Meat rabbit feed

[animalmom]

As a meat rabbit breeder, I think @Bossroo's point is we find the research done by other institutions to be very, very helpful if for no other reason it keeps us from reinventing the wheel every time someone takes the notion that they are going to breed rabbits.

Now I agree that everyone has an opinion on what is best for their rabbits/set-up/farm/monetary situation, etc, nevertheless when it boils down to feeding your livestock the FIRST place one goes is to feed store to see what is carried. A good rabbit pellet is well balanced with protein, minerals, and fiber. A breeder may not like this pellet because it contains corn. Another breeder may not like that pellet because it contains soy. A third breeder may not like... ad nauseam. Bottom line is one must start somewhere. We all can not be experts in chemistry, biology, animal husbandry and economics.

I use the same rabbit pellets today that I have used since I brought my first rabbits home. It is a good pellet that allows me the flexibility to supplement with greens and fruit from the garden. In the winter this pellet is 99% of their diet as I, even in the Great Lone Star State, can not grow vegetables year round. We don't even have dandelions year round.

Let us all remember that whatever the livestock happens to be, we stand on the shoulders of the feed industry for the BASIC nutrition of our animals.

A rabbit is a rabbit and will use what ever food is presented to it to stay alive and, we trust, flourish. Your rabbits nutritional needs are NO DIFFERENT from my rabbits.

 

[minibackyardfarmer]

As a meat rabbit breeder, I think @Bossroo's point is we find the research done by other institutions to be very, very helpful if for no other reason it keeps us from reinventing the wheel every time someone takes the notion that they are going to breed rabbits.

Now I agree that everyone has an opinion on what is best for their rabbits/set-up/farm/monetary situation, etc, nevertheless when it boils down to feeding your livestock the FIRST place one goes is to feed store to see what is carried. A good rabbit pellet is well balanced with protein, minerals, and fiber. A breeder may not like this pellet because it contains corn. Another breeder may not like that pellet because it contains soy. A third breeder may not like... ad nauseam. Bottom line is one must start somewhere. We all can not be experts in chemistry, biology, animal husbandry and economics.

I use the same rabbit pellets today that I have used since I brought my first rabbits home. It is a good pellet that allows me the flexibility to supplement with greens and fruit from the garden. In the winter this pellet is 99% of their diet as I, even in the Great Lone Star State, can not grow vegetables year round. We don't even have dandelions year round.

Let us all remember that whatever the livestock happens to be, we stand on the shoulders of the feed industry for the BASIC nutrition of our animals.

A rabbit is a rabbit and will use what ever food is presented to it to stay alive and, we trust, flourish. Your rabbits nutritional needs are NO DIFFERENT from my rabbits.

Thanks, I understood the point. I guess it was me coming off the concept like with our two dogs, yes there are studies/stats but our one dog doesn't fit the mold he is 100% healthy (by the vet) and hes 100% happy (by us lol) but he doesn't tolerate the more natural foods like taste of the wild etc. (how its recommended to give your dogs less filler etc... it let's just say our grass hates us when he eats that stuff lol) he has to have a 14% or less fat diet and sadly does better on the crappier food (we wish he could eat the better stuff), where our other dog flourishes on the better food.

I guess that was my point, but didn't know how to say it, that those stats/recommendations are just base lines that you approach the animal with but need to remember that each animal even though the same type of animal may be different (doesn't mean it isnt healthy) and their diet may need adjusted to them which may go against the stats/recommendations. Thats all.

