Rabbit diet - what can and cannot be given

Proper and balanced nutrition for rabbits is an important aspect of keeping these animals on a farm. Food is necessary to maintain body temperature, provide all the substances necessary for life, and develop immunity and energy.

One of the important conditions for proper feeding is a varied diet, the basis of which is products of plant origin. In addition, there are nutritional requirements at different times of the year. In this article we will look at the basic principles of proper feeding of rabbits, which everyone who breeds these unique animals should know.

Types of feed

A varied diet for a rabbit is necessary to maintain the health of their digestive system, which is different from other animals, as well as to provide all the substances and vitamins important for a full life. Gastrointestinal diseases in rabbits are very common, especially with regard to bloating, constipation and diarrhea.

For complete feeding when kept in artificial conditions, four main types of food for rabbits are used.

Types of food for rabbits.

Green feed

They form the basis of the diet all summer, until late autumn. The following are used as green feed:

• wild herbs (clover, alfalfa, plantain, young nettle, dandelion);
• cultivated varieties (cereals, legumes and leguminous grasses);
• vegetable tops (rutabagas, beets, Jerusalem artichokes) and forage varieties of cabbage.

Some plants affect rabbits differently. For example, legumes lead to flatulence, and beet tops have a laxative effect. This is important to consider when creating a menu.

Tomato and potato tops should be used with caution. It contains elements hazardous to health, so it should be given in small portions, no more than 15% of the daily diet.

Juicy

They are best used with the onset of the first frost, until the beginning of summer. Juicy feeds include vegetables, root crops and silage. The most common plants for feeding rabbits are:

• carrot;
• potato;
• cabbage;
• beets (sugar and fodder);
• pumpkin.

Juicy food
In the southern regions, the use of watermelons and melons is acceptable, but additional nutritious foods are required. Silage is an essential part of the diet, especially for females, as it enhances lactation and the growth of young animals.

Rough

Should make up up to 25% of the daily diet. Rough, fibrous foods are important for intestinal function, teeth and strengthening the immune system. For this purpose, hay, tree branches and dried grass flour are used.

Rabbits do not eat coarse hay that has been dried in the sun, so harvesting technology must be followed. In winter, it is especially important to give tree branches containing many vitamins and microelements.

Roughage includes hay and tree branches harvested in the spring and summer months, as well as flour made from hay and grass.

Not all plants are suitable for feeding rabbits, and some breeds can cause serious diseases. It is strictly forbidden to use bird cherry, apricot, buckthorn and wild rosemary. Birch and branches of stone fruit trees can be given in strictly limited quantities.

Concentrated

These are foods with great nutritional value. For rabbits use:

• cereals (oats, wheat, sorghum and rye);
• legume grains (peas, lentils, beans or soybeans);
• compound feed;
• production waste (bran, meal or cake).

Concentrated feed should make up no more than 35-40% of the daily diet, otherwise it leads to increased growth, obesity and an increase in milk volume in rabbits. The use of compound feed increases the cost of the breeding process, but it contains all the necessary elements to maintain health. Any formulations intended for pigs and calves are suitable, but it is better to use specialized feed or complete feed for rabbits.

Concentrated feeds should make up the majority of the animals' diet.

Compound feed for birds should absolutely not be given to rabbits. They contain hard elements - sand, stones and shells, which can lead to digestive problems.

Vitamins

Vitamins for rabbits should be present in the diet all year round, especially in winter, when feeding grass is not possible. Vitamins A, E and D are extremely important for the health of rabbits, so fish oil or brewer's yeast are good choices. The amount of supplements depends on the age and weight of the individual. Among the mineral supplements, phosphorus and calcium are mandatory; bone meal or chalk are used to replenish them.

The daily diet must contain table salt, which is necessary for rabbits at any age, especially at the time of fattening. The drinking bowl should be filled with clean water as needed. Fluid is extremely important for the health of these animals.

Read more about drinking bowls for rabbits in this article.

A lack of vitamins affects the health of rabbits and leads to undesirable pathological changes.

FEEDING RABBIT

The main food for rabbits is vegetable. They must contain all the substances necessary for animals: proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals.

Water. Some amateur rabbit breeders do not water their rabbits. It is not right. With a lack of fluid, animals digest food poorly, their appetite decreases, and their general condition worsens. A nursing rabbit feels a particularly great need for water, as she secretes a significant amount of liquid with her milk. Lack of water often causes rabbits to eat. Growing young animals also have a great need for water.

