Tiffany S. is what some might call a meat rabbit guru and she’s certain that no matter how cute and fuzzy they are, when it comes down to it, you will be able to do what’s necessary to put food on the table. You can find her over at Raising Rabbits for Meat, a blog appropriately titled since it’s all about how to get started and keep things going if you are interested in raising meat rabbits.
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I know you’re probably thinking that the idea of raising rabbits for meat in-and-of-itself is already a very self-sufficient thing to do. And you’re not wrong. But there are actually even more reasons why raising meat rabbits is an incredibly smart thing to do.
1. First and foremost, growing your own healthy meat in your backyard is without a doubt the number one reason why people start raising their own rabbits. What could be more sustainable than that? You breed your rabbits, let them raise their young for a few weeks, cull the young fryer-sized rabbits and start over. You and your kids can get attached to the breeders, there is very little maintenance compared to other small livestock and you rarely have to get your hands dirty when litters arrive.
2. You’ll not only have a nearly endless supply of meat for yourself, but you’ll also have lots of innards and such for your pets to feast on. I know I’m personally not a huge fan of things like liver or loins (although some would consider it a delicacy), but my dog goes ballistic for that kind of thing. Don’t want to feed it to them raw? Make some liver treats…your dog will never leave your side again!
3. Now once you’ve successfully started providing for your own family, you can also start helping other families put food on the table, either by selling/bartering rabbits to butcher or kits for breeding. Depending on how many you sell, you should be able to cover your own costs and possibly even turn a profit. And trust me, people are getting more and more interested in raising meat rabbits every day…especially with all the outbreaks of disease that keep erupting in the US food chain.
4. Oh, did I mention that these bundles of meat are also covered in lovely fur packages? Make hats, vests, jackets and other clothing out of them…or sell/barter the pelts to others so they can do something useful with them. I hear that Boy Scouts troops are often looking for pelts for various projects they do…so don’t think you have to be a huge supplier to find someone to sell to. And besides, the number of pelts you have will add up quickly.
5. Rabbits absolutely love garden waste and yard clippings…although you do have to be careful what you give them. You can raise healthy, happy rabbits strictly off of your scraps although they won’t be the protein powerhouses that you’re probably used to. During The Great Depression, it was extremely common to raise meat rabbits and that’s exactly how people fed them. You can even feed them twigs and branches from some of your trees (and actually should) so they can wear down those teeth that never stop growing.
6. And let us not forget, what goes in must eventually come out. And when it does, you will have some of the most fabulous fertilizer ever. If you want to be really adventurous, you can raise worms in tandem with the rabbits, feed the worms the droppings and end up with the most incredibly rich fertilizer that will NEVER burn your plants (and with very little work.) Plus it’s free!
So have I convinced you yet that raising rabbits is an incredible way to become more self-sufficient? If you’re thinking about raising rabbits (or already raise them), hop over here and get a free cheat sheet of safe and unsafe foods for rabbits from your own garden. Know exactly what to keep out of reach if you let them hop around your garden…or what you can give them from your table and yard waste that will help them thrive.
Interesting to know so much about rabbits. My aunt once had 2 rabbits but she lived in a city at a ground floor apartment. Don't they litter and smell a lot? That's what she told me, then.
Nehha,
Just with like any animal, if you don't properly clean up after it, it will be smelly. The fantastic thing about rabbits is that you can potty train them, including litter box training. My mom used to have a rabbit that would only go to the bathroom outside. I have a friend who has her rabbit using a litter box like a cat. So as long as you take the proper steps, they shouldn't be smelly.
Great post. Thank you!
I've been trying to talk Jared into meat rabbits so I'm printing this for him! 🙂 Thank you!!
Nicole,
When you two come over on Saturday you can check out our rabbit setup. We can help you talk him into it! 😉
We raise New Zealand White rabbits and have found them to be a great meat breed. At this time we raise them for meat and show bunnies. Great Post! Raising rabbits for meat is a fun and challenging thing to do. You folks have a great blog.
So what if your unsure if you would be able to do the butchering after raising them? and say money is an issue so hiring a company is not an option?
Find someone that does raise and slaughter them and ask them if you can help them the next time they harvest. That will help you figure out if you can do it or not.
Banding together with friends who have done it, is a good way to get the butchering done. It is not fun process, but the wonderful rabbit meat is worth it. Youtube has some good videos as well.
