Forage For Lactating Does

As I have grown more health conscious and become a plant enthusiast, in hand comes a sustainable outlook on the world around us. It's joyous to realize that all around us is a natural ecosystem from within that animals eat from, excrete manure, to nurture soil, that feeds plants, that supports insects and animals, around it goes. If you see the world as each thing being connected to one another, with many systems married to each other (like without flowers you don't have bees and without bees you don't have flowers), then you may start to find yourself honoring life's natural cycles.

Breeding, carrying, laboring, birthing, lactating, nursing, and weaning all come at a cost. It's a huge expenditure of energy. I feed a quality, nutritionally complete alfalfa pellets compounded for rabbits. It's fortified with all the stuff they need to be able to thrive within an internal environment. While I've been breeding rabbits for many years now, my outlook on what the standard of "health" has changed. Health is not exclusive to complete manufactured diets. Around here, my partner and I see animal feed for what it is. It gets the job done. We compare these diets to breakfast cereals and call pellets Kaptain Krunch. It's got the carbs, vitamins, and minerals, but does it have the "health"? From my observations of supplementing with garden and forage salads, the bounce back of laboring and nursing does is greatly increased. One other observation is, if you feed forage to kits just coming out of the next box pursing their first meals, they are less likely or entirely unlikely in my experience to succumb to baby fading syndrome. I truly believe this is because minerals are in excess to their tiny guts, and legumes (commonly soybeans) in diets are indigestible and contain phytonutrients unless treated property for consumption. Both create stomach upset, which leads to inflammation, turns into enteritis. Commonly seen by mucus in the stool. Above is a photo of fresh foragable greens that grow wild within our environment. These change from your location and season. I purposely choose to keep garden greens other than kale out, because at this point, kale grows wild on the property. Your wild brassica will be radish greens. I've decided it is fair to tribute fresh greens to our hard working does. I give kale leaves to the others once or twice a week, but does receive a heaping handful of goodies twice a day the first day after labor, and once daily at least for the first week of nursing. From there, they get it about every other day until the kits come out of the box. Then, it is back to once or twice daily to limit their intake of pellets, for about a week. Never feed too much at once, just the normal amount for kits to nibble while mom eats most of it. This goes on every other day until they are 6 weeks old, and out of that fader syndrome risk stage.

KALE: X Pollenated, exhibiting traits of Red Russian and Kale Tree Tons of vitamin C, vitamin A, fiber, calcium, and protein. Feed in moderation to young kits.

SOW THISTLE: You may see many phenotypes of sow thistle, some are spiny, some carry purple, some are completely green. Can be controversial, sap of this plant may be mildly toxic. Commonly mistakingly called Milkweed, which true milkweed is toxic. A favorite amongst rabbits. Especially great with lactating does. Mild sedative. Tonic, blood purifying. Bitter. Notable vitamin C, calcium, phosphorus, and iron.

SPEARMINT: Cooling, fibrous, antioxidant. Relieves GI upset, cramps. Rabbits enjoy small amounts of prime young leaves.

YELLOW DOCK: Very small amounts, young leaves only. Do not feed while plant is in flower. This is a digestive bitter. Supports liver detoxification. Hormone balancing. Too much can have laxative effects. Use with caution.

MALLOW: Mucogentic herb, rich in pectin. A favorite of rabbits. Fiberous, rich in chlorophyll. Natural mild diuretic. Great for gastritis, soothing to gut, helps promote natural PH balance of bile acids in gut.

PLANTAIN: Another favorite. I love plantain myself. Above is common variety. Excellent babies first food. Antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory. Mucilage, soothing, great for GI upset. Contains many bioactive compounds, such as allantoin, compound that aids cellular growth. Still use in moderation.

BROADLEAF PLANTAIN: more fibrous, chickens prefer this variety better. Rabbits enjoy either non-judgingly.

WILD RADISH LEAF: Enjoyable spicy health. The love the stalks going to flowers and seed pods.

Sorted into bundles to gift to hard working mothers.

Sweetie, a minimal tri-color doe, knows what's coming along here.

Her cute little blue/fawn harlequin kit. This post is to be use with your discretion. I would never advise anyone to feed any wild plants they cannot properly identify. It is easy to mistake edible wild plants with dangerous or poisonous lookalikes. I hope to continue sharing more wild edible plants as they become available in the spring.