How Many Pounds of Feed

[Bigredfeather]

Anyone have an estimate of about how many pounds of feed it takes to feed out a rabbit from weaning to 6 pounds live weight? I realize it is going to be vary based on breed and type of feed, but just looking for a number to do some rough projections.

 

[SatinsRule]

I don't think that 10-15 lbs per rabbit would be an extreme guess. A lot is bound to hinge not just on breeds, but on particular bloodlines. Some bloodlines develop in weight more rapidly than others.

Last year, I experimented with an 18% ration on some of my babies. Best as I can recall, I bought about 250 lbs of it and never went through all of it. There were 9 babies and they were fed that line of feed for 3 months.

 

[AmysMacdog]

I once read it takes 150 lbs for a doe and her litter of 8 from kindling to butchering. Thats 3 bags over 8-10 weeks. Whew! Thats alot of food! It does seem to run true with my litters of ten. I probably use 4 bags for mine.

 

[SatinsRule]

Amy, I really don't doubt that could be the case, but again, I think it goes back to bloodlines and several other factors. The consumption rates of certain types of feed are bound to be different than others, too.

I like to think of it like this. There are certain types foods that we as humans will fill up on faster than others, even though by weight, they are quite similar. It explains why all the feed companies tell you to feed by weight, not volume. You have to adjust the amounts you feed to match how much the rabbit in question is consuming. The feed I used on my foster litter was a cut-rate feed in comparison to some of the other name brand feeds on the market. Had I been feeding something like Heinold Starter Formula or another similar product, the consumption rates would have been quite different. Because the ingredients were different, an argument could easily be made that the results would have been different as well.

 

[Ivory]

Anyone have an estimate of about how many pounds of feed it takes to feed out a rabbit from weaning to 6 pounds live weight? I realize it is going to be vary based on breed and type of feed, but just looking for a number to do some rough projections.

More than you expect.

Its hard to say because there are so many factors to consider.

 

[Bigredfeather]

Reason I am asking, I am wanting to order my fodder seed supply for the next year, and I'm trying to get an idea of how much seed I am going to need based on how many rabbits I think I will be raising.

 

[SatinsRule]

Reason I am asking, I am wanting to order my fodder seed supply for the next year, and I'm trying to get an idea of how much seed I am going to need based on how many rabbits I think I will be raising.

Completely understandable, but again, it is going to vary based upon the feed in question.

Think of it like this. You have two portions of desserts sitting in front of you. One is a simple coconut cake, and the other is cheesecake. For most people, the latter (cheesecake) will fill them up more quickly and sit on them longer, and the reason has to do with the composition of the ingredients involved. The same holds true for feeds. If you go with one that is largely made up of junk fillers, it only stands to reason that you'd feed more of it than one that is made up of primarily grains and so forth, and the reason is because the latter will fill them up faster over time, resulting in lower consumption. While the one with better ingredients will almost always cost more per bag, it will usually result in you feeding less. In the end, you normally don't wind up spending that much more on your feed bill, but YMMV.<br /><br />__________ Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:37 am __________<br /><br />BRF, if you go with Heinold 17/17 feed, you're likely to get the best bang for your buck in terms of growth rates per amounts of feed used. It won't normally put you into the poor house in comparison to other feed lines, either. That's just my own humble opinion, though.

 

[camanojim]

I have cut my pellet feed by half or more by feeding barley fodder. The rabbits love it! They dont eat the root mat all the way down, but they eat most of it. A 50 lb bag will produce over 250 lb of food. That's 250 lbs of food for about $12.00. Between fodder,hay,pellets and treats my rabbits are rapidly growing and putting on weight. pelleted food has become a side dish for them. I refill the crock and they look at the pellets and then look at me as if to say "alright pal where is the good stuff". right now with 4 adults and 6 4 week old babies I am using less than a half pound of pellets a day, they just don't dig it anymore.