SonshineLearner Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Has anyone raised rabbits for meat? I'm curious about doing this on a small scale. I'm wondering what the amount of $$$ is to raise some rabbits and what the amount of care is to be expected. Also, I wonder what the temperature needs to be.....I live in Oregon, so in the Salem area it's not way too cold..... Thanks! Carrie:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 My parents did for a while when I was elementary age. I don't know anything about cost, but I do remember eating rabbit meat. As far as that goes, it probably depends a lot on how it's cooked. I remember it as being a little tough, but otherwise very much like chicken. I loved going out to the rabbit shed to look at the rabbits. We had one favorite that my parents never butchered, for our sake, but I guess we didn't care about the others! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Also, I wonder what the temperature needs to be.....I live in Oregon, so in the Salem area it's not way too cold..... We lived in northern Michigan, so it got pretty cold. I don't remember if there was any sort of heater for the rabbits. The shed was attached to the garage, which was not attached to the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 My dad raised them when we were young and sold them after they were butchered. I don't remember it being alot of work. Basically they built a wire cage and built it up on legs (made cleaning and catching them much easier). Much of the dropping went right through the screen so there wasn't alot to clean up but it needs to be small enough so their feet don't get stuck. Fresh water daily, rabbit pellets and veggies were what we fed them. My grandpa always made friends with all the produce managers in town and they would give him the expired/rotten/ damaged produce that couldn't be sold. We fed it to the rabbits/chickens/ducks/turkeys. They also made a small fence we could put on the grass. During the warm months we would take them out to the fence and play with them and they could eat fresh grass. I don't remember for sure how they wintered them over but I'm sure they did. I know they got a good price when they sold them but I have no memories of every eating them. Which is good because they were always my pets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie in NE Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 My daughter raised meat rabbits here in WY. We had them in hutches in the barn. It gets VERY cold here in the winter. The kids had to go change their water 2-3 times/day because it would freeze solid.But cold isn't what bothers rabbits..... WET bothers rabbits. So if you raise them, keep them dry. The 4-H leader used to say "A wet rabbit is a sick rabbit, and a sick rabbit is a dead rabbit. We were able to find used wire hutches for about $5/ea., and then bought a couple of the little wire add-ons where the Does "kindle" (have their babies). We raised Californians, and we had very good luck with them. Really tasty meat too. And very healthy. I once had a delicious rabbit dinner on a train in France between Paris and the Basque Country. Never forgot it...... Browned rabbit in a white wine and mushroom sauce. Mmmmm. Anyway, I digress. Rabbits are a low $ enterprise to get into. We paid about $30.00/rabbit for the breeding stock. Then, of course, well, they "breed like rabbits", so you can have a pretty consistent meat supply very easily. Don't remember what the feed pellets cost per sack, just ask your local feed store. The babies went from birth to slaughter in about 9-16 weeks. They weighed about 4 lbs/hd, and there isn't much waste. HTH, Jackie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam Wilhelm Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 check with your local county extension service to find out more..... I have always thought about doing this........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurel Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 My mom raised rabbits for meat, in Maine. They survived the winters fine in hutches outside. I don't think the cost is too much. My dad built the hutches, and they were fed some grain and lots of kitchen scraps. For care, they were fed and given fresh water 1-2 a day, and their hutches cleaned out once a week or so. (Great compost as well!) My mom killed them, and my dad skinned them. Like the pp said, the meat is very similar to chicken, but drier. My mom also made pate with the livers sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 We have friends who did this a few years ago in Roseburg, Oregon and the weather is very similar to Salem. They found it much easier and cheaper than chickens. The meat was ok and they had few problems. Do you know anyone who does 4H? They may know someone, who knows someone.. It seemed fairly basic and cheap, so it was a good endeavour for them. If you need some specific info, I can ask them if you can email them. Just let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted December 11, 2008 Author Share Posted December 11, 2008 SO, how do you "kill" a rabbit...Do you bop it on the head?? I can't believe that I'm thinking of doing this! Carrie:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 SO, how do you "kill" a rabbit...Do you bop it on the head?? I can't believe that I'm thinking of doing this! Carrie:-) Yes. When I ran the chicken plant, we did rabbits as well. We stunned them with an electric knife, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockala Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 I heard a preacher once that spoke of rabbits being forbidden for Jews as a good thing. He said that, science now knows that they have no fat and the meat is very hard or impossible for us humans to digest. If you google it, there are stories of survivors who lived a little while if you eat the marrow and all the internal organs. Also, there is an native american story that says the whites didn't know what they did. That you can starve to death eating only rabbit. Just my .02 Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted December 11, 2008 Author Share Posted December 11, 2008 That's interesting, so eating only kosher approved meats, would mean that you eat no pork, rabbits...other meat like that or catfish, and other scavenger fish? Interesting:-) Carrie:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurel Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 SO, how do you "kill" a rabbit...Do you bop it on the head?? I can't believe that I'm thinking of doing this! Carrie:-) Yep! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJB Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 My brothers hopping my sandwich across the table. Me, refusing to eat. Good times.:D (Not meant as a discouragement, btw. Just a funny memory!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurel Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 My brothers hopping my sandwich across the table. Me, refusing to eat. Good times.:D (Not meant as a discouragement, btw. Just a funny memory!) My sisters refuse to eat anything my mother calls "chicken" unless it is a whole roasted bird. Too many "chicken" pot pies that they were told about after the fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camibami Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 The dining hall in Korea when I was in the army raised rabbits and would serve it once a week or so. Its not very good, IMO. I wouldn't want to eat a lot of it! But, I have had pet rabbits, and the wire floor cages are not so good for them. They need a place to get off the wire or their feet will get injured. They are also quite easy to box train to keep inside as house pets, though if you are going to be raising them for meat, that might not be a good idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 I heard a preacher once that spoke of rabbits being forbidden for Jews as a good thing. He said that, science now knows that they have no fat and the meat is very hard or impossible for us humans to digest. If you google it, there are stories of survivors who lived a little while if you eat the marrow and all the internal organs. Also, there is an native american story that says the whites didn't know what they did. That you can starve to death eating only rabbit. No one here is talking about only eating rabbit. I believe you that rabbit meat is low-fat, but that doesn't mean it can't/shouldn't be eaten. Survivalists like Bear Gryllis of Man vs. Wild and Les Stroud of Survivorman (and others, I'm sure) will tell you that eating only low/no-fat meats in the wild to survive will not help you much. That's one of the reasons you see them eating the whole animal, guts, eyes & all. (I can't watch when Bear Gryllis eats bugs...that's gross). But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't eat that type of thing. It's like saying, oh, don't make candy--you can't survive on that. Well, yeah, of course not, but it's ok to eat some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornblower Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 :ack2::ack2::ack2: Esp since I foster for a small animal rescue & my dd helps out at the shelter with the bunnies. BUT, while I would not eat a rabbit any more than I would cat or dog, I live with carnivorous animals & my elderly, chronically ill cat is exclusively on rabbit now as other proteins make her sick. There have been supply probs with rabbit in the pet food market & I'm constantly driving around and calling to find it. I've been told (by one of the distributors of the rabbit brands I buy for her) that it's because there are no regulated approved rabbit meat farms in North America and they're constantly struggling with the supply - esp. as now pet food consumers are pretty particular about verifying where the meat is coming from & its quality. I guess you'd be able to eat it yourself & I think you may be able to sell it for pet food (esp if you have some raw feeders around you) but I think you'd have some public health loops to jump through if you wanted to sell to the public for human consumption.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 We raised rabbits for a year when I was in high school. We all liked it except for my sister. She was crushed because "Thumper" was butchered. I of course helped a lot by saying, thump, thump, thump during dinner. My Mom tried to tan the hides with sour dough starter. Boy did that smell. It worked, sort've. The hair didn't fall out but they were stiff. We called them rabbit frizbees. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 I'm with Patty Johanna - rabbit meat is important to our family because of food allergies. Rabbit is esp. good in curries and stews because of the sauce/broth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renthead Mommy Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 I can't remember what exactly, but the droppings are supposed to be great for either worm farming, or composting or something. I just remember reading that raising rabbits was great for your garden. (Provided you kept the rabbits OUT of the garden! LOL!). So if you garden, you could get more bang for your buck, or um, rabbit that way. Worth looking into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dymphna57 Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Great thread! I love the stories about how kids felt when Mom and Dad tried to raise rabbit meat for the home table! We are thinking of doing this in the spring. We don't get freezing weather just a few nights every once in a while that frosts. Wondering about killing lagamorphs ( maybe a little scientific term will help) with something other than an axe. I am fairly good at breaking the neck of a chicken but I can't imagine doing that with .... one of those. ICAOII I pick up the lucky chicken and tuck it under one arm and let it settle in tight to calm down. I slowly tip it forward with my hand around it's neck. I slowly pull down more aggressively on the neck with my fingers now near the head. I continue to pull until I hear the snap. I sit down in a nice spot and start plucking! We haven't raised chickens for meat for about eight years but we are building sheds again and we will do that as well as the ....lagamorphs:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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