cmfarm
Well-known member
What kind of feed(s) does everyone use? How much protein? Do you use the same for youngsters as adults? Do you use any supplements?
Feeding rabbits
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17%. From local mill everyone gets the same. Too much driving otherwise.
MamaSheepdog
Well-known member
I had my herd on a mix of grains with alfalfa hay, but wasn't getting the growth I wanted. So... I have gone back to the pellet-side! 
The feed I get is out of a somewhat local (165 miles away) feed mill called Templeton Feed. It is what all of the show breeders here use. I picked up 2500lbs. yesterday for me and my breeder friend who raises Satins. It costs $11 a bag plus the gas split which was $32.00. When I don't pick it up I pay $15 a bag, which is still cheaper than Purina or Manna Pro which is what I fed before going pelletless.
She has a couple of other people that buy it from her @ $15 a bag which helps to defray the cost.
I'll double check, but I think it is 16%.
The feed I get is out of a somewhat local (165 miles away) feed mill called Templeton Feed. It is what all of the show breeders here use. I picked up 2500lbs. yesterday for me and my breeder friend who raises Satins. It costs $11 a bag plus the gas split which was $32.00. When I don't pick it up I pay $15 a bag, which is still cheaper than Purina or Manna Pro which is what I fed before going pelletless.
She has a couple of other people that buy it from her @ $15 a bag which helps to defray the cost.
I'll double check, but I think it is 16%.
RothsRabbits
Well-known member
$15.01 at local mom pop feed store, great stuff, butchering at 8-9 weeks right around 5 lbs
Price went down $.21 !!!
skysthelimit
Well-known member
Whatever I can get my hands on, Mannapro keeps coming up as the default. I feed the same 16% to everyone, as it is all the store will buy. Kits are free fed, Angoras are given BOSS for the extra fat/protein their coats require. I keep is easy, I have lots of bunnies.
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Prime Quality 16%... $16.50/bag, 8 miles away. It isn't worth the gas to get a cheaper feed.
grumpy
Well-known member
I feed "Kent" commercial feed. 17% protein @ $28.00 per 100#'s.
The feed store owner buys a ton at a time for me and stores it in his warehouse.
All rabbits are fed this brand with alfalfa hay as a supplement. The hay is fed two to four times a week.
grumpy.
The feed store owner buys a ton at a time for me and stores it in his warehouse.
All rabbits are fed this brand with alfalfa hay as a supplement. The hay is fed two to four times a week.
grumpy.
I've used two brands Ware Milling Rabbit ration out of Huston Mississippi it's and 18% feed but it was a bit much for what I needed it was about $13 per 50 pounds. I'm using Manna Pro now which seems to be working just fine. I give mine Bermuda hay as well.
I feed a combination of 18% rabbit pellets that I buy from a feed mill 90 minutes drive from here. Plus a combination of grains: barley, wheat, oats, peas, whatever is available at a decent price, plus grass hay.
concreteblonde
Well-known member
This is what I use.
I miss being able to get Blue Seal rabbit feed, -- it was a good feed, -- all I have is 15% nutrina available now-- and-- it just went from $19/ 50# to $18/ 40# I am sure glad I don't really need it. [I just like to feed a few OZ to the rabbits in winter to make sure they have everything they need when greens are not available.] If I was to feed this to my meat rabbits it would cost at very least $1.20 / lb live wt to raise rabbits in a perfect world, at about 55% dressout that is well over $2.00/lb for rabbit meat. [probly over $2.50] -- as far as I am concerned-- they just priced themselves out of the market. -- [I can get a 65 to 75 lb bale of great alfalfa for $10 here]
TwoAcreDream
Well-known member
I am using a 16 % Keystone product. $ 15.99 for a 50 # bag.
The mill I was buying from last year has sold out and is now just a warehouse. They want 19.99 a 50 # bag now. That is NOT happening.
I feed hay everyday in their hayracks. Some of them eat a lot, some don't.
I find I am better off not mixing their grain in the J feeders. I have a few scratchers. Sometimes I give them whole corn. I also been experimenting
using cracked corn / oats ( chicken scratch grain ). I was using just plain
cracked corn and oats from separate bags and then mixing together.
This type of feeding is not a everyday thing. I use smaller bowls and it is
more like a treat. My mommy does with a litter have their feeder full of
pellets. They get a small bowl of dry oatmeal or plain cereal if I have it as a morning treat.
If I have apples or carrots, they each get a slice as a treat. Not a everyday item.
In the summer, I pick them grass.