Another thing is that depending on the feed being fed, more or less water can be given. In the summer, when rabbits receive a lot of green and succulent food, the need for water decreases, but does not disappear: rabbits still drink water.

In the fall, when feeding a large amount of succulent food, rabbits sometimes experience indigestion. In such cases, it is necessary to reduce the supply of succulent feed and introduce hay into the diet or increase the amount of concentrates. A lot of water is contained in beets, carrots, silage, watermelons, cucumbers and other succulent foods.

In winter and early spring, when rabbits receive dry food, there should be water in the drinking bowls all the time. If the conditions of keeping the rabbits are such that the water freezes, it should be poured into the drinking bowls immediately after feeding the rabbits with concentrates. In winter, it is better to feed rabbits with warm water—it does not require additional internal heat for warming. If it is not possible to water the rabbits after each feeding in winter, clean snow is placed in the drinking bowls; the rabbits eat it well and satisfy their need for water. Snow, of course, does not contain the minerals that water contains, but the damage to the health of rabbits from a lack of water will be much greater than from a lack of some minerals obtained from water. With proper feeding, rabbits receive all minerals through feed and mineral supplements.

Feed and preparing them for feeding. Green food—grass, fresh tree shoots and leaves—is necessary for rabbits from early spring to late autumn. By including green feed in your diet, you can almost halve the amount of grain feed. Products from such rabbits will cost much less.

To feed rabbits, they use not so much seeded herbs as wild-growing ones, and the more diverse the set of herbs, the better the rabbits eat them. With great appetite, rabbits eat dandelion, plantain, wormwood, field and garden thistle, yarrow, fireweed, burdock, rapeseed, wheatgrass, horse sorrel, meadowsweet, shepherd's purse, clover, mouse peas, tansy and other wild herbs. But feeding them needs to be alternated or given in the form of a grass mixture. Alfalfa, vetch, peas and other legumes are introduced into the diet little by little so as not to cause intestinal disease. It is better to feed them mixed with cereals. It is not recommended to feed rabbits the same grass all the time; It has been noticed, for example, that baby rabbits fed only dandelions are noticeably stunted in growth. Rabbits eat carrot tops, beets, cabbage leaves and stalks, rhubarb, etc. well, but all of this must be given little by little.

The earliest green food is nettle. It can be collected as soon as it appears. The plants are chopped into small pieces (2-3 cm), placed in a pan and poured with boiling water. After the nettle has softened, it is flavored with a small amount of mixed feed or bran and, chilled, distributed to rabbits. You can mix chopped nettles with boiled mashed potatoes and steam them. This mash is also sprinkled with bran, cooled and fed to rabbits. From this food, rabbits recover well, young animals grow quickly, and the amount of milk in lactating queens increases. Nettle can be prepared for future use: to do this, it is dried in the shade (can be cut) and used after steaming. It is best to store dry nettle in some kind of container - bags, boxes, as it crumbles easily, and the most valuable part of the plant - the leaves - is lost.

Wheatgrass rhizomes, which are collected during spring harrowing of fields, are also used as succulent feed. Before feeding, they are washed from the soil.

Rabbits eat young sunflowers well before flowering; during the flowering period, their palatability decreases; the benefits of feeding such sunflowers are small: they are poorly digested. A good food, especially for suckling rabbits, is rhubarb.

Rabbits love wood food: fresh, thin branches of deciduous trees serve as a good addition to the main diet. Animals eat best branches of linden, aspen, willow, and acacia. It is not recommended to feed more than 200 g per day to one rabbit of oak, alder, hazel, and elm branches, as they contain tannins. Of the coniferous species in winter, you can feed juniper, spruce and pine needles.

Green food does not require special preparation. Of course, you should not give dirty food: contaminated vegetable tops must be washed in clean water and distributed, shaking off the water well. Beet tops, which have a laxative effect, are sprinkled with a small amount of ground chalk when feeding.

Grass that is rotten or covered with mold should not be given to rabbits. If due to an oversight this happens and indigestion occurs, give fresh, somewhat dried grass and oak leaves, wormwood, and chamomile as astringent food.

Not all plants are harmless to rabbits. You cannot give them plants such as hemlock, datura, henbane, foxglove, lily of the valley, crow's eye, larkspur, poisonous weed, caustic buttercup, hellebore, and spurge. In short, unless you are sure that the plant is harmless, it is better not to give it to rabbits or to give a little to some less valuable animals.

