I ran across this interesting comment on one of the 6 class groups today...

I like reading in those groups because that is where IMO you find the most serious of breeders.
Very very interesting .....

Calf Manna is very high in energy. I’ve found that when the crude protein tends to get above 17% that rabbits tend to be softer in flesh condition.
Somewhere in the 16-17% range is what I’ve found to work best.
I’ve found that I tend to get better growth and hardness when I feed second cutting grass hay in addition to pellets.

I don’t think that is necessarily due to the nutrition of the hay, but may instead be due to the roughage it provides to clean the villi in the gut and allow for better nutrient absorption as well as helping to move the food through the digestive system quicker, helping with metabolism.
When I’ve given calf manna to does that are nursing, I’ve tended to notice splay legs. I have not given calf manna to nursing does in many years and have not had any incidents of splay legs.
I think the two largest helps for meat pens are:

1. Cutting the litter size down to a size the doe can milk well. If the litter is too big, they won’t grow as well and can be uneven in size. Too small and the kits tend to get too wide, get soft and lose depth of body. I somewhat wonder if too much milk in the gut at that time where their skeletons are malleable can potentially affect the depth of body by a full belly weighing them down too much, pulling downwards on a very malleable skeletal frame.
I think the better a kit nurses the better they tend to eat throughout their entire life. To me, those first few weeks are extremely crucial.

2. Pulling the litter box as soon as they open their eyes I think helps a bunch. This helps avoid nest box eye from ammonia building up in the nest box. It prevents single kits from getting out and chilled or from getting caught between the nest box and cage wall. It also gets them out and utilizing their muscles sooner. They also start eating solid foods sooner. When I pull the nest box I’ll throw some hay in for a bit of bedding and for something to munch on. Crawford did similar but he used oats placed on a board from what he once showed me. Also, pulling the nest box sooner allows the kits to milk more. They don’t have to wait for mom to jump in the nest box. I see better growth rates on kits where I pull the nest box at around 12 days old.
My other concern with calf manna during the 6-10 weeks period is that it may increase the chance for bloat due to the high energy.

I tend to focus on what optimizes the nursing in those first few weeks so that they grow the best possible but don’t get pudgy. That seems to usually carry over for the rest of their lives.
Very rarely does the small one tend to later eat more and outgrow the bigger one.