wanting to cut feed cost to the bone

[RichinOregon]

I live on the coast in Oregon with very mild temperatures. Winters low temperature 38%, summer highs 80 degrees, average temperatures 62 degrees. I was thinking of building a 16' X 24' green house to grow food for personal use but mainly to grow rabbit food. Is there a way to grow most or all of my rabbit feed for say 200 meat rabbits with this size of greenhouse? If so what kind of greens have the quickest growth rate and highest nutrition? And what the heck is Fodder about and is it well suited for rabbits?

Thanks for any advise
Rich
Coos Bay Oregon

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I don't know if you can grow enough in your greenhouse for that many rabbits, but I would love to hear how you do! You will want to grow a mix of greens and perhaps European Invasive weeds- check the Natural Feeding Forum for ideas.

There is a thread on fodder that will hopefully answer some of your questions here:

fodder-sprouting-systems-anyone-t10317.html

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

there is no way you are going to do that for 200 rabbits. Unless you have acres to grow your own hay , wheat, oats. ect.

 

[MaggieJ]

I think your best bet would be to concentrate on a fodder growing system. Read the thread about fodder. Basically it is grain grass, grown in trays with drainage. It is very nutritious and rabbits love it. It can be labour intensive so you will likely want one of the automated set-ups. Seed to harvest in days, not months.

I see that MamaSheepdog has posted the link to the fodder thread.

She makes a good point about making room for some European invasive weeds. You won't get the volume that you will from fodder, but they are cut and come again and are excellent for rabbits.

safe-plants-for-rabbits-list-t55.html

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

the 'weeds' in the Natural foods list, grown in natural settings, will pull up trace nutrients that are not normally present in sufficient quantities in the nutritional makeup of 'commercially' grown feeds. Some of the deeper roots on the 'weeds' help improve our soils, so, if you decide to grow 'weeds' in a greenhouse, leave open soil floors, for the weeds to help increase trace nutrients!

 

[tm_bunnyloft]

Fodder is great nutrition but you would need to still feed hay. And if it gets to warm mold can grow. Other than that I have no idea. Sorry.

 

[MaggieJ]

If you have a good source of alfalfa or clover hay at a moderate price, you could do a hay and fodder diet. The rabbits would need a trace mineral salt block. I use the reddish brown ones for general livestock; others prefer the ones made for goats. You can knock chunks off with a hammer.

I'm lucky: I can get good alfalfa hay for $3.50 a square bale. In winter, the hay is the major part of my rabbits' diet, supplemented with a bit of grain and some fresh greens or vegetables. In summer they eat mainly gathered plants like the ones in the Safe Plants list, but they always have hay available.

I have a small backyard rabbitry so this system works for me. With 200 rabbits, it would not be an efficient use of your time to gather every day. Also keep in mind that rabbits on a non-pellet diet tend to take longer to reach butchering size. I usually raise mine to 14-16 weeks. There are a lot of factors to take into consideration before taking the plunge into natural feeding for a commercial rabbitry.