[SquashNut]

I was just thinking, when I was a kid my grand father fed rolled barley and garden scraps to his rabbits. no supplements and no pellets.
He had a 3 way hutch. room enough for a buck and 2 does. He bred just fast enough to have small bunnies with the does and his larger fryers were raised in a small shed on the floor. The litter was made from dryed grass clippings and he shoveled it and cleaned it between litters.
he filled a old bread pan full of the rolled barley twice a day for the 2 litters worth of fryers, and had a hay type feeder for the veggie scraps.
I am not sure but I think they grew the barley them selves and had the mill prcess it for them. They also fed the barley to the rest of their live stock.

 

[MaggieJ]

Interesting. I like to learn how critters were raised "back when". Do you know if he fed hay as well?

I think I would hedge my bets by feeding mixed grains. Crimping or rolling makes them more palatable and likely easier to digest. Likely your grandfather fed what he had available, as did most people before commercial foods became widespread. About when would this have been? 1930s, 40s, 50s???

 

[SquashNut]

Well I was a kid in the 50's, but I was told that is how they raised rabbits even before that. he always had rabbits.

 

[MaggieJ]

I was a kid in the 50s too. Thanks, just trying to get a timeline of trends in rabbit feeding.

 

[bluebird2o2]

My parents also fed barley and corn plus wheat and hay with garden scraps.we never fed pellets.im not sure if they had pellets or not.bluebird

 

[moldy]

Doesn't the high protein in corn make them molt? I guess it wouldn't be an issue if you are raising for the dinner table. sigh - I cant' wait to get rabbits again.

 

[Somerhill]

Corn is NOT high in protein. Its high in starch = energy.
This is a quote from a PhD in horse nutrition, but corn has basically the same effect in rabbits. If you feed corn, it needs to be introduced gradually, and fed with PLENTY of fiber (hay) to avoid enterotoxemia and death. I'm not saying not to feed it, or that it cannot be fed to rabbits successfully, just do some research and learn the basics of animal nutrition if you want to try to balance your own ration to feed livestock that are confined and kept at a high rate of production.
QUOTE: Corn sometimes has a bad reputation as a horse feed, for good reasons. Corn is more energy dense and heavier than oats, so a direct can-for-can substitution of corn for oats will lead to overfeeding. Also, corn is not balanced for nutrients, containing about 71% starch, 8% protein, 4% fat and only 2% fiber. And, worst of all, most of the starch in corn is not digested in the foregut, unless the corn is ground and pelleted or extruded. Most of the starch (72%) from whole or cracked corn is not digested in the foregut and proceeds to the hindgut where it is rapidly fermented. That process results in the production of lactic acid, which lowers the hindgut pH and kills many beneficial fiber-digesting bacteria. Dying bacteria release toxins, and the result can be a horse with colic and/or laminitis resulting in founder. For these reasons, corn should be processed for all horses, and it should not be more than 25% of a pelleted feed. Also, corn screenings often contain potentially lethal mycotoxins and should never be used in horse feeds. :QUOTE

 

[Bernadette]

Very interesting, Sommerhill. So, people shouldn't panic when they see corn in their extruded feed - if they are purchasing a feed especially formulated for rabbits the corn can be there if it's properly balanced with other nutrients.

Isn't the rabbit digestive system closest to horses as to any other farm-type creature?

With all the talk of mixing your own feed, and feeding natural forage to the rabbits, I find with the type of life I lead, and the resulting time constraints, I have to put my faith in the brand of feed I have chosen (not the cheapest either!). The feed mix has been formulated with consultation of some of the larger rabbit producers in southern Ontario (western) and my rabbits do VERY well on it. I feed it as their sole ration, as it is designed. It does have corn in it.

 

[MaggieJ]

With all the talk of mixing your own feed, and feeding natural forage to the rabbits, I find with the type of life I lead, and the resulting time constraints, I have to put my faith in the brand of feed I have chosen (not the cheapest either!). The feed mix has been formulated with consultation of some of the larger rabbit producers in southern Ontario (western) and my rabbits do VERY well on it. I feed it as their sole ration, as it is designed. It does have corn in it.

