keeping rabbits for meat... any experience, anyone?

[burek]

We have the opportunity to keep rabbits for meat.
Has anyone tried this?
How easy/difficult is it?
If we dig the fencing down deep enough, does it actually benefit them to have space to move about it as opposed to just hutches?
Would you reccommend separating the does and the buck until you actually want them to breed?
What do you do with the skins?

If they are fairly easy to look after (we have PT jobs away from home as well you see) then it should in theory be a much cheaper way of consuming meat here.

[Clara]

Hello again.

Been thinking about this too. My main worry is escapees, we don´t have many rabbits here, virtually none. I don´t want to be responsible for a plague (I think I´d get lynched!).

Anyway I think you´d have to dig about 3 feet into the ground and concrete to have a hope of keeping them in (and foxes out). I would also build them overground burrows to discourage digging. Then you´d want to keep an eye on them, so if you´re away for too long it might not be a good idea.

I personally think that if you´re going to eat an animal then the least you can do is let it have the best quality of life before you do so, therefore hutches are out for me. Ethics aside, all free range meat tastes better than caged.

That said, if you can overcome these problems, you can get a lot of meat very easily by keeping rabbits.

Clara x.

[farmerdrea]

We keep rabbits for meat - Standard Rexes, and have done for about 4 years now. We really wanted to have them in large runs, but they dug out. For the number of rabbits we had then, it really wasn't feasible to put them in a mini "paddock" area with the fences dug underground, so now keep them in large runs, with an indoor house and a long outdoor run, which is moved each time the house/run is cleaned, which is about once a week. This winter, we're building a large shed for the rabbits, with metal sides (so they won't chew) about 18 inches up, so we can fill it with dirt so they CAN dig (but also with a metal floor under the dirt, so they can't get below that), where they can live like a proper, but smaller, warren. We have 3 does who grew up together, and who get along well, and they and 3 others who we THINK will get along (does can be VERY territorial, and quite vicious with it - growling, biting and kicking - we haven't kept any vicious does for breeding).

Since we keep them also for their pelts, which I have piling up but haven't used yet, we keep them till prime pelt stage, which means they have shed their baby coat and ground in the first adult coat. The hair stays better after the pelts have been tanned. Prime pelt is usually 4-6 months old.

We feed rabbit pellets along with rolled grains, and whatever greenstuff is coming from the farm (vege scraps, herbs, grasses, weeds, leaves, apple tree twigs, etc - they taste nicer when they have a varied diet, otherwise, they tend to taste like alfalfa/lucerne, which is bulk of the rabbit pellets!).

We try to make sure we have about 2/month to eat during the course of the year, so don't raise a huge amount, and have the does have 1-2 litters a year.

We have the occasional escapee, but they never go far from the rest of the rabbits, because it's always a doe trying to get to a buck , or a buck trying to get to a doe, and they are very easy to catch. We have one adult buck who's named Steve, for Steve McQueen of The Great Escape! From kithood, he'd get out every single day, hide in the barn and play catch-as-catch-can with us. We still don't know how he was getting out. Lately, as it's the breeding season again, he's been at it again, but he's such a pet from being handled so much, he doesn't even run away, but sits there waiting for us to get him and put him back in his run.

If you have any other questions, I'll do my best to answer.

Cheers
Andrea
NZ

[contadino]

Oh thanks Andrea. I've been reading up on keeping rabbits for meat for months, and I think I've been struck by that internet phenomenon whereby people only comment about bad experiences. You make it sound quite simple.

I get my two does and a buck on 2nd May and have been making hutches and runs ready for them. Fingers crossed.

[Shirley]

I'd never even thought of keeping rabbits for food. We tend to try and keep them OUT of the garden

They sound like they could be quite entertaining in terms of being able to escape - might even be up there with goats!

Anyone in the UK do this?

[farmerdrea]

Good luck with your rabbits, Contadino! One thing I forgot to mention is that when you build your hutches, use untreated wood. Rabbits love to chew wood, and unless you wrap all the wood with metal, they will, whether it's painted, stained, treated, etc. Wood treatment chemicals are nasty! Also, to keep them from chewing their house, even if it is untreated wood, we give them tree branches and twigs to chew (apple is the best fruit wood for them to chew, stone fruit wood isn't good as it can give them diarrhea; willow is a good one, as are poplar, birch, and maple).

Cheers
Andrea

[burek]

Fab replies. Youve' motivated me to take the first step and go to see the local 'rabbit man' to see how he keeps them and maybe, just maybe, bring home some little friends. Let us know how you get on Contadino, maybe we can compare notes soon.