Growout amount

Okay, I think I’m getting the hang of this fodder thing, hoping by the end of the month, my breeders will be fully on fodder (still using a few pellets as treats so their system is used to it in case anyone ever needs to feed the rabbits for us), but now I’m thinking ahead to our next litters and growing them out on fodder. Breeders are easy, transition slow and feed approx 6% of their body weight and watch nutrients with giving a variety of forage and seeds, etc. Plus hay, obviously. But, my question....

How do you know how much fodder to give grow outs, who are growing, so amount needed constantly changes etc. And when they’re supposed to be free fed, but if they don’t finish the fodder it dries out and shrivels. How do I figure what to give them morning and night, with as little waste as possible But enough to keep them growing.

Thanks!

I would free feed it.

Is there a reason you switched to fodder?

Mini Lop Mama said:

I would free feed it.

Is there a reason you switched to fodder?

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Right, but I need to know a general amount, so I know how much to grow, plus, not give too much at once and waste. Maybe it will just be a trial and error thing

Switching for cost and health reasons. I want the best quality, naturally raised/organic meat for the best price. We don’t have access to non-gmo pellets here and pellet cost is crazy. Babies are pigs and pellets are pricey and likely to go higher. Will be feeding forage and things I grow too, but will need alternative during winter and if I can’t forage/grow enough.

JG3 said:

Right, but I need to know a general amount, so I know how much to grow, plus, not give too much at once and waste. Maybe it will just be a trial and error thing

Switching for cost and health reasons. I want the best quality, naturally raised/organic meat for the best price. We don’t have access to non-gmo pellets here and pellet cost is crazy. Babies are pigs and pellets are pricey and likely to go higher. Will be feeding forage and things I grow too, but will need alternative during winter and if I can’t forage/grow enough.

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So do you actually save money with the fodder? I would think buying square bales would do the trick, but I would love to hear your opinion!

Mini Lop Mama said:

So do you actually save money with the fodder? I would think buying square bales would do the trick, but I would love to hear your opinion!

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Yes! When you grow fodder it 5-6 times itself in weight. When I was testing out growing it successfully, I turned a 1/2 cup wheat (3.2 ounces - I weighed it) into 1lb of fodder (Or 16 ounces). Then a rabbit only eats 5-6% of their body weight per day. Just that half cup grain would feed 2 of my rabbits a day. It works out to cents. Add in free forage or stuff you grow in the garden during the spring-fall and they’d even eat less fodder, too, making it even cheaper.

Now, quality of the meat trumps cost to me. I’m not in this to save money on groceries, that is. I want healthy meat for my family. Cost of going to fodder is just a perk on top of it too. Fodder is highly digestible and packed with nutrients and I have control over what I buy and how it’s grown, unlike with pellets, that have lots of additives or gmo grains.

By fodder, do you mean you are growing grains indoors for them, or do you mean you are harvesting pasture plants and other outdoor vegetation and bringing it to them? It sounds like you are doing both, but mainly growing grain?

Regarding quantity, I’d think you should feed them free choice as much as they will eat. But does growing grain have all the nutrients they need? I’d be concerned that grain fodder alone is too restrictive. We have transitioned our Rex rabbits to fresh free food -lawn, garden weeds in moderation, stemmy pasture grass, and fresh alfalfa in moderation. We also offer hay and pellets 24/7 but ours do not eat the pellets or hay much at all if I bring them diverse enough forage - several grass species, dandelions, clover, trefoil, carrot thinnings, alfalfa fresh, etc. I aim for high diversity.

Do you have a diverse lawn? Then in summer you just put them in a rabbit tractor and let them eat as much as they want and not worry about fodder.

When cutting outdoor vegetation and garden plants for our rabbits to prevent drying out, I put cut vegetation with stems submerged in a small bucket (long pasture grass) or Tupperware (finer garden weeds with thin stems) with water. It stays fresh longer.

Have you read the book Raising Pastured Rabbits for Meat by Nichki Carangelo? Maybe she offers suggestions for quality and quantity in that book. I don’t think she talks about fodder, but she does talk a lot about pasture plants versus pellets.

BuffBrahmaBantam said:

By fodder, do you mean you are growing grains indoors for them, or do you mean you are harvesting pasture plants and other outdoor vegetation and bringing it to them? It sounds like you are doing both, but mainly growing grain?

