What pelleted feed should rabbits have – 16% 18%?
Much of what you need to know about rabbit feed is not listed on the label. On your feed label you will have items such as Crude Protein, Fat and Fibre. You will have no indication of the dry matter content, the total energy content, the digestible protein, the fibre components: lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose and perhaps one of the most important considerations, starch level. The requirements for rabbit nutrition and examples of how to achieve these are given in the June 1997 issue of my publication “Pan-American Rabbit Science Newsletter” Vol. 2(1). You can order this issue for only US$8.00. Basically, the most up-to-date requirements (see the Newsletter article for the footnotes) are as follows, on a dry-matter basis, and in this order of importance: NDF >30%, starch <19%, crude protein 18.9%, ADF 18 to 20%, ADL (lignin) 4%, crude fibre 15.6%, fat <4%, calcium 1.2%, phosphorus 0.53%, magnesium 0.33%, sodium 0.28%, zinc >50ppm. This requirement provides for a general purpose feed fo