This is sickening. Ugh I think I may puke if I read one more thing about it. I have a Californian bunny as a pet and it is sickening that people raise bunnies to eat them. Good way to put food on the table? NO! Go to the damn store. It is a lot faster and cheaper. Crazy people eat bunny. Heartless people raise these special, sweet, amazing animals to kill them.
Maddy, good for you for supporting the abuse of millions of animals by buying your meat at the store. At least I own the fact that I eat meat and know that it has been raised humanely and killed as quickly as possible. As far as I’m concerned, unless you’re vegan you’ve got no room to judge. Have a great day!
People should always know where their food comes from and not support companies that abuse their animals.. I certainly don’t! I rarely eat meat anyways. Maybe once a week. I use to be a vegetarian, but stopped for personal problems. Eating rabbits is as sick as eating dogs and cats. Have a nice day as well 🙂
Even milk and eggs result in the abuse and slaughter of animals (male calves get turned into veal, male chicks are ground up alive and egg laying hens only live to 18 months before they are slaughtered). Any meat you buy at the store is slaughtered in the same plant that CAFO animals are slaughtered in (all meat for sale must be slaughtered in a USDA inspected facility), so unless you’re buying a live animal directly from the farmer (the only exception is buying poultry directly from the farm) you don’t know how that animal died or spent its last days (which are very stressful).
That said, a rabbit’s life (or a dog’s or a cat’s) is not worth more than a chicken’s, turkey’s, pig’s or cow’s life just because it’s cuter and you think it has a better personality (all of these animals have wonderful personalities and pigs are smarter than dogs). I personally wouldn’t eat a dog or cat because they are carnivores, but pretty much every predator out there eats rabbits, which is why they breed prolifically.
I absolutely do not think rabbits, dogs, and cats lives are worth more. Anyway I believe all slaughter is wrong and I certainly could not raise ANY animal just to kill it.
Then Maddy, you need to become a vegan because eating meat even once a week and eating eggs and dairy mean that you support slaughter.
I Find Rachel pretty amazing. I am sure that before she became so “enlightened” at the behest of her family she ate countless forms of meat. Eggs, chicken, beef, fish, and the works. I wonder if she secretly curses her mother and father for insuring that she had a balanced diet which continues to support her to this day? Not everyone in the world can afford to live on a vegan diet. In many places in the world the terrain and climate do not support such indulgences, are these people less evolved spiritually than you because they need meat products to maintain good health for themselves and their families? But why stop at animals, don’t plants have a right to live, don’t they breathe, respond to stimuli? Isn’t it just as cruel to kill a plant by your rationale as it is to kill an animal? I would fully support the vegan movement taking this next bold step in the preservation of innocent life. Please start immediately Rachel! -Don’t support the slaughter of innocent plants!
Thanks for the information. I have raised rabbits for most of my life. My rabbits eat well and are taken care of and are processed according to the Bible. I raise rabbits so I can cut my grocery bills and to help with my garden. I can feed my rabbits greens off my six acres as well as garden scraps, and kitchen scraps. I am researching starting a worm farm operation as well to sell worms for fishing. As many who are suffering in this economy I hope my “Rabbitry” will help me in my retirement years (or when I can no longer physically able to work).
Rabbits are helping the people in Haiti recover from the quakes there as 2 out of 3 people are still starving there. I have a Vietnamese friend who was subject to the policies of that company. He ate dog and I don’t judge him on that as it was survival and we may all face choices at some point and my choice will be rabbit as it is a better choice for the homesteader due to the diet being able to consist of 75% greens (or 100% you just won’t have a big rabbit). Hopefully our food supplies will stay consistant but should it fail I would hate to see a hungry child due to my lack of being prepared to help my family or neighbors in need. God Blesses His children.
I eat meat and therefore need to acknowledge that animals die for my food. I understand revulsion at this idea, but that revulsion is a luxury. Luxuries are nice (who would turn down a pint of Ben and Jerry’s? not me!), but to live my life in a way I value, I find it necessary to at the very least recognize them.
Raising and slaughtering your own meat allows you to ensure the animal gets a life that makes it that animal version of “happy.” I have backyard chickens, and am considering eating them – they have been “happy,” apparently, and I like the taste of chicken.
I know this may offend you, Maddy. There are many downstream unpleasantnesses about our lives that we can choose to see; slaughtering animals is one. Sweatshops are another. We can only live our lives as well as we can, and accept that others will choose differently.
