What would be the pro's and con's of feeding a dairy ration {cow}to rabbits ? Alfafa pellets could also be added.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@hotmail.com), March 12, 2002

Answers

Since I don't have dairy cows, I have no idea what's in a dairy ration. However, rabbits will eat just about anything. The protein level needs to be at least 16% and preferably 18% for rabbits. They also need access to good quality hay everyday.

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), March 12, 2002.

I don't know diddly about rabbits, but when I lived in NY we fed a 16% calf starter(no urea) from Agway to all the horses- they did great on it and it was quite a bit cheaper than horse feed. My suggestion would be to compare the feed tags of the dairy feed with rabbit pellets- that'll give you a rough idea of how similar they are. You also have probably the best Cooperative Extension network in the country in NY- contact your local agent and see what he thinks. Cornell has an excellent variety of publications also- you can pick up a list(it's huge!) of pubs at your CE office or call Cornell and have them send you one.

-- shakeytails in KY (shakeytails@yahoo.com), March 12, 2002.

Try:

http://www.cce.cornell.edu/publications/catalog.html

or clip it at .edu/ for the home page.

-- MartyB (mebtn@hotmail.com), March 12, 2002.

Patty, I don't know anything about rabbits, either, but I saw you posted the other day on rabbit co-ops so you must be thinking large scale. Why not go to your local feed mill and ask them about bulk rabbit feed? You'd probably get it for the same price as cow feed and it would be specific for them. You must have a local Agway, don't you? Or if not, Blue Seal here in Watertown or the one in Bainbridge, VT delivers to your area.

This is the toll free number to Watertown Blue Seal: 1-800-962- 8991. They have feed reps on the road that would be glad to talk to you. I've gotten all of my dairy feed from Blue Seal for 20 years and they are a good outfit.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), March 13, 2002.