Trust me i know about opinions we've gotten many opinions and scoldings when it comes to our chickens, it just depends if it is coming from those pet chicken people, people using the chicken for the purpose of the breed of bird, and or those that forget chickens are chickens and they do have instincts we should trust. We feed our chickens layer feed, plus we mix some grains, add whole corn in the winter as snacks, and sunflower seeds with oil as snacks all year long... but they get grass, scraps okay for them, and we let them tell us foraging wise what they can and wont eat with their own natural instincts. We also add D.E. to their food every now and then, even dust them with it, to help keep them worm and mite etc. free (so far we have had no issues with anything and they are healthy and friendly... we use them for eggs and meat but we also give them human connection)

We will be feeding the meat rabbits pellets and know that wintertime they will prob eat it 99% of the diet like you said. It has been 20yrs give or take since I did rabbits for 4h and I know things have changed. My goal was for us from day one when we get meat rabbits is to provide them with a well rounded diet so they put on their weight naturally and not be to fast and not healthy or a lot of fat and not healthy.

I guess I am also going by the comment I've been told and even read that meat rabbits grow fast on pellets but doesn't mean that it is 100% a healthy growth weight and you can get a healthy rabbit and meat growth through a better diet then just pellets. So thats what I was curious about.

I also didn't want to give them something they couldn't or shouldn't have that would hurt them, for ex. the does with producing milk or the kits not/shouldn't eat under a certain age... since rabbits are farther from their wild counter parts then they were 20yrs ago.

we've thought about a rabbit hutch for summer time so they can graze, but also been told that disease is more likely. Which has also made me second think the colony idea, where my main purpose was to allow them access to grass when they wanted. We may end up doing a cage style so that we don't have to worry about disease or things spreading if only one rabbit happens to get something.

Thankfully we have a few months till we move and think about the setup. I'm just gathering ideas especially with a balanced diet. In my house everyone wants meat rabbits and ducks to add to our chickens, there is 5 of us (9,6,4 yr old kids and an over sized kid (husband lol) ) who enjoy engaging with the animals and feeding sometimes etc., but when it comes down to it it's me who is on 99% of the animal care duty so want to make sure I am armed with information and a game plan that I can manage on my own if i had to lol.

 

[DutchBunny03]

@animalmom , her rabbits nutritional needs may be different than your rabbits nutritional needs. You couldn't feed an Angora the same amount of protein you feed a Rex. Why? The Angora diverts a lot of its protein towards hair growth. The rabbit would have a protein deficiency if fed the same % of protein as a Rex. Feed requirements also depend on environment. If her rabbits are colony-raised, they will get a lot of exercise. If your rabbits are cage-raised, they will not get as much exercise as hers. Her rabbits would need more food than yours, even if the rabbits were to exact same size.

 

[Bunnylady]

I hear you on the dog - I once had a rabbit that chewed his hair off if he was fed anything less than 18% protein feed. He had hay available, toys to play with, anything anyone can suggest as far as changes, I did, but the only thing that stopped him stripping himself was a higher protein feed (and it didn't seem to matter which manufacturer, either). Clearly, for some reason, this rabbit couldn't absorb/utilize/something enough protein from the 16% or less feeds, and was trying to make up the deficiency by eating his fur. This rabbit was a pet, so to me, it was worth the bother and expense of buying the higher protein show formula, or whatever, rather than the cheaper regular feed that most rabbits can even manage to raise litters on. But I never, ever bred him - I could see no reason to risk creating more rabbits that had whatever his problem was.

A friend of mine bought a Quarter Horse mare to use as a lesson pony at the boarding stable he was running. Unfortunately, this mare had ridiculously small feet for an animal of her size, and was constantly just a little too "ouchy" to use. My friend also had a stallion at the time, and he floated the idea that, since he couldn't use the mare for riding, maybe he could use her for breeding. I brought up the old horseman's adage "no hoof, no horse," then pointed at the mare's feet and asked him, "do you really want to give feet like that to another animal?" No, he really didn't, so he didn't breed the mare.

My rather roundabout point is that, while a pet might be worth babying as far as diet goes, and a stock animal might enjoy a little babying, you really don't want to use an animal for production that requires babying, or you may wind up with a whole lot of stock that can't get along without the babying. A pet may earn its keep just in the pleasure its company gives you, but if an animal whose job is producing can't manage on what is 'normal' for its kind, it really has no business being used for production.

