The one question I have received most often when someone is purchasing rabbits from our rabbitry is what type of feed do we use and how much do we feed. First, I am going to say that almost every breeder of meat and show rabbits have their own unique methodology to feeding their livestock. My friend and rabbit mentor Steve Coyne feeds totally different from me although we use the same feed.
Steve tends to feed
his rabbits more pellets and less timothy hay than I do. Whereas I
tend to give my rabbits more timothy hay and a smaller portion of
pellets. Steve and I both raise beautiful rabbits, now most of that
comes from the fact that we both have strong bloodlines in our barns.
In fact, most of my stock here at the TAP rabbitry comes from Steve's
barn, with a couple of New Zealand's thrown in from show breeder
Bonita Hunt (Honey Grove, TX) and some awesome American Blues from
John Head's Rabbitry in Dayton, Texas.
So which feeding
program is better? Well, neither I would say? How can that be you
ask? Well the proof is in the condition of the fur and the meat of
the rabbit. Many times throughout the year Steve and I butcher
together, and while Steve feeds his rabbits a higher portion of
pellets, I have never seen any of his rabbit carcasses that were
fatty. In fact, I happen to think Steve's rabbits look exceptional.
My rabbits as well when dressed out have very little fat and have
great muscle mass (meat yield).
So how can two
different feeding programs that use the same feed get equal results?
I suspect that Steve's rabbits get more of their protein, fiber, and
carbohydrates from pellets than mine, while my rabbits get more
protein, fiber, and carbohydrates from timothy hay than his. However,
overall I believe that both of our rabbits get the same approximate
amount of nutrition, just from different sources. This hypothesis
would seem to be validated as rabbits of the same age from both our
barns yield the same approximate amount of meat per carcass when
dressed out side-by-side.
So what does all
this mean? Simply that there are many ways in which you can feed your
rabbits to make sure that they get the necessary amount of protein,
fiber, carbohydrates and fats that your rabbits need to keep them
healthy while maximizing your meat yields.
What We Feed, And
How Much
If you look on the
back of your feed bag you will see that many manufacturers have a
table listed on the feed regarding what they consider to be the
necessary amount of feed that you should give your rabbits to ensure
that they get the necessary nutrients, vitamins, and minerals they
need for healthy growth. You will notice that most manufacturer's
recommend feeding your rabbits by weight, but I do not know many meat
breeders that take the time to weigh all of their rabbits once a week
to determine the weight of the animal.
John Gillis, who was
Steve Coyne's friend and rabbit mentor was a prolific breeder of New
Zealand rabbits whose rabbits won many awards at rabbit shows. Steve told
me that John had an old 6oz mushroom can that he used to fill and
feed his adults rabbits with and Steve said his rabbits always looked
healthy. So now you know why we started out feeding our adult rabbits ¾
cup (6 ounces) of pellets daily. Eventually we began adjusting or feeding program to suit our own individual needs depending on the age of the rabbit.
We feed all of our
rabbits by age rather than by weight (12 weeks and older,
non-pregnant or lactating) a big handful of timothy hay in the
morning and 6 ounces of Mann-Pro each evening. I have listed the
feeding program that we follow. It works for us quite well and the
rabbits appear healthy and happy.
Bucks and
Non-Pregnant, Non-Lactating Does
Kits 4 to 12 weeks
old: 6 ounces of pellets per kit twice a day (12 ounces total)
12 weeks old
throughout adulthood: 6 ounces pellets per rabbit a day
Pregnant or
Lactating Does
Week 1: 6 ounces of
pellets twice a day, 1 teaspoon Calf-Manna twice a day.
Week 2 until the
kits are weaned: 6 ounces of pellets a day, 2 teaspoons Calf-Manna in
the morning, 1 teaspoon in the evening.
Regardless of age,
all rabbits get a large handful of timothy hay every morning placed
in their hay basket. For grow out cages that have multiple rabbits,
we make sure that they have sufficient hay related to the number of
rabbits in the cage. Now, I realize that a “one big handful” is
not a very scientific portion of hay. In fact, my friend Steve's hand
is twice my size (he is almost 7' tall) but I try not to make it over
complicated, use your best judgment. Personally I do not think you
can feed your rabbits too much hay and it is relatively cheap.
