forage choices question

[Rainey]

Just a few weeks ago we were scrounging around for the first green bits the rabbits could eat. Now there is so much more than we can possibly use. We're gathering and feeding 5 four gallon buckets plus willow branches and berry canes stuck in each cage every day. I understand the importance of variety but was wondering if there is any reason not to feed more of whatever forage is preferred by a given rabbit on a given day. In the commercial feed forum there are sometimes posts about not giving the buns what they want, but a balanced ration (pellets). But with natural feed and rabbits that are being fed all they'll eat (growing out kits and nursing does) is it ok to give, for example, more willow if that is what they seem to want? And is it important for them to keep eating hay when they have all the fresh stuff? They are also (except the buck) getting grain. In the winter we tried not to give so much of other feed--roots, fodder, grain--that they stopped eating hay. In summer every cage has a hay rack that is filled whenever it gets low. But is it a problem if they eat the green stuff and leave the hay? Does the woody forage have the fiber that the hay provides?

And another tangential question. I'm mowing some areas that we don't need for feed now, hoping that they will continue to make new growth instead of going to seed. The things that are usually fed early in the season--can they be fed later if they are "young" and not flowering/seeding? Is it the stage of the plant or the stage of the season that is relevant?

How can I still have so many questions after you all have taught me so much?

 

[MaggieJ]

I found that hay consumption goes down in summer when forage is abundant and lush and increased in winter. Bear in mind that a great deal of the rabbits' protein came from the alfalfa hay which was always fed free choice. It wasn't pure alfalfa, so they had perhaps 20% grass in there as well.

I never worried about balancing the rabbits' diet. Given an abundance and good variety they seemed to balance their own. Some greens they liked better than others. Willow was always a favourite, also sunflower leaves, chicory and dandelions, clover, plantain. Things like lambs' quarters and red root pigweed they would eat when young, but not with the same enthusiasm. I did try to feed several species of greens each day, but not necessarily the same amounts of all and occasionally they would get almost all willow or sow thistle or whatever when these were particularly abundant. (The Latin names for these weeds are in the Safe Plants List.)

It's a good idea to mow areas so that you always have some forage just right for gathering. It took a long time to get through to my husband not to mow all the areas of so-called lawn at the same time.

I have always fed small amounts of grain in addition to greens and hay. Rabbits seem to prefer the forage and will eat it all first and then nibble hay and eat grain if they are still hungry. There is very little fat on a fryer fed this way, just a bit around the kidneys.

 

[LPH_NY]

I live in Central NY, too... so I know exactly what you mean by scrounging only a couple weeks ago and now being up to your ears in fresh feed. I think it's fine to gather whatever is in season and healthy-looking... and I also think it's fine to give more of the healthy "favorites" to the rabbits that prefer them. I'm not an expert, though... I just know that's what I tend to do and haven't had any problems.

As far as regularly mowing, clipping, pruning, etc to keep plants "young" - I do do that. My rabbits LOVE goldenrod. I've read many times not to give goldenrod after it flowers. So I pick the tops off all the ones in my yard every couple days and offer those young, green tops... which actually encourages goldenrod to split into two or three branches and keep growing new leaves. They get young goldenrod tops all the way until the end of summer, even into fall if I don't forget to keep picking!

My thinking is, wild rabbits eat what is in season, and they *probably* seek out their favorites when those are available, just like deer. It makes sense to me to feed my bunnies the same way. I do keep offering hay, but I notice they don't eat much of it. I especially want to have it around for the kits to nibble. My buck doesn't eat plantain at all unless I've really offered nothing better... so I give most of the plantain to the does. My buck, on the other hand really LOVES maple leaves and one of my does doesn't care for that very much. So he gets a lot more maple saplings and clippings than she does.

I try not to offer less than 3 different plants per day, but there were days last year that it was pouring rain day after day and all I could offer fresh was cattail leaves. I'd cut them into little bites and fill their feed bowls with cattail and also offer fresh dry hay and oats. My goal is to give them as much diversity as I can offer on a weekly basis, rather than daily.

I wish I could collect bucketloads every day... while everything is abundant, all the areas where the good stuff is, also has poison ivy, horsetail and milkweed mixed in... so I really have to be very careful and inspect every handful or pick individual stems at a time. It takes me half an hour just to fill a 2 gallon bucket. I would love to have my rabbits on 90% fresh forage during the growing season, but it's just too time consuming on my small plot surrounded by forest. The only parts of my property that are good for actual cultivation/gardening is devoted to food for the humans... and all the rest is trampled by the chickens and ducks daily... so I mostly forage the perimeter and the roadsides (very rural, low traffic, wide shoulders.)

 

[Rainey]

I think my "problem" is that for a while there is just so much that is easily accessible and good feed at this time of year that I don't cut any area down thoroughly to promote new growth. I'm on a 180 acre farm and while much of that is woods, there are hayfields and hedgerows and an old orchard and a large vegetable garden. Most days one bucket at least comes from weeding in the garden. I mostly keep up with mowing the lawn--not huge but so I can get to the clothesline and herb and flower gardens without being in tall grass/weeds. What I need to do this week is use the walk-behind sickle bar mower to cut some strips in odd weedy places--around the well house, behind the sawmill, between the rabbit shed and the garden fence, etc. Then I need to do other strips in a week or two and keep doing it right along so that come July and August, there is still fresh stuff coming. Just along the edges of the hayfields where we keep a walking path mown I've been noticing the goldenrod coming up but haven't cut any for the rabbits yet because I can get so much good stuff closer. And cattails--have those and sometimes grab a handful on the way by. Does anyone here dry them--or feed the roots?
Our rabbits are getting variety--half a dozen or more different plants each day--they change some with the season, and as you noticed with your rabbits, some individuals prefer some foods and ignore others unless there's nothing else.
Mostly I just need to get organized--funny how most things we have either way too much or not enough.