Livestock
Senior 1 · Agriculture
Livestock
Lesson 3 of 5
20 min
Let's begin
Early one morning a rabbit farmer notices his doe bending down and eating something straight from her own body. His first thought is that she is sick. She is not: she is doing something every healthy rabbit does, and it is the key to understanding how rabbits live on leaves and grass.
Feed is the largest running cost of a rabbit unit, and wrong feeding is one of the main causes of death, especially of young rabbits. In this lesson you will learn how a rabbit digests its food, what to feed it, and how to plan the feed for a whole unit.
A rabbit is a plant-eating non-ruminant. Food passes through its single stomach and small intestine, where the easily digested parts (sugars, starch, fats, protein) are absorbed. The fibrous remains then reach the large intestine, where they are sorted: coarse fibre is pushed out quickly as the familiar hard, dry, round droppings, while fine particles go into the caecum, a large pouch where microbes ferment them.
The fermented material leaves the body as soft, dark, sticky clusters called caecotropes (also spelled cecotropes). The rabbit eats them directly from its anus, usually while resting. This habit is called caecotrophy. The caecotropes are rich in protein, B vitamins and other nutrients made by the microbes, and they are absorbed when they pass through the gut a second time. This was what the farmer's doe was doing.
Two practical lessons follow:
A rabbit's teeth also grow throughout its life. Chewing fibrous greens and hay wears them down. Without enough to chew, the teeth overgrow and the rabbit cannot eat.
| Feed group | Examples on a Rwandan farm | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Grasses | Kikuyu grass, Brachiaria, young Napier leaves, Rhodes grass | The bulk of the diet; supply fibre |
| Legume and tree leaves (protein-rich) | sweet potato vines, Desmodium, Calliandra, Leucaena, bean leaves | Especially important for pregnant and nursing does and growing rabbits |
| Vegetable and crop leftovers | carrot tops, cabbage outer leaves, amaranth (dodo), banana leaves | Give in moderation; cabbage in large amounts can cause gas |
| Concentrates | maize bran, rice bran, commercial rabbit pellets | A small daily amount raises growth and milk; too much causes fat and diarrhoea |
| Hay | dried grass or legume leaves | Stored for the long dry season (June to September) |
| Water | clean water in a heavy pot or drinker | Always available. Nursing does drink a lot; a doe without water may kill or neglect her kits |
| Minerals | salt lick or mineral block | Small amounts |
Rabbits are most active and eat most in the evening and at night, so give the larger share of greens in the late afternoon.
A farmer keeps 1 buck and 5 does. Using an illustrative guide of 0.5 kg of fresh greens and 0.1 kg of concentrate per adult per day:
Growing kits will add to these amounts, so the farmer must plan a forage plot (for example sweet potato vines and Desmodium along terrace edges) as well as buying bran.
Tip
Memory hook, "Fibre, Fresh, Few changes, Full water": plenty of fibre; fresh, wilted, clean greens; no sudden changes; water always full.
Exam technique: in a feed calculation, write the number of animals, the amount per animal and the number of days on separate lines, with units, before multiplying. Most lost marks come from forgetting one of the three.
What is caecotrophy, and why is it important to a rabbit?
Solution: Caecotrophy is the rabbit's habit of eating the soft caecotropes that come from its caecum, directly from the anus. The caecotropes contain protein and B vitamins made by microbes, which the rabbit absorbs on the second passage through its gut.
Give two reasons why a rabbit should have plenty of fibrous feed.
Solution: Fibre keeps the gut moving and the caecum healthy, preventing diarrhoea; chewing fibre wears down the rabbit's ever-growing teeth.
A farmer cuts grass at 6 a.m. while it is still wet with dew and feeds it straight to his rabbits. What problem may result, and what should he do instead?
Solution: Wet grass can ferment in the gut and cause bloat and diarrhoea. He should spread it in the shade to wilt for a few hours before feeding it.
A unit of 8 adult rabbits each eats 0.5 kg of greens a day. How many kilograms of greens are needed for one week?
Solution: Per day: 8 × 0.5 = 4 kg. Per week: 4 × 7 = 28 kg.
Which class of rabbit should receive the most protein-rich feed, and why?
Solution: Pregnant and nursing does. They are building kits and producing milk, and the whole litter depends on the milk she makes.
Summary
Sources and credits
The Rwandan examples, worked examples and practice questions are written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
