Fodder sprouting systems, anyone?

Nika · Oct 21, 2016

I´ve been growing fodder just for the last month, everything is going great, but I am noticing a lot of fruitflys or some other little fly thingy. They are not causing any problems yet, but should I be worried?

LunarFantom · Aug 23, 2018

I've been wondering about the feasibility of growing food to outpace rabbit consumption but it seems like it would take a lot more space than I have to keep pace with the rate at which it would be devoured.

imajpm · Aug 23, 2018

I fed fodder for a couple years. 2 ft by 3ft rack with 5 levels of fodder trays (20 9in x 15in trays producing 4-5lb each) will replace 50% of pellets for about 20 adult large meat breed rabbits. Approx 8 oz serving for one meal. 100% fodder required over 1 lb per rabbit and was no longer cost effective nor did I feel I was safe meeting all nutritional requirements. That being said, once I switched to the higher fat Purina Show pellet $ savings from fodder disappeared since they eat less of those pellets than the 1.25% fat general pellet. So I've discontinued fodder for now but I may restart it later when I have more time because they really like it, kits weaned out very well on it, it got a lot more water into them and it improved the wool texture of my angoras.

Allen · Dec 21, 2018

Has anyone figured out how much savings feeding fodder is versus feeding pellets?

MaggieJ · Dec 21, 2018

Allen":2ekfnhju said:
Has anyone figured out how much savings feeding fodder is versus feeding pellets?

It depends on so many factors: the cost of pellets in your location, the cost of whatever grain you decide to sprout, the value you put on your labour and the number of rabbits you are feeding.

Fodder is great if you can get a good set-up where the sprouts don't develop mould as they grow, but I don't think I would feed it exclusively. I'm no fan of pellets--I liked natural feeding much better--but I think variety is important.

I fed alfalfa/grass hay, small amounts of grain, and as much fresh forage as the season allowed. I also gave them a trace mineral salt block.

Towards the end of my rabbit-raising days, I used fodder as a fresh component of their diet in winter. My grow-out rate was not outstanding (14-16 weeks as opposed to 10-12 when I fed mainly pellets) but my cost-per-pound of dressed meat was cut by half. This included the maintenance of the breeding stock.

Please note that I was not feeding fodder exclusively, so all this is of limited value to answer your question, but it may help you to consider many different feeding regimens for your rabbits.