Rabbit feed

[Missourikid]

Working on a whole-grain rabbit concentrate for my meat rabbits instead of relying completely on commercial pellets and wanted to get some feedback from others running similar setups.

Trying to build something that:

- Uses locally available ingredients
- Works well in J-feeders
- Keeps fiber up
- Supports grow-outs and breeding stock
- Reduces feed waste and sorting

Current 50 lb mix:

- 10 lbs timothy pellets
- 12.5 lbs whole oats
- 7.5 lbs barley
- 5 lbs wheat
- 5 lbs field peas
- 3 lbs black oil sunflower seeds
- 1 lb flaxseed
- 1 lb cracked corn
- 4 oz calcium carbonate
- 3 oz ADE premix
- 2 oz plain salt

Feeding alongside free-choice mixed grass hay in Bass hay feeders.

At first the rabbits were tossing the timothy pellets, but mixing them directly into the grain blend helped a lot. The pellets also seem to help hold the fines and premix in the ration better.

Using solid-bottom J-feeders on wire cages. Grow-outs and nursing does are mostly free-fed while bucks are fed more moderately.

Anybody else running a whole grain + forage style rabbit ration? Curious what others are using for fiber sources, mineral mixes, and how your grow-outs are performing compared to commercial pellet programs.

 

[RR Homestead]

This is fantastic. Hope you will keep us posted on how it's going. This is what my goal is when we are back up in running with rabbits at our new home. There's mills around so I'm hoping to get good raw ingredients to do that same with. Same with mixing my own dairy cow feed.
Thanks for posting your recipe. I'll be comparing it in my research and following what results you are having.

 

[Missourikid]

So far they're adapting well considering the gray pellets they were on, not a bit of green. Make sure the Timothy pellets are the mini, free choice hay as well. My closest mill is in STL so I started mixing my own with grains found at my local co-op.