said:
Hey Trin, hope your doing well! :)
Yes, thanks! Hope you're doing well, also!

If you feed stores don't have any kaffir, ask them about milo (my-low) they may know it only by that name.
They do have that, and I knew it was related but wasn't sure it could be substituted for kaffir. I'll ask about the spraying.
 
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