Question re. beets, other root vegs

[DogCatMom]

DH and I had a small community garden plot until last April. Just the other day I discovered a plastic bag in our crisper of the beets we harvested when we gave up the plot. They still look OK, but they may be woody--may have been so when we first pulled them out of the soil. We also have some beets currently in the veggie boxes here at home.

So, to my questions:

1) DH and I are willing to try these stored beets ourselves, but if they're too woody for us, are they OK for the rabbit?

2) We need to cook them before we eat them; will this make them somehow less attractive/tasty for Parsley?

3) Is there a general guideline re. when to cook and when to leave raw the various root veggies, e.g., carrots (raw); parsnips (NOT for rabbits, according to at least one source); and then rutabagas / potatoes / celeriac / beets (? for rabbits, but always cooked for people)? The soil and air temps are too low here to grow sweet potatoes.

Thank you! (and Parsley thanks you, in his quiet way )

 

[MaggieJ]

Good questions, but I am not sure there are definitive answers.

This is what I have always done, and never had any problems:

1. Carrots, beets, rutabagas - slice or chop and serve raw. In a colony, pieces work best to promote sharing.

2. I have never fed parsnips. Like you, I have heard they are not safe for rabbits and though I suspect this is not true, they are expensive here and I'd rather eat them myself.

3. Potatoes - should be cooked. My rabbits have always loved a chunk of baked potato.

4. Sweet potatoes: again, a bit expensive, so my rabbits only get the peelings or leftovers... either raw or cooked.

Becasue root crops tend to be rich (high sugar/starch content) I generally feed only small quantities at a time. In our cold winters, however, I consider them an excellent addition when other fresh foods are scarce. As with all new foods, phase them in slowly.

 

[DogCatMom]

Heracleum mantegazzianum, or wild parsnip (aka Giant Hogweed) is universally agreed to be toxic to rabbits. The sap is also a problem for people, since it's phototoxic.

Edible parsnip and a wild parsnip (escaped domestic?), at least in the U.S., pastinaca sativa, is not universally agreed to be either toxic or non-toxic to rabbits. This is the one I wondered about; DH and I consume more than our per-capita share of root vegetables, and the peelings and trimmings would be wonderful bunny supplements IF I could be sure they wouldn't make Mr. Rabbit keel over dead, whether sooner or later.

So...cook the potatoes, and treat all root veggies as...treats. Yes, I agree that they're nice and sweet! If I hadn't had the question about these potentially woody beets, I wouldn't have raised the topic--I likes me some baked (non-woody) beets! But it seems that Parsley can have the little bitty ones one at a time, if he likes them.

 

[michaels4gardens]

I feed a lot of root vegetables raw, -carrots, Turnips, Rutabaga, beets[mangel, sugar beet, as well] parsnips, Kohlrabi, J. Artichoke. all are just fine if you start a little at a time to introduce them, "Potatoes are always cooked" I would just remind anyone feeding root crops, that they are low in fiber, and a good fiber source must always be fed with any "low fiber" feed, I use straw or corn stalks, but grass hay is also good, [alfalfa is not good enough by its self] and-- pellets are too low in fiber to begin with, so don't count on them to provide any missing fiber.

 

[DogCatMom]

I feed a lot of root vegetables raw, -carrots, Turnips, Rutabaga, beets[mangel, sugar beet, as well] parsnips, Kohlrabi, J. Artichoke. all are just fine if you start a little at a time to introduce them, "Potatoes are always cooked" I would just remind anyone feeding root crops, that they are low in fiber, and a good fiber source must always be fed with any "low fiber" feed, I use straw or corn stalks, but grass hay is also good, [alfalfa is not good enough by its self] and-- pellets are too low in fiber to begin with, so don't count on them to provide any missing fiber.

Not to worry; Parsley gets orchard grass hay every day. The day he bit me (way too eager for the parsley I had in my hand), it ticked me off, so he got *extra* hay and *fewer* kibbles--as well as me saying "NO!" and clapping my hands at him (like a young puppy or kitten), but still lots of fresh vegs and a de-seeded apple core. He also LOVES banana peel, which I consider a "fiber food."

I count on the pellets (just over 1/4 cup/day or approx. 60 grams) to provide the vitamins and minerals the hay and fresh foods may not contain. Since the fresh foods keep Parsley "entertained" for quite a while as he eats them, throws them around in his ex-pen, finds them again, etc., they serve multiple purposes, but full vitamin/mineral coverage isn't one of them.

As we discover (or luck into) windfalls like the beets--don't forget that there's a produce store very close to my house!--it's good to know what can be diverted from the waste/compost stream into the rabbit food ==> Rabbit Gold stream. We have Jerusalem artichokes in the ground near the street that I had almost forgotten about; I'll see if he likes them, too.

Thank you!

