Rabbits will chew through the plastic mesh easily, likely just for fun.
The cracked corn can attract rats, so be aware.
There's a product available called Critter Ridder at Home Hardware that is a mixture of a variety of black and white peppers mixed with some sort of light oil and sand. Rodents HATE it because the pepper plugs up their sinuses, the sand is an inert carrier and the oil acts as a sticker to make it last a while.
Obviously rain will wash it away, and even in ideal conditions it only lasts about 30 days, but that will be enough as once the rabbits experience it they won't go back there for a while.
The little buggers chew lots of stuff down to the ground around my house but it grows back acceptably for me. Where the damage isn't acceptable is when they girdle (eat the bark all the way around) something larger. In that case I wrap the stem in 1/4" or 1/2" wire mesh.
