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.
grandfather fed rolled barley
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
1 - 4 of 15 Posts
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