I'm on another forum and thought I'd see if anyone in here did. I raise about 5 does and 2 bucks but ones time is up and I have 18 grow outs due for freezer camp.
Wife and daughter think they are too cute.. BIL runs a slaughter house few miles down road.. found a little heifer that got born In pen.. was not gonna make it asked if I wanted her... I was thinking sure feed it for a few months and got some good beef.. only hard during bottle feed time.. after that I could graze em easy.. Jon would bring back finish her with corn before slaughter.... wife says what ha gonna name her.. my suggestion tips burger dinner... oh no we are gonna keep her ahhhh no..
Had a goat once, the kids wanted to name him. I said that if they name him, it will be "Dinner," "Delicious" or something similar. Nothing endearing. We were all very happy the day we slaughtered him, he was a royal pain. We tried raising rabbits, but gave that up. Coyotes got the chickens, now I am thinking about bees.
We raised them when I was a kid. I have a rabbit hutch and would like to raise some again. They are very good eating.
Find good breeding stock, I raise California and new Zealand rabbit meaty things that grow big and fast. You can feed them so much stuff around your yard they love weeds to cut your cost of commercial feed. Your local feed store should have 50lb bags of rabbit pellets. I breed my rabbits 4-5 times a year for about 80lbs of meat per rabbit. About 32-40 grow outs a year. I started with 2 does and a buck and it works good.
Their is a group on Facebook back yard meat rabbits with over 30,000 member around north america I'm sure there is a breeder in your area you can get stock off or off CL.
I apologize for not getting back to this. How do you recommend housing the rabbits? To my understanding they don't like heat and need a very clean environment. I would like to do this right the first time not cobble something together that later needs to be fixed.
Ya I have 30"x24" and 36x24 cages that I house them in, the are in a 3 sided shed that I currently have tarpped off so snow and rain can't get to them but yes they aren't so good with heat, new Zealand and California have large ears which helps to keep em cool also if it's really hot I put frozen water bottles in there cages to help. You can build cages for cage stands for them outside in the shade. They are fine just on the cage floor which is 1/2"x 1 wire mesh and there poo just drops down on to the ground for future cleaning also the best fertilizer you can get.
"Lapin A La Colmans.. Quite possibly the most tender and delicious rabbit recipe, bar none. The classic french dish, Rabbit With Mustard."
Thanks for the heads up . My wife and I have been talking about it for awhile and having a lean meat that I know what it has eaten all its life sounds appealing. Having a solid covered area for them was what I was shooting for. I'll probably go over board as I do with everything but heck be something new to try.
I raise meat chickens when it's all said and done you have about 8.00 in bird . But there a lot better than store bought . How much do you end up having in a rabbit ? I like the fact that you don't need to take them to be proccesed. We used to raise them when I was a kid . Would love to do again always wondered about cost .
It's differs from summer to winter, in the summer because I feed alot more weeds and grasses around my property and in the winter it's mainly pellets and hay but on avg it's about $4.50 a rabbit not including start up with cages and feeders. It's a pretty good turn around. Better in the summer for sure. And this year I plan on planting sun hemp which is 30% protein which will significantly reduce my costs on pellets.
