Pastured Rabbit Tractor
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ค. 2015
- When we started raising our Champagne d' Argent rabbits out on pasture we wanted to design the perfect "rabbit tractor" for our set-up. This is version 3.0 of our rabbit tractor and we like how sturdy they are, the access to grass the rabbits have, and of course the protection from predators.
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![Joel Salatin Rabbit Tractor UPGRADE [How to Build It]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2p7opHq_5kw/mqdefault.jpg)
![Joel Salatin Rabbit Tractor UPGRADE [How to Build It]](/img/tr.png)
Thank you everyone who has taken the time to watch the video and comment. It's okay if you don't like the design or disagree with the system, but please keep the comments clean so it is a family friendly discussion :)
They will dig up your yard.
The Beginning Farmer ü
Using slats is a great idea. My grow out cage didn't have a bottom. While I loved that the rabbits were able to eat grass, I couldn't get a good night's rest from worrying about predators. It wasn't until after we put wire on the bottom of the cage that I had mixed feelings. They couldn't get to the grass anymore, so here I am pulling up grass everyday to feed them their daily greens. My only other concern is not knowing the maximum wind velocity that the structure can safely take.
Love the design, are your build plans posted anywhere? I’d really love to build some. Thank you for the video.
I have been thinking about how to do rabbits on pasture, couldn't quite figure how to make them predator proof. There you are. Great info.
Glad I was able to share! I plan on doing some work on them this winter as well, so I'll share any updates I do. Thanks for watching!
Please make more videos!!! I love this. You seem like you've got some awesome ideas.
We are looking into building rabbit tractors soon, Thanks for all the great tips !!
I think it's great that you are constantly looking for ways to improve your design and system. Great work!
We have just started keeping rabbits and this design is the best I've seen so far. Looking forward to watching your other videos. 🙂 x
Thanks! I hope to do some work and updating on my cages this spring. One major change is going to be welded wire on the outside and not chicken wire. I never had any predator problems with the chicken wire, but it doesn't last as long and it could have been a problem if a predator wanted to get through it. Thanks for watching!
Ethan,This is awesome! I've listened to you on the podcast talk about these but I could never get it through my head. The video is great and ties in everything nicely! Thanks for all you share!
Thank you for the video. This is really helpful. I love the podcasts, but this is perfect for teaching and learning.
Great looking pens!! Thanks for sharing.
+Kevin K Thanks so much for checking out the video!
Thanks for your design ideas. My husband and I just purchased 20 acres in Michigan and rabbits are one of my favorite livestock animals. I want to pasture them and I love your design. Thanks for sharing!
Your welcome! One thing we are looking at doing is putting wire mesh down for the bottom instead of the wood slats after hearing experience from others. But, we haven't tried it yet.
This is great! We've been raising rabbits for two years and have had many evolutions of housing as well. I really like the tin roof and the open bottom in the hutch. That's exactly the problem I've run into: keeping them cool and the food dry. Thanks for posting!
+Kimberly Danielle Thanks for checking out the video! I'm not 100% satisfied when it comes to keeping the feed dry, but it is a step in the right direction for me.
@@TheBeginningFarmer Ahoy. Nice hutch tractors. If I may be so bold, a couple of suggestions from a two decade ARBA breeder:
Throw them a plank to sit on in the hutch. It will prevent sore hocks and give them armor from rodents that might squeeze under the tractor. 1"x6"x8" pine plank is fine, Apple or maple if you've got it kicking around is better. This is a great compromise between a full floor and ½"x½" wire for cleanliness and safety. Nesting boxes also work, but they're expensive lol.
On the bottom of your slats, add a 15° taper to each side so the growth is directed into the pen rather than flattened. This will reduce digging and increase the hotel rating.
Add some galvanized barb staples to the bottom corners so you can drive tent stakes into for wind and storms.
Stay classy
Good job on your video, to the point, helpful. Don't have any suggestions, looks really good to me, and especially grateful for the presentation quality.
keep the videos coming. nice addition to your podcast
cflaquatics Thanks so much! I'm working on the next video, but the rain keeps ruining my plans!
