I planted a bunch of moringa seeds at the start of monsoon season this year (end of June). I planted 5 seeds in each of 28 cage and had 22 cages sprout at least one (many of them sprouted 2-3). The biggest 3 grew to 8 feet tall in 5 months with a trunk that's easily 2.5 inches diameter. Several others got to an inch diameter and 5 feet, and a bunch are quite a bit smaller (watering issues, and we didn't have cages on them at first so a lot of cottontail damage). When the temps dropped into the 30s a couple weeks ago I cut all the leaves back and hung them on the arms of one of our portable carport frames to dry. The rabbits like them fresh and dry, and the goats as well. I don't have much this year as "tree hay" but I know they'll grow back next year quite robustly and with the taproots established I'll be able to harvest tender growth all season (plus I'll plant a ton more now that I know what I'm doing).
My hope is to feed my rabbits minimum 50% with moringa. I'm lucky to live where it can survive the winter with minimal effort on my part (I cut the stumps off to 18 inches tall and I'll cover the cages with burlap; this year I'm also packing the bottom 6-12 inches of the cages with wood chips to help insulate the taproot but hopefully after this year that step won't be necessary, just the burlap). Once the taproot is well established, only a multi-day hard freeze will kill it completely and the trees should grow 12-20 feet per year if I left them to just grow without harvesting; with continual pruning/harvesting I shoudl be able to really get a LOT of production out of even as few as the 22 cages so it's kind of an amazing plant if it's an option in your zone. Every part of the tree is edible, from roots to branches, leaves to pods, by animals and humans alike. Moringa leaves often are sold and consumed as a superfood supplement at a premium price.
We're also planting a whole bunch of mulberries, pomegranates, apples, jujubes, and likely some other stuff over the next year and I'll be saving all the trimmings for animal fodder. I did sprout barley for them for a while but it was really finnickey in our climate and we ultimately gave up. I may plant a rabbit garden to feed them too, but it's hard to grow most things here and with selling rabbits I want to be sure they're acclimated to what my buyers will have access to so I'm still trying to decide how I'll work it. I have the rabbits, goats, egg chickens and do a few rounds of meat chickens annually, and I plan to add ducks after a bit as well, so even if I don't wind up feeding most of it to the rabbits I have plenty of other animals around that can and will eat tree hay and that sort of fodder!
