What Do The Rabbits Eat?

    When people learn that I raise rabbits, after asking if I raise them for food, the most common question I get is "what do they eat?" The real answer is: a whole lot of different stuff. The quick and easy answer is: rabbit feed. You see, through the first year of raising rabbits I have not yet been able to eliminate the need for rabbit feed. My plant density has yet to produce the volume that I need, and my perennial systems are not established enough to provide the consistency that I need. I do try to reduce my need for rabbit feed as much as I can, for several reasons.  
   As a result, one of the things that I do that puts me in a very small minority of suburban gardeners is that I focus a lot of effort on the growing of fodder or forage crops. Fodder crops are ones that can be used as animal feed. If you are going to raise animals it only makes sense to me that you try and provide as much fresh and healthy food for them as you can right from the system in which those animals reside.

Cowpeas grown not only for the peas, but also for the leaves as fodder.

     For us here that means growing large quantities of fast growing forage crops for the rabbits. Things like mexican sunflower, pigeon pea, shiso, cowpeas, jerusalem artichoke, and bidens alba (yes technically it is a weed but the rabbits love it so I encourage several patches around the yard). Most of these crops also provide food yields provided they are not raided too heavily to feed the rabbits. I have been able to successfully cut back jerusalem artichokes and cowpeas and still get great yields. Cutting back shiso vigorously still left me with more than I could use ( I was even putting it in cocktails by the end of summer!). While these crops are planted either exclusively for fodder, or equally for fodder and other yields, almost all of my other crops contribute to the rabbits in some way as well. Rabbits are amazing in the array of food they can and will eat, so almost all garden trimmings, scraps, etc. make their way to the rabbits where they are concentrated into garden gold.

The cowpeas still yielded heavily despite being cut back several times. We had several harvests like this in addition to using the young pods as green beans almost daily. My wife was so tired of shelling peas by the time the summer was over!

      In addition to growing fodder, I have no problem foraging for it as well. During the spring and into summer when the mimosa trees and bidens alba are growing like crazy I stop on my bike ride home and grab a meal's worth from some local trees and fields. I could take all I can carry and still not make a dent. During the heart of summer and into fall I stop at a kudzu patch and take all that I can carry. That's a seriously invasive plant, and while ecologically I don't feel great about it being here, I rejoice as a frugal homesteader. The rabbits love kudzu and me taking it possibly constitutes a public service! I've been asked several times, "What is that?" or "Why are you picking that?" to which I generally reply "I only eat free range vegetables. It's dinner." Ha! you should see the faces.

Once these guys start eating solid food they will be chowing down on a whole variety of homegrown fodder!

   
     Beyond the direct benefit that I see in the form of great fertilizer and meat for the freezer I also think growing food for the rabbits is important for their quality of life and health. I feel better knowing my rabbits are eating a wide variety of fresh healthy food that is contributing to their well being. I hope they find it more enjoyable than standard rabbit feed. I'm not at the point where I can eliminate rabbit feed but if I can keep growing more of their food each year eventually I may be able to get there.

Here is a brief list of the things I regularly grow and feed my rabbits:
Radish tops
Mustard greens
Mexican sunflower (tithonia diversifolia)
Jerusalem artichoke
Shiso
Pigeon Pea
Mimosa Leaves (albizia julibrissin)
Bidens Alba
Basil
Mint
Rosemary
Carrot tops
Cowpeas
Sweet Potato leaves
young squash leaves
Lemongrass

Things I regularly feed the rabbits that I collect from nearby areas:
Kudzu Leaves
Mimosa leaves (albizia julibrissin)
Blackberry leaves
Bidens Alba