Thanks for the ideas, I will put this on my to-do list of projects, thanks for the info
Hey. Over-Built is what I'm all about.. just that much less breaking going on. I really like the enclosed hutch on the one end.. need to get building me one for starters. I just got back into raising rabbit after a 10 year break.. and got a 1/2 acre of nice pasture to let them devour. Sainfoin for reduced to no bloat, orchard grass.. some birds foot trefoil.. some clover.. this gonna be fun... I got 2 week old kits out there in the barn now so I better get building.
awesome pens! I had some chicken coops with the same idea of built, i liked the open bottom because it made it pretty much maintenance free , meaning no cleaning poop!
paisa184 "Pretty much maintenance free" is always the way to go! That is the beauty of the rabbit tractor in the summer :)
very nice design, really liked it. thanks man keep up the good work.
I'm glad I watched this, thanks! Great design and idea!
Thanks for watching! I have some upgrades to make on mine (and repairs), so I plan on sharing some of those things.
i like how u have made it on the ground very good, its much better having them on the ground,
every well made i like the design! thank u for making it better for the rabbits!
also the rabbits look cute X3
I made a pen just like yours except I used hardware cloth on the bottom of the run. Next time, I will use strips just like yours.
The hardware cloth in the bedding area is a great idea too, thart way there is no mess to clean up.
I also liked what you did with your feeder. I used a 3" pvc pip and a 90 degree elbo and a cap on the outside, had to use a dremel to make an eating area and drill some small holes from the fine parts of the food to fall out.
My feeder comes out in the bedding area.
My feeder must hold 5 to 8 pounds of food. I have 2 females and only fill the feeder once a week, and there is still food in it when I fill it up.
I made a waterer using the same tech as my feeder, but my 2 female rabbits prefer to use to water bottles from tractor supply.
thanks for the video, really informative.
Good job, I envy all the space you have and the many grass.
The cages are large, that's fine
What's even better is the roof, which may need to have more slope.
Remember, all the wood where a rabbit can reach, there is at gnawed
Good luck Jaap
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing. Very helpful.
Wow great idea. Best regard from Poland.
Good design, good video
I love it, next step is to integrate crop production and really kick off your farm into high gear, Here is how: imagine a big round bale of hay unrolled in a row and used as mulch for something like tomatoes, and between each row of tomatoes is just pasture. You mow the between rows with those rabbit tractors. Now the rabbit dropping fertilize both the pasture and the tomato crop and you'll see around 10,000 dollars an acre in tomatoes if you direct retail them and in addition you have your rabbit production. I don't know the current price breakdown for rabbits, but chicken tractors (broilers) add approx 4 000 an acre done this way. (total 14k/acre/year)
I haven't done it yet but I am experimenting with other types of crops too and different configurations and I just bet there are solutions for almost any crop and not just tomatoes. Good luck.
I like the design. I built my chicken tractors with the same design but with a taller hutch/nest area for roosting. And no floor obviously, but worked well. Still have some but they are made with some treated wood so no good. Thanks😊
Love it!
You might consider doing half wire half plywood in the hutch to discourage sore hocks. My rabbits lived in hutches and were allowed in our run a few times a week but still developed sore hocks if the cage floor didn’t have any protection. Alternatively give them more hay to nest in.
We do have some boards in now for them to sit on if they would like :)
Great video - Thanks
I have to say what you are doing is awesome I have been looking with my wife for a hobby farm and this is something a long with chickens and a pig or two I have a idea to make a all metal cage out of top rail for fencing and these three way metal fittings. They are not cheap per say and to build but I like the idea of building it once and having it for a lifetime. The hutch am thinking half round sheet metal. I want to do a couple version of the same thing just a little different for each animal like the meat chickens/egg chickens/rabbits. I like the idea of raising one flock of chickens every year for just me and my wife and the freezer. so the cage can be setup and taking down if needed. You are doing great things keep it up I subscribed.
Your design is ok , one new ideal to me ......but what do people live in winter snow weather can do this ideal ?
Great video. If you don't mind, I have a question. For the top (tin) is that the ENTIRE top (I believe it would be about 6 ft.) what you remove to get the front entrance or a SMALLER (2 ft) of metal ??? Again Great video ~~~Would appreciate a reply ASAP as I am building mine today and hold off until you can get back... THANKS
how do they do with each other, do you have like a 2 buck to 8 does combo?
Do you leave them in the rabbit tractors in the winter months ,
Thanks for this video! This looks like a safe way of raising them and a manageable build. I've never kept rabbits but am considering it. How many rabbits live in each of these? If I get a breeding trio, how many of these would I have to build to raise the resulting rabbits for a season? Thanks!