Regarding quantity, I’d think you should feed them free choice as much as they will eat. But does growing grain have all the nutrients they need? I’d be concerned that grain fodder alone is too restrictive. We have transitioned our Rex rabbits to fresh free food -lawn, garden weeds in moderation, stemmy pasture grass, and fresh alfalfa in moderation. We also offer hay and pellets 24/7 but ours do not eat the pellets or hay much at all if I bring them diverse enough forage - several grass species, dandelions, clover, trefoil, carrot thinnings, alfalfa fresh, etc. I aim for high diversity.

Do you have a diverse lawn? Then in summer you just put them in a rabbit tractor and let them eat as much as they want and not worry about fodder.

When cutting outdoor vegetation and garden plants for our rabbits to prevent drying out, I put cut vegetation with stems submerged in a small bucket (long pasture grass) or Tupperware (finer garden weeds with thin stems) with water. It stays fresh longer.

Have you read the book Raising Pastured Rabbits for Meat by Nichki Carangelo? Maybe she offers suggestions for quality and quantity in that book. I don’t think she talks about fodder, but she does talk a lot about pasture plants versus pellets.

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Yes, growing wheatgrass indoors. Plus forage from outside and things I grow In the garden. It’s a mix with variety. I have read beyond the pellet, as well as one on raising rabbit on scraps. We have a lot of clover, dandelion, purslane, plantain, a willow shrub, tons of herbs, comfrey, plus a large garden. They won’t lack in diversity to hit all the nutrients. And I’ll be drying what I can to use over the winter too. we also have timothy and alfalfa hay sources and if needing more fat or protein and general energy, supplementing sometimes with BOSS, pumpkin seeds and oats. oh, and trace mineral salt block. I’m still going to allow them to have pellets as a treat item, so their systems are still accustomed to it and if someone needs to feed them for us, they can easily give them hay and pellets and not worry about foraging and fodder. they will get small amount of nutrients from those still too.

Im thinking for amount, I’d likely start with the weight I want them to be for butcher and feed them the amount for that weight, to get them there in fodder, and then other forage, hay and supplemental things on top will be an extra to kind of make sure they're getting lots to grow. That’s my line of thinking now anyway, and I’ll read some more. I haven’t heard of the book you suggested, I will look it up. But we don’t plan to tractor/pasture so we can limit disease risk, like cocci and rhdv2 has never been in our area before but this summer two cases were in some pet rabbits, Only an hour and two hours away from me. So I’d like to lower that risk as well if it has escaped into the wild. We also don’t have enough land to tractor. We live in town, although on a large lot we have turned into an urban homestead. So everything will need to be brought to them.

That sounds great and similar to our goals. Thankfully we don’t have issues with rhdv here. Is rdhv a big problem if the rabbits are confined to a tractor? I don’t know much about the disease.

BuffBrahmaBantam said:

That sounds great and similar to our goals. Thankfully we don’t have issues with rhdv here. Is rdhv a big problem if the rabbits are confined to a tractor? I don’t know much about the disease.

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Yes, because it can be in the pasture where any wild rabbit with it has been. So, the ground would be infected and even just feeding things we grow is a risk if wild rabbits have access to the area. As of right now, I still feel comfortable feeding them off our property as there has been no more cases yet, hopefully it stays that way, and with natural feeding, their immunity will also get built up, too. I know it can be beat, because one case that was a couple hours away, the rabbit lived with two other rabbits and they did not catch it. its a devastating virus but clearly some rabbits can fend it off. So part of the goal is creating great immune systems, which also contributes to the quality of the meat for us.

BuffBrahmaBantam said:

By fodder, do you mean you are growing grains indoors for them, or do you mean you are harvesting pasture plants and other outdoor vegetation and bringing it to them? It sounds like you are doing both, but mainly growing grain?

Regarding quantity, I’d think you should feed them free choice as much as they will eat. But does growing grain have all the nutrients they need? I’d be concerned that grain fodder alone is too restrictive. We have transitioned our Rex rabbits to fresh free food -lawn, garden weeds in moderation, stemmy pasture grass, and fresh alfalfa in moderation. We also offer hay and pellets 24/7 but ours do not eat the pellets or hay much at all if I bring them diverse enough forage - several grass species, dandelions, clover, trefoil, carrot thinnings, alfalfa fresh, etc. I aim for high diversity.

Do you have a diverse lawn? Then in summer you just put them in a rabbit tractor and let them eat as much as they want and not worry about fodder.

