Self Sufficent Rabbit Feeding: Alfalfa plot dimensions question

[BarredBuff]

Hello there! Im curently building up a rabbit herd of French Lops to breed for babies to use as meat this fall. I have two adult does, four 7 week olds,and out of those young one Im going to keep a doe. Then I have a friend who has a buck I can get for free. My question is how can I feed these rabbits at home, efficently, and self sufficiently?

BB

 

[hoodat]

Good quality pellets contain everything a rabbit needs. I prefer to feed as many greens as I can to cut down on cost and give me tastier meat but many commercial raisers do fine on pellets alone.

 

[norcal]

By self-sufficient, do you mean growing it yourself? I would guess it would be hard, unless you grow your own hay? And even then......

I'm thinking of alfalfa seed around my garden......anyone have thoughts on that?

 

[BarredBuff]

Good quality pellets contain everything a rabbit needs. I prefer to feed as many greens as I can to cut down on cost and give me tastier meat but many commercial raisers do fine on pellets alone.

Yes I know that. But I wanna have amore efficient alternative......I have corn for the chickens in the garden. Can rabbits eat the fodder? Same thing with sunflowers? I just have to plant them.......then I will give seeds to the chickens and some to the buns and give them stalks. How about lawn hay? Ours is mainly clover..........

 

[freemotion]

Barred Buff, what do wild rabbits eat? The key when you are trying to feed your animals without commercial feeds is VARIETY.

Remember that modern domestic rabbits are not selectively bred to do well on forage only like wild rabbits, so you will have to be watchful of their condition and health and may have to supplement with some purchased food from time to time, or maybe just for certain individuals or during certain phases of their lives.

Over time, you can develop your own line of rabbits that does well on what you can easy raise or forage for them.

I think I'd try picking a wide variety of plants, leafy twigs, etc, and supplementing with some whole grains while you are figuring it out. I've made some great lawn hay for my hens and turkeys by having dh empty the lawnmower bag onto the driveway. I spread it out into a thin layer with a rake and turn it and fluff it every couple of hours. When it is crispy-dry, I rake it up and put it into feed sacks and store for winter. Be sure the lawn is untreated. Spring grass has the highest protein and nutrients, and again in fall when the growth is fast.

I'd focus on certain things in the garden like kale...kale can be left in the garden and harvested under the snow long into the winter. I'd dry the tops of veggies harvested (I've done this for my goats by just spreading the leaves on top of the wood pile on dry, breezy days) like beets, turnips, carrots. I'd plant a variety of grains and make a mix....corn, sorghum, barley, oats, wheat, buckwheat, whatever grows in your area. Save some seed for next year.

You can make some special hay by planting alfalfa and maybe a mix of oats and peas and cutting and drying it young. The alfalfa you can probably get 3 cutting from in your area.

If your rabbits have no access to grazing, you may want to find a mineral supplement for them. I wonder if they take in a bit of dirt like other animals do, when it is available to them. Leaves/twigs from mature trees will have more minerals than fast growing greens like spinach and lettuce. Deeper roots=more nutrients. So also consider things with long taproots like dandelions.

 

[BarredBuff]

Thanks Free!!!

 

[hoodat]

Yes I know that. But I wanna have amore efficient alternative......I have corn for the chickens in the garden. Can rabbits eat the fodder? Same thing with sunflowers? I just have to plant them.......then I will give seeds to the chickens and some to the buns and give them stalks. How about lawn hay? Ours is mainly clover..........

OK. I get you now. Sorry for misunderstanding your question. I grow a patch of red clover just for the rabbits. I also have a big patch of the type of chicory sold for deer browse. It has large broad leaves and recovers fast when the tops are cut. The protein content is actually higher than clover or alfalfa and rabbits seem to like it. Both crops produce a lot of greens in a relatively small area. I'm thinking of buying some french dandelion seed. It produces bigger leaves than common dandelions.
With a bit of exploring you can find wild greens to cut in almost any part of the country. Stay away from highway shoulders. The greens there may look lush but are often sprayed with chemicals by the highway department. Creek and river bottoms are a good place to look.

 

[BarredBuff]

Yes I know that. But I wanna have amore efficient alternative......I have corn for the chickens in the garden. Can rabbits eat the fodder? Same thing with sunflowers? I just have to plant them.......then I will give seeds to the chickens and some to the buns and give them stalks. How about lawn hay? Ours is mainly clover..........

OK. I get you now. Sorry for misunderstanding your question. I grow a patch of red clover just for the rabbits. I also have a big patch of the type of chicory sold for deer browse. It has large broad leaves and recovers fast when the tops are cut. The protein content is actually higher than clover or alfalfa and rabbits seem to like it. Both crops produce a lot of greens in a relatively small area. I'm thinking of buying some french dandelion seed. It produces bigger leaves than common dandelions.
With a bit of exploring you can find wild greens to cut in almost any part of the country. Stay away from highway shoulders. The greens there may look lush but are often sprayed with chemicals by the highway department. Creek and river bottoms are a good place to look.

That does sound like good ideas! I may try a patch of alfalfa in the back garden next year. How much would I need to plant for 7 adult rabbits and then some babies?

 

[hoodat]

That's really a question I can't answer. A lot depends on how good your soil is, your climate, rainfall etc. But it's doubtful you can devote enough space to feed them 100% on what you grow. I get away with small patches because I have fewer rabbits and have access to wild greens 12 months out of the year here in San Diego.

 

[Gomanson]

BarredBuff, I made a similar post on Backyardchickens.com a while back and I think it was at 45 pages of responses when I stopped keeping track. If you're raising animals for meat, this seems to be the next logical step. Sure it's also a hobby for most people, but part of the hobby for me is to try and become as self-sufficient as possible.

By using heirloom varieties of garden plants and reusing seedling containers I was able to plant my whole garden this year with only a $9 investment. I hope to get that down to 0 some day. Chickens are a lot harder to feed from your own land unless you can let them range for most of the day and have a lot of vegetable scraps. Even then, winters will be almost impossible without commercial feed. Rabbits are a different story.

I'm also new to rabbits, and I agree with what others have said. I have been free feeding pellets to pregnant/nursing does. I give a tuna can of pellets per day to the buck and dry does. They all get unlimited timothy hay. In the pet shop you can get timothy for about $7-8 per 7.5 pound bag. Or you can drive down the road to your local farmer and get 50 pound bales for $3-3.50. My goal is to get the hay to pellet ratio as high as possible. Depending on where you live, you'll find timothy hay all over he place on craigslist. In southern Minnesota they get 180-200 small square bales (50 pounds) per acre. They get 3 cuttings a year. With 3 adults I've gone through about half a bale in over a month. If this math is even close to correct, I figure with a very small plot of hay one could feed a decent size herd all year.

Now I just need to learn how to grow and make hay