Tropical rabbit forage-based feeding?

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ramblingrabbit

ramblingrabbit

Well-known member
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Jan 14, 2013
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Location
Hawaii
Sorry for the un-catchy title!

I have a small farm in the tropics and I have lots of green fodder that I have already confirmed is safe for rabbits. I just got some rabbits to breed for meat, and I want to continue moving away from the pellets to a completely homegrown diet, and rabbits seem ideal candidates for this--which was why I got them. So far I've been feeding about half the recommended amount of pellets to the breeders plus all the greenery they can eat twice a day. I have not fed any fruits or roots yet, other than a couple of carrots and some radishes. I've been reading a lot, and found this stuff about sweetpotato forage especially exciting: http://users.tamuk.edu/kfsdl00/Lukefahr-4RCA.pdf. I grow sweetpotatoes already and this would make an easy thing to incorporate. But I also have many other greens, including pigeon pea leaves, which are often used as a tropical substitute for alfalfa, and many edible herbs, shrubs, and grasses. I have a buck and one doe, who is due to kindle the first week of February. They each have a "critter rock" (trace mineral rock salt chunk) that I got at the feedstore in their hutch as well, plus a couple sticks to gnaw on.

But I still have a few questions I'm struggling to find comprehensive answers to.

For example, are there advantages to drying or wilting the greens first? Why is this so often done? Is it just a matter of convenience to have a store of hay handy, or is reducing the water content, etc., nutritionally significant? I don't have a winter or a severe dry season, so there is no absolute need to store hay (other than convenience possibly), and because of the humidity and frequent rains I have concerns about mold, which I understand can be real bad for bun-buns.

Also, is there any merit to incorporating some kind of energy food (starches, fruit, or something) into the ration on a regular basis? Is this important for health? I'm not overly concerned with maximizing growth rates and that sort of thing, just in keeping the rabbits healthy and raising a bit of meat for ourselves (and when it comes to meat, nutritional density and sustainability are more important to me than sheer bulk since I'm not selling by the pound and have no deadlines). I also want to make the feeding routine as simple and formulaic as possible ultimately, so that I can also put my farm workers or family members in charge of feeding while I'm out without having to give them a lengthy course in rabbit nutritional theory and burden them with lots of abstract concepts or having to collect dozens of different plants and know which are poisonous and which are safe. If an "energy supplement," if you will, is important, then also, how much is too much? I understand rabbits can't handle lots of carbohydrate. For context, I have at my disposal no grains, but plenty of bananas (they are a major secondary crop for us), plus cassava and taro (both poisonous raw), and plenty roots from the aforementioned sweetpotatoes. I also have some fodder beets in the ground now, and carrots.

I want to regularize the feeding regime soon as much as possible soon, as I also have the welfare of the soon-to-be-born kits in mind too--I understand that introducing rabbits in general but kits in particular to new foods abruptly can be dangerous!

Any insight :idea: (but especially experience! :ugeek: ) is appreciated! Thanks. :)
 
Welcome to Rabbit talk.

I am not familiar with Hawaiian greenery and most of our members live in the continental US or Canada so they may not be familiar either but many have gone to a natural diet and no longer feed pellets. The "Natural Feeding for Rabbits" forum on here has alot of homemade recipes to keep rabbits on this diet in healthy way.

Most people try and create a ration that has at least 15% protein and usually feed alfalf hay for this reason. Grains are added to increase calories, and fats that rabbits need to maintain a good body weight and a nice coat. You should try and figure out the protein content of the greens you are providing to ensure your rabbits are getting enough in their diet.

are there advantages to drying or wilting the greens first? Why is this so often done? Is it just a matter of convenience to have a store of hay handy, or is reducing the water content, etc., nutritionally significant?
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Feeding only lush greens can upset a rabbits digestive system and cause diarrhea, it can also make it harder for them to pass fur they have ingested from grooming and cause a 'wool block' obstruction. Hay is a good roughage to help slow down their digestive tracts, firm up their stools and gets tangled up with fur and drags it out. Hay is also easy to store as you dont need to worry about it rotting or growing fungus (at least here) and it also gives them something to chew on if they are bored.

is there any merit to incorporating some kind of energy food (starches, fruit, or something) into the ration on a regular basis? Is this important for health?
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Starches like roots and fruits are usually just given as treats but are mostly empty calories and their readily available sugars can cause a bloom of bacteria in inestines and combined with the high water content, large amounts of these foods can cause digestive disorders. Grains on the other hand are little packages of fat and protein, many people add them (but usually not corn as it is harder for rabbits to digest) as treats and to add weight to a lean rabbit or get a nice glossy coat on show bunnies. They are easy to store, readily available (here) and some can be sprouted to provide greens in the winter, a problem you dont seem to have. Are there any grain crops grown on the island, or perhaps sunflowers? you could probably get untreated seed grains, meant for crops, and give these to your rabbits to simplify feeding for the others in you household.

