Feed is the single largest cost in raising meat rabbits. This book shows you how to take control of it.
Written for Australian conditions, Feeding Meat Rabbits in Australia moves you beyond the bag of commercial pellets and into a sustainable, lower-cost feeding system built around your own backyard, paddock, and climate - without ever compromising the delicate digestive health that keeps rabbits alive and growing.
Starting with how a rabbit actually digests its food, you'll learn to read your animals, match their diet to each life stage, and avoid the common feeding mistakes that cause sudden, costly losses. From there it's all practical: what to grow, what to forage, what to store, and exactly what to avoid.
Inside this book you'll discover how to:
- Understand rabbit digestion so every feeding decision protects gut health
- Forage safely from your yard, paddock, and local area - and identify the toxic plants that can kill in minutes
- Grow the 25 most productive forage plants and design a year-round fodder garden
- Survive Australian droughts and harsh winters with hay, silage, and proper feed preservation
- Balance home-grown forage with pellets for fast, healthy growth
- Make your own feed blocks from local grains and legumes
- Calculate your true feed cost per kilo and run the numbers on pellets vs. growing your own
- Meet Australian biosecurity, welfare, and land-access requirements with confidence
Whether you're a backyard keeper feeding a few does or scaling toward a small commercial operation, this is the complete, Australia-specific feeding manual - from your own garden to the table.