It's all a matter of personal choice, isn't it? The natural feeding interests me and so I have chosen to pursue it. It is certainly cheaper for me, with only a trio of breeders.

It also strikes me that organic "wild fed" rabbit meat might find a niche within a niche that would make the effort worthwhile -- just an idea tucked away in the back of my head for future consideration.

There also may be opportunities for me as a writer in this area. I'm happy to share here what I learn as I go, but I hope to get a book or at least a few articles out of it eventually.

It seems to me that natural or mix-your-own feeding are best suited to the small backyard rabbitry intended simply to put meat on the family dinner table. I doubt if anyone raising rabbits for sale to a processor would find it feasible.

 

[SquashNut]

The problem here is there is as many ideas on feeding rabbits as there is web sites describing the process. I just read on last night, and this not the only time I have seen it described, saying that pellets should only be a supplement to hay and veggies.

I have butchered both forage raised and pellet raised rabbits now and found the pellet raised ones to have a good percentage of their weight in lard on the pelt, which I had no use for.
I am trying to reach a happy medium of production and thriftyness. While trying to find out what will work the best consitering the rising cost of pellets.

 

[Somerhill]

You know what, SquashNut - that is the thing that drives people crazy, no matter what they are trying to learn. :^) Everyone has a different opinion and different experiences, and you just have to wade through it all and try to make the best decision you can. For myself, I tend to check the source of the information. And then, you have to know if the environment, management style, livestock used, and goals are similar to your situation, too.
I can't tell you how many people I've been talking to say - "I just wish there was a book that would tell you step by step exactly what to do!".
It can get frustrating, but its also so interesting, and I think the discussions we join into can really help us all learn new things and new ways of doing things. And some of them can't help but work. :^)
Lisa at Somerhill

 

[SquashNut]

I have 2 different batches of rabbits and my older back yard mixed breed ones are being raised on grain and greens, the other I just bought at the show.The new batch get very little greens and a good ration of pellets. I intend to continue both batches as is. It's like the show rabbits are snobs and aren't willing to eat enough of the greens to get along. I am not sure if their attitude will ever change either. I'll keep the older batch cause if I ever get in a pinch I know they will produce on less of a feed bill.

 

[Bernadette]

and add to that regional differences in weather, availablility of quality feed, the constitution of the stock when you start, how much time you have to devote to research, gathering, the availability of stuff to gather, and as Maggie said the number of rabbits you have, your end goal, etc. I'd love to be able to devote the time and energy to feeding my rabbits more natural foods. Age has taught me not to bite off more than I can chew, and to be more realistic about my personal expectations. I won't start something that I can't carry through with, so my rabbits get the best quality pellet that I can buy locally and that has a consistent supply. (I made the mistake of switching to something they had to special order for me, and availability was not consistent. They only got one chance - they didn't have my feed one time when I went in, and I switched back to the old faithful - and yes, I had enough feed on hand to make a gradual switch).

It's actually one of the nicest things about rabbits. There's more than one right way. One thing for sure is that to be successful you MUST pay attention to what you're doing, watch your rabbits! They will tell you whether what you are doing is good or not - by their weight gain, their condition, how well they breed, etc. And they don't waste any time about it either! They get sick quickly, they can get better quickly, they reproduce quickly. What more could you want?

 

[swampgirl]

Mary Ann at [email protected] PM'ed me a great article about rabbit feed. I don't recal her name her on this forum, but bet you could look back for that article. I am very interested in raising lespedsa (Sp ?) hay for rabbits.

 

[MaggieJ]

Mary Ann at [email protected] PM'ed me a great article about rabbit feed. I don't recal her name her on this forum, but bet you could look back for that article. I am very interested in raising lespedsa (Sp ?) hay for rabbits.

Yes, it was a good article. I have it in my document files if anyone needs a copy. Just PM me.

EDTITED TO ADD:

I posted the article as a separate thread since I couldn't see any way to add an attachment to a PM. Titled: 1919 Article on Natural Feeding

MaggieJ... Technopeasant!