Day 1 - The Native American Winter Horse Feed Experiment

Despite the title of this post, this experiment is on rabbits. It was inspired from reading biographical stories of American Indians and fur trappers on how they fed their horses during the winter months, primarily on cotton wood bark, stems and branches.

Today I started the experiment with three white kits that are 6 weeks old and were born October 14, 2015.  I weighed 4 brown kits out of the same litter and am keeping pellets in front of these but they'll still get some forage. Up until now they've been eating some forage, apples and have had pellets always available. I've stacked all my Jerusalem Artichoke stalks that froze recently, thinking I was going to chip them. I gave some to the rabbits to eat and they loved them! They only left the older 1/3 base part of the stalk but even chewed on those pretty heavily. These plants were nearly 12 foot tall. Every part of that pant is usable and it grows like a weed.

I've gathered fresh branches from Chinese elm, Russian olive and cottonwood. I'll also include the Jerusalem artichoke stalks in their feed. No pellets will be given going forward.

I've got a scale that is accurate down to the half ounce and weighed all the kits.

Those in the experiment weighed in ounces: 43.5, 48.0, 42.5

The siblings left as the control weighed in ounces: 43.5, 46.5, 47.5, 48.5

Upon placement in the pen the test subjects are already enjoying their tree branches

I'll be weighing everyone again on Sunday and provide an update. If everyone is losing weight, I'll be ending the experiment.

Stay tuned!

Planning - The Native American Winter Horse Feed Experiment

I'm finding many references to Native Americans and trappers feeding their horses cottonwood branches and bark during the winter. Louis and Clark witnessed prized horses kept in great condition through the winter on this diet. Time to put this winter diet to a test on domestic rabbits. I'm a bit skeptical of much success but if weanling rabbits can gain wait on tree bark, that's very valuable knowledge to have if any catastrophe happened during winter months.

I have a couple litters that will be ready to wean in a couple weeks. Here's the plan for my first experiment on this feed:

1) Choose two rabbits from each litter and place in grow out pen on their own. Keep fed with a steady supply of branches from cottonwood, siberian elm, aspen, russian olive and willow.

2) Two other rabbits from each litter will be weighed and monitored for comparison as the control group. They will be fed a typical diet with some pellets always available.

3) Weigh rabbits every three days.

4) Keep experiment going until rabbits reach 10 weeks or reach butcher weight.

5) End experiment early if rabbits lose weight or appear in poor condition.

Keep tuned, I'll be posting pictures at the start and weekly updates throughout the experiment.

New Buck

Since I'm limited to 6 rabbits per city ordinance and one buck can breed 20 does, I prefer to just keep one. I do occasionally breed a doe to someone else's meat breed buck so I have something to compare against and to offer prospective breeders stock not so closely related.

My main buck Peter broke his back after I left him out with a doe that was being shy. Not sure how it happened but I ended up having to put him down. I did hold back a buck from a litter and he was almost five months when this happened. He has an agouti colored dutch pattern, so I'll just call him Dutch.

Dutch a NZxFG buck at 4 months

This week I used Dutch on four different does. He's about five and a half months old so a bit young but did get fall offs on three out of four. We've got decreasing day length now so none of the does was very enthusiastic. I'll try the last doe again tomorrow. His testicles are dropped and full so we'll find out in a month how fertile he really is. 

His behavior is what I like to see in a buck. He has good stamina and does not tire easily. Dutch has a good grip and is firm but is not overly aggressive or mean. He lets me position himself and the doe without getting distracted which can be very important in the winter when some does become hard to breed. Being able to hold the doe in breeding position can make a huge difference in fertility. 

Normally, if I can get a fall off, I have a litter, regardless of the doe's receptivity. However, you need to make sure the doe is in good condition. A skinny doe feeding a litter of 12 needs more time between litters. Fat does in general are harder to breed and have smaller litters, so breeding her quickly again might be what she needs to get her down to a healthy weight. Lots of factors to consider. I don't stick to an exact schedule for rebreeding, it all depends on the doe's condition. I still expect 6 litters a year from a doe.