Fodder
Photo by Song Away Farm
According to Rabbit Production,
"If palatable greens are fed free choice, the amount of pelleted feed used can be reduced by about 50%, with no adverse effects on performance" (6th Ed, pg. 173).
"If palatable greens are fed free choice, the amount of pelleted feed used can be reduced by about 50%, with no adverse effects on performance" (6th Ed, pg. 173).
Why we use fodder and not pasture our rabbits?
Upon researching rabbit pasturing we found Polyface Farm to be a wonderful resource on the proper way to do this.
The following 2009 excerpt is from http://livingthefrugallife.blogspot.com/2009/03/meat-rabbits-on-pasture.html
and described the appropriate conditions needed to raise pastured rabbits.
“Pasture can supply 25-40% of the rabbits' dietary needs. They will eat clover and other high protein greens, but actually prefer plants that Daniel Salatin referred to as "stemmy" or scrubby. He specifically mentioned beet greens, comfrey and other plants with developed stalks, including green rye and winter wheat. He also said that rabbits will do very well over the winter months if they are provided with root crops for their consumption: carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, etc. The will eat hay in the winter months if nothing else is available. His standard purchased feed for rabbits is non-medicated alfalfa pellets.
These pens get moved at least once per day, and often more frequently than that. As a rule of thumb, Daniel recommended that the rotation period for the pens be a full year, although he said they have had no problem at Polyface when using rotations as short as 6 months. In other words, he recommends that the rabbit pen not be put on the same piece of pasture more frequently than once every 12 months. Even for a small operation, that's a significant space requirement.
When the does are ready to give birth they are removed from pasture and kept in indoor cages. The kits and mother doe are kept indoors together for five weeks after birth. At five weeks, the doe goes back on to pasture, and the kits are kept indoors alone for one more week. Daniel said that the 5-7 week age is when the kits are most susceptible to coccidiosis. So although he must transition them to pasture very soon, he removed the mother at that point so as not to introduce two stresses (separation from mother, and change of scenery/feeding) simultaneously. After a week alone the litter is put together in a pen on grass.”
Therefore, based on the size of our property which we can use for grazing and the amount of breeding stock which we have we could never fulfill the six month to one year of no usage. We have decided that growing fodder during the cooler weather and supplementing the feed with vegetables and greens from the garden, collecting comfrey and plantain from the yard along with a non-medicated alfalfa pellet is as close to Polyface farms methods for raising rabbits as we can get. We firmly believe that our stock is much better off by not have the stress of living in grazers with the potential exposure to parasites and possible predators and they have all the benefits of the healthy greens year round!
The following 2009 excerpt is from http://livingthefrugallife.blogspot.com/2009/03/meat-rabbits-on-pasture.html
and described the appropriate conditions needed to raise pastured rabbits.
“Pasture can supply 25-40% of the rabbits' dietary needs. They will eat clover and other high protein greens, but actually prefer plants that Daniel Salatin referred to as "stemmy" or scrubby. He specifically mentioned beet greens, comfrey and other plants with developed stalks, including green rye and winter wheat. He also said that rabbits will do very well over the winter months if they are provided with root crops for their consumption: carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, etc. The will eat hay in the winter months if nothing else is available. His standard purchased feed for rabbits is non-medicated alfalfa pellets.
These pens get moved at least once per day, and often more frequently than that. As a rule of thumb, Daniel recommended that the rotation period for the pens be a full year, although he said they have had no problem at Polyface when using rotations as short as 6 months. In other words, he recommends that the rabbit pen not be put on the same piece of pasture more frequently than once every 12 months. Even for a small operation, that's a significant space requirement.
When the does are ready to give birth they are removed from pasture and kept in indoor cages. The kits and mother doe are kept indoors together for five weeks after birth. At five weeks, the doe goes back on to pasture, and the kits are kept indoors alone for one more week. Daniel said that the 5-7 week age is when the kits are most susceptible to coccidiosis. So although he must transition them to pasture very soon, he removed the mother at that point so as not to introduce two stresses (separation from mother, and change of scenery/feeding) simultaneously. After a week alone the litter is put together in a pen on grass.”
Therefore, based on the size of our property which we can use for grazing and the amount of breeding stock which we have we could never fulfill the six month to one year of no usage. We have decided that growing fodder during the cooler weather and supplementing the feed with vegetables and greens from the garden, collecting comfrey and plantain from the yard along with a non-medicated alfalfa pellet is as close to Polyface farms methods for raising rabbits as we can get. We firmly believe that our stock is much better off by not have the stress of living in grazers with the potential exposure to parasites and possible predators and they have all the benefits of the healthy greens year round!
Chi Chi enjoying her fodder!
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Fern enjoying her fodder!
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Crude Protein and Crude Fibre changes in Barley Sprouted over a 7-day period
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Barley Seed
Original seed Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 |
Crude Protein
(% of DM) 12.7% 12.7% 13.0% 13.6% 13.4% 13.9% 14.0% 15.5% |
Crude Fibre
(% of DM) 5.4% 5.6% 5.9% 5.8% 7.4% 9.7% 10.8% 14.1% |
Source: Cuddeford (1989), based on data obtained by Peer and Leeson (1985).
Vitamin analysis based on single 6-day grass samples (mg/kg DM)
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Viatmin-E Beta-Carotene Biotin Free Folic Acid |
Dry Barley GRAIN
7.4 4.1 0.16 0.12 |
6 day sprouted Barley Grass
62.4 42.7 1.15 1.05 |
Source: Cuddeford (1989).
"By sprouting, the digestibility of the grain increases from 40 percent to 80 percent
so livestock will not need to consume as much fodder compared to commercial feed
because they are obtaining more nutrition from a smaller volume of feed."
so livestock will not need to consume as much fodder compared to commercial feed
because they are obtaining more nutrition from a smaller volume of feed."