How many rabbits to you raise per "tractor"? And is it safe to assume that you put them in a different place at night, or do they stay inside the closed off section?
Love the slats instead of hardware cloth on the bottom. Lets a lot more grass through.
Thanks! We’ve mostly liked it, but I may do a side by side comparison this summer with a long and narrow wire. When the bunnies are young they can get out through the slats of there is uneven ground or they dig a little. We have used this model though for over five years though and have liked it.
@@TheBeginningFarmer id like to see that.
@@ProfessorKitchen If I get it done I will have an update for sure :)
Amazing, thanks
What is the spacing between the furring strips? I'm concerned that kits large enough to leave the nest box would still be small enough to slip through the cracks when moving the tractor. I'm looking to build some soon as I have to move and leave my colony setup behind.
Those are pretty trick!
Thank you sir for the video, i like the part where the rabbits dont have to walk on wire mesh all day long and they can forage freely on fresh grass. This is just the inspiration i needed to build my own, i have had hundreds of ideas on how to build a rabbit cage so that the rabbits would have free access to fresh grass! im gonna build a couple similar to yours, im just gonna change a couple of parts because we have alot of predators like fox and rats here in my part of Denmark, im gonna use a smaller size netting and make a "skirt" with netting around the cage cause foxes isnt the smartest so they will only try to dig into the cage just outside or maybe a couple of feet from so i hope to prevent it with the "skirt" netting. hopes it makes sense, once again thank you for your creativity :)
just realized the fact that there are wood in the bottom to prevent foxes, but the skirt might work on rats too :) hopefully
#403 like says looks good for small scale rabbits and chickens to me. Do you keep one rabbit per cage only?
See you at the pole. Nice.
Excellent job
Respect and love from Palestine 🇵🇸
Really enjoyed this video. I’m wondering how many rabbits you can raise in a pen this size?
how much do you think you save in grain. winter feeding vs. summer pasture feeding?
Great Video. Thanks for sharing. I have been looking for how to set rabbits up at my small goat farm. One thing I read is that when they are on pasture they don't gain as quickly. I really like the look of this method, how are you finding their growth rate?
+Groovy Goat Farm & Soap Company There is truth to the fact that they don't grow as quickly as the do when they are solely eating a high fat/protein pellet feed. Ours do have free choice rabbit pellets, but they go for the grass first most of the time.
thanks for the quick answer a door will be installed!
How about some nesting straw. And some portions of solid wooden floor space. Imagine if you had to live continually on slats.
These look great and fairly easy to build. What made you decide on chicken fencing instead of rabbit fencing? I have bears so I need something safe.
How do you keep the babies from falling between the slats when moving?
+MaLisa R Bears are a problem I thankfully don't have to deal with. I think if I did I would have an electric fence around the pens as well ... not sure what bears think of electric fence? You do have to be careful with the young bunnies when you are moving it (with most of mine I can see in when I'm pulling the pens). You can also make a "door" in the hutch and shut them in the hutch when moving the pen.
Those do look like tanks. I wonder how heavy they are
+Iain Robson I'm not sure exactly how heavy they are. They have stayed put during some pretty high winds lately, but at the same time if they are on level ground or slightly pointed down hill my 11-year old son can move them. That being said when I have to drag all 15 of them a long distance I get a work out ;)
If I leave my rabbit tractor on my maintained lawn (not sprayed but mowed once every week or so) and not worry about it getting fur mites or ants giving it problems? Thanks
Love it. Thanks for sharing. Great info and content. Might I ask what state are you in?
Neat design. Curious I have heard for meat rabbits (I assume that's what you are doing, as I don't see show or pet being pastured....but if I am wrong I do apologize) when they are pastured or otherwise coming in contact with the ground that you have to treat them for parasites/etc and move them off the ground for a time for both the medication to work and then also clear their system before processing. How do you do that given your pasture system?
Thanks
This is awesome, do you have plans available that any dummy can follow?
I really like this idea of pastured rabbits. no mess very little clean up a little more labor then caged rabbits but less food. a lot more cleaning for caged rabbits but with caged rabbits it is very easy to collect the manure and use it in the garden or sale it. at this point I don't really know witch way to go.