I understand that introducing rabbits in general but kits in particular to new foods abruptly can be dangerous!
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Kits start taste testing foods at about 2 weeks and will nibble on whatever mom's eating and slowly stop drinking milk, as long as you dont throw in any new foods during this weaning process you should be alright. And a gradual introduction after they are weaned is always best.

I hope I have answered some of your questions, and please visit the Natural Feeding forum and go through the topics to pick out information that may be more relevant to your situation out in the pacific ocean.
 
Welcome to RabbitTalk, ramblingrabbit! :hi:

Sorry for the slow response to your questions, but your climate and vegetation are so different from ours that I needed to think it over for awhile.

ramblingrabbit":1hcklnv3 said:
For example, are there advantages to drying or wilting the greens first? Why is this so often done? Is it just a matter of convenience to have a store of hay handy, or is reducing the water content, etc., nutritionally significant?
Click to expand...

Many of us dry greens in order to have them available in winter. I don't recommend feeding wilted greens at all. I feed a lot of fresh greens to my rabbits in spring and summer, but they also have hay and whole grain available. They just eat less of of these when they have ample greens. Some roughage is probably necessary, as Dood has explained. Hay cubes might keep better in your climate than baled hay.

I agree with the advice Dood has already given you. Make all changes in diet slowly and if you encounter digestive problems in any of the rabbits, stop and reassess the situation. Avoid giving much fruit. It can really cause problems except as an occasional treat.
 
Welcome, ramblingrabbit! Have you tried feeding Moringa? Or does that even grow there? It is a tropical plant, so I think it might....
 
Hey, thank you all for your thoughtful responses! I'm not new to the difficulties of finding comprehensive info relevant to my Hawaiian situation, so it's still much appreciated. :D

Dood and Maggie--I have already been feeding a little of what one might call "standing hay," I suppose, along with the fresh greens: dried or partially dried leaves from sugarcane and ti plants. The gentleman I bought the rabbits from specifically recommended feeding dried (and green) ti leaves to the rabbits as a supplement to his pellet ration. Ti leaves are a large leafed shrub very common here as a landscape plant, traditionally planted around homes or sacred sites because they are believed to offer protection (in the metaphysical sense), and often found growing wild too. They are pretty fibrous, almost as much so as grasses, and a little waxy in their green state, but I don't have info on any further nutritional qualities. Perhaps this could stand in for the traditional temperate climate hay?? I have an abundance of dried banana leaves too, which are safe for rabbits as well.

Dood--Grains are not traditionally grown here, and I'm sure it's no coincidence that growing and storing them is problematic because of irregular, frequent rain and high humidity. Taro, sweetpotatoes, and breadfruit, mostly harvested fresh, are the traditional sources of starches for human food. I'd love to find a way to use what I already grow and can easily incorporate of course. I forgot to mention, I do have coconuts as well. Perhaps this could make a useful fat/protein concentrate? It would be very easy to incorporate, especially in small amounts. Sunflowers are a possibility, but making them a regular component could be a pain and take up more garden space than I would prefer at this point, I'm not sure... I suppose I would have to figure out how much I would actually need to grow...

Oneacre--Yes, moringa grows great here, and there has recently been an increasing interest in it among the permaculture crowd and others. :) I have one small seedling in the ground, but it'll be a while before I can harvest much from it...

As they say, "mahalo nui," guys! I will continue to research, experiment, and comb the forum...
 
Just wanted to say thanks to the person who pointed me to this thread! I live in Hawaii too, on the Big Island in Keaau.

I'm currently feeding mostly forage.
 
You're welcome, Dayna. As far as I know we have three members from Hawaii - you, ramblingrabbit and hotzcatz, who hasn't been active on the forum lately. She raises Angoras. It's always nice to know who else hails from your neck of the woods. :)
 
Here's a little summary update on how my tropical forage-based rabbits are doing, for fun and in case somebody finds it useful.

The doe kindled right on schedule on the 6th of February, 8 alive, one deceased or possibly stillborn. One was a runt, but so far is just fine and healthy with no additional care.