Roughage is a must in the winter diet of rabbits. They are necessary for proper digestion. But in terms of their ability to digest roughage, rabbits are significantly inferior to ruminants—cows, goats, and sheep. Therefore, it is wrong to feed rabbits with hay alone; they will not have enough nutrition. Approximately 40 kg of hay is prepared per female (without young animals).

Hay for rabbits should be fine, well-leafed, and varied in botanical composition. Rabbits eat coarse hay harvested late, especially cereal hay, poorly—half as much as good soft hay. When fed well-leaved hay, rabbits receive a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals.

Harvest hay before flowering or at the beginning of flowering of plants. The herbs are dried quickly and dried under a canopy. The hay should be green in color and have a pleasant smell.

For better eating, hay can be chopped and soaked in warm water. After the hay cutting has softened, the water is drained and the feed is sprinkled with flour. This hay can be given once a day.

Straw is bad food for rabbits. Pea and clover straw are better eaten than cereal straw. When stored well, oat straw is eaten better than poor marsh hay. Rabbits eat legume chaff well. However, if the chaff contains a lot of earthy residue, it should not be fed.

A good addition to the winter diet is twig food, prepared in May-July. If it was not possible to prepare hay for the rabbits, brooms prepared in the summer can be used as roughage. But such feeding should only be allowed as a last resort. Rabbits eat the bark from branches harvested in winter, especially aspen. In winter, coniferous branches, as a source of vitamins, can be fed up to 150 g per day to an adult rabbit. When feeding branches, rabbits chew less on cages.

Rabbits need succulent food at any time of the year. The best of them are carrots, beets, potatoes, cabbage, zucchini, and pumpkin. Rabbits can be given watermelon, pumpkin, and melon rinds. Carrots are especially useful for rabbits. It is given primarily to females and males during the mating period. Give fresh cabbage and red beets carefully, little by little, so as not to cause digestive upset. Many rabbit breeders successfully feed rabbits with rutabaga cuusica; the animals eat well both the green tops of this crop and root vegetables.

You can also give sauerkraut as a succulent food in winter: 150-200 g per day for an adult rabbit and no more than 100 g for young animals. For better palatability, sauerkraut is sprinkled with mealy food.

If silage is prepared on a household farm, it can also be fed to rabbits, in the same quantities as sauerkraut. Accustoming to these feeds is carried out gradually, starting with small quantities. When simultaneously feeding root and tuber crops, rabbits do not get used to silage well. For rabbits, it is good to prepare, as well as for pigs, a combined silage of carrots with tops, legumes and boiled potatoes, taken in approximately equal quantities.

Before feeding, succulent feed is cleared of soil; it is best to wash root and tuber crops well. They are given raw, but frozen root vegetables are boiled, and carrots are thawed and given raw. It is useful to feed potatoes boiled (this way they are better digested), but in small quantities they can be fed raw. To make potatoes and vegetables easier to eat, they are chopped before distribution. Grain feeds are the most nutritious feeds, which is why they are called concentrates. They should be fed after preliminary preparation, so that they are not only less lost when eaten, but also digested better. In short, you need to use grain feed sparingly. Grain feed should be fed in crushed form, so it is more convenient to mix it with boiled potatoes and use it for sprinkling hay mixture, sauerkraut, and silage. If crushed grain is given separately from other feeds, it is slightly moistened with salted water.

The best grain food for rabbits of all ages is oats. Most often it is fed dry. But to diversify the diet, especially during the fattening period, it is better to steam oats in lightly salted water or fry them. Rabbits and barley are readily eaten.

Hard grains—peas, corn, vetch, lentils—are soaked 2-3 hours before feeding. Corn grain, poor in protein, is best fed with legumes.

The most complete feed consists of several types of grain and the necessary mineral and vitamin supplements. When purchasing feed, you need to find out what type of animal it is prepared for. You cannot feed rabbits bird feed, as it is harmful to them: crushed shells, small pebbles and other impurities are added to it. You can feed compound feed prepared for cattle and pigs.

Feed and bran are fed in the same way as crushed grain. Wheat bran is given mainly to fattening rabbits. Rye bran is fed only in small quantities. In order not to reduce the palatability of other feeds and not to cause digestive disorders, young animals are given no more than 30-50 g of bran per day per animal, and rabbits 1-2 months old are not given it at all. Acorns and chestnuts are also used to feed rabbits. An adult rabbit eats up to 50 g of dry acorns per day. They are also used for indigestion as a fixing food. Dried acorns can be peeled and ground, although rabbits eat them whole just fine. Rabbits are gradually accustomed to them.

