Thanks to @Sinngetreu for letting me mow his lawn We were trying to figure out how we were going to feed our meat rabbits over the winter with greens no longer being available and pellets and hay not being the cheapest in the world. Well, today the sun was shining and I used my new mower's bagger option to put a bunch of grass in Sinngetreu's hay loft. Going to do it at least one more time this year, not to mention bagging my own grass (much smaller yard) to let dry. Dad is working on a small bailer and we are hoping to come out alright.
I never know what to expect on some of your thread titles. Now I know what you mean. Will that green grass decompose in the hay loft?
It's drying naturally in the loft with the door open. Would have been better to lay it out but it rains about every 18 hours here this summer.
So its spread out on the loft floor? Just keep an eye on it. I would hate to see it mold or worse and ruin your hard work and plans for bunny food.
Why do I have the mental image of griz on a rider with bagger and a cold one mowing down some nearby alfalfa? On a more serious note, ever consider planting some clover in your yard as a mini hay field? Nows the time to plant for next year. Clover seed is pretty cheap. More protein than grass too.
Our grass has tons of clover in it. So much so that it is a gold mine for our bees. The loft isn't a perfect situation, but it keeps it out of the rain. I go up there every day to flip it and fluff it to keep it aired out. I had to do this last year for my animals and it works good if you do it right.
Sounds great! I'll rake up and feed some lawn clippings to the calves next to the house sometimes. They think its candy.
Yeah, my horses will gobble it up like cotton candy. As long as its dry, its game on. Last year I had some crap happen to me and my family and I had to find a way to cut corners. I did a lot of research on this and found that grass clippings straight from the mower in large amounts will cause choke, but if its dry and preferably mixed, its all good. I stopped doing it just because I started cutting my own hay with a scythe and the grass clippings were more work than I wanted to do without a grass catcher.
Need to make sure it dries, not spoiled. If spoiled, no food value. If you want to fatten the rabbits, you will need to provide a diet that will produce plump rabbits. Grass fed alone will be a very lean rabbit. We used to have New Zealand white rabbits. Why I don't know because I could never kill them or their off spring. Ended up giving them away.
We currently give them pellets and grass. Crisis is that the grass isn't available over winter. Lawn hay solves that crisis. They will still get plenty of pellets, just don't want to have to increase costs drastically over the winter.
And they will eat plenty just to stay warm. Keep whatever you clean out from the one for your garden. Rabbit dropping can go right in the garden. Unlike hen dressing, rabbit stuff won't burn the plants.
Just a thought grizzly, could you plant a small patch of cereal wheat or rye? They will grow in much cooler temp than typical lawn grass.
When we raised rabbits, during the spring and summer when I'd go on my almost daily rides, I'd watch for alfalfa or clover growing along beside the roads then stop and pick some. I could bring enough home for a couple days worth for them but we did not put any up for winter. We did give them some hay in the winter but mostly pellets then. Also always make sure they have good water. That is just about as important for any animal as the feed is.
I do have alfalfa for the goats that I offered some droppings for Grizzly to take for the rabbits. We usually have some waste and it would be nice to have someone use it. Dang goats are kinda food snobs.
