Post by macmex on Mar 20, 2021 12:16:09 GMT -6
Rabbit feed is expensive. It's very very good stuff, usually high in alfalfa, but it is expensive. When one raises rabbits on commercial rabbit feed the end product is good, but it costs about what it would have cost to purchase other meats in the store.
When we served in central Mexico we started out in a region far from any commercially available rabbit feed, and I wanted to develop rabbits as a means of helping people who had little land and financial means, especially our dear brethren in the ministry, as they were chronically poor.
The Mexican government had a publishing house called Editores Mexicanos Unidos which put out superb materials, designed to help their citizens better their lives. We purchased an entire set of cook books they put out, and treasure them to this day. Lesser known, they also published a guide for rural Mexicans, on how to raise rabbits where there were few if any resources. It included wonderful plans for home constructed cages, very knowledgeable discussion of the rabbits' basic needs and reproductive process, breeds and... FEED. This little book helped me more than any other rabbit material I've ever read. They explained that rabbits require forage and carbs, both normally provided by commercial feed. The approach to raising rabbits on prepared feed was called the "intensive feeding system" but they promoted another system which they called "the extensive feeding system."
Extensive feeding replaces the carbs and forage built into commercial feed with other sources which are more available for common folk. Some of the substitutes are
Carbs: bread crusts, old tortillas, corn, oats, wheat
Forage: grasses, greens from the garden (weeds), banana leaves, leaves from certain trees (in our environment mulberry and elm leaves would work well)., turnips, turnip greens, beets and beet greens, carrot tops, sweet potato vine, corn plants, vetch, lambs quarters, curly dock, cattail leaves and many others.
For years I raised rabbits on these things, experimenting with what was most readily available. It worked wonderfully! Now I follow a modified form of the extensive diet. I use all stock feed, which is pretty economical for the carbs, and Bermuda hay for the forage. This really cuts the cost of meat production. During the growing season I use little hay, as there are always weeds from the garden to use instead. Johnson grass produces a huge amount of forage, which rabbits love. We even grow hardy bananas which provide a whole lot of forage at the end of the season. The rabbits don't get it all, as our goats adore banana leaves.
Presently, if I had to provide my own carbs for rabbits, I'd up production of corn.
It's the easiest of the grains. When rabbits are first introduced to dried, whole grain corn, they often waste some, as they chew out the softer heart of the kernel and drop the hard shell through the cage floor. They get over it though. First of all, one should feed too much corn. If they end up with an empty feed pan, waiting for the next feeding, they learn to eat it more carefully. Secondly. we do have roaming poultry which happily clean up dropped kernels.
Rabbits are my favorite meat animal, and especially for those with limited resources. One can keep as few as a pair, and produce a significant amount of meat. Cages are not too hard to make, though presently I find it more economical to purchase a wire cage.
The most important part of the rabbit's diet is forage. I've heard of people in really hard circumstances, which raised them with straight forage. Growth rates were much much lower than with the carbs. Litter sizes dropped to two or three kits, instead of the minimum of six; but they still produced.
When we served in central Mexico we started out in a region far from any commercially available rabbit feed, and I wanted to develop rabbits as a means of helping people who had little land and financial means, especially our dear brethren in the ministry, as they were chronically poor.
The Mexican government had a publishing house called Editores Mexicanos Unidos which put out superb materials, designed to help their citizens better their lives. We purchased an entire set of cook books they put out, and treasure them to this day. Lesser known, they also published a guide for rural Mexicans, on how to raise rabbits where there were few if any resources. It included wonderful plans for home constructed cages, very knowledgeable discussion of the rabbits' basic needs and reproductive process, breeds and... FEED. This little book helped me more than any other rabbit material I've ever read. They explained that rabbits require forage and carbs, both normally provided by commercial feed. The approach to raising rabbits on prepared feed was called the "intensive feeding system" but they promoted another system which they called "the extensive feeding system."
Extensive feeding replaces the carbs and forage built into commercial feed with other sources which are more available for common folk. Some of the substitutes are
Carbs: bread crusts, old tortillas, corn, oats, wheat
Forage: grasses, greens from the garden (weeds), banana leaves, leaves from certain trees (in our environment mulberry and elm leaves would work well)., turnips, turnip greens, beets and beet greens, carrot tops, sweet potato vine, corn plants, vetch, lambs quarters, curly dock, cattail leaves and many others.
For years I raised rabbits on these things, experimenting with what was most readily available. It worked wonderfully! Now I follow a modified form of the extensive diet. I use all stock feed, which is pretty economical for the carbs, and Bermuda hay for the forage. This really cuts the cost of meat production. During the growing season I use little hay, as there are always weeds from the garden to use instead. Johnson grass produces a huge amount of forage, which rabbits love. We even grow hardy bananas which provide a whole lot of forage at the end of the season. The rabbits don't get it all, as our goats adore banana leaves.
Presently, if I had to provide my own carbs for rabbits, I'd up production of corn.
It's the easiest of the grains. When rabbits are first introduced to dried, whole grain corn, they often waste some, as they chew out the softer heart of the kernel and drop the hard shell through the cage floor. They get over it though. First of all, one should feed too much corn. If they end up with an empty feed pan, waiting for the next feeding, they learn to eat it more carefully. Secondly. we do have roaming poultry which happily clean up dropped kernels.
Rabbits are my favorite meat animal, and especially for those with limited resources. One can keep as few as a pair, and produce a significant amount of meat. Cages are not too hard to make, though presently I find it more economical to purchase a wire cage.
The most important part of the rabbit's diet is forage. I've heard of people in really hard circumstances, which raised them with straight forage. Growth rates were much much lower than with the carbs. Litter sizes dropped to two or three kits, instead of the minimum of six; but they still produced.
