What did livestock owners do for hay in ancient times? This is a question I’ve pondered and yearned to know, because we strive to live life as non mechanized as possible. When I heard about tree hay, I instantly knew it was what I’d been looking for. Tree hay is one of the oldest hay production methods in recorded history. Ancient pollards, or trees cut specifically for branchy growth as is used in tree hay making, have been found across Europe and it is even mentioned in ancient Roman times.
We’ve been raising rabbits for meat off and on for years. From the beginning, I sought alternatives to traditional cages. We started out with rabbit tractors, which worked great for small numbers but weren’t really scalable. Then, at our old house, we started a colony and it was the perfect answer, until the goats pushed on the gate and “freed” the whole colony right before we moved.
It took a couple of years to start over, but now we’re raising rabbits for meat again and have settled on a colony build that works well for us. In this article, I will answer some common questions and share the insights I’ve gained over the years. Continue reading “Raising Rabbits for Meat in a Colony”
We built this tractor back in 2011. I’ve since gone through multiple variations and unique tractors and this remains one of the best designs we’ve used. I originally published this on a Blogger blog but am collecting all of it into one post here on my website.
This part first published 3/28/11 and the rest followed over the next couple of weeks, current notes in italics:
It’s been a long-time goal of mine to raise meat rabbits on pasture. Working out the details has taken forever! There are so many things to consider with pastured rabbits because they’re so adept at escape. After hours and hours of looking at hundreds of chicken tractors, I think we’ve finally figured out how to make our own rabbit tractor.
I plan to start small with 2 does and a buck and since no one pastures rabbits I have no idea how much space to give them. I figured a good start would be 4’x12′. 4′ wide will fit between our planned raised garden beds. We’re going to move the pen every day or as needed to make sure they have plenty of fresh grass. Continue reading “Walk-in Rabbit Tractor on Wheels Design”