I have a flock of chickens and the hubby feeds the wild birds. I won't buy bird seed anymore. He has to feed them corn and oats. I keep track of what I buy so I know the chickens are paying their way and the wild birds are the negative drain. Plan is this spring to put in lots of sunflowers.
The mill I was buying from last year has sold out and is now just a warehouse. They want 19.99 a 50 # bag now. That is NOT happening.
I feed hay everyday in their hayracks. Some of them eat a lot, some don't.
I find I am better off not mixing their grain in the J feeders. I have a few scratchers. Sometimes I give them whole corn. I also been experimenting
using cracked corn / oats ( chicken scratch grain ). I was using just plain
cracked corn and oats from separate bags and then mixing together.
This type of feeding is not a everyday thing. I use smaller bowls and it is
more like a treat. My mommy does with a litter have their feeder full of
pellets. They get a small bowl of dry oatmeal or plain cereal if I have it as a morning treat.
If I have apples or carrots, they each get a slice as a treat. Not a everyday item.
In the summer, I pick them grass.
I have a flock of chickens and the hubby feeds the wild birds. I won't buy bird seed anymore. He has to feed them corn and oats. I keep track of what I buy so I know the chickens are paying their way and the wild birds are the negative drain. Plan is this spring to put in lots of sunflowers.
I feed 17% purina here it cost 21.00 for 50 pounds.. .. I can get the blue seal.. but the drive isn't worth it.
they get grass hay every morning. along with there supplements..
.. I can get the blue seal.. but the drive isn't worth it. they get grass hay every morning. along with there supplements..
I feed whatever pellets are the cheapest, or close to it. It's been Manna Pro up until the beginning of this year, but they raised their prices. For now, it's Producer's Pride 15%.
I add rolled oats and BOSS to all rabbits and a touch of Calf Manna to lactating does.
I add rolled oats and BOSS to all rabbits and a touch of Calf Manna to lactating does.
3mina
Well-known member
I feed 18% locally milled, everybunny gets the same. I average $20 for 55lbs and the only other thing they get is hay cubes.
Manna pro Pro or Sho feed 16% , orchard grass hay (a large handful most days). Occasional oats, boss, dried herbs, fresh cilantro, parsley or dandelions from a store in winter.
and a mineral lick.
In summer they get a lot more fresh forage and hay, no boss, much less oats and pellets.
Nursing does get free fed pellets in the latter 1/2 of their pregnancies, kits are free fed and get oats in smaller quantities but more often. Kits aren't given fresh greens unless their mommas are already in the habit of eating the same greens. Even then it's always with caution.
and a mineral lick.
In summer they get a lot more fresh forage and hay, no boss, much less oats and pellets.
Nursing does get free fed pellets in the latter 1/2 of their pregnancies, kits are free fed and get oats in smaller quantities but more often. Kits aren't given fresh greens unless their mommas are already in the habit of eating the same greens. Even then it's always with caution.
Nutrena 16% (it's the best price here at 15.00/50lb sack and, it's close (15 miles) the next is 35 miles away. I also give alfalfa and oat cubes with bits of basil, apple, mint, carrot, blackberries and, whatever else grows in my garden that they can have. My breeders go in rabbit tractors for the summer, so they get grass, clover and, dandelions then. (too hot to breed them in summer but they make good lawn mowers and, they like it plus it's cooler out under the hickory trees than in the barn.)
cmfarm
Well-known member
grumpy":1xrurr18 said:
Is this what you use?:
"Top Show Family is a complete, 17% protein diet for lactating does, a starter diet for growing bunnies, or a maintenance diet for mature larger rabbit breeds."
I am thinking about switching feeds. I seem to having trouble getting the rabbits to become pregnant (they will breed but not conceive, and this is with 2 different bucks) and I have some youngsters I am raising for future breeders that aren't growing like I would like to see. I like the brand for the chickens (Wendland's, it is milled about not too from here) just doesn't seem to be working out for the rabbits. There is a Kent supplier about 45 minutes from me, and my husband drives out that way often for work so he could pick it up. I am not sure about the price yet, my phone isn't getting a signal for some reason this morning.
cmfarm, Grumpy has recently had problems with his rabbits and he is quite sure it was due to a bad batch of feed. I suggest you review his thread about it before making any decisions about what brand to feed.
bad-feed-dead-rabbits-t20685.html
bad-feed-dead-rabbits-t20685.html
cmfarm":nh8f7cf3 said:
check your feed and see if selinium is added, a low selenium / trace mineral deficient diet, will cause some reproduction / growth problems-- you may need to add a mineral suplement.
-- the premix that is used to make rabbit feed rations at the mill, might not have a correct mineral balance for your area. Also-- growth rate is at least as much about available energy in the ration as it is about protein