To be honest , I was kinda thinking the other way. I reckon there would be a saving in labour and capital investment if you just housed all the rabbits indoors and went out every morning with a ;lawn mower and cut their food ,, Plus the housing in this vid does not look particularly fox proof
iwantosavemoney well the rabbit manure is already spread on the field so that save the labor cost of scooping and hauling that will offset the money gained by the sale of the manure
iwantosavemoney Have one of these and rotate the rabbits using it.
Do you put rabbits in hutch to move so they don't get legs caught .and do you have any problems with high winds .
Need to now around the pens
Other designs talk about the weight, in re moving. Get a piece of 3" plastic pipe and lift one end, kicking the pipe under it. Then drag it over that pipe, which will be it's wheel, until it drops back off it. Also, build in some 16" handles to pick it up with.
That is a great tip!!!
Do they chew on the wood much?How long does the floor last?
I’ve just built a Salatin one and want to move to this type of idea. How is the predation?
Great video! Question: if your soil has lead in it (600ppm) would you advise against letting rabbits eat grass grown on that soil? I don’t think we want to eat our rabbits, just use them as lawn mowers. But I would hate to see them suffer from lead poisoning. Thoughts?
Can the rabbits stay in this over the winter. We live in Canada where it can go to -40 with wind chill..
Hi.
What about heat in the summer?
Can you do an update on this system ?
Put your pellets in a soup bowl. Add plywood to sit or poop on. They dont like to poop on wire, even though in a perfect world they would. I use the square wire cloth also, strong and doesnt hurt their feet in my experience.
How often are you having kits dig out between the furring strips? This seems to be the most frequent complaint about the design.
just put some sort of fencing (chicken wire would work) under it
Could you build this with no bottom if you moved them once a day, or would they tunnel out too quickly?
they say bucks will not dig a lot at all, young rabbits will not dig, but after 14 weeks old, you might get issues, and grown does WILL dig. And they do dig surprisingly fast. Some predators will also dig in.. so unless you can lock your rabbits in safely at night, I would not have it with no bottom.
Mine dig out constantly after about 2 months
well done
Nice tractors. Do you ever have problems with predators or snakes?
Do you only use them for grow out? Are the gaps between boards okay for babies too?
Is there a articular reason you put more than the slats on the bottom of the enclosed portion? I would think that it doesn't need anything more there than for the bottom of the rest of the tractor.... Also, have you finished the exterior of the plywood? Durability of plywood in weather is tremendously enhanced by just a coat of paint...
What do you do in the winter?
I believe that u could remove the center firing strips of the floor. The rabbits won't dig from the center out from the time that u last added food or water! If u put a door on the confined area to keep the rabbit, while u move the pen.
Hey, thanks for this. I live in very rural area and knew I wanted my rabbits on pasture but was worried about predators. We have ALOT of coyotes. The furring strips would keep them protected.
Blue Bird if coyotes are a problem enclose the area with electric netting
Have chew to get out or has any wild animals like mink try getting in with rabbits or snake ???
I live it the Texas Panhandle and the grass doesn't stay so green all the time. Will they graze dry grass?
My rabbits happily eat dry grass; however, the nutritional value of it is much lower so they would require more pellets. We have lots of green grass in winter and early spring, but the rest of the year is dry and hot here, so they get greens when I can.
Why are you doing Champagne d' Argent? Did you try different breeds? What are your thoughts on that?
How long do you leave the hutch at one spot? And don’t the small baby’s fall through the slats when moving? Great work though gives me ideas thanks
We move them daily, and the small babies typically stay inside the hutch part where there is a mesh/wood floor when moving. But, once they do start hopping around we usually have one person watching while we move.
Do you have some basic plans or dimensions?
do you keep them in there on the winter?
Hello hello, and thank you for making such great content. We're just in the startup phase of our homestead, and we're defo thinking about starting a rabbit farm. We think it'll make a nice addon to our upcoming ice cream shop. This way, people can have a scoop and watch bunnies hopping around.
I really enjoyed this video - thanks for making it! I always wondered if there was an easy way to keep the rabbits "free-ranging" but to contain them as well. You seem to have a lot of useful tips on your channel so I just subscribe. Maybe one day we could collaborate on a project together, although we're in Portugal :) BTW, you don't happen to know a good European seller of NZ white? How many rabbits do you recommend starting with when setting up a farm?
Do you tractor your does when they have a young litter? We have 2*4 metal fence on the bottom and hurt one of the young rabbits when moving the tractor. Have you had that problem when moving your tractor with the wood strips?
