Does anyone raise and sell rabbit meat?
docmom_gw
2 years ago
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Comments (6)
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
2 years agoannie1992
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Raising Rabbits
Comments (7)Rabbits are very hardy. Even in the coldest weather will give birth to kits if provided a balanced diet and proper shelter. A two sided shed (west/north) with a roof to keep rain/snow off them works as good as any other. All welded wire (1"x2") cages to include a welded wire (1/2"x1") bottom. Be sure to place an 8"x18" pine board in the center for them to get off the wire floor--this prevents sore feet. Make sure the door is large enough to get the nest box in/out when needed. If stacking one cage above the other be sure to use catch pans under the upper cages. When using catch pans allow enough space between the top of the catch pan and the floor of the cage as so not to injure toes when removing catch pan to empty it. Also, use 3" or 4" urine guards on the upper cages so they can't urinate out the side of the cage onto the lower cages. A 30" deep x 36" wide X 18" high cage is the minimum size for doe to raise their kits in, Buck/single rabbits can be kept in cages 24" wide X 24" deep X 18" high at minimum. Give them plenty of wooden things to chew on; we give them plenty of willow branches/twigs, raspberry canes to chew on. RabbitÂs teeth continually grow and need things to chew on. They love toys to play with to cut down on boredom; we use those plastic balls that are sold for parrots. They love dandelions and most anything green. Calf Manna is a very notorious addition to the doe's diet after they kindle and are nursing their young (2 tablespoons/day while nursing). It also is very good to give 1 tablespoon/day to the young kits when they start to eat on their own, it increases weight gain by 15% and make the meat taste sweet. Limit giving to Does that are resting between litters and Bucks to once a week. Be sure to feed in separate dish as they will dig all the food out of dish looking for it. Plenty of fresh water is very important especially if feeding pelleted foods. We always pet/hold them daily so they are used to being handled and less nervous when you check for ear mite, fleas and possible injuries. Meat rabbits are prone to injuries to their spine/hips due to selective breeding to lower bone to meat ratio. These are very painful injures and not much to do about this except to process it for the dinner table. Most process them about 10-12 weeks of age. Doe can be kept to any age for processing before kindling, bucks must be nurtured if kept beyond 10-12 week, this prevents them from becoming strong tasting and making them easy to skin when processing. Will take some pictures of our cages and post them latter. There are many way to raise rabbits and most work well. Become familiar with possible diseases to look out for and possible take steps to prevent. Hope this helps Virgil Here is a link that might be useful: Rabbit Diseases...See Morerabbits: bucks with doe(s)
Comments (7)Good responses. Earlier in my rabbit raising, I had kept several bucks with their respective does while the does kindled litters. The bucks were very sweet and stayed out of the nestbox and they got along well. The bucks didn't bother the kits and the does didn't try to kill the bucks. The problem was that the adults would continually breed and the doe never had a chance to recover after weaning their litter. I gave up that practice. I have kept bunnies in their own pens for many years now, mostly because I keep records on them and plan the breedings. I do have 1x2 wire between the pens so that each bunny can groom/socialize with each other between a barrier. There are a few breeders that I know of who keep a colony of bunnies. They just pick out baby bunnies (which they always have) when they seem weaned and they often don't know who the parents are with the nest of kits. Rarely, will you see a mother bunny nursing her young, and they have several males in the colony. One herd is about 15 rabbits in a horse box stall. This is a poor practice, but these people only want sellable baby bunnies and that is what they get. Another person keeps a colony with New Zealand Whites in the same way and they always have young rabbits for slaughter. Of course they all interbreed and NZs have very large litters, but it works for them and their meat pen....See Moreraising meat and egg chickens
Comments (9)we do the same as charlieboring to butcher except we put a squirt of dish soap in the water to ease the feathering . If you have the temperature of the water just right every feather just slides right off. Also if you do it immediately after the butchering (let them bleed out first) then it goes easier as well so we only prepare 5 birds at a time before going on to the next 5. Getting the birds as fast as possible to the cooling tub is key. Our set up has one container of almost boiling water with dish soap to dip the bird ( head chopped) then onto a table and feather the bird then into----- a tub with hot soapy water to wash the outside of the bird then----- we take off the feet, evicerate and clean then into----- another tub of warm water to clean the insides well then finally into---- a tub of very cold water to cool off the bird. With this set up two people can do 20 birds in just a few hours depending on your speed and how hard it is to catch the birds, nice and quick and your whole day is not gone, and it does not feel like such a chore....See MoreFirst time raising rabbits for meat production, questions following.
Comments (10)I have over 100 rabbits in my barn right now. You can ask (10) people the same question and get (10) different answers on anything...and everyone could be a good / correct answer. It all comes down to circumstance and what works for you! What works for one person may be a total disaster for someone else. I could never raise rabbits like you are describing because I am too much of a control freak. I have hutch cards, computer spreadsheets on every doe and buck along with calendars full of useless information (to anyone else) about this or that. But it all comes down to...you work with what you got. One of the reasons for doing this is to provide meat for your family that is affordable and not full of GMO grains and hormones. You can't go out from the get-go and invest thousands of dollars on a professional set-up. It is not feasible. There are a lot of people out there raising rabbits in a colony and it seems to work for them. The one thing I hear them complain about is disease, predators and record keeping. With the rabbits living on the ground, the dampness is a perfect breeding ground for disease. Also when you get more than 1 or 2 does, you will never know whose kits are whose and which doe is the best producer. Not to mention not knowing when they breed and when to expect kindlings. I raise mine inside a barn in all wire cages. Like everyone else I started out with a wood hutch. Trying to keep them clean was a nightmare. I started with (2) Californian bucks and (3) Californian does. My first litter took 12-weeks to reach 5-lbs. Over the last year I have culled and saved rabbits to get my 5-lb rabbits in 10-weeks. I am still saving the best and eating the rest. My goal is to get a 5-lb rabbit in 8-weeks. I have incorporated a FB NZW buck to produce crosses and they were a big improvement over the FB Cali's when it comes to grow out times. Remember you get out of it what you put into it. A commercial 16% rabbit feed will provide the rabbits with everything they need to thrive. A small handful of hay will keep them content and their teeth ground down. If you want to get a typical 5-lb frying rabbit in 10 - 11 weeks...you must put in good quality feed. If "timing" does not matter...feed them garden scraps or forage for them everyday. But remember...a good frying rabbit is between 10 - 14 weeks old. As they get older, they start to get tougher and become roasters or crock pot rabbits. Like I said when I started this (longer than intended) post...you need to work with what you have. You are going to create what works for you and your animals. When something doesn't work, change it to something else. You will eventually find out the right combination and then you will be enjoying some AWESOME fried rabbit. There is nothing better! GOOD LUCK!...See Moredocmom_gw
2 years agodocmom_gw
2 years agoannie1992
2 years ago
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