New to meat rabbits- is this a good food plan?

[Goatiegirl]

Hi all, I've been reading around this forum for a while and seeing many similarities between how to care for my dairy goats and raising rabbits. (not exactly the same, but lots of common things.)

I have lots of hay that is mostly a mix of grasses with some alfalfa and then I buy whole oats and a bit of BOSS for my goats who I'm milking or are pregnant.

So would it be fine if I gave the rabbits whole oats and a sprinkling of BOSS and the hay? Or should I also give them a pelleted feed with the oats to up the nutrition?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I feed alfalfa and sometimes bermuda grass hay, along with oats, barley, and BOSS. Rabbits are browsers like goats, and enjoy rose bush leaves and stems, raspberry and blackberry canes, the leaves and branches of trees such as apple, mulberry, and willow, as well as various weeds and greens.

My rabbits are doing well on this feed, but it doesn't have to be all or nothing. Your rabbits will likely be on a pellet diet when you buy them, so it would be a good idea to start off with the brand they are accustomed to, and offer the oats, BOSS, and hay as an alternative.

I fed pellets originally, then fed grains in the a.m. and pellets in the p.m., and ultimately stopped feeding pellets at all.

 

[MaggieJ]

:yeahthat:

Rabbits need a slow transition when changing their diet from pellets to hay/grains/greens. Start them off on the same pellets they have had all along and then gradually offer them the other things in small quantities at first. As they learn to like the alternatives, gradually increase those and decrease the pellets. Most rabbits take kindly to the change, but now and again people have run into resistant rabbits that continue to prefer pellets.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

You do also need to offer a mineral/salt lick. I buy the 50lb red block for horses. You can knock chunks off with a hammer, or sacrifice your husband's Skil-saw to the Gods of Rust and Ruin like I did and saw small blocks off. (Not highly recommended- I'm still getting the occasional baleful glare and barbed comment.)

But the rabbits are happy, and my aesthetic side appreciates the uniform block size. The only unhappy one is Hubs!

 

[Miss M]

Maggie and MSD - how careful do you have to be to make sure they get adequate protein?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Hay has between 16-18% protein, I think. Bob Bennet recommends 14% pellets in his book, so the brands available today are too high in protein by his standards.

 

[MaggieJ]

I figure if they are getting alfalfa or clover hay free choice, there is no reason to worry about protein levels. Such forage as willow, poplar, mulberry and some others are comparable to alfalfa in protein levels. I've never worried about it... After all, wild European rabbits produce back to back litters from spring until fall without issues... and their protein levels are bound to be lower. I think there is a lot of hype about protein from manufacturers of commercial feed and perhaps also from those who want their rabbits to reach 5 pounds as quickly as possible.

 

[Goatiegirl]

Is 5 pounds the relative goal you want your kits to be at butcher time?

 

[Flemishstar]

My 92 yr old gma from italy (oh how I love her) always had the fattest tastiest rabbit when I was growing up, I used to help her pick bags of grasses..lol....Shed make my mom stop the car to pick grass if we drove by a good spot....Ive filled in her shoes now that shes too old to do any of that...So if you see an odd maN In your neck of the woods with a black garbage bag filled with clover and grasses its me lol hahah

 

[Miss M]

I figure if they are getting alfalfa or clover hay free choice, there is no reason to worry about protein levels. Such forage as willow, poplar, mulberry and some others are comparable to alfalfa in protein levels. I've never worried about it... After all, wild European rabbits produce back to back litters from spring until fall without issues... and their protein levels are bound to be lower. I think there is a lot of hype about protein from manufacturers of commercial feed and perhaps also from those who want their rabbits to reach 5 pounds as quickly as possible.

Oh, okay, I get it... because I think that most grass hay is 5 - 10% protein, and I was wondering... I missed the bit in the OP about alfalfa.

But you've got a good point about protein levels in general. I remember when I was feeding the 14% horse feed, that my bunnies always seemed to be hungry, even if they hadn't finished their food... like there was something they were not getting from it -- yet they were starting to put on a little too much weight. I never really figured it out, and just switched back to 16% pellets, and they're back to normal.

Maybe it wasn't the lower level of protein, though. Maybe it was something else.

Is 5 pounds the relative goal you want your kits to be at butcher time?

It's what most people shoot for, as it yields a rabbit about 2.5 - 2.75 pounds cleaned.

So if you see an odd maN In your neck of the woods with a black garbage bag filled with clover and grasses its me lol hahah

:lol:

 

[Ivory]

My 92 yr old gma from italy (oh how I love her) always had the fattest tastiest rabbit when I was growing up, I used to help her pick bags of grasses..lol....Shed make my mom stop the car to pick grass if we drove by a good spot....Ive filled in her shoes now that shes too old to do any of that...So if you see an odd maN In your neck of the woods with a black garbage bag filled with clover and grasses its me lol hahah

That describes my mother perfectly, and I'm just the same. My friends and neighbours are quite used to me turning up and telling them I've come to pick their dandelions.

 

[Flemishstar]

:lol: LOL...I stopped of the side of the road cause there was a HUGE 10 ft patch of alfalfa growing wild....I snatched it up...who needs a lawn mower

 

[MaggieJ]

Remember that spot, Flemishstar. You should get a second and even third cutting.