Kitchen scraps make up a significant portion of a rabbit's diet. As part of wet mash, they are given leftover porridge, potatoes, pasta; wet mash is made from low-fat soups. Food waste is fed only fresh, up to 200 g per day to one rabbit.

When using leftover food, it is very convenient to mix them with feed, bran, adding good hay dust or chopped hay, form this mixture into briquettes the size of small to large potatoes, depending on the age of the rabbits, dry them in the oven or oven for 20– 30 minutes and feed the rabbits one briquette per feeding. These briquettes need to be made for one day. Store unfed briquettes in the refrigerator until the next feeding. Feed mash prepared in this way is not only well eaten by rabbits, but also contributes to the economical consumption of feed.

The bread crusts remaining from the table are dried; highly dried crusts (crackers) are slightly soaked or crushed into small pieces and even crumbs before feeding. Rabbits eat this food well. An adult rabbit is given 50-60 g of bread crusts per day, young rabbits - 25-30 g. It is not recommended to feed fresh bread; it can cause bloating.

Potato peelings and leftover vegetables are fed raw or boiled, but thoroughly washed. Rabbits eat apples, rowan berries, cucumbers, turnips and other vegetables and fruits with great appetite. Mineral feeds include table salt, chalk, and bone meal. Salt is fed with concentrates, moistening them with salted water, chalk or bone meal is added to soft food, beet tops are sprinkled with chalk. The better the quality of the main feeds and the more varied they are, the less mineral feeds need to be given.

In winter, good shade-dried hay, sprouted grain, carrots, pine needles, etc. are used as vitamin feed.

Sample diets for rabbits. For normal growth, high fertility and fertility, rabbits must receive a variety of feeds. Both underfeeding and overfeeding are harmful. Therefore, we recommend sticking to the diets given below. Even well-eaten food is best rationed. In table the maximum norms for feeding feed are given, i.e. the amount of feed that a rabbit eats in combination with other feeds without harm to health.

Males during the resting period and females after the young are deposited before the start of the preparatory period for mating are fed less concentrates than in other periods. This not only saves concentrates, but also prevents obesity. During the dormant period, males and females are given more hay, branches, and vegetable waste. During the period of preparation for mating, the amount of concentrates in the form of mash is increased, red carrots are fed in winter, and the amount of grass is increased in summer.

For females during pregnancy, especially in the second half, the amount of roughage is slightly reduced. At this time, the supply of mineral and vitamin feed is increased. Rabbit milk contains up to 20% fat, 15% protein, about 2% sugar, and up to 2.5% minerals. The formation of such a highly nutritious product requires a lot of good, easily digestible, varied feed. Therefore, suckling females are given only good-quality food during the entire suckling period.

Particular attention is paid to their quality when the baby rabbits begin to leave the nest. To ensure that the female has a lot of milk, the number of root vegetables is increased. Concentrated feeds should be varied.

In the second half of the suckling period, concentrates and other feeds are added to the basic norm, depending on the number of rabbits. After weaning the young, these additives are excluded from the female’s diet. Usually, rabbits are weaned from the female at the age of 45 days. In the first days, the baby rabbits are fed the same food that they received while under the uterus. Then they gradually begin to switch them to other foods. Rabbits aged 1-2 months are not recommended to be given vegetable waste, potato peelings, coarse hay, straw, or coarse green food. These foods may cause digestive upset in young animals.

This happens because the digestive organs of baby rabbits are not yet adapted to digest large quantities of food, especially roughage. The placed rabbits are fed green grass, good bean hay, oats, mixed feed, boiled potatoes with the addition of a small amount of bran, red carrots, and fodder beets. Wet food is distributed to rabbits 1-2 times a day so that it is eaten within 1-1.5 hours, otherwise it may turn sour and freeze in winter. Dry food can be given out for several days. But for this it is necessary to equip self-feeders from which feed is not scattered.

Only rabbits can be fed grain feed ad libitum during the last 10 days of fattening. For each adult female it is necessary to prepare 32 kg of grain feed for a year, for each male - 17 kg; potatoes 40 and 36 kg, respectively; hay—42 and 32 kg. Each rabbit from 20 days to 4.5 months requires approximately 30% of the needs of an adult rabbit. The rabbit is a nocturnal animal; in the wild it feeds at night and early in the morning. Therefore, rabbits should have enough food in their feeder at night. It is most convenient to give a large amount of green grass, hay, and twig food at night.