When cutting outdoor vegetation and garden plants for our rabbits to prevent drying out, I put cut vegetation with stems submerged in a small bucket (long pasture grass) or Tupperware (finer garden weeds with thin stems) with water. It stays fresh longer.

Have you read the book Raising Pastured Rabbits for Meat by Nichki Carangelo? Maybe she offers suggestions for quality and quantity in that book. I don’t think she talks about fodder, but she does talk a lot about pasture plants versus pellets.

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Why do you try to keep the forage from drying out? As it dries out, the dry matter by percentage becomes higher.

JG3 said:

Yes, because it can be in the pasture where any wild rabbit with it has been. So, the ground would be infected and even just feeding things we grow is a risk if wild rabbits have access to the area. As of right now, I still feel comfortable feeding them off our property as there has been no more cases yet, hopefully it stays that way, and with natural feeding, their immunity will also get built up, too. I know it can be beat, because one case that was a couple hours away, the rabbit lived with two other rabbits and they did not catch it. its a devastating virus but clearly some rabbits can fend it off. So part of the goal is creating great immune systems, which also contributes to the quality of the meat for us.

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I agree with you, on the ground is not a good option for a host of reasons. This winter I'm finally gong to have a place to start grown fodder indoors. Can you share your growing system with us?

JG3 said:

Right, but I need to know a general amount, so I know how much to grow, plus, not give too much at once and waste. Maybe it will just be a trial and error thing

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It will very much be a trial and error thing. Aim for them not QUITE fininshing yesterday's feed. Like maybe they leave a few stems or something. Most rabbits can't get fat on straight fodder, so that is not a concern. When I am feeding fodder I add in small branches and if they are still hungry they will strip the bark and keep gnawing on the wood--then I increase feed. If they snip all the tender leaves off and then just play with the sticks I figure they are getting enough. Their appitite will change with life stage and the seasons.

KelleyBee said:

I agree with you, on the ground is not a good option for a host of reasons. This winter I'm finally gong to have a place to start grown fodder indoors. Can you share your growing system with us?

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It’s not much of a system, yet. Because were still transitioning, so I still rinse all the grain and drain by hand lol but i bought this ebook and plan to have it set up like this Pic.
i did an experiment of different methods and waters for soaking and I found soaking in tap water with added hydrogen peroxide the best for sprouting and staving off mold. and rinsing 3 times a day while it’s just the grain still, but cutting down to twice a day once it has the root mat because I find it stays moist longer and would mold if I stuck to 3 times a day. I grow wheat and my grass is long enough by day 5/6 to feed and I read somewhere on this forum, day 6 was peak for nutrients.

JG3 said:

It’s not much of a system, yet. Because were still transitioning, so I still rinse all the grain and drain by hand lol but i bought this ebook and plan to have it set up like this Pic.
i did an experiment of different methods and waters for soaking and I found soaking in tap water with added hydrogen peroxide the best for sprouting and staving off mold. and rinsing 3 times a day while it’s just the grain still, but cutting down to twice a day once it has the root mat because I find it stays moist longer and would mold if I stuck to 3 times a day. I grow wheat and my grass is long enough by day 5/6 to feed and I read somewhere on this forum, day 6 was peak for nutrients.

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I see. This looks very similar to what I am considering. Am I correct in assuming once you have circulating water, you no longer need to rinse? Is peroxide added to the circulating water?

KelleyBee said:

I see. This looks very similar to what I am considering. Am I correct in assuming once you have circulating water, you no longer need to rinse? Is peroxide added to the circulating water?

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Right. Once water is circulating, you won’t need to do it manually.
No, peroxide isn’t added to the rinse water. Just the soak.

JG3 said:

Right. Once water is circulating, you won’t need to do it manually.
No, peroxide isn’t added to the rinse water. Just the soak.

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What about lighting?

KelleyBee said:

What about lighting?

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It doesn’t really require lighting because there’s enough energy in the grain to sprout and grow for the short time it does. So, I’ve never specifically made sure it got sun or anything like that. Just the general light in the room is enough. That said, mine is set up near a window, but really only because it was the best spot to keep it out of the way and not clutter. So it gets indirect light, but the sun doesn’t shine directly on it. I’ve actually worried about the heat that comes in the window during the summer making good conditions for mold growth, but it hasn’t seemed to change compared to cold weather.