Starting Out

[DrakesFarm]

I have been thinking about trying to talk the family into raising rabbits, if not to sell for meat to feed to my guard dogs! I was wanting to know how much it costs to feed a breeding trio and their kits ( to butchering size) for a year/month?

 

[3mina]

I'm feeding four bucks, six does and approximately thirty growouts at the moment and I'm spending $220 CAD monthly just on pellets, add around $15 for hay cubes.

 

[Miss M]

Welcome to RabbitTalk, DrakesFarm! :welcomewagon:

About where are you? It's easier to help if we know state, region, province, or something.

Currently, I have 9 does, 6 with litters. I have 3 bucks (one working, two pets). And nearly 50 babies and growouts. I am going through not quite 1 1/2 50-pound bags of feed per week, so that would work out to not quite $96 USA per month. They don't go through hay very quickly, so I'm not even counting it.

I'm about to start sending most of the rabbits to the freezer, and I'll have fewer than 10 when I'm finished. I don't normally operate this big; I had some accidental litters.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

:hi: Drake'sFarm!


Glad to have you aboard!

Figure 4lbs of feed to make every pound of rabbit meat in a perfect world.

If your world isn't perfect, adjust amounts accordingly.

 

[DrakesFarm]

Thanks, I live in the Northeast corner of Kansas. I, gonna have to look into it!

 

[Dood]

There are LOTS of variables that effect the cost of raising rabbits so narrowing down a yearly cost for you is practically impossible but iI'll give it a try

I'd say 3 adults and a litter of 8 each month would go through a out a 50 lbs of food a month which is $20 for me (Southern Ontario). Other locations can have cheaper prices but if you're in Alaska it can be $50! If you want organic or one with a higher protein content then the price of food goes up.

Some breeds have poorer "feed conversion" meaning they eat a ton but dont grow much, others tend to grow their frame first and muscle/meat later in life so they may weight 5 pound at 8 weeks old but it is mostly bone weight.

I breed all year as it doesn't get too hot in the summer and i provide artificial light and a barn kept above freezing in the winter. If you don't have litters in the hottest or coldest months then your yearly costs will be proportionately less.

I don't use very much bedding material for my outdoor rabbits but add $10/ month, or more, for indoor rabbits depending on your sensitivity to odour

To reduce my cost I heavily supplement with hay ($40 / 700lb roll) and grains ($12/50 lb ) in the winter and feed plenty fresh greens in the summer (free! :mrgreen: )

I don't vaccinate my rabbits or regularly de-worm them and I can handle most medical issues myself so these costs are less than $20 a year for me but are higher for others.

 

[Miss M]

Thanks, I live in the Northeast corner of Kansas. I, gonna have to look into it!

Alright, prices for a 50-pound bag of feed tend to vary from around $13 to around $18, depending on the feed (organic feed and non-GMO feed will be more). In rabbit feed, you tend to get what you pay for. The lower-priced feed tends to have a lot of stuff like "grain by-products" listed, even early in the ingredients. Higher-priced feeds usually start with alfalfa. SatinsRule told me to look at the first five ingredients. You want those to be as "real" as possible.

For instance (disclaimer: some of the ingredients lists may be out of date; I have no idea):

Manna Pro - Dehydrated alfalfa meal, wheat middlings, soybean hulls, soybean meal, feeding oatmeal...

Manna Pro Gro - dehydrated alfalfa meal, wheat middlings, soybean hulls, soybean meal, feeding oatmeal...

Kent Rabbit Complete - Dehydrated alfalfa meal, wheat middlings, soybean hulls, corn distillers dried grain with solubles, soybean meal...

Nutrena Naturewise Premium 16% - Yeast Culture, Dehulled Soybean Meal, wheat middlings, corn distillers dried grain with solubles, rice bran...

Blue Seal Bunny 16 - Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Wheat Middlings, Wheat Flour, Soybean Hulls, Dehulled Soybean Meal...

Blue Seal Hutch Extra 17 - Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Wheat Middlings, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Soybean Hulls, Wheat Flour...

Purina Complete - Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Wheat Middlings, Ground Soybean Hulls, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Ground Corn.....

Prime Quality 16% Rabbit Grower Ration - Wheat Midds, Alfalfa Meal, Dried Distiller’s Grains with Soluables, Soybean Meal, Soybean Hulls...

Prime Quality 18% Rabbit Grower Ration - Alfalfa Meal, Wheat Middlings, Dried Distiller’s Grains with Soluables, Soybean Meal, Soybean Hulls...

Country Acres 12% Horse Pellet - Processed grain by-products, grain products, roughage products, molasses products, calcium carbonate...

The ones lower on the list are generally less expensive than the ones higher on the list. I have substituted Country Acres horse feed for their rabbit feed, which apparently is no longer produced, because it is a perfect example of what SatinsRule was talking about. I started out with this feed, because it's what the feed store had at the time.

Processed, by-products, products, products... this is what you want to try to avoid, especially in the first five ingredients. This feed was $13.xx some four years ago.

I used Purina Complete for a couple of years. You can see that the ingredients list is much better, looking actually a lot like the lists closer to the top of the list, with the exception of the corn being in the top 5, meaning that it has more corn in it than other feeds that also contain corn. Some rabbit raisers avoid feed with corn in it, as corn kept in inappropriate conditions can produce a mycotoxin that can sicken and kill rabbits quickly. Still, it seems that most rabbit feeds contain it.

I'm now using Prime Quality 16%, specifically about which I had corresponded with SatinsRule. You can see, as he said, that it is not among the best feeds, including "dried distillers grains with solubles", and the 16% having wheat middlings FIRST in the list. I do not plan to stay on this feed longer than necessary; I plan to try growing fodder soon. If that fails, I will likely switch to another feed, as it costs about the same as better feeds. It's only real plus to me is that it is 8 miles away, and everything else is a lot farther.

Still, my rabbits have done well on all three feeds. Others' rabbits may do poorly on particular feeds, and flourish on others. Try to start out with a good feed, and see how your rabbits do on it. Transition to new feeds slowly -- over a week's time, at least.