# 100% Forage Diet For Rabbits



## WestFork (Dec 20, 2012)

Does anyone here feed their rabbits a 100% forage diet? I met a woman who claimed she did. She fed only weeds, blackberry vines, willow, & herbs. No hay or grain. The rabbits looked healthy enough. 

Right now we feed hay, grain, pellets, and fresh herbs & willow cuttings. I would like to try a 100% forage diet this spring if possible in an effort to be more self reliant. I'm thinking 100 years ago, they didn't have Rabbit Chow. 

Is it worth a try?


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

The rabbits will survive but they will only be able to have a couple litters a year if that depending how sturdy your stock is. We went to feeding grains and then pellets because we wanted to up production and it takes more calories, fats, and proteins to do that. Some rabbits may just not have the genes to survive on that diet any longer after all our commercial breeding. At minimum an alfalfa hay would be needed or fresh alfalfa you harvest yourself from a plot in large amounts. That's the other thing. Rabbits eat a lot. When you are feeding a natural diet they should be eating all day long and have a big feeding right before bed. It takes a lot of picking. When I did it for guinea pigs which are much smaller I went through 2 grocery bags a day for 3 pigs plus some hay.


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## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

Pregnant and lactating does need a higher protein diet than most forage only diets will provide.
We tractored a lot of rabbits but the breeding does always had supplemental pellet feeders on their tractors.


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## WestFork (Dec 20, 2012)

Has anyone tried feeding rabbits willow cuttings which have an average protein of 17%? Some countries hit by drought have fed cattle willow trees, and the cows actually gain weight on it. Willow and poplar apparently have similar protein and fiber content. Seems like you could mix a willow diet with other forage and do pretty well.

I'm interested in this mostly for survival purposes, should rabbit chow become unavailable for any amount of time due to the economy.


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## farmerestes (Jan 6, 2013)

I don't feed any pellets, but I do provide free choice hay (among other foods). I have an angora, and I understood that the hay helps keep her digestive system moving. Now that I type that it kind of doesn't make sense. Either way, I don't feed pellets, and she keeps condition.


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## CraterCove (Jan 24, 2011)

I will be trying to feed my rabbits, when I get them, as much of a forage or weed only diet as possible. But I intent to grow perennial peanut or alfalfa and clover and other things listed to be high protein and such. Where I am in Florida there is such a small period of time when things don't grow as quickly as usual I think I will be able to do so with some effort on my part. 

I think that, if it's your goal to have forage only then you should look at breeding for that in your program. Keep the bucks and does that work best on the forage diet and cull any who don't. If hardiness and easy keepers are what is most important to you, see about focusing on that trait before any others. I'm sure some other people with more experience with rabbits than I have will have some great input... which I will be eagerly waiting to read!


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## Fat Man (Mar 9, 2011)

Mulberry with a 15-28% protein content would be a good addition too. 

Mulberry


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## CraterCove (Jan 24, 2011)

That article was fantastic. It looks like both my goats and any rabbits would benefit greatly from mulberry. Not to mention the potential uses of the fruits. I will be adding these to my garden, no question.


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## TroutRiver (Nov 26, 2010)

I will be experimenting with this in the coming year. Although I do intend to always provide free choice hay, a mineral salt block, and probably sprouted whole grains and seeds to lactating and pregnant does. I am trying hard to avoid commercial pellets, since nearly all of them contain soy, which I do not want in or anywhere near my food. 

For regular maintenance you can certainly feed an all forage diet, as long as there is good variety in your forage. For growing out fryers, or for pregnant/lactating does, I can only guess they will need some extra protein and fat. This is based on my experience raising other types of meat animals, but I am new to rabbits so take what I say with a grain of salt.

I have been told time and time again that hay is very important when feeding a lot of fresh forage, for the long stem fiber. Otherwise you risk scours. But I have never tried not feeding hay, so can't say for sure.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I read a study that was conducted somewhere in Africa about using Mulberry branches and leaves as a major part of the rabbit diet. IIRC the rabbits in the 75% (meaning 75% of their diet was Mulberry) were just as heavy and productive as the control group which was fed no mulberry. The kits grew a bit slower on the 75% but not much.


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## WestFork (Dec 20, 2012)

This is amazing info. I have an unlimited supply of willow for coppicing, but I will also plant some mulberry trees. I wonder if it would be possible to dry leaves like hay and store the dried/compacted product in buckets like hay?


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I never tried drying it.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

SkagitBrooms said:


> This is amazing info. I have an unlimited supply of willow for coppicing, but I will also plant some mulberry trees. I wonder if it would be possible to dry leaves like hay and store the dried/compacted product in buckets like hay?


I feed a lot of willow and poplar to my rabbits, fresh in summer and dried in winter. I wish I had mulberry trees and may look at planting some. You could look at planting alfalfa and grain to supplement the foraged greens. Sunflower seeds too. When I first started feeding a natural diet I was feeding only greens and grass hay, but I found the rabbits did better when I added small quantities of whole grain. They also need a trace mineral salt block if they are not getting pellets. Growth rate for fryers will likely be slower, but since the overall feed costs on a natural diet are usually less, this is not a big problem.


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## Fat Man (Mar 9, 2011)

CraterCove said:


> That article was fantastic. It looks like both my goats and any rabbits would benefit greatly from mulberry. Not to mention the potential uses of the fruits. I will be adding these to my garden, no question.


I went a googling yesterday and apparently we can eat them too. Some folks make tea and you can use them like grape leaves.


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## WestFork (Dec 20, 2012)

We had a mulberry tree when I was a kid. It grew tall & a storm blew it over. It was loaded with fruit, which I enjoyed eating. It is a messy tree, so plant one along the outskirts of your living space. I think I will plant several, and shear the trees as I feed the rabbits, keeping the tree small. The fruit was o.k., not my favorite. The birds sure did like it. The tree was fast growing & hardy to 0 at least. Ours did well in heavy soil & single digit temps in winter with hot dry summers. No irrigation after it was established. We never made tea, but it would be interesting to try.


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## Fat Man (Mar 9, 2011)

We had two fruitless varieties in the front yard. We had an early/heavy snow two years ago that hammered them pretty bad, they hadn't dropped their leaves yet. I cut one down and pollarded the other last year. I now get plenty of young branches of the pruned tree and the stump.


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