Rabbits of all ages are given only good quality food. It is necessary to maintain a constant feeding schedule. A hungry rabbit pounces on food, and this can lead to indigestion. When feeding at the same hours, animals not only eat more, but also better absorb the nutrients of the feed. The rabbit eats trampled food poorly.

Therefore, feeders should be designed to prevent food from being thrown away. Feeding rabbits with grass begins as early as possible in the spring, and they switch to summer feeding gradually. In the first days, give no more than 50 g of green grass per day to young animals and 100 g to adult animals. They are transferred to full normal within 7-8 days. When feeding root crops, the transition to summer feeding can be carried out faster. If the rabbits are already sufficiently accustomed to fresh grass, they can even feed it wet. It is not recommended to give grass that is covered. The amount of green grass depends on the presence of other feeds in the diet: when raising rabbits without concentrates, a suckling female can eat 2 kg of grass per day.

In order not to waste food, it is distributed in such quantities that the rabbits eat everything completely. To increase palatability, low-edible herbs are fed first. When cases of indigestion occur, the supply of fresh grass is significantly reduced and oak leaves, chamomile, wormwood, willow leaves and shoots are given. In frozen potatoes, sugar is formed from starch, which causes digestive upset. You can feed such potatoes only after boiling.

This process does not occur in frozen carrots, so they are given raw after thawing in water. All new foods begin to be fed in small portions, gradually increasing the norm. It is especially important to comply with this requirement when feeding fresh beet tops, rutabaga, and cabbage leaves. They are introduced into the diet, starting with 20 g for young animals and 50 g for adult rabbits. Tops are given once a day, no more than a third of the fed green feed.

If digestive upset occurs, stop feeding tops to rabbits. Feed is distributed only into feeders: when distributing feed on the floor, most of it goes to waste. Food not eaten by rabbits is removed from the feeders and not given again. If the remains are not contaminated, the green grass can be dried for hay.

When feeding rabbits, their individual characteristics and tastes should be taken into account. Some animals eat dry grain well and do not eat soaked grain or mash, others prefer cabbage stalks, etc. On individual farms where the number of rabbits is small, it is not difficult to study these characteristics and tastes and take them into account when feeding. This will not only accelerate the growth and development of rabbits, increase their productivity, but will also allow for much more economical consumption of feed. Feeding regimen. The rabbit has a single-chamber stomach with a capacity of 180-200 ml, and grows quickly. Therefore, you need to feed him often.

With a free approach to feed, an adult rabbit eats up to 30 times a day, and young animals approach the feed even more often. Like other animals, rabbits quickly get used to a certain daily routine; this develops a conditioned reflex in them. Under its influence, during feeding hours, a significant amount of gastric juice is released even before the food enters the stomach. This ensures enhanced digestion of feed and better growth of rabbits with less feed consumption. In other words, strict adherence to the daily routine is tantamount to more economical consumption of feed. Suckling rabbits and young animals up to 2.5 months of age are fed at least four times a day, the rest - 2-3 times.

You can adhere to this daily routine: feeding three times in winter—at 8 o’clock half the daily norm of concentrates and half the daily norm of hay; at 12 o’clock—the daily norm of root vegetables; at 17:00 – the rest of the concentrates, hay and additional branch feed.

Feeding three times in summer: at 6 o’clock—half the daily norm of concentrates and a third of grass; at 15 o'clock - the third part of the daily norm of grass; at 19 o'clock - the rest of the concentrates, grass, branches.

Four times feeding: at 6 o'clock - a third of concentrates, a fourth of grass (hay - in winter); at 11 o'clock - a third of concentrates (or slightly dried bread crusts), grass - in summer, root vegetables - in winter; at 16 o'clock - half the norm of grass - in summer, hay and root crops - in winter; at 19 o'clock - the rest of the concentrates, grass or hay, branches - for the night.

If necessary, nursing females are additionally fed at 10-11 pm. Fattening rabbits. Rabbits grow most intensively until they are four months old; at 8-9 months their growth ends. Rabbits older than four months grow slowly, spending much more feed for the same weight gain than young animals up to four months. Therefore, it is more profitable to slaughter rabbits for meat at four months of age.

Rabbits fatten well: usually 30-40 days are enough for fattening.

Since when slaughtering rabbits, not only meat is obtained, but also skins, it is necessary to take into account the condition of the hair at the time of slaughter. The skin of a rabbit killed during molting is fragile to wear and the fur is quickly wiped off.

