Rabbit Feeds and Feeding Systems

October 15, 2023October 15, 2023 Agric4Profits

Rabbits kept in hutches or colonies are totally dependent on the keeper for their food (rabbit feeds). They can eat only what the keeper provides. Wild rabbits pick and choose their own food.

They have instinctive wisdom which helps them to select a well-balanced diet. The rabbit keeper does not have this instinctive wisdom and must therefore think carefully about what is the best food for the rabbits.

Rabbit Feeds and Feeding Systems

There are three possible feeding systems and each system has its own advantages and disadvantages. These are:

Extensive system: total dependence on forages and kitchen wastes. Intensive system: total dependence on prepared concentrate foods from the feed mill

Semi-intensive system: the use of forages supplemented with prepared concentrate foods.

Table: the advantages and disadvantages of intensive and extensive feeding systems

System	Advantages	Disadvantages
Extensive	Cheap, easy to provide the quantity of food required	Everything depends on the keeper to choose the correct foods.
		Supplies of forage may vary throughout the year.
		Quality is variable and is often too low, for reasonable production needs a lot of labor and may introduce diseases and health problems.
Intensive	Needs little time for feeding.	Very costly.
	High levels of production can be obtained.	Depends on the supplies from the feed mill which may not always be available or of good quality.
	Little risk of diseases being brought in with the food
Semi-intensive system	Most suitable for the small-scale producer. Make the best use of forages and prepared concentrated foods at critical times (during last third of pregnancy, lactation, and post-weaning.	Falls between Extensive and Intensive system

Read Also: Feeding Tips for Rabbits

Rabbit Feeding Skills

This can be achieved by close observation and monitoring. Observation is the skill of seeing and remembering the different sorts of plants and their location in the local area which are useful for rabbit feeding.

Observation also helps to see how rabbits react to the different foods they are given so that you can learn which foods they like and which they do not.

Arising out of this observation exercise it would be interesting to make a list of local plants that prove to be useful in rabbit feeding and to discuss this list with other rabbit keepers.

In conclusion, it is obvious that rabbit nutrition is the most important aspect of their production without which the rabbit will not resist any disease attack and environmental stress.

The domestic rabbit will eat most types of green vegetables, grains, tubers, and roots. Kitchen wastes such as uncooked vegetables, cereals, and remain of meals can be fed to rabbits provided certain rules are followed:

Water should be supplied ad libitum. For rabbits the recommended crude protein level in the dry matter of the ration is over 18% for newly weaned rabbits;

16-18% for rabbits from12 to 24 weeks; 15-17% for breeding does; 12- 14% for all other stocks. The energy requirement is between 2390 and 2500 kcal of digestive energy. Rabbits can handle up to 20-25% fat in the diet depending on their age. The digestion of cellulose is low.

Caecotrophy is the eating of fecal-like pellets produced in the caecum. There are three possible feeding systems in the rabbit these are extensive systems that are totally dependent on forages and kitchen wastes.

An intensive system is a total dependence on prepared concentrate foods from the feed mill, while a Semi-intensive system is the use of forages supplemented with prepared concentrate foods.