Our meat rabbit journey has finally started!!!

[Dawn419]

Just wanted to do a quick update and let everyone know that 2 and 3 are still doing well and are enjoying the daily fresh greens and occassional fruit tree trimmings.

Still haven't been able to find square bale hay so I bought a bag of Timothy hay for them from Walmart and they don't seem impressed, at all! I think the next time we go to the feed store I'll buy some orchard grass seed and get that sown and try and harvest my own hay for them.

No luck on a buck yet either, but the girls are earning their keep with the good stuff for the garden so I figure we're breaking even.

 

[Denim Deb]

Does it matter what kind of grass it is? I've always just fed my rabbits the pellets w/the occasional treat of clover, grass, etc, but mine are just pets, not for meat.

 

[the funny farm6]

I tried to feed. Just strait alfalfa hay. But the girls didnt do well on it. It was good 3rd cutting and smelled good enuff I thought about eating some. But their litters were small, and they lost weight. My feed mix right now is rabbit pellits, some cracked corn, some old fashened oats-the kind you would get at the store for yourself, calf mana, and a spoonfull of wheat germ on top. Wheat bread is their treat. And also as a treat I give them alfalfa cubes. I am having to cut back a couple does ration cause they are getting fat.

 

[Dawn419]

Hi Deb,

I want to try the orchard grass since we don't have much in the way of grass growing here since the place was all woods when we bought it. We have some native grasses, but the buns turn their noses up at most of it...sheesh, they've already got me trained, don't they?

Clover is about non-existant right now...I have a tiny patch each of Dutch and Red Clover, but neither one is big enough for feeding it to them more than once a week, at this point. I need to get to either my aunts' or sis' and dig up some of their clover for transplanting here. Maybe I can get that done this week since docs' week off starts today.

Hi ff6,

I'd read years ago about the alfalfa so I'm steering away from that one and of course it is the one hay that our favorite feed store has plenty of.

The girls get pellets, grass, grape leaves, fruit tree branchs/leaves and some herbs (lemon balm, mints, yarrow, queen anne's lace, plantain, etc) as I'm trying to give them a varied and healthy diet. I've done lots of research on giving them a more natural diet, it's just getting some of the things I'd like to feed them growing here. I'll get there, eventually!