With apologies to all Vegans

[oldjerry]

I wa,s thinking of starting a thread questioning why so few people keep rabbits as a good source of meat that needs little or no land,and doesn't require years of experience or expensive feed.Then it occured to me that maybe it's because most people wouldn't fancy killing them.Is it this inability to kill animals that most people are still prepared to eat(and so by definition pay someone else to do the deed for them) that illustrates how remote people have become from a sustainable way of life?
So ,there's a new subject for the school curriculum....

[contadina]

We've kept rabbits for meat and I'm a vegetarian, but I don't suffer from the Disneyisation of cute, fluffy animals.

[123sologne]

I have never looked into it, but can you actually find "proper" rabbits for meat in the UK? When I say proper rabbits I mean the bigger ones not the mini ones as I call them that you can find in pet shops. Where would you buy them, direct from a farmer?
My mum used to farm rabbits in France and while I have never killed a rabbit, I have seen her doing it quite a few times, so I am pretty sure I could do the same. My only concern with rabbits is diseases. There are quite a few about and my mum would loose nearly all her rabbits every 3 years or so... Not very economical...

[The Riff-Raff Element]

So ,there's a new subject for the school curriculum....

Bit tough for modern schooling OJ - ethics, husbandry, economics and practical slaughter in one subject?

I confess that my one attempt with rabbits was an abject failure due to a disease that quickly killed them and whose source I never devined. I've had much more success with poultry. Perhaps it's time for another punt

[Rosendula]

I have been aware for quite a while that I haven't considered it. I'm not sure that makes sense - I've mentioned it to OH and I have joked about it, but I haven't been able to consider it properly. I can give (valid, I think) excuses about lack of space and such, but in reality I know that I just wouldn't be able to do it. There's the fluffy bunny side of me that goes all ga-ga, and the horror story my father enjoyed telling me when I was little about his father making him kill and cook his pet rabbit and it not being quite dead (not sure how true the story was, but the image he planted is still there). As well as that, OH has always said he could never eat rabbit (but he also said he would never eat onions and he loves them now), so it's a long, slow process getting myself to consider trying rabbit meat to see if I like it, let alone keeping them to eat.

[boboff]

Do you keep Rabbits Jerry?

Could you give some advice as to

Where to get them
What to house them in
What you can feed them economically
What you can expect to get out of them
How quickly

Must say from my point of view, not really seen allot about it in all the books I have read, which is where most of my inspiration for smallholding comes from?

[Odsox]

I've considered it many times but always something got in the way.

I used to keep rabbits when we lived in the UK and very successful it was too. They fattened very well on a mixed diet of commercial pellets and a lot of home grown carrots, turnips, swedes grown especially for them, plus cabbage stumps and lots of stuff that would have been composted .. like lettuce outer leaves.
Knocking them on the head is no great shakes and they are a darn site easier to dress than drawing & plucking a chicken

One of the things that has stymied me here is that there are no meat rabbits available as breeding stock and another is that I have not seen any commercial feed. Also I would need to build some form of shelter or reassign one of my valuable sheds ... all in all things just conspiring against me.
BUT, last time I visited my local garden centre I found that they have started selling 25 kilo bags of rabbit pellets and I've recently seen New Zealand & Californians advertised up country .. so maybe it's time to start thinking it over again.

[Odsox]

What you can expect to get out of them
How quickly

Looking at it economically it makes good sense if you have the time, temperament and a little space (and like eating rabbit).
New Zealand and Californian or a cross between two are a good choice. A single doe will produce about 8 young four or five times a year.
A 3 month old rabbit will easily provide 4 servings of meat, so you can do the maths yourself.

[gregorach]

I've just never much liked rabbit. Of all the meats I've ever tried (and I've tried a few), it's the one I like the least. Actually, it crosses over into active dislike. Starvation food only in my book, at least for humans.

[contadina]

I pretty much lived off rabbit as a kid, and I'm afraid my mum's cooking didn't do it justice and I hated it. Since learning a few Italian recipes, however, everyone who has visited has loved it (even confirmed rabbit haters). I'm sure there are good recipes to be had elsewhere, rabbit needn't be tough it can be melt in the mouth (says the vegetarian who has to take others words for it).

[niknik]

I do like rabbit. just don´t buy it as it´s so much more expensive than chicken, and not too dfferent in taste IMO.

I have cooked it and visitors houghtitwas chicken!

Wedid have some rabbits. ( started as pets for kds).. but got he neighbour to take them(6) for a "good home", in exchange foe 3 of hers, rady for the pot!

If I manage to move and get more space, I would definitely consider having them again for meat. just dont know if I´d be able to kill them myself. wel not at first I guess, but ............if needs must!

[Susie]

I'm not vegetarian (I'm ex) but I don't think I could kill something to eat it. I don't think it would make a difference how cute and fluffy it was, I couldn't kill a fish either. I thought I'd be honest because I probably am an example of how remote people have become from a sustainable way of life. If we had to kill our own meat I'd have to get someone else to do it, otherwise I'd go back to being veggie because (although I haven't done this either) I don't feel any squeamishness about milking anything.

We actually had food rabbits as pets when I was small (my dad 'rescued' them from a farmer friend of his). They were really mean. So I don't have particularly sentimental feelings about rabbits (although I do reliably sniffle at the Larkin poem), but, yes, definitely couldn't kill one. Go on, all hate on me ;-).

[Zech]

I'm with Susie on this. I've made a decision not to include animals in my attempts at self sufficiency because I know I couldn't cope with killing them. If I had to choose between killing my own meat and going veggie, I would definitely be veggie (and have been in the past). I don't think I'd have a problem with milking, though I don't know how I'd deal with causing distress to animals by taking the young away from their mothers, so I might end up vegan.

As it is, I have a comfortable buffer between me and the realities of farming, so I live with a mixture of ignoring the issues I find difficult and trying to choose meat that's been well cared for while it was alive. Yes, I am remote from a sustainable way of life.

I was reading a magazine recently (Practical Smallholder or somesuch) which encouraged people to keep rabbits for meat, but in two separate articles authors recommended encouraging children to keep them as pets, saying that children would feel proud of their contribution to the household economy. Um, I can think of other likely reactions than pride when parents kill and eat their children's pets

[gregorach]

I don't think I'd have a problem with milking, though I don't know how I'd deal with causing distress to animals by taking the young away from their mothers, so I might end up vegan.

Managing a herd for milking requires that you "dispose" of the vast majority of the surplus males born every year, and nobody runs nice retirement homes for them. If you're squeamish about killing, it's probably worse than simply raising animals for meat.

[Susie]

Managing a herd for milking requires that you "dispose" of the vast majority of the surplus males born every year, and nobody runs nice retirement homes for them.

Yes, this is where it all gets difficult! With chickens as well - if you were breeding all your chickens (don't know the technical terms), you would end up with male ones and they wouldn't be any good for producing eggs and then before you knew it you'd have hundreds of chickens who weren't contributing anything to the household. This is why I went vegan! And then I couldn't manage it! (Cheezly. Shudder). So I'm back to non-veg. But the whole house of cards is dependent on someone else killing the animals for me. I don't have an answer for this one, it's very difficult .