Rachel, is there a site where I can get a cost breakdown of raising rabbits? I would like to raise SOMETHING but from all the reading I’ve done over the last year or so it seems most livestock is more expensive to raise than buy. I’m mostly interested in feed costs. It seems to me most folks raising self sustaining amounts of any livestock are doing it mostly out of ideology and hobby. From what I’ve read most sites, blogs, all point to rabbits as being the most cost effective but I have not been able to find anyone that has put together a good breakdown of the numbers. I’ve got 6 acres and a few outbuildings that are just sitting around doing nothing. I’ve started gardening last year so I would say I would also be doing this partially as a hobby but getting the bang for my buck is what i’m looking for. Any help in pointing me in the right direction would be appreciated
Andy, as it so happens a friend of mine did do the breakdown on raising rabbits. You can find it here: http://pluckandfeather.com/rabbit-math.html
I am just getting started into rabbit raising and this is all very enlightening. Rachael, your breakdown on the cost of raising a rabbit was very helpful. I intend to build my hutch this weekend but have been procrastinating as I am looking for a good design for 2 does and a buck, probably to house one of the larger rabbit breeds. Any advise would be appreciated (positive feedback please). thanks.
Topbarbeeman, Are you planning on using pre-assembled cages or build your own? If you are building your own find that a 3’deep by 4′ wide is a great size for does with litters that are growing out if you aren’t weaning them at 8 weeks old. You’ll also need at least two large grow out pens (1 ea for bucks and does). I also recommend having more pens than you anticipate needing. We didn’t expect to need more than 5 and now we don’t have enough pens and need to rebuild our rabbitry. We’re making do with makeshift pens now until we can find time to rebuild.
I use 2 X 3 pens for my bucks and does. Make sure your gate is large enough to put nest box in. (for does only). I line mine up 6 holes to the run and have a chicken pen under the rabbits to take care of any spilled food, bugs, grubs (protein for eggs). I sometimes stud out my does for different blood lines and my grow out pen is a “rabbit tractor” that I move around the yard to cut down on my feed bill and a little bit of mowing time as well. I free feed hay to all and a mixture of greens and orchard harvests. Good luck with your rabbits and I cannot stress enough to read and compare what you hear so you know you are getting good advice.
Just to throw in my 2 cents to young (I’m assuming) Maddy, it would also mean if you don’t believe in the farming and slaughter of animals, you should not only be a vegetarian but you should stop using anything made of plastic, rubber, leather, most glue… which would mean you can’t have furniture, plywood to build the house you live in and the list goes on for everything that has glue in it. You would have to also give up fireworks, fabric softners, paint, shampoo, soap, toothpaste, makeup, dog food, cat food, …. the list goes on and on. Not to discourage you but you have a big hill to climb if you want to be animal conscience because almost everything you touch is made in one way or another from an animal. If everything you own is made of cotton, metal, and wood you’re good. But remember for every piece of wood or paper that you take advantage of, every time you use a toothpick some animal has made a sacrifice… I guess that includes metal and cotton too. So basically everything in your life in one way or another is link to animals… Good luck
Thanks for the article, do you know where I can find information about raising the rabbits to sell as raw dog food? It seems there is a lot of unclear information on if you can sell your rabbits for meat. Or if you sell them life & offer to butcher for free
Laura, I’m not sure what the rules are for selling for dog food. I know you can sell live animals and then the customer is responsible for having it slaughtered but I also don’t know if there are rules regarding that (where they have to go). Sorry I’m not much help.
Very well written. Truthfully, I already know all of this information. That being said, I know it after reading tons and tons of different articles about it. This is probably the best article I’ve read (including the follow up in the comments) about the basic joys, and benefits of raising rabbits. It would have been great if I found this article a year ago. Very informative and well written. Thank you.
Before you think you will sell some to pay for food they eat or for profit go to Craig’s List and see how many in your area have the same idea.
We found about 75-100 on any given day here in our area. They were having to practicably give them away and that did not mean they could even do that.
Slaughter, is not easy either. I would find a bunny raiser who would let you participate in his harvest to see if it is your cup of tea or not.
One more thing, eat some rabbit, do you like it? I do not. I do not like the texture or taste.
We will not be raising rabbits in the future. We will stick to Aquaponic fish and eggs and chickens we do like the taste of.