+Betsy Spencer That is something you have to really watch out for when it's time for the move. I like to make sure I know where all the bunnies are and ideally there are in the hutch where the is a hardware cloth floor (I can cover the door if needed)
So I wanted to ask what you think of what the dimensions of a rabbit tractor should be?
From looking at it on video its hard to see what measurements you have. Plus, it would be interesting to hear what you think now on dimensions? (For a doe and kit raising breeder pen).
Also specifically I wanted to ask if the tractor is going to be for does raising kits then what is the right size for spacing for the slats on the bottom? (It would seem like you wouldn't want the kits to be able to pass through the slats but still have enough grass to go through, right?)
And if you build this so the top can open, what's the lowest height you can have without them being able to jump over the top? (Or is this not an issue?)
Also thanks. I liked your video. Also you sound very positive and excited about farming, and not just like you genuinely like doing this.
I like the dimensions of ours ... roughly 3'x8'. I have seen smaller ones, but I'm not sure if I've seen any bigger. We leave the doe and the kits together until weaning and then the growers all go into another pen. That has worked well for us, but sometimes we need to move them twice a day. I have seen more and more people using wire for the bottoms which would take care of digging problems. I had read that they wouldn't eat the grass if they bit on the wire while eating, but it seems like people don't have issues with that. I wouldn't know, because we have only do the slats.
We don't have an issue with the rabbits jumping out when we open the lids, but I don't know if I would make them any lower just because it works well with the height of the wire that we use ... I don't like cutting wire if I don't need to.
What do you do for winter?
We used hardware cloth for our does with babies, so that the babies wouldn't get caught slipping through the bottom. However, doe poop is large and usually couldn't fit through that fine grade metal. So, we ended up with super nasty pens. Still trying to find a solution to that...
Hi you have there water in the sun, it warms up the water having water out side makes it easier too change ok. try covering it up with cut out plastic barrels or cover, Rabbits like cool water , (or in nest box with mesh on Bottom for drainage or a gap
Derrick Perth W.A Dwarf lop shower
Do you have problems with worms and other parasites that the rabbits might ingest get in their feet?
We've been talking about do pastured rabbits are self's. What breed of meat rabbits are you raising?
Great video! thanks for sharing.
Have an awesome day!
+ChickChick Farms We raise Champagne d' Argents. They are an older French breed and besides being great meat rabbits they also fit into our farms plan of using more rare or heritage breeds.
@@TheBeginningFarmer love that idea,thanks for the video
“That is not an ordinary rabbit ... 'tis the most foul cruel
and bad-tempered thing you ever set eyes on.”
“That rabbit's got a vicious streak. It's a killer!”
I'll admit it ... I had to look that one up! :) But, it was a good one! Thanks for watching!
when you first put them out in the tractors do you have any issues with scours / diarrhea ..... I am looking to use some of these tractors next summer ...... but I am concerned with the thought of them getting the scours from the fresh grass..... any info would be appreciated
+greensportster07 That is not something we have experienced, but it is a valid concern and is something I watch for. Ours do still receive free choice rabbit pellets (for the growers), so maybe they balance their diet out a bit with that ... nothing scientific there, just a thought.
+The Beginning Farmer thanks for the info
Is there wire on the bottom? Thanks
How many rabbits do you usually raise in these cages? What are their square footage/dimensions?
ladyeclectic If you watch my two videos I show my rabbits and talk about my cages. Feel free to comment and give me some suggestions. :)
Would these be coyote proof? We just moved onto our farm and hear coyotes every night around us.
I added wire on the bottoms of my tractors because rabbits dug out between the slats and escaped ;) Pretty sure I had openings less than 2 1/2 inches. If their head fits, the rest of them can ;)
We have had problems with our baby bunnies getting out, one "upgrade" that we have made is that we put wire hardware mesh on about the last 6 inches of the ends and plugged the holes between the slats. But, if I leave them too long in one spot they can find a way sometimes! :) Thanks for the suggestions!
Wheels!!!! Wheels !!!! Needs wheels !!!!
Are they safe from predators?
With that much diverse grass feeders are a waste of money. Have used netting at the bottom before, works well, if the grass is short aka lawn :-)
Good luck :-)
What is the space between each Wood line in the bottom?
I believe it is about 1.5 inches
If there any more lightweight they'll blow away in storms. 🤠