I continued to supply a mix of fodder, mostly sweetpotato vines and pigeon pea leaves, supplemented with ti leaves, sugarcane leaves, plantain weed, grasses, cilantro, arugula, and nasturtiums, sometimes a head of lettuce or some basil. Occasionally a carrot, and the tops. I tried feeding banana leaves a couple of times, but they didn't seem to find these palatable (not that I blame them). I've made some little wall-mounted mangers to put the fodder in. I feed everything freshly cut, or sometimes slightly wilted if I pick it the day before out of necessity, though the rabbits seem to prefer the fodder fresh. I supplement with about a tablespoon of pellets for each rabbit, a little more for the pregnant and nursing doe. The "critter rocks" have been worn down quite a bit (both from humidity, and from licking). I more recently slowly switched over from pellets to rolled oats--those I have to buy too, but the amount needed is tiny, and at least it's a whole food and organic, instead of who-knows-what was in those pellets. In the summer, I will grow extra sunflowers for the seeds.

Recently I've had to temporarily forgo the sweetpotato vines because my plot became over-picked, and I've added more grasses and ti leaves (the rabbits seem to be developing a special fondness for the latter), and slowly introduced some hibiscus (the growing, leafy tips of the branches)--these I've read are supposed to be useful for fodder, and are used a lot in Haiti, though they are not thought to be especially nutritious. I certainly have plenty, since I have whole hedges of the stuff, so I will continue to make use of it. I look forward to feeding the sweetpotato vines again once I have more to harvest from--the rabbits do seem to find them quite palatable and they are supposed to be very nutritious. I've also noticed recently that the doe is also eating the pods and seeds of the pigeon pea that end up in her hutch, both dried and green ones, and seems to enjoy them. When she started nursing the doe started eating a lot more fodder, so I've been increasing what we feed her accordingly. She's definitely not fat, and if anything she might be a little on the skinny side, though still definitely healthy. The bunnies are sleek, lively, and growing fast. They have just recently begun nibbling occasionally on some of the greens--and no deadly diarhea yet!

I found this article insightful: http://www.heifer.org/atf/cf/%7BE384D2D ... r_2010.pdf Among other things, it suggests feeding 1 part legume forage, 3 parts grass/other greens, and feeding "concentrates" only if necessary or feasible. I find these sorts of sustainable development projects very interesting and helpful for my own purposes, because they are often specifically aimed at farmers in the tropics, and they also focus, out of necessity, on truly sustainable, bare-bones, low-input methods and don't take the availability of cheap manufactured feed or materials for granted.
 
I was wondering about the sweet potato greens! I've got tons of the stuff spread all through my back yard. And I do have tons of the hibiscus. What a great thread.
 
They should be okay, but I'd feel happier if I could find the Latin name to make sure they are the plant, just different cultivars. Wow, they really are purple, aren't they! I've never seen those here in Ontario.
 
Yes! Ipomoea batatas, I have a few different varieties (including the purple Okinawan). :) This website, http://www.mybunnyfarm.com/science/ch2.htm, says:

"Sweet potatoes are a good source of energy (70 percent starch content) for human consumption and can easily be grown in a family garden. Surplus or specially grown crops could be used as an energy feed for rabbits. The tops when well developed are also a valuable feed because of their high protein content -16 to 20 percent. Sweet potato is used as forage for rabbits in Mauritius, Guadeloupe and Martinique, mainly in backyard rabbitries. A trial in Mozambique produced good performance with sweet potato leaves as a dietary supplement. They are highly digestible, and trials in many tropical countries have confirmed the nutritional value of sweet potato tops."

There is also some literature of studies you can read about, such as the article Maggie posted.

I need to plant a large patch just for fodder. I have a variety, name unknown, that produces very abundant top growth, making it perfect for this.

The same site I linked above says this about hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis): "The branches of these shrubs, which are used as living fences in the Caribbean, can be fed to rabbits, as is now the practice in Haiti. The young shoots contain some 15 percent protein and 16 percent crude fibre. However, a trial on ad lib distribution of hibiscus leaves and a balanced pelleted feed demonstrated very poor nutritional uptake of this fodder."<br /><br />__________ Sun Mar 10, 2013 3:48 pm __________<br /><br />I just discovered recently that the scrub tree that grows weedlike all over Hawaii, especially the drier areas, known as "koa ha'ole" ("foreign koa"), is the same Leucaena leucocephala on which a number of studies have been done for feeding to rabbits. Leucaena is a legume tree that grows all around the world in many tropical places. The leaves are high in protein. The one downside is that they contain a toxic amino acid mimosine, but it's considered to be safe in small quanitities (1/4 of the ration, say). Still a good, abundant source of legume fodder to fall back on in dry periods, etc.
 
There is a center of LSU or one of the LA uni's
linked from the world rabbit council
they cover it extensively, as does Rabbit Production (GREAT BOOK, and no you can't buy mine...)
 

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