estimating the equivalents of dried vs. fresh fodder

[ramblingrabbit]

So, I've been cutting fodder from the property for months now, growing some perrenial and annual plants specifically for the rabbits, but also cutting twigs from legume trees and bushes, the hibiscus hedges, grasses, and weeds and greens from the garden. THey also get oats, sunflower seeds, roots, and fruit in carefully rationed amounts. But harvesting enough for all the rabbits every day can be a lot of harvesting sometimes, and while it's nice to be able to feed these livestock from my farm's own resources--which is why I GOT rabbits in the first place!--I'm starting to feel like it might be nice to lighten the load a bit too, especially at certain times when there are bottlenecks in the garden output or a drought slows the growth of the perennials down. I've been toying with the idea of keeping a small stock of some alfalfa pellets, or cubes, or whatever I can get, on hand to supplement the greens.

I'm trying to figure out how I would convert the green fodder into a dry fodder equivalent. I wouldn't be entirely replacing it with dried alfalfa, just maybe substituting, say, 25% of it or so. I can feed fresh greenery ad lib I've found, but I don't necessarily want to offer alfalfa too freely--or do I? And I obviously can't just weigh the greenery, since the weight of fresh fodder would also include the weight of the water in it, and I have no idea how to calculate that component in order to subtract it. Besides, that would be a pain, and also I feed many different plants, that have different DM values from alfalfa anyway. There has to be an easier way to estimate a rough equivalence, without sacrificing flexibility and making things more difficult rather than easier... :?

I'd be grateful to anyone who has any insight into this.

 

[Dood]

if it is any help - you usually get 75-100 fifty pound bales of horse hay (mixed grass/timothy and less than 20%alfalfa/legume)per acre.

 

[DogCatMom]

From an entirely different realm, in cooking the instructions are usually that one measure of dried herb is the equivalent of three measures of fresh.

I guess this is due to packing down, because the *intensity* of fresh-picked herbs is such that a very little goes a long way. But for fresh vs. dehydrated plants, maybe 3:1?

 

[MaggieJ]

I feed alfalfa hay free choice year around. They also get a small amount of whole grain. The remainder of the diet is made up of fresh foods or dried greens. I don't get too concerned about how much forage they get in winter, as long as they get some. They get most of what they need from the alfalfa. Naturally they consume more alfalfa hay in winter than in summer when the greens are abundant. Don't forget the trace mineral salt block if they are not getting pellets.

 

[ramblingrabbit]

Hmmm. Thanks.

I was thinking now maybe I could just give them a tiny bit of the alfalfa and then as much of the fresh stuff as they will eat. That could give me an idea of how much of the fresh fodders the alfalfa actually replaces...

 

[MaggieJ]

You can probably do that... just pay attention to protein content so they get enough. There are many ways to feed rabbits... I was just sharing how I go about it because it is simple and I never have to worry about sufficient protein. I sometimes forget that our alfalfa hay at $3.50 a square bale is one of the world's great bargains.