Slaughtering rabbits at four months of age ensures that they obtain a skin with a complete molt: the first molt of young animals ends at this age. The second moult ends at 6-8 months. Therefore, if you need to get fatty carcasses, fattening of young rabbits begins at 4-4.5 months of age, so that by the age of six months, when the second moult is over, the rabbit can be slaughtered. The timing of molting depends not only on age, but also on the quality of food, seasons of birth, and other conditions. Therefore, before slaughtering, it is necessary to check the degree of shedding. To do this, the fur on the rump (the back of the body) is inflated: if the skin is light, then the molting is basically complete.

The skin color of white rabbits does not change during molting; the state of molting is determined by the condition of their hair: rabbits that have finished molting have smooth, shiny, clean fur. Rabbits have the thickest fur in the winter - from November to March, of course, provided that the molting has ended. For better fattening, rabbits are seated alone in a darkened cage. When kept in group cages, they fatten worse. The quality of the skins also deteriorates and can be damaged during fights. If you still have to keep fattening rabbits in group cages, you need to identify pugnacious animals and put them away. For group keeping, rabbits of the same sex, age and weight are selected, placing 3-4 heads in one cage.

When fattening young rabbits, if the feed is eaten well, its composition can often not be changed. If the palatability of feed is low, it is necessary to change the set of feeds. In the first 10 days of fattening, rabbits are given less hay and the amount of concentrates is increased. The best food during this period: corn, oats, barley, grain-legume mixtures, wheat, bread crusts. Young grass, carrot tops, cabbage leaves and stalks, and acorns are used as additives to concentrates. Over the next 10 days, rabbits receive food that promotes intensive fat deposition: corn grain, oats, barley, boiled, lightly salted potatoes mixed with bran.

In the last 10 days of fattening, rabbits are fed so that they eat the maximum amount of feed. This can be achieved by feeding aromatic herbs - dill, parsley, celery, etc. At the same time, various concentrates are given, their composition is often changed.

Roughage is fed little by little. The best food during this period is boiled potatoes with mixed feed. It is useful to give cabbage, rutabaga, turnips, carrots. Fattening can be considered complete when fat deposits in the rabbits can be felt in the withers and groin area, but the dorsal vertebrae cannot be felt; a well-fed rabbit becomes round in shape, its fur is smooth and shiny.

Diet

Features of the diet and daily feed intake depend on the age, physical activity and tasks of breeding rabbits. In addition, the menu should be adjusted depending on the season and the birth period. Feeding for breeders and pregnant females needs to be formulated especially responsibly, since during this period animals need additional nutrients.

For meat breeds

To quickly gain weight, meat rabbits require feeding with a high content of protein and protein, which are the main building blocks of muscle growth. You can read more about the specifics of meat rabbit breeds here. It is important to remember that rabbits are herbivores, so switching the livestock exclusively to protein feed can lead to the extinction of the entire population.

Normally, the diet of a fattening rabbit consists of a standard set, but the content of compound feed increases, and access to hay and fresh grass should be free at any time. Among additional supplements, protein-vitamin-mineral supplements (PVMD) are recommended, to which additional proteins are added.

For meat and skin

The diet of rabbits of meat-and-skin breeds is practically no different from the feeding characteristics of meat breeds. This article will tell you how meat-skin breeds differ from others. The general rules for rapid weight gain and fattening before slaughter remain the same. To improve the appearance of the coat, additional mineral supplements and vitamins, especially fishmeal, chalk and premixes, should be included in the daily feeding. In summer, the diet includes fresh dill, parsley and celery.

Fattening rabbits for meat always takes place in three stages, at each of which the type of nutrition changes significantly, as well as the proportions of the main types of food for quick and safe weight gain.

For down ones

The general principles of feeding are preserved, as for breeds of other directions. The basis of the diet is green and succulent food, among which cabbage is indispensable . For downy rabbits, the amount of foods with a high protein content should be increased by 10-15%, since a lack of protein reduces down production. The characteristics of downy breeds are presented in this material.

In addition, it is important to add cake, legumes and meat and bone meal to the diet. Vitamins should be given every day, especially in spring and autumn. An indispensable additive for downy rabbits is table salt and cobalt nitrate. When keeping a large population of rabbits, it is recommended to use specialized feeds that enhance the growth of fluff.

Green food and hay in a rabbit's diet

How to calculate the feeding rates of green food per rabbit head? For females and males who do not reproduce, you need to eat 800 grams of fresh grass or 200 grams of dry hay per day. When the female is waiting for the rabbits, the amount of grass is increased to a kilogram, but the hay, on the contrary, is slightly reduced. They give the rabbit 175 grams per day, increasing the percentage of concentrated feed at its expense. A nursing female is given 1.5 kilograms of grass or 300 grams of hay.