 

[DutchBunny03]

Yes, but that was not what I was talking about. I was talking about different breeds. Angoras are expected to need a higher protein pellet than a Rex. It is not a deformity or problem, it is a "side affect" of wool production. A rabbit that gets more exercise needs more food. That is the same with all animals. If the rabbits were all housed in wire cages, they wouldn't need as much food.

 

[animalmom]

What am I missing? I thought we were talking meat rabbits and while one could eat a wool rabbit the question would be why?

IF one is breeding for wool then one must feed the rabbit an appropriate diet. I doubt anyone is disputing this.

Meat rabbits, be they California, New Zealand, hybrids, Rex, or Altex all have common parameters for nutrition. These animals are far removed from any wild rabbit connection that they would not do well on their own out in the wild. When was the last time you saw an eight pound wild rabbit? Commercial feed is your starting point from which you can supplement with vegetable/fruit/treats. The goal of the meat rabbit breeder is healthy rabbits who produce healthy rabbits.

I'm not saying that commercial feed is the be all end all everything of life. I am saying it is the foundation of your feeding practices. It is not efficient, easy, economically advantageous to constantly re-create the wheel and devise a formulation for your rabbits.

 

[DutchBunny03]

Pellets should be the base of all rabbits diets, regardless of purpose. But the pellets can be supplemented with different things to benefit the rabbit. For example, certain grains with increase the sheen of the coat. On a show or pelt rabbit, that is a big plus. The rabbits wouldn't have that extra sheen if fed only pellets.

 

[minibackyardfarmer]

I think my original post has gotten way off track lol

So that its clear... yes our rabbits when we get them will have free choice pellets 100% of the time...

We were just looking at giving a supplement mix with some grains and stuff as a once a day treat... so we could give them something more then pellets so their pelts would be shiny and healthier. cuz we want to use most of the rabbit and will process the pelts for our own crafts etc.

Now i thought rabbits couldn't have corn, rather that be cooked - cracked- or whole corn (forget why). I noticed though the rabbit pellets that we can get from the feed store that is produced within our state (same company our chicken feed comes from, we like to support locally as much as we can) has corn as an ingredient. Is that an okay ingredient in pellets or should we try to find one that doesn't have it?

I was able to find alfalfa cubes that are alfalfa & timothy hay, would this be good to feed the the rabbits? I would still have timothy hay in a hay feeder on the cages so they are getting enough of it, since the first ingredient in the cubes are alfalfa so I assume it has more of a % then the timothy hay in it.

I noticed that there is a veggie feed mix for rabbits. Its just dehydrated veggies with pellets. Could we just dehydrate our own and use it as supplemental treats for them?

I found this list (it says no corn either) for safe foods for rabbits. Is it a good list to go with as a reference back too?

http://www.mybunny.org/info/rabbit-diet-and-nutrition/vegetables-and-fruits-for-bunnies/

 

[Bunnylady]

There are a lot of "factoids" running around about feeding rabbits. Some people absolutely have cows about alfalfa, and some of the major manufacturers of feed produce formulations that don't have alfalfa in them. This is not recognition on the part of the manufacturer that alfalfa is "bad" for rabbits, it's a matter of catering to the demands of the market (there are chicken feeds that tout "no animal protein" on the bag, because that's what some owners seem to want, even though chickens are omnivores and an all-vegetable diet is of absolutely no benefit to a chicken). I have no idea why some people think there shouldn't be corn in rabbit feed, or even if their reason(s) for thinking that have any basis in fact at all.

 

[Bossroo]

The "factoids" as bantied about by wanna be experts are just that and just for them to have their own egos stroked. I would recommend that you contact a Land Grant University and talk to a professor in Animal Husbandry or a professor in Veterinary Medicine that does nutrition experiments on production animals.