all season rabbit tractor design video and cad with material list

I designed these tractors to be light but strong for medium rabbits. So far I have used them for almost 2 months and just put them up on a stand for the winter. I will have more video and pics in the future on them, so far I am very happy with them.



Material list is in the description of the video. Let me know what you think.

Hi Jared. Nice tractors.

I agree with your point that there doesn't seem to be enough grass getting through the slats. I was thinking about 1"x1" or even 2"x2" welded wire bottoms. I mean, if they're on the ground and vegetation is pushing up through the grating, the rabbits won't even feel the bottoms for the greens.

Looking good, though. I hate typical confinement setups, and yours looks to have all the benefits of a stationary hutch with a lot of the benefits that pasturage brings. I remember even with my tiny rabbits (we had dwarves when I was little), they were ecstatic when we put them out in their cages sans plastic bottoms, directly on the grass.

Keep us posted, and good luck!

-CK

Chris Kott wrote:Hi Jared. Nice tractors.

I agree with your point that there doesn't seem to be enough grass getting through the slats. I was thinking about 1"x1" or even 2"x2" welded wire bottoms. I mean, if they're on the ground and vegetation is pushing up through the grating, the rabbits won't even feel the bottoms for the greens.

Looking good, though. I hate typical confinement setups, and yours looks to have all the benefits of a stationary hutch with a lot of the benefits that pasturage brings. I remember even with my tiny rabbits (we had dwarves when I was little), they were ecstatic when we put them out in their cages sans plastic bottoms, directly on the grass.

Keep us posted, and good luck!

-CK

My concern with any kind of a wire bottom is I think the grass will be bent over more when pulling it ahead where as the full length slats allow it to keep standing in between the slats as you pull it along. I didn't show it that well in this video but I have more video I have to upload that shows the rabbits pulling the grass up between the slats to get at it more, they actually do quite a good job as is. But I still think I may experiment with smaller slats. I found something just now that may work really well although it may need another brace or 2 for support since most of this composite stuff is pretty bendy in my experience https://www.homedepot.com/p/Royal-Mouldings-6578-1-4-in-x-3-4-in-x-8-ft-PVC-Composite-White-Screen-Molding-0657808049/202089998 however if it worked it would never need to be replaced due to rot etc and would be easy to clean.

I have another video up this one shows how they did on the grass as I moved them every few days for 6 weeks. This is in the fall so the grass really was not growing anymore, I am sure in the summer the oldest area would have already been covered with new growth.