In addition to our
daily feeding regimen, every Monday morning we feed our rabbits our
Black Oil Sunflower Seed (BOSS) snack mix. It is a combination of
BOSS, whole grains oats, with a teaspoon of Calf-Manna growth and
conditioning supplement. You can find our recipe by clicking on the
BOSS snack mix link.
Evaluating Your
Feeding Program
So how do you know
if your feeding your meat rabbits enough pellets and/or hay? Checking
for obesity is not always that easy, but in general you should be
able to feel the rabbits ribs without seeing them. When you run you
hands over the back of your rabbit you should be able to feel the
spine, but it should not be to prominent or sharp and pointed
feeling. If you can see your rabbits ribs and it's backbone is way to
prominent then you need to increase the amount of pellets you are
feeding your rabbit.
If your rabbits
dewlap is so large it touches it's elbows when it is sitting up it is
probably too fat. If you see loose skin that touches the ground
around your rabbits backside, then it is probably too fat. If your
rabbit has large loose folds of skin behind it's head and over it's
shoulders then your rabbit is probably too fat. Kinda sounds like a
Jeff Foxworthy redneck joke doesn't it? Having said that, if your
rabbit meets any of these criteria, then you probably need to
decrease the amount of pellets you are feeding your rabbits.
If for some reason
you are are not satisfied by your observation skills, then by all
means break out the scale and weigh some of your rabbits. Compare
them with the average size of the breed that your raising to
determine whether your livestock meets the breed standards or not,
and adjust your feeding accordingly.
Transitioning From
One Feed To Another
If you just brought
your new rabbits home and you are going to use a different brand of
feed than the breeder you purchased your rabbits from, then you will
need to transition your rabbits to the new feed. As a breeder I offer
all my customers some of my feed to help them transition their new
rabbits from my feed to theirs if they are going to use a different
brand than the Manna-Pro that we use. If the breeder does not offer
you any transitions feed when you purchase your rabbit(s) do not be
afraid to ask for a small amount of the feed they use to help you
transition your rabbits to your new feed.
When you get home,
your new feed needs to be introduced into the rabbits diet gradually
over a period of about 7 days. A simple way to do this is to feed
about 2/3's of the original food and 1/3 of the new diet for 2 days,
then half of the original diet and half of the new diet for 2 days,
and then 1/3 of the original diet and 2/3's of the new diet for 2
days. After these 6 transition days, the new diet can be fed without
the original diet.
We feed all of our
rabbits (12 weeks and older, non-pregnant or lactating) 6 ounces of
Mann-Pro each evening. We use the formula outlined previously to
transition any new rabbits to our herd from other breeders who do not
use Mann-Pro rabbit feed. Because I like to keep it simple and
fractions scale some people, I have broken down our transition
regimen into ounces.
Day 1, 2: 4 ounces
original feed, 2 ounces Manna-Pro
Day 3, 4: 3 ounces
original feed, 3 ounces Manna-Pro
Day 5, 6: 2 ounces
original feed, 4 ounces Manna-Pro
Day 7: 6 ounces
Manna-Pro
Conclusion
Some breeders will
look at our feeding regimen and think that we do not feed enough, but
the proof of our success can be clearly seen when we observe our
breeders, and dress out of feeders (the ones we eat). Steve and I
have two clearly different approaches to feeding our herds, but we
both get quality results and our rabbits appear happy and healthy. As
a breeder of meat rabbits you will have to examine all of the data
and come to your own conclusions. You may choose a feeding program
that is similar to Steve's or one that is more like mine, of you may
tailor one to meet your own individual needs.
Remember, different
situations require different solutions. Eventually you will find a
feeding program that works for your and your rabbitry. As always, if
you have enjoyed this article or find it's information useful, please
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Other Related
Articles On Our Blog:
References:
House Rabbit
Society, UK
Pet Portal: Animal
Medical Center
Rabbits: The Feeding
and Care Of A Successful Rabbitry
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