# Guinea Pigs vs Rabbits



## velacreations (Apr 2, 2011)

I've been researching guinea pigs (cuy) as a possible meat source on our homestead. Since we have rabbits, I have something to compare them to.

The conclusion comes out that rabbits are more efficient in terms of meat production and space, but Guinea Pigs (cuy) are easier to feed if you have a yard or homemade feeds.

Here are the details:
Guinea Pigs vs Rabbits - VelaCreations


----------



## Otter (Jan 15, 2008)

That's the conclusion pretty much everyone comes too. 
The one place in which you're not entirely accurate is diet. Guinea pigs NEED vitamin c or they die, unless you have fresh greens you have to supply it in some other way. This is an added cost.

And rabbits can do fine on a diet of hay, so long as it is excellent hay. A little patch of alfalfa, where you can just cut it by hand, feed the rabbits what they want fresh and then stuff the rest into a spare rabbit cage to dry, will keep you in rabbits.
So a rabbit diet is not necessarily more expensive or impossible to have homegrown.


----------



## velacreations (Apr 2, 2011)

you are right about the vitamin C, but since t is available in a lot of sources (veggie and fruit scraps), it is actually fairly easy to do, unless you have a lot of cuy.

Rabbits do fine on good hay, but their growth rate is considerably slower, and the FCR is not nearly as good as cuy on a similar diet. So, efficiency of the rabbits drops by going with a hay diet.

Homegrown diets for Rabbits can be done, and done well, but it takes more than just hay.


----------



## Otter (Jan 15, 2008)

The growth rate isn't really slower on alfalfa hay. But for some reason, lots of folks think they can't grow a little patch of alfalfa. But if you look at the ingredients in rabbit pellets, you'll see that it is mostly alfalfa, with just a bit of other hays, a touch of grain and a teeny bit of salt.

I've raised both species on a homegrown diet, my rabbits grew just as well as pellet fed ones so long as their diet was around 90% alfalfa. My guinea pigs needed orange peels in winter - doable.
The breeds were Rex, MiniRex and one NZ doe. I would think that the NZ doe would be the tell, as they were bred to be intensively farmed, and may, as a breed, do better on pellets. I think ECHO did a study on intestinal length relating to ability to do well on a forage based diet, but without growing food just for rabbits, they fed them garden waste. They have a website.
Anyway, the NZ doe grew well and had 5 cookie cutter identical bunnies in every litter and had them like clockwork, whether I had her on alfalfa hay or pellets.


----------



## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

The only possable plus I can give a guine pig is they can easyerly be raised in a herd . I could not think of eating one myself or enen trying to sell one to an american for meat .I'm stickin with rabbits    why try to reinvent the wheel many years of breeding by pro breeder have already. Produced a good meat animal acepted by society as such . That's how I see it but to each his own .


----------



## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

Rabbits are easy to keep in a colony if you do it right. And socially many americans wont eat rabbit because they are "pets". If you have an asian or south american community in your area there is no telling what you might could sell that they will eat. Also RAW diet dog owners and snake owners would buy them as food.


----------



## velacreations (Apr 2, 2011)

Otter said:


> The growth rate isn't really slower on alfalfa hay. But for some reason, lots of folks think they can't grow a little patch of alfalfa. But if you look at the ingredients in rabbit pellets, you'll see that it is mostly alfalfa, with just a bit of other hays, a touch of grain and a teeny bit of salt.


I have never had equal growth rates with hay alone as I do with pellets. It just doesn't work. Pellets usually contain about 25% grain, which counts for a lot of the energy in that diet.

I'm not saying homegrown feeds can't work, but expecting them to grow equally on a hay only vs pellet diet is unrealistic.

Now for breeding, sure, you can get away with mostly hay, but you still need some energy for those nursing moms.

When I do homegrown foods, my feeders hit 4.5 lbs in about 12-14 weeks. When on pellets, they hit the same weight n 8-10 weeks.


----------



## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

What kind of hay are you feeding? Are you useing alfalfa fresh or hay? Or are you just useing grass hay. Also its easy to feed rolled oats an boss on a hay diet to make up some calories if need be.


----------



## velacreations (Apr 2, 2011)

I use alfalfa hay throughout the year, fresh when it is available.

If alfalfa by itself produced the same growth rates as pellets, pellets would be made of only alfalfa, as it is considerably cheaper than grain.

Yes, I agree, they are alternatives to make a home-made diet that can come close to performance of pellets, like fodder sprouts, but an all hay diet does not cut it.


----------



## Otter (Jan 15, 2008)

Alfalfa did it for me, and the rabbit pellets I get are about 90% alfalfa. What kind of records do you keep? I am really into record keeping and mine showed that good quality alfalfa and a touch of garden and kitchen scraps did just fine. Grown bucks only needed grass hay.

I agree with KSALguy, the quality makes a big difference. The alfalfa hay needs to be really leafy and green. It is hard to buy good alfalfa hay because the leaves are so brittle and shatter off, leaving mostly stems which have poor nutritional value. But it is very easy to grow and harvest your own, and storing hay loose with a higher moisture content really makes a HUGE difference in nutritional value.


----------



## AprilW (Nov 25, 2007)

This is off topic, but Otter could I ask where you get alfalfa seed? What I have found is on the expensive end and I'm wondering if that's the norm and I'll just have to bite the bullet and buy it.


----------



## Otter (Jan 15, 2008)

There is one local feed store by me that sells it by the pound. The pelleted kind. He laughs at me when I buy a half a pound, but he sells it.
If none of your local feed stores carry it, I can mail you some.


