Ok, I've finally crunched the numbers on my first trial of pasture-finished versus all cage-raised.
I took much of a litter of American Blues (12 originally, 5 were fostered to other litters, leaving 7 with the dam) and split them among pasture and a grow-out cage a few weeks after weaning (meant to do it at weaning, but was short on cage space). They were separated for 3 weeks before harvest. Four went to pasture, 3 stayed in a cage; average weight at pasture, 4 rabbits at 4.2 lb.; in cages, 3 rabbits at 3.8 lbs. (picked randomly, that was just how they ended up). I do feed pellets and mixed grains to the pasture bunnies, just like the caged ones, but rather less. This is where it gets interesting. Both groups of rabbits were fed about 21.5 lbs. of pellets during those 3 weeks (pastured rabbits had fresh grass, forbs, legume every day; caged rabbits had alfalfa mix hay). However, because the pastured rabbits ended up smaller at the end of the period (average harvest weight for pasture, 5 lbs.; for caged, 5.6 lbs.), I observed a feed conversion rate of 6.7 lbs. of feed/lb. of weight gain for the pastured rabbits versus 4 lbs. of feed per lb. weight gain with the caged rabbits. They were harvested at 11.5 weeks, about a week later than I would have preferred.
If I only thought about how many rabbits I could slaughter for the same amount of feed AT THE SAME TIME, I would think the pastured rabbits were a good deal. Before I looked at numbers, I thought the pastured rabbits were "winning." But I could have likely butchered the caged rabbits earlier than the pastured ones, saving some feed.
The pastured rabbits were leaner (one of my customers, who bought one of each, noticed it too and prefers the pastured bun), but are still plenty tender. The pastured rabbits seem "happier," but the caged rabbits also have a good life here, they get fresh willow, chicory, alfalfa, dock, plantain, etc. every day.
To summarize, I will definitely continue to keep records like this in the future - comparing 4 rabbits to 3 rabbits, divided into only 2 groups is not convincing to me (can you tell that I am a quantitative ecologist by trade?). Next group will likely be a litter of hybrid American/Champagne d'Argent. At least in this batch (and others I haven't reported), we are not having problems with diseases or parasites in our pastured rabbits. All organs were beautiful and tasty.
Now, if only I could figure out how to handle the freezing cold nights and water out on pasture? I just bought a bunch of stainless steel water dishes, b/c I think it will be easier to knock the ice out of those 2x a day rather than thaw a bunch of water bottles...
- Jessi
I took much of a litter of American Blues (12 originally, 5 were fostered to other litters, leaving 7 with the dam) and split them among pasture and a grow-out cage a few weeks after weaning (meant to do it at weaning, but was short on cage space). They were separated for 3 weeks before harvest. Four went to pasture, 3 stayed in a cage; average weight at pasture, 4 rabbits at 4.2 lb.; in cages, 3 rabbits at 3.8 lbs. (picked randomly, that was just how they ended up). I do feed pellets and mixed grains to the pasture bunnies, just like the caged ones, but rather less. This is where it gets interesting. Both groups of rabbits were fed about 21.5 lbs. of pellets during those 3 weeks (pastured rabbits had fresh grass, forbs, legume every day; caged rabbits had alfalfa mix hay). However, because the pastured rabbits ended up smaller at the end of the period (average harvest weight for pasture, 5 lbs.; for caged, 5.6 lbs.), I observed a feed conversion rate of 6.7 lbs. of feed/lb. of weight gain for the pastured rabbits versus 4 lbs. of feed per lb. weight gain with the caged rabbits. They were harvested at 11.5 weeks, about a week later than I would have preferred.
If I only thought about how many rabbits I could slaughter for the same amount of feed AT THE SAME TIME, I would think the pastured rabbits were a good deal. Before I looked at numbers, I thought the pastured rabbits were "winning." But I could have likely butchered the caged rabbits earlier than the pastured ones, saving some feed.
The pastured rabbits were leaner (one of my customers, who bought one of each, noticed it too and prefers the pastured bun), but are still plenty tender. The pastured rabbits seem "happier," but the caged rabbits also have a good life here, they get fresh willow, chicory, alfalfa, dock, plantain, etc. every day.
To summarize, I will definitely continue to keep records like this in the future - comparing 4 rabbits to 3 rabbits, divided into only 2 groups is not convincing to me (can you tell that I am a quantitative ecologist by trade?). Next group will likely be a litter of hybrid American/Champagne d'Argent. At least in this batch (and others I haven't reported), we are not having problems with diseases or parasites in our pastured rabbits. All organs were beautiful and tasty.
Now, if only I could figure out how to handle the freezing cold nights and water out on pasture? I just bought a bunch of stainless steel water dishes, b/c I think it will be easier to knock the ice out of those 2x a day rather than thaw a bunch of water bottles...
- Jessi
