Raising NZs on pasture?

[Harbisgirl]

I have never raised rabbits before but we have been thinking about it over the last few months. One of the issues I have is housing. I know its ridiculous but I hate the little wire cages. It just feels unnatural to me. My other animals are all outside and free to forage and thats the way I like it. I've been looking into pasturing rabbits but I do have reservations. I've read a few of the other threads and besides cocci and ear mites, are there any issues? Specifically for breeders. There is a local guy who is very experienced and raises some great, hardy NZs and when I asked about pasturing he said that I could do that for the growers but not the breeders. I asked why, and he said that if a pregnant doe gets scared (which is likely to happen if she's outside due to predator attempts) that she will kill the babies - she has the ability to force an abortion, or if its within the final 2 weeks, they are not able to auto abort so she will eat them as soon as they are born. Brutal. Is this true? Does any one have any experience with this? I'd really like to keep the breeders out on pasture.


This will be small scale.

 

[SA Farm]

My grow-outs are on pasture and my breeders are in raised combination wood/wire hutches. The nest box portion is insulated (keeps cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter) and my does love them The mothers (and kits as soon as they're old enough to exit the nest box) are given large handfuls of fresh grass/weeds at least once daily - which can be more than they would get out in a tractor depending on the size and how often it would be moved.
I've had breeders on the ground before (way back when) and the main problem we had was predators. Everything from rodents chewing off the legs of the small kits to dogs/coyotes/racoons breaking through the wire and decimating the whole family.
Yes, some does absolutely will eat their kits if they feel threatened. Some does are obviously better than others at handling stress, so a big part of what you want to do will be finding stock with suitable temperaments and making sure they are used to their surroundings/aren't overly stressed/scared when they're due.

 

[Bossroo]

All domesticated animals are raised under "unnatural conditions". Humans forged a contract with domensticated animals thousands of years ago to protect them from predators and the elements and provide them with food, water , housing needs, and physical / medical care, they in return to provide us with their work, meat, milk, wool, pelts, guard duty / protection from other animals, etc. . By keeping rabbits under free range conditions, one is then exposing them as well as their offspring to predation not only by wild predators but your own and / or neighborhood dogs and cats. Their nutrition and protection from the elements is also compromised thereby their wellbeing, health and life. A violation of our contract. Do the right thing and house them properly in little wire cages for their benefit. NOT YOURS !

 

[SA Farm]

While I do agree with you on the contract, Bossroo, there are a lot of variables to consider with housing and obviously not everyone is set up to be able to keep their rabbits safe on the ground anymore than some can keep them safe/happy/or healthy in wire.
I was just reading a post on a different site of someone raising their rabbits in raised wire cages outdoors - didn't provide shade - lost a bunch to the heat. Good intentions, unfortunate lack of foresight. Another one was again, raised wire cages. Dogs ripped through from below since the door was left open and a predator got into their shed.
There are downfalls to EVERY housing method. The thing to do is to find what works best for your circumstances and go from there. Take the advice/warnings/recommendations of others who have done the same to get as much information as possible to prevent disasters, like the example above, and go from there. Even then you still have to use your best judgement as again - what works for one, may not work for another.
Even I would be railed against in some circles for using hutches. Yes, the rabbits chew them, so there is more work for repair and whatnot, but it works for me in my situation and it certainly works for my rabbits.
My recommendation for breeding rabbits will always be to have them in raised cages whether that is hutch or all-wire, but if someone feels they can protect them on the ground then that's up to them.

 

[Harbisgirl]

Thank you for you concerns, Bossroo - but I did not intend to free range the rabbits. I said pasture, not free range. I was thinking about building a large tractor to move them about. Perhaps inconvenient but that's my problem My question was about the does aborting/killing their litters due. Hoping to find someone who has experience with this scenario.

 

[David]

I think SA farm is right realy depends on the doe and the events that happen durring pregnancy which you cant fully control but can do your best at
heck I thought I had everything covered with my guinea pig tractor till i came home to find someone had tryed blocking them in their house to drown them

 

[Baymule]

Yes, some does will eat their young. With some of the human children we have, sometimes I think it would be a good trait for human mothers.

Seriously, does have quite a few ways to kill their young. One way is the kit is latched onto the teat when the doe jumps out of the nest box and gets dragged out on the wire. I don't know if she tries to put the kit back or what, but the kit ends up dead and half eaten. Another way is trying to disguise the where abouts of the nest and she pees on the kits. They quickly get wet, cold, catch pneumonia and die. Spontaneous abortion is the least gruesome. Then there is the doe that gives birth and eats them all. Or the doe has the entire litter out of the nest box and they all die. I used to raise show raggits and I would breed 10-30 does at a time and go on every 2 hour checks all day and night so I could save troubled kits.

Hanging wire cages or on the ground-I vote hanging wire cages. But that's just my opinion. I don't condemn anyone for not thinking just like me.

 

[GD91]

I think SA farm is right realy depends on the doe and the events that happen durring pregnancy which you cant fully control but can do your best at
heck I thought I had everything covered with my guinea pig tractor till i came home to find someone had tryed blocking them in their house to drown them

I would have gone berserk

Really makes me wonder what is wrong with some people when they do things like that.

Anyway - just this morning I woke up to frost and 6 dead kits on the wire.
Going to move my does into different housing, my rabbitry is small scale and I'm tired of losing litters to the wire in one pen.
Time for the girls to get moved into the shed for the winter.
I have another 6 kits snug and safe in the house right now.

 

[zachbelle]

We have converted the small wire cages that you buy into a very large roomy hutch for our buck, my husband built a frame for the cage and a large 2.5 ft by 2.5 ft box attached so his hutch is probably about 5 feet by 2.5 feet which gives him room to move about and exercise he can also be out in the sun or go into hit hut to avoid the elements, my doe has a customer built hutch that is about 7 feet by 2 feet and 2x2 of that is enclosed the rest is open, we also have a "playpen" set up outside for supervised exercise and grazing which they love but we have a lot of predators in our area so the raised huts work for us. I originally had my hut on the ground hoping the grass etc would grow through the bottom and they could enjoy it but then my doe got infected with bot fly larvae, once I raised them I had no problems. Every one is different in how they do things and I happen to agree about not stuffing them into a small cage they can't move about in, which is why mine are custom built. If your concerned about the does killing litters have you thought of maybe setting up a maternity hut? Something to move them into the last 7-10 days of pregnancy until the babies are big enough to go into the tractor with them? Just an idea

 

[Bossroo]

Raising rabbits on pasture and setting up a very large "maternity hut " other than the farming industry standard of a raised larger cage with a nest box works in theory, but then there is reality of mamma rabbit still eating her young, more cost of materials, exponential increase of cost of labor for care, cleaning ( areas that are hard to reach that remain filthy) , increased trauma of chaiseing and catching, etc. as well as added exposure to parasites and diseases, !