 

[michaels4gardens]

J. Artichoke is one of my favorite roots to feed rabbits, as they have almost as much calories as potato, [ over 300/ lb] but don't have to be cooked, -sugar beet would also be high on the list [ but some rabbits don't like them a lot]- have never met a rabbit that didn't like J. Artichoke - sometimes they take a few days to decide, but -{in my experience} all have like them.--[re; produce stand-- avoid any avacado, for rabbits and chickens]

 

[DogCatMom]

J. Artichoke is one of my favorite roots to feed rabbits, as they have almost as much calories as potato, [ over 300/ lb] but don't have to be cooked, -sugar beet would also be high on the list [ but some rabbits don't like them a lot]- have never met a rabbit that didn't like J. Artichoke - sometimes they take a few days to decide, but -{in my experience} all have like them.--[re; produce stand-- avoid any avacado, for rabbits and chickens]

I think I know where I can get some small amounts of "agricultural crop" seeds (e.g., sugar beet, mangels). These would be good to grow out by the street, where there's absolutely no way to keep people from picking them. I grew wheat successfully out there a few years ago; it looks so much like the wild oats, johnsongrass/dallisgrass, and related weeds that grow here that absolutely no one touched it. :twisted: The JAs have been untouched, too, since they look like unsuccessful sunflowers (esp. since I cut off the flowers to prevent the plants from spreading via wind- or bird-dispersed seed; the roots are bounded by concrete).

re. avocado: even though there's a line of dog and cat food that features avocadoes, many dogs are allergic to this plant. I don't feed it to my dogs (or any curious cats, either) b/c of the widespread reports of allergies. Some foods, anyway, are just too good to share!

Thank you again for these great ideas; pls keep them coming!

 

[michaels4gardens]

RH Shumway sells small quantities of seed. -and-- even though Mangles are huge-- in a small space sugar beet will produce more food value for rabbits then the mangle, - [in a large space it is diferent], -I plant both as they differ a little, and my rabbits like to have diferent foods to choose from, and will "go off" one type of feed if fed too much of one vegetable, but by giving them a choice I can keep them eating/gaining well.

 

[akane]

The potatos you make baked potatos out of are toxic mainly just in the peel. All other potatos like red can be fed as is, raw. Baking type potatos, if you choose to feed them at all, should be peeled well and then can be sliced and given a little slice of raw a day. Cooking does not destroy the toxin in the peel and the amount varies wildly from potato to potato. You could feed 20 baking type potatos with no issue and then suddenly kill all your rabbits with the 21st irregardless of cooking or not. These type of potatos are the one leftover I often throw away rather than feeding out. Sometimes if we have an extra heavily peeled and sliced potato from making soup I will use it sparingly but that's it.

Most other root veggies are fine in small amounts.

 

[MaggieJ]

I don't buy baking potatoes - too expensive for us, let alone for the rabbits. But we do bake regular potatoes and I often throw in a few extras to give to the rabbits.

Old time rabbit raising books say potatoes should be cooked and I have relied largely on these old books to develop my method of natural feeding. More sources are available now that natural feeding is trendy and some of the old ideas will likely fall by the wayside.

The reason given for cooking the potatoes was to make them more digestible, not because of possible toxins. Feeding potatoes was a common war-time practice in Britain, when all grain had to go for the war effort.

I found this 1947 article from Cambridge University very helpful.

http://journals.cambridge.org/download. ... b76fbc7feb

 

[michaels4gardens]

"The reason given for cooking the potatoes was to make them more digestible, not because of possible toxins. Feeding potatoes was a common war-time practice in Britain, when all grain had to go for the war effort"
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. My "bible" for rabbit raising when I started over 50 years ago, was a penguin book, titled "Keeping Poultry And Rabbits on Scraps" Published in Britton in 1941, [written for the "War Effort"like mentioned above By "MaggieJ"] it is still the book I use most for raising rabbits with out pellets. [I do have others] I used this book with great success, with no problems. [excepting the wire floor issues]-I would recomend it to anyone who thinks they want to feed rabbits a "non pellet" ration. I have always fed cooked Potatos, with no problems, --but if I had a green skinned potato, I peeled it before I ate it or fed it to my rabbits. I did try feeding raw potato to rabbits once, at first it seemed OK, but in time--it did not go well, so I don't encourage others to repeat my mistakes.
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in reading the material linked to above by "MaggieJ" it shows the same thing I have found in my rabbit feeding programs, -- Rabbits fed cooked potato and "weeds" grow as well as rabbits fed pellets, --rabbits only fed weeds, grow a little slower [at my place it takes about a week longer to 5 lbs]-
----- I added sunflower oil, and old powdered milk to the ration of cooked potato, and greens, and got better growth rate then pellets or potato/weed rations, -but-- I don't recomend this- because I found some small hard yellow lumps in the fat near the kidneys and liver area, in several of the rabbits tested with the "oil added" ration. I also noticed excess fat deposit inside the animals, and the fat was very soft , [as if the sunflower oil was stored "as is" and not converted by the rabbits to "normal fat" -- more time will be needed to try to figgure all of that out. [ the oil was used sunflower deep fry oil, so the price was right, but it may not be a good rabbbit feed]

 

[MaggieJ]

My "bible" for rabbit raising when I started over 50 years ago, was a penguin book, titled "Keeping Poultry And Rabbits on Scraps" Published in Britton in 1941, [written for the "War Effort"like mentioned above By "MaggieJ"] it is still the book I use most for raising rabbits with out pellets. [I do have others] I used this book with great success, with no problems. [excepting the wire floor issues]-I would recomend it to anyone who thinks they want to feed rabbits a "non pellet" ration.

This book has been reprinted and because it is in the public domain, it is not very expensive. I bought a copy awhile back... must dig it out and have another look at it.

I just put the words rabbits poultry scraps into the search bar on eBay and turned up this book. The Penguin paperback reprint is available for less than $3. How cool is that? :bouncy:

 

[michaels4gardens]

That is probly about the same price my old copy cost me a long time ago-- that is very cool, indeed-- [how many things cost the same as 50 years ago--]
Thanks- I think it is wonderful that this old info is not lost---