|
|
Yes, I know. To those who did not grow up on a farm, the thought of eating rabbit is a bit disturbing, however, it is important to know that rabbit is one of the most healthy, easy to raise, easy to handle, economical and enjoyable small animals that can be raised for food.
These little critters can usually be had for next to nothing to, well, nothing and with a good breeding pair you can supply your family with lean white meat that is even better for them than chicken.
According to the USDA, rabbit has 20.8 percent protein to chicken’s 20 percent and beef’s 16.3 percent while sporting the lowest fat and calorie count of all the popular meats. Not bad when you consider that they eat very little pellet feed, require minimal bedding and cleanup – depending on your setup, and can offer a great deal of additional benefits to your family outside their meat. Just keep the water bottles full and the feed troughs appropriately rationed and you’re pretty much good to go.
Now, if you are considering this as an option for yourself and your family, then I suggest that you hunt out a nice breeding pair from any local breeder, two that you like the temperament and look of, and take them home. You may want to research different breeds and types, for example, some popular meat varieties are: New Zealands, Californians, Satins and Florida Whites. You may even find that a member of your family is interested in showing his or her rabbit and they want a particular color variety as well. If so, bear in mind that some processors will pay a higher premium for white rabbits.
It should also be said that the angora varieties, although more pricey to purchase initially, serve the dual purpose of being fiber animals in addition to being a viable option a meat animal, producing 12 to 16 ounces of wool per year, not to mention they are wicked cute.
As with the introduction of any animal to the family, research and proper preparation is key. Be sure that you are prepared to keep these little guys separated when you do not want them breeding. It is no wives tale that these little guys can procreate rapidly.
When the time comes to breed your rabbits, you will take the doe to the buck’s cage, observe them to make sure that the doe is not dangerously aggressive toward the buck, and once they have copulated, separate them and return the doe to the buck later that afternoon and again the following day, or simply leave her there for a few hours if she seems content. Gestation lasts 31 to 32 days and during this time you should provide the doe with an adequate nesting box. The average commercial litter ranges from 8 to 10 kits. Forty-eight hours after birth, observe and count the wee little ones, being sure to remove any offspring that did not survive.
Kits can be weaned 30 days or so after birth. At eight weeks of age you would then choose which bunnies to sell or cull and which to keep and raise up as your own stock, depending on their quality of confirmation, color and temperament. The doe should be able to breed five times a year, the buck able to cover no more than 10 does three to four times per week.
Open bottom cages elevated off the ground provide great scratching areas underneath for chickens, but be sure to provide a resting board of untreated wood for the rabbits to rest their feet on, seeing as metal cage floors are hard on their pads.
For a comprehensive list of pure bred breeders in the state of Maine, go to http://www.emrba.org/. For a wonderful collection of basic information go to http://agalternatives.aers.psu.edu/Publications/rabbit.pdf.
I am told by breeders that the bible for rabbit breeders and raisers is Rabbit Production, Cheek, Patton, Lukefahr and McNitt, published by the interstate Printers and Publishers Inc., Dannville, Illinois and can be had at http://www.Amazon.com, like everything else in the known universe.
Your local feed store will likely offer a few varieties of rabbits this spring, but be sure they are not dwarf breeds who will produce far less meat than a standard sized animal. Giants, although wicked cool and huge, take a very long time to mature and are not the most economic to feed, so if meat is your goal, stick to standard sized breeds.
Good luck and happy bunny buying!
makes me hungry. thanks for the primer.
this makes me glad to be a vegetarian.
I raised meat rabbits for many years here in Franklin County and I have a couple of recommendations. Do your best to get Pasteurella free stock. It is a bacterial disease that once in the herd is extremely difficult to eradicate or even control. It can manifest itself in several ways, among them wry neck, snuffles, respiratory problems and abscesses. In Maine, if the rabbitry is outside, winter weather can stress the herd which makes it more likely for the bacterium to get ascendant . Take a look at this web site. http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/past.shtml
Another suggestion. The pens you keep your herd in ought to have ½ inch or ¾ inch hardware cloth “walls” and floors, because weasels will come in, otherwise, and steal the newborns, and either eat them on the spot or try to get them through the wire. Chicken wire with the standard spacing is too large and the weasels can get through . It seems to me that the does don’t seem to fight off the weasels for some reason.