Alternatives to pellets for meat rabbits

[eco2pia]

Ok I am looking for a different way to raise rabbits for my family's freezer. I did this once before and used just pellets and ended up paying more per pound than chicken--even organic chicken!! Exit rabbits...

Now I am ready to try again. I have an Ag background so I should be able to work out a way to have a decent feed to meat conversion ratio, with minimal cost and reasonable quality of life for my stock--I don't want much do I?

I am in a semi-rural town with a small yard and no garage, so this is a small rabbitry--at the moment a pudgy mutt buck(on a diet) and a young NZ Red doe. I am feeding the pellets that I inheirited with the buck, and supplementing with a variety of garden surplus and weeds, including bramble vines and pea vines, dandelions, etc...The girl has seen natural food before and is thrilled, the buck thinks I'm crazy...He is 2 and has probably never seen anything but pellets.

So what does anyone here do to get their costs down? How does it affect your grow out? What would you estimate your cost per (dressed)pound to be? I am aiming for under $1.50/lb dressed, better if I could get under $1/lb.

 

[MaggieJ]

Okay, I think I answered most of this on the other thread. Alfalfa and grass hay, a bit of grain and as many greens (weeds, twigs leaves from the safe list) as the season allows. Grow out for my mutts takes 14 - 16 weeks. Cost per pound, last time I figured it, was about $0.75. Natural feeding seems to take more time, more work but less money. And the flavour is wonderful.

 

[eco2pia]

I figured all the info was out there somewhere, just trying to get a cohesive picture. Sorry if I am being redundant. $.75 sounds really great! What are your grains again? I have seen a ton of recipes lately, but the only ingredients I can find really easily are whole oats and BOSS.<br /><br />__________ Tue Jun 29, 2010 8:11 am __________<br /><br />oh funny I just read your post on potatoes!! You put it all there for me! Thanks!!

 

[MaggieJ]

Whole oats are fine. BOSS is fine in moderation as long as your rabbits are not getting too fat. At the time I calculated cost per pound, the rabbits were getting hay, a good three grain scratch (they mostly left the cracked corn and I would toss it to the chickens) and lots of weeds etc. I really don't recommend corn... too many potential problems and it is very low in protein compared to the others. I no longer use it. It's no cheaper here anyway. Best single choice is probably oats.

I may have enriched the grain with a touch of blackstrap molasses and vegetable oil and salt. If the fryers are the kind that are always ravenous, I do that. Just a spoonful of molasses, a couple tablespoons of sunflower oil and a bit of water, heat in microwave to dissolve and mix into a couple of gallons of grain. Make sure it is not wet or you will get mould. I do this in very cold winter weather too.

Please keep in mind that this is just what I do... I am sure there are better recipes out there and I am never afraid to try something new if I think the rabbits will do better on it.

 

[Miss M]

How much alfalfa would I need to grow to sustain one buck and three does (with litters) without pellets? At the one feed store around here, alfalfa hay is just crazy expensive. I haven't called the others yet. You can feed it fresh and dried, right?

How do you consistently deal with the need for salt without pellets? I gave Thumper a salt wheel before I knew he didn't need one with pellets, and it was so humid, it was dripping away and making a wonderful mess.

What sorts of whole oats can be used? Groats? Steel-cut? Rolled? All of the above?

The last time the lawn was cut, I let the clippings dry in the sun and then collected them right before it rained. It's St. Augustine grass, which I understand is fair as a hay or forage material. The buns are eating it okay. I just hope that three days was enough drying time. Maybe I should spread it back out on a sheet or something to let it dry some more.

Like Eco2pia... just trying to figure out how to cut costs... the J-feeders have helped, because it is more difficult for the buns to dig in the food. Finding some useful weeds is helpful, but I'm not sure we have enough. We'll be putting in a garden this fall, but I want to leave some back yard for the kids. :lol:

 

[MaggieJ]

Miss M, I could be wrong, but if alfalfa hay is "crazy expensive" in your area it is likely because it does not grow well thereabouts.

How much land do you have available? You might find it is better to concentrate on growing dandelions, plantain, berry bushes, comfrey, clover, a willow tree, a mulberry tree and a host of other weeds than to try to grow alfalfa if your conditions are not good for it.

We have 32 acres, most of it unused. I have a patch about 50 feet by 30 feet - alfalfa, timothy and mixed weeds and grasses at this point - and it gives all the fresh cuttings of alfalfa and timothy that my rabbits could want. But they also go through about 15 bales of purchased hay. Square bales, about 40 - 45 pounds at a guess. Of course, the geese and chickens get some of that and my rabbits waste some. But that gives you a rough idea.

A salt/mineral block is a good idea but in your humidity it might be easier to feed redmond salt... a granular natural mineral salt. That way you could just put a bit in a dish.

Any of the oats you mentioned would work for the rabbits.

I guess it is a good idea having this thread here in meat rabbits, but most of the information you need is in the Natural Feeding forum.

 

[harlanr31]

. Grow out for my mutts takes 14 - 16 weeks.

I really wonder why that is I think I need to do a side by side and see how it goes

 

[Miss M]

Miss M, I could be wrong, but if alfalfa hay is "crazy expensive" in your area it is likely because it does not grow well thereabouts.

How much land do you have available? You might find it is better to concentrate on growing dandelions, plantain, berry bushes, comfrey, clover, a willow tree, a mulberry tree and a host of other weeds than to try to grow alfalfa if your conditions are not good for it.

We have 32 acres, most of it unused. I have a patch about 50 feet by 30 feet - alfalfa, timothy and mixed weeds and grasses at this point - and it gives all the fresh cuttings of alfalfa and timothy that my rabbits could want. But they also go through about 15 bales of purchased hay. Square bales, about 40 - 45 pounds at a guess. Of course, the geese and chickens get some of that and my rabbits waste some. But that gives you a rough idea.

A salt/mineral block is a good idea but in your humidity it might be easier to feed redmond salt... a granular natural mineral salt. That way you could just put a bit in a dish.

Any of the oats you mentioned would work for the rabbits.

I guess it is a good idea having this thread here in meat rabbits, but most of the information you need is in the Natural Feeding forum.

Sorry about that, Maggie! I was reading the thread, and thought of all these questions, and forgot about the Natural Feeding forum.

I did look at the USDA plants profile for alfalfa, and it is grown here... even as specifically as in my parish. But it sounds like I would need to plant way too large a plot. We're on about 1/2 acre at most, I think. So... I can't get too terribly ambitious.

Thank you for the note about the redmond salt... I'd never heard of it! I looked it up, though.

 

[cereshill]

Just an FYI: my cost per lb is about $1. I feed a hybrid diet of hay, 16% pellet, native grass, herbs, black and raspberry, banana and salad trimmings. I allocate 5lb of feed per fryer during their 10 weeks.... Granted this is fryer cost---not does or junior does. Juniors get ~1 cup a day after 3 months so they cost me around $4/month in direct feed cost; bred at 4-5 months. Thus a doe with her first litter has about $20 in feed costs at six months. If she throws and raises a first litter of 5-6, I am whole.