When compiling the daily norm of hay and green fodder, its composition matters. If there are a lot of legumes in it, the amount is reduced. If the weight of the feed remains the same, reduce the rate of concentrated feed by 10-15%. Most experienced rabbit breeders do not recommend getting carried away with legumes. Their excess increases the risk of developing coccidiosis, and rabbits have a bloated belly. The only exception is meat breeds that will soon be slaughtered. But even in this case, it is advised to give more feed than hay and legumes.

Nutrition standards

The volume and variety of food differs depending on the condition of the animal, the time of year and the age of the individual. There are developed standards for feeding rabbits at different periods. These indicators are calculated for medium and large breeds weighing up to 5 kg of live weight.

The feeding system for baby rabbits differs from the rules for adults. At the age of up to 1 year, feeding occurs naturally or with the help of goat's milk if the female has insufficient lactation.

How much of this food should a rabbit eat in one day?

When the question arises, what should be the daily amount of compound feed eaten by a rabbit, you must proceed from the breed and age of the pet. The daily value can be calculated in several ways.

• You can calculate the so-called feed unit. For example, 100 g of feed unit may contain 100 g of oats or other crops.
• Calculate the daily intake of proteins. For animals that have not yet reproduced, the daily norm should be about 150-160 feed units. For an adult male, these figures per day should be 180 feed units, but a female who has given birth and is nursing should consume about 300-700 feed units. The daily rate may even depend on the color of the rabbit. A light-colored rabbit eats much less than a dark-colored rabbit. During the mating period, they should be given much more food per day than during the normal period. When raising an animal for further slaughter, it is necessary to fatten it in advance, thereby increasing the amount of food not only per day, but also per month. In this case, it is possible to determine the norms that are necessary for the rabbit’s body.
• Adults weighing up to 5 kg need to eat about 5-6 kg of food per month.
• If the rabbit is no more than 4-5 months old, he will need approximately 3-4 kg per month.

Based on approximate annual and monthly calculations, you can create the nutrition that a rabbit should receive per day.

• for a nursing rabbit - approximately 100 g;
• for sufficiently mature males - 60-70 g;
• for still young rabbits - 40-50 g;
• when raising decorative rabbits - no more than 1 tbsp. l. per day.

It is worth paying attention to the fact that for still small rabbits, the norms for such consumption will be completely different. If a small rabbit is already 35-40 days old, then it can be given about 100-130 feed units per day. In 1 day, a small rabbit aged 60 days eats approximately 150 food units. If the question arises of how much a 4-month-old rabbit needs, such norms should be about 200 feed units. For young animals aged 120-130 days, these indicators should be at the level of 225 feed units.

Diet features

Feeding rabbits depends on the time of year, since in winter the diet changes dramatically due to the inability to use green grass. When keeping a large population of animals, many rabbit breeders, starting in late autumn, switch to concentrated feed.

In winter

The food of rabbits in winter should be more nutritious and high in calories, which is important for maintaining body temperature and strengthening immunity. At the same time, they do not increase the protein intake, as this leads to animal obesity, but increase the amount of fibrous food. The main diet of rabbits in winter is roughage, especially hay. For meat breeds and large animals, legume hay is recommended because it has great nutritional value. Straw should only be used as a temporary replacement as it is often the cause of intestinal problems.

In winter, animals need more nutrients.

In addition, branches of deciduous and coniferous trees must be included in the daily winter diet. They are necessary for grinding teeth and contain many useful microelements and vitamins. Branches collected before buds open are especially valued.

During the summer

In summer, the basis of the diet is green food. These can be wild herbs (clover, alfalfa, dandelion) or cultivated varieties. In addition, leafy branches can be used for feeding. Throughout the summer period, it is necessary to reduce the proportion of succulent feeds and concentrates; vitamins are required only for females during lactation and pregnancy, young animals and weakened individuals. Table salt and chalk should be included in the daily feeding for rabbits of all ages.

Despite the public availability of information on the rules of feeding farm animals, some users have questions about feeding rabbits.

Main components

The basis of feed for rabbits of all ages is ground grains, of which the most preferred are wheat, oats, barley and corn. The grain group makes up 30 to 45 percent of the feed mass; Most of it is found in feed for lactating females and young animals.

