How big of a foot-print to feed rabbits?

 

A stretch of road. The verge is about 15' wide and it was about 100' to the next tree. It was mowed once this year.

At 2000 pounds of standing dry-matter per acre, that equals about 70 pounds of dry-matter.

The dominant species of grass is Smooth Brome (Bromus inermis). The blue flowers in the top picture are chicory.

 

For ruminants like cows and sheep, the rule of thumb was to budget 4% of body-weight for daily dry-matter intake. I am not saying that is a good rule for rabbits, but it is what I have to work with.

Four, mature, New Zealand doe rabbits at 12 pounds apiece will weigh about 50 pounds. That pencils out to 2 pounds of dry-matter per day and that 70 pounds of dry matter would last them a month...longer if you add a little bit of corn. If they have litters, though, the feed bill goes way up.

Three, 100' lengths of that verge would quite handily get those does (sans kits) from May 15-through-November 15 in my climate.

This is what a 1/4 mile of that verge looks like.

 

The farmers consider mowing roadsides a burdensome chore. It has to be done to keep it from coming up in trees that rob water and nutrients from the cash-crop. In this case, the farmer cannot farm to the road's edge due to utility poles.

Yes, it was a hot and muggy run this morning.

Planning

The roadside grass is a bonus and you might not be able to get it. You might have to plant and harvest your own patch.

According to the Wisconsin Team Forage website, the average yearly dry-matter yield by species:

• Timothy: 10,600lb/acre
• Tall Fescue: 13,200lb/acre (excellent choice for wetter soils. Less palatable than many other kinds of grass)
• Smooth Brome: 11,800lb/acre (very palatable)
• Orchardgrass: 12,800lb/acre
• Perennial Ryegrass: 9,400lb/acre (winter kill issues in Wisconsin. Very palatable)) 
• Red Clover: 6500/lb/acre (four-year life with only 1000lb harvested the first year)

Normally, you would plant the Red Clover with your grass since they play well together. The Red Clover can supply nitrogen and the grass "fluffs-up" the Red Clover and helps it dry when it is cut for hay.

You want to take those yield values with a grain of salt because you will have a steep learning curve.