Meat rabbit feed

[Bossroo]

So I guess that Veterinarians , University researchers and commercial breeders have their own agenda to come up with a conclusion of what is "healthy" and the back yard rabbit owner knows better ... I'm confused

 

[DutchBunny03]

Backyard raisers know their individual animals better, since they can spend more time with their rabbits. We have found that certain feeds produce certain characteristics by expiramentibg with whatever we can.

 

[DutchBunny03]

@minibackyardfarmer , I have found that birch, maple(both sugar and red), beech, and basswood are good for feeding rabbits. They can eat braches and leaves. No oak. Be careful with lactating does abd maple, I have heard that it dries up the milk supply. Baby rabbits cannot eat the green leaves, but can eat the fallen leaves during fall.

 

[minibackyardfarmer]

@minibackyardfarmer , I have found that birch, maple(both sugar and red), beech, and basswood are good for feeding rabbits. They can eat braches and leaves. No oak. Be careful with lactating does abd maple, I have heard that it dries up the milk supply. Baby rabbits cannot eat the green leaves, but can eat the fallen leaves during fall.

Thanks

The property has a lot of pine... is pine a no or yes when it comes to rabbits? We give the branches to our chickens when needles are green, even tho some say no but its in moderation and they could get to them by themselves anyways lol.

 

[minibackyardfarmer]

So I guess that Veterinarians , University researchers and commercial breeders have their own agenda to come up with a conclusion of what is "healthy" and the back yard rabbit owner knows better ... I'm confused

No one knows better

Vets are different they know pet standards and treat animals, most do, as individual patients so shouldnt even be a part of the discussion lol...

But yes backyard animal/farmers know their animals in their possession better than any stats derived from the animals they had in "their" possession. Those stats know nothing about your own animals, only you do, the stats are just base lines.

Id hate to go to a doctor who just treats me as the general stats and not as the individual through knowing me etc. The latter would make me healthier. Same goes with animals.

 

[DutchBunny03]

Pine is ok, you don't have to move the fallen needles or anything, but I wouldn't give the rabbits any more of it.

 

[promiseacres]

Welcome to backyardherds.com
we raise show bunnies, they get greens (dandelion, plantain, ect ) weekly. We feed Heinhold feed, it's a complete and they have several varieties for different rabbits.we also feed grass hay, BOSS and add ACV to their water. Rabbits love pinecones to play with and chew.
The problem with mixing your own grains for any livestock is you don't always know exact nutritional values, therefore how much of each to mix in? Or how much to feed? If you do go that route do add minerals. Nothing wrong with letting them graze, try to purchase breeding stock that is already adjusted to that type of lifestyle versus wire cages. It will be a trial and error unless you can find stock raised the way you prefer. Which will save you tons of time of working to get your stock adjusted to a new way of life.

 

[Bunnylady]

So I guess that Veterinarians , University researchers and commercial breeders have their own agenda to come up with a conclusion of what is "healthy" and the back yard rabbit owner knows better ... I'm confused

As the OP said, everybody has their own agenda. The researchers have the agenda of trying to find out what the actual nutritional requirements of the animals are - what to feed to get optimum growth and avoid nutritional deficiencies. The commercial breeders have the agenda of raising animals with maximum efficiency of time and effort, and at minimum cost. And the backyard breeder has an agenda. too. They have the agenda of "doing what's right for the animal." Welcome to the world of 'feel good farming,' where opinions matter more than hard data. The backyard breeder says they are trying to keep costs down, but they willingly sacrifice their time and, to a limited degree, their money to do what they believe improves the quality of life for their animals. They have no way of quantifying anything they do as to whether it works or not, but that doesn't matter, because what they are really doing is placating some inner demon rather than what you were doing, which was farming with an eye toward actually making a profit. So they'd rather not hear about the lessons you learned about the parasite and disease problems of animals on the ground, because being on the ground is more natural than cages, so it must be better for the animals in the long run. If the animals take twice as long to reach slaughter weight, they are content, because the animals were 'happier' during that time. They treat their animals like pets, rather than production units, and as long as they don't wind up with absolute, catastrophic failure, they can feel good about themselves - which is more important than getting a good return on their investment. Apples and oranges, my friend - I can see why you are confused.

@minibackyardfarmer - if that sounded like I was insulting you, I apologize. I am getting a bit cynical in my old age. I do understand what you are doing - you are like my husband, a tinkerer. There may be a product on the market that does precisely whatever it is that he wants to do, but he has an idea for a way to do something, so he builds his own (thing) with which to do it. It may work as well as the thing he could have bought, or not, but he did it his way, so he is happy. Sometimes, he winds up spending a lot of time and money finding out what doesn't work, and maybe even buys the other guy's widget in the long run, but he wanted to do things his way. So though we know there is a way that is efficient and cost-effective, you have your own idea about how you want to raise rabbits. I am not saying that one way is any "better" than another, this is the way you want to do it, and as long as you are happy with the results you get and your animals can't be said to be suffering from neglect or abuse, it's your business. Just be aware that some of the people whose advice you get may have lots of opinions and little if any education or experience to support them, and at the end of the day, opinions are only worth the paper they are printed on.

Good luck in your venture, and welcome to BYH!

 

[Bossroo]

Why do you think a person that wants to become a Veterinarian does so ? Almost without an exception they had and have pets of every discription as kids and in their teen years and care for their every need and well being. After they graduate from Vet. School, they still care for all animals ( why do some think that they suddenly have lost all humane treatment of animals as researchers and medical providers for ill animals?), but by then they have had the benefit of real world research in nutrition, housing physical health as well as mental health as well as their own idividual real world experiences of what makes each animal tick in their environment, what nutrition that they need and what foods supply the best source of that nutrition as well as what medications / treatments to cure what ails them. The commercial breeders have the benefit of following the advice of the University Veterinarians,Researchers and Nutritionists in a quest to make a profit to pay for their livelyhood. And YES , they CARE GREATLY for their charges and provide the best resouces for them or they would fail miserably in their business venture. As Bunnlady said - some of the people whose advice you get may have lots of opinions and little if any experience to support them , and at the end of the day, opinions are only worth the paper that they are printed on.

 

[minibackyardfarmer]

Why do you think a person that wants to become a Veterinarian does so ? Almost without an exception they had and have pets of every discription as kids and in their teen years and care for their every need and well being. After they graduate from Vet. School, they still care for all animals ( why do some think that they suddenly have lost all humane treatment of animals as researchers and medical providers for ill animals?), but by then they have had the benefit of real world research in nutrition, housing physical health as well as mental health as well as their own idividual real world experiences of what makes each animal tick in their environment, what nutrition that they need and what foods supply the best source of that nutrition as well as what medications / treatments to cure what ails them. The commercial breeders have the benefit of following the advice of the University Veterinarians,Researchers and Nutritionists in a quest to make a profit to pay for their livelyhood. And YES , they CARE GREATLY for their charges and provide the best resouces for them or they would fail miserably in their business venture. As Bunnlady said - some of the people whose advice you get may have lots of opinions and little if any experience to support them , and at the end of the day, opinions are only worth the paper that they are printed on.

Yes so true... just like your comment about commercial vets etc. was way off topic and actually gave no value other then drama and a debate. That isn't what I was looking for.

As I said before all the info and stats are just base lines each individual/animal is going to be different from the next... but anyways we can end the conversation about "stats" and commercial, universities, etc. as no where does that convo answer questions I had sorry.