The components of the second group of feed components are distinguished by their high protein content, which is necessary for the rapid growth and weight gain of the rabbit. These ingredients include: soybean and sunflower cake, wheat bran, soybean meal, hydrolyzed yeast, meat and bone meal. In addition, this group of components necessarily includes vitamin-herbal flour, which, in the absence of fresh hay in the rabbit’s diet, should account for half of the total feed volume.

Also, feed for rabbits may include meat meal and meal from inedible fish in an amount not exceeding 5 percent of the feed weight.

The third mandatory component of industrial feed for rabbits is a balanced vitamin and mineral complex, which includes chalk, tricalcium phosphate table salt, and a premix for rabbits.

When feeding rabbits with compound feed, it is also necessary to ensure that the animals always have clean, fresh water; and it is advisable to slightly moisten finely crushed grain for better absorption by the rabbit’s body.

Video about the best feed option for rabbits

Answers on questions

In the process of raising rabbits, some atypical problems may arise that occur in animals of any age. Let's look at some of the most common ones.

If your rabbit turns away from food

Rabbits' bodies are designed in such a way that they need to constantly chew something. This is important not only for teeth, but also for the entire digestive system. Normally, a healthy animal can have up to 10 meals per day. A rabbit may only turn away from food if there is some illness, usually an infection, viral disease or intestinal problem. In addition, this situation is often observed during teething in young animals, as well as when the rules of keeping are violated (high humidity, non-compliance with temperature conditions).

Even if a rabbit loses its appetite, it must be force-fed.

If he turns over a bowl of food

Rabbits are active animals. They often interact with other individuals and objects in the cage . They most often turn over bowls made of lightweight materials, such as plastic. To avoid this, it is recommended to purchase feeders made of ceramic or galvanized iron.

In addition, such behavior is possible due to poor quality food, as well as behavioral problems, for example, during illness or mating.

Ceramic and iron bowls are more stable and durable than plastic ones.

Often, refusal to eat occurs when there is a hairball in the intestines. A small foreign body leads to digestive problems, and if it grows, serious complications, including death, are possible.

Feed storage

To obtain greater benefits and material benefits, you need to think about the proper storage of feed and prevent its spoilage.

The main problems of improper storage:

• Infestation by harmful insects and mold. The bran and grains included in the composition are a favorable environment for them.
• Loss of nutritional properties of vitamins and minerals.
• Poisoning or infection of animals in the presence of harmful bacteria.

To prevent such phenomena, special conditions for storing feed are created in livestock farms. Some of them can be used in small farmsteads:

• the presence of a dry, ventilated room;
• avoiding dampness and direct sunlight;
• fight insects and rodents;
• read and follow manufacturers' recommendations;
• observe the expiration dates of the feed.

What not to feed

Rabbits are herbivores, characterized by their gluttony and omnivorous nature. At the same time, they are extremely sensitive to the quality of food, as well as its content. From the large number of possible products for feeding these animals, the following components that pose a health hazard should be excluded:

• red beets;
• rotten and moldy grass, hay and straw;
• poisonous plants and trees (hemlock, belladonna, lily of the valley, dope, spurge, apricot, buckthorn, wild rosemary, bird cherry and others);
• poor quality silage;
• sweets and baked goods;
• frozen or rotten root vegetables.

Hay made from marsh grasses is especially dangerous for rabbits. Regular feeding of such food can lead not only to digestive problems, but also death due to poisoning. Vegetables and fruits should be given in limited quantities.

conclusions

1. Rabbits are herbivores and are voracious. An adult requires up to 10 meals per day.
2. The diet of rabbits should consist of green, juicy, solid and concentrated food.
3. Addition to food is necessary for animals of any age. Mineral supplements are especially important for pregnant and lactating females and young animals.
4. Table salt should be present in the diet of rabbits at any time of the year.
5. Feeding standards and diet differ depending on the condition of the animal, time of year, age and characteristics of the breed.

How to feed rabbits with compound feed

Not all farmers know how to feed rabbits. It is not recommended to suddenly switch an animal to ready-made nutritional mixtures if it previously consumed grain and other natural products. In this case, you need to feed the rabbit with compound feed 2 times a day. Green food can also be mixed with ready-made pellets and given 2-3 times a day.

When switching to balanced combined feeds, animals are fed 3–4 times a day. Animals must be provided with constant access to clean water. It is recommended to clean the drinking bowls of any remaining dry mixtures every 3-4 days. Sometimes situations arise when the animal refuses to eat the finished product. In this case, the granules can be soaked.