Source: Cuddeford (1989), based on data obtained by Peer and Leeson (1985).
We feed our rabbits 1 ounce of fodder per 10 lbs of body weight and unlimited hay for roughage. And we found this excellent guide to "guesstimating" what needs to be fed to does with growing litters:
Rabbit Fodder Printable
POSTED ON MARCH 6, 2013 BY SARAH CUTHILL - Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm
So here’s the deal. This printable is based off of what I feed my rabbits currently. I would, of course, recommend that you do your own research on feeding your animals and how much… but frankly, sometimes it’s just nice to see what other people are doing. So there ya go. My liability blurb.
This printable is for large breed rabbits (8-10 lb. adult weight) and assuming that junior rabbits are 5 lbs. by 16-weeks old. It is also for feeding barley at 6% of the animal’s body weight. I can’t see that wheat would be too far off though.
The first column makes it easy to calculate how much fodder for a litter of a certain number and adult weights on the far right, are for single rabbits 4 months and older.
For example: a litter of (4) four 8-week olds you would feed 0.60 pounds of fodder. For the 9.0 lb. mother in the same cage who is still nursing said four kits, you would need an additional 0.06 lbs. and 0.54 lbs. This grand total would be 0.60 + 0.06 + 0.54 = 1.2 lbs. for the whole group.
POSTED ON MARCH 6, 2013 BY SARAH CUTHILL - Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm
So here’s the deal. This printable is based off of what I feed my rabbits currently. I would, of course, recommend that you do your own research on feeding your animals and how much… but frankly, sometimes it’s just nice to see what other people are doing. So there ya go. My liability blurb.
This printable is for large breed rabbits (8-10 lb. adult weight) and assuming that junior rabbits are 5 lbs. by 16-weeks old. It is also for feeding barley at 6% of the animal’s body weight. I can’t see that wheat would be too far off though.
The first column makes it easy to calculate how much fodder for a litter of a certain number and adult weights on the far right, are for single rabbits 4 months and older.
For example: a litter of (4) four 8-week olds you would feed 0.60 pounds of fodder. For the 9.0 lb. mother in the same cage who is still nursing said four kits, you would need an additional 0.06 lbs. and 0.54 lbs. This grand total would be 0.60 + 0.06 + 0.54 = 1.2 lbs. for the whole group.
The Basics:
We measure the amount of dry seeds and soak in water that has a small amount of bleach (1/8 tsp per gallon of warm water) for 12- 24 hours. The bleach is meant to kill any mold that might be present on the seeds. (For those concerned about using bleach - a solution of chlorine bleach and water is short-lived and the half-life (time required for 50 percent reduction in strength) of a chlorine solution is only two hours. After two hours, only one-half as much chlorine is present as was present at first. After four hours, only one-fourth is there, and so on. There are folks that have tried other solutions to combat mold issues with ACV, peroxide etc...we have not used any of those and can not attest to the results of their fodder growth.) After the soak we rinse in warm water and spread evenly in a shallow tray that has drainage holes. Over the next week we water and drain the trays 2 to 3 times a day and spray the trays with a mister as needed. The key is making sure the water is drained, if the roots are left in standing water the chance for molding increases. Once the fodder grows approximately 6" to 8" in height it is ready to feed.
We have had the best luck growing organic barley, organic wheat and BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds). Typically we do a mixture of half barley and half wheat and do the BOSS separately since we seem to have a little slower growth rate with it. For every pound of seed we soak and grow we are able to grow 5-7 pounds of fodder in about 7 days (water and room temperature seem to be the biggest factors that effect our growth rates.)
We have seen a reduction in pellet consumption with our bucks that are routinely fed the fodder, but find it is a bit more challenging to calculate the saving with pregnant and nursing does and growing litters as we continue to have pellets available to them 24 hours a day. However 90% of the rabbits in our rabbitry would rather have fodder presented to them than their usual afternoon snack of dry oats and sunflower seeds.
This system has worked well for us - your results may vary!
We measure the amount of dry seeds and soak in water that has a small amount of bleach (1/8 tsp per gallon of warm water) for 12- 24 hours. The bleach is meant to kill any mold that might be present on the seeds. (For those concerned about using bleach - a solution of chlorine bleach and water is short-lived and the half-life (time required for 50 percent reduction in strength) of a chlorine solution is only two hours. After two hours, only one-half as much chlorine is present as was present at first. After four hours, only one-fourth is there, and so on. There are folks that have tried other solutions to combat mold issues with ACV, peroxide etc...we have not used any of those and can not attest to the results of their fodder growth.) After the soak we rinse in warm water and spread evenly in a shallow tray that has drainage holes. Over the next week we water and drain the trays 2 to 3 times a day and spray the trays with a mister as needed. The key is making sure the water is drained, if the roots are left in standing water the chance for molding increases. Once the fodder grows approximately 6" to 8" in height it is ready to feed.
We have had the best luck growing organic barley, organic wheat and BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds). Typically we do a mixture of half barley and half wheat and do the BOSS separately since we seem to have a little slower growth rate with it. For every pound of seed we soak and grow we are able to grow 5-7 pounds of fodder in about 7 days (water and room temperature seem to be the biggest factors that effect our growth rates.)
We have seen a reduction in pellet consumption with our bucks that are routinely fed the fodder, but find it is a bit more challenging to calculate the saving with pregnant and nursing does and growing litters as we continue to have pellets available to them 24 hours a day. However 90% of the rabbits in our rabbitry would rather have fodder presented to them than their usual afternoon snack of dry oats and sunflower seeds.
This system has worked well for us - your results may vary!
Even our chickens enjoy the fodder!