----------



## silverseeds (Apr 28, 2012)

I had no problem matching growth rates with homegrown foods for rabbits instead of pellets. There is nothing in pellets you cant readily grow yourself if you want to. 

I thought Id have to re select my rabbits to perform well on a diet I grew, as opposed to pellets. It wasnt an issue at all though. The rabbits seemed much happier as well. Just depends what you grow I guess.


----------



## velacreations (Apr 2, 2011)

Otter said:


> Alfalfa did it for me, and the rabbit pellets I get are about 90% alfalfa. What kind of records do you keep? I am really into record keeping and mine showed that good quality alfalfa and a touch of garden and kitchen scraps did just fine. Grown bucks only needed grass hay.
> 
> I agree with KSALguy, the quality makes a big difference. The alfalfa hay needs to be really leafy and green. It is hard to buy good alfalfa hay because the leaves are so brittle and shatter off, leaving mostly stems which have poor nutritional value. But it is very easy to grow and harvest your own, and storing hay loose with a higher moisture content really makes a HUGE difference in nutritional value.


I cut my alfalfa by hand, and we make a point to maintain a high quality.

I keep good records. Feeders are weighed at 6, 8, 10, and 12 weeks. Does are weighed at every breeding (every 10 weeks).

All of the pellets I have found have about 25% grain in them, and I know that if they grew at the same rate on alfalfa as they did on alfalfa+grain, those pellets would be 100% alfalfa, due to cost.


----------



## velacreations (Apr 2, 2011)

silverseeds said:


> I had no problem matching growth rates with homegrown foods for rabbits instead of pellets. There is nothing in pellets you cant readily grow yourself if you want to.


yes, it is completely possible to match grow rates on homegrown foods, but not on hay alone. but, I notice a lot of people say their rabbits grow fine on either, but they don't keep weight and growth records, either.

by all means, feed what you can grow, and even if you are feeding straight hay, and it takes a few extra weeks, if the hay is free, it doesn't matter.

But, I have yet to see a feeder rabbit hit butcher weight on a hay diet in 8 weeks.

And rabbits on a grass diet, there is no way they can match a pellet diet. And that's what this comparison was all about, guinea pigs thrive on a grass diet, whereas rabbits need a bit more.


----------



## silverseeds (Apr 28, 2012)

Did you ask for weight or growth records? 



> And rabbits on a grass diet, there is no way they can match a pellet diet. And that's what this comparison was all about, guinea pigs thrive on a grass diet, whereas rabbits need a bit more.


With all due respect I have to wonder how much you really know about these animals. GPs would literally DIE on a "grass diet" whereas rabbits can do just fine. 

Im also rather confused. Your link says that cuy are better on a "homegrown" diet. (you never list what you grow) But even by YOUR math the rabbits win outright. 

from above..



> When I do homegrown foods, my feeders hit 4.5 lbs in* about 12-14 weeks.* When on pellets, they hit the same weight n 8-10 weeks.


from your link...


> Cuys have a gestation of 2 months, *then 4 months until butcher size.* So, from breeding, you have 6 months to plate.


 By your own math, when you use "homegrown" food (not sure what your growing/collecting) your rabbits mature from 3-3.5 months. Your cuy take 4 months. So the rabbits are bigger with more meat (double by the math at your link) AND faster on your "homegrown" diet but cuy do better on homegrown diets? what am I missing?? Rabbits seem the clear winner by the numbers you gave. 

Dont get me wrong, I even tried growing cuy myself. I think its a great small meat animal to raise. they couldnt handle the winters in my heated shed, so I gave up on them. I might try again, I really like them actually. Try to find some lines proven to handle tougher temps. But even by the numbers you gave rabbits were the clear winner by more then double, being slightly faster but double the meat.... so Im baffled at the conclusion you drew.

Anyway, my rabbits average more like 6-12 a liter not the 6-8 you listed. Most liters are in the 9-12 range.


----------



## velacreations (Apr 2, 2011)

silverseeds said:


> With all due respect I have to wonder how much you really know about these animals. GPs would literally DIE on a "grass diet" whereas rabbits can do just fine.


What? that is simply not true. Cuy are commonly raised on a grass diet, mostly from just free ranging in a grass area (yard).



silverseeds said:


> By your own math, when you use "homegrown" food (not sure what your growing/collecting) your rabbits mature from 3-3.5 months. Your cuy take 4 months. So the rabbits are bigger with more meat (double by the math at your link) AND faster on your "homegrown" diet but cuy do better on homegrown diets? what am I missing?? Rabbits seem the clear winner by the numbers you gave.


The rabbits are bigger, yes, but they also eat more, and on homegrown diets, their FCR drops below that of Cuy. Also, because Cuy free range well, they harvest their own food, making it easy to feed them.



silverseeds said:


> Anyway, my rabbits average more like 6-12 a liter not the 6-8 you listed. Most liters are in the 9-12 range.


Average 6-12 per litter? An average is not a large range like that. I think that when you figure your average (including any losses), you will find that it will be around 7 or 8.

I don't really want a discussion with you on this. You have shown to be argumentative and confrontational on this and many issues with me on the past, and I don't want to go through that again, here. If you came to a different conclusion with your animals, that's wonderful, best of luck to you!


----------



## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

My guinea pigs have lived in my back yard for 6-7 years. The same ones. I don't know how long guinea pigs live but they were grown when I put them out there.
They live quite good by grazing in the yard. I do like to give them a snack every once in a while so they will remain gentle.
Also have rabbits running loose in the back yard. They eat the same diet at the guinea pigs.


----------

