New to feeding

[tarheel506]

I'm about to venture into breeding and raising rabbits for meat, mainly for my dogs. My dogs are fed a well balanced raw diet, and I'm hoping that raising my own rabbits will help me provide for them at a lower cost. I can tell you everything you need to know about raising your dog on the best diet possible, but when it comes to these rabbits I'm a bit unsure. I understand that what an animal is fed effects the quality of the meat they provide, but I am also trying to save money by producing my own meat. What ingredients and macronutrient values should be looked for? What ingredients should be avoided? Would it even be more cost effective to feed my rabbits a homemade diet just like I do for the dogs? I'm wondering if there is anyone else out there who is also worried about quality of the diet while still being cost-effective.

 

[Zass]

Welcome to RT!

There are lots of us raw feeders on here!

Rabbits are somehow the most simple and strangely complicated little animals I've ever encountered. Their nutrition will sound pretty simple, until you try to put it into practice. :lol:

The #1 rule is make feed changes slowly, and there seems to be numerous exceptions to any rule that involves rabbits. Their digestive tracts are delicate, and an imbalance can all too easily lead to death.

The cost effectiveness of a homemade diet will be mostly dependent upon what is available and prices in your area.
Alfalfa hay can sell between $3 and $20 per bale, and is the basis of most rabbit diets. You will want to get friendly with farmers! The main thing most breeders look for is protein content between 16% and 18%.

It seems like just about everyone feeds their rabbits a bit different (or very differently!), and it can take a little while to find what works best for you and your buns.
I'll give a rundown of what I do with mine as an example:
I feed alfalfa based pellets (purina complete), grass hay or hay cubes, oats, black oil sunflower seeds and foraged greens. Different rabbits have different nutritional requirements at different times. For example, the boss is given only to nursing does. The oats are given to young kits and anyone who seems to need a boost, or anyone who's having digestive trouble. Forage is mainly given to adults, since unadjusted kits can get diahrea from it. Grass hay is mainly for fiber and is made available to all rabbits. Young kits and rabbits going through digestive troubles will need it the most.

 

[Miss M]

Rabbits are somehow the most simple and strangely complicated little animals I've ever encountered.

Somehow, you've managed to sum it up right there! :lol:

I'm hoping that raising my own rabbits will help me provide for them at a lower cost.

It is quite likely that you can work it out that way, as long as you don't consider one-time startup costs (cages, feeders, etc.). The one-time costs will slowly average toward negligible over time, though they aren't negligible at first.

What ingredients and macronutrient values should be looked for?

The best feeds will tend to have alfalfa first, and wheat middlings second. The farther down the list you find molasses, the better. If you see yucca extract, that helps with urine smell... nice, but not an absolute must, if your rabbits are outside. You want the top ingredients to read as real as possible -- not "products" or "by-products", if you can avoid them.

Here is a list of the first five ingredients of a bunch of different feeds: post232752.html#p232752

Good feeds tend to have at least 16% protein and 15% fiber.

What ingredients should be avoided?

Some avoid corn in the feed, because it does pose a mycotoxin risk. Others try to buy feeds with very little corn, and others don't really worry about it.

Would it even be more cost effective to feed my rabbits a homemade diet just like I do for the dogs?

Possibly. If you are able to identify a bunch of local weeds as good for rabbits, you can supplement those with grains like wheat or barley, and a red mineral salt block piece (in a dish to protect the wire, if your area is humid). Cost effectiveness depends on how expensive the grains are. Or alfalfa or clover hay (not sweet clover, though... too much mold risk). Information on this kind of feeding is in the Natural Feeding forum: natural-feeding-for-rabbits-f11.html

Or you could grow your own fodder, a process that turns a pound of grain into 6 pounds or so of sprouts, over about 7 or 8 days. I plan to try this as soon as I can. One of our commercial producers, Grumpy, made the switch to a mostly fodder diet, after some bad feed killed a bunch of his rabbits: a-beginning-t21277.html Here's our general fodder sprouting thread: fodder-sprouting-systems-anyone-t10317.html

I'm wondering if there is anyone else out there who is also worried about quality of the diet while still being cost-effective.

Absolutely. :yes: You will find threads that talk about that all over this forum. You will learn so much just reading old threads!

My recommendation? Find a good pelleted feed, and start with that. Rabbits have enough of a learning curve themselves, without trying to figure out how to properly balance their diet from the start. Get your setup, get some breeders, grow out a few litters, butcher, etc. Down the road, once you've got the rabbit thing down, then switch to a natural diet, if you are able to make it work economically in your area.

You will find that this is an amazing community of very helpful people. People who raise rabbits for all sorts of different reasons and uses come here to help each other and talk about all things rabbit.

Welcome to RabbitTalk! :hi:

 

[hucklekree]

Yes what the first two said :goodpost: It took me around three years between moving and adding children to feel like I could manage doing rabbits for the long haul. Now I can align the feed my rabbits eat with a more organic philosophy. But there was no way in the beginning I would have been successful at deviation from the standard hay and pellet combo. But meh that is just my story.