Hi! I currently raise
tractor rabbits for building soil. It's all experimental and I lost many records in a house fire but so far I'm happy with results and I'm still moving forward.
First and foremost is having rabbits capable of eating food other than pellets and timothy
hay. Many have sensitive guts and cannot handle diet change. That said I've worked to develop rabbits who can eat pretty much any vegetation and have not lost any due to disgestive issues yet.
For the fresh greens under tractors the rabbits LOVE
apple tree sprouts,
dandelions, plantain, lambsquarters. I've scattered peas, clovers and radish with success. Oats are another favorite. Anything green really. Beets, comfrey, strawberries, raspberries...they like it all. If they don't they won't eat it as long as other options are presentl My thought was the rabbits are recycling the nutrients in place, putting them right back where they found them.
I've observed loose and wild rabbits, they escape here and there. They prefer the fresh greens during growing seasons and then transition to dried hay,
roots, bark and seeds in the cold months. Last year one dug up all my carrots overwintering and had a nice buffet to snack on. If I put fresh romaine in my rabbits cage, along with an
apple leaves/sticks, wheat berries, dried alfalfa and pellets, almost guaranteed they'll eat in the following order: apple leaves, alfalfa hay, wheatberres and then pellets. I'll find the lettuce frozen in the cage later. In the Spring they'll flip and go opposite, they leafy greens being the first choice.
I also give the tractor rabbits (they aren't all in tractors, some are in cages because I'm still expanding.) dried tree hay. Apple,
honey locust, mulberry, elm. Amongst all our other leaves and shrubs. Especially when all the grass is fresh green, they need some variety to stay healthy. I'm on my fourth generation of "everything" hardy rabbits. I don't worry if they get out and eat the
chicken food. I
feed them
bindweed mixed with other plants. They eat whole apples just like if they found them in nature. We created the gut problems through breeding which hopefully means the problem is the solution.
And if they aren't feeling well, OREGENO. Grow lots, they seem to know when they need it. Got one of my rabbits through some sort of infection after she was exposed during a bad storm and went into shock. She stopped using her back legs. She wouldn't eat or drink until I put some fresh sprigs in there. It took some time but she pulled through.