Raising rabbits for meat

[John Galt 1]

Goal,     
Keep 1-2 does and one buck to only be mated once or twice a year (we can only eat so much rabbit meat).      Extremely low maintance and need the ability to leave rabbits unattended for a week occasionally.     Minimal feeding/care costs and effort; my life is busy enough.

I have about 300 sf in partial shade with thick grass/weeds much of the year that would be easy to fence.       Area can be expanded to 700 sf with minimal work.       Burried waterline in the area so automatic watering a possibility.      Close to the house so few predator problems and I'd run an electric top line on top of a 3' tall fence.       I'd also put rocks on the fence line to discourage digging.

I'd keep the buck fenced away from the does except when I wanted to breed.      Wood for hutches would be at no cost but if I've got to spend $8 in feed per eating rabbit it's not worth it to me.         From what i understand rabbits grow much faster on feed but I'm trying to minimize feed costs and the effort of daily feeding.

How much thick grass does it take to feed a healthy rabbit?     I can get a roll of good hay to feed when the grass is poor (winter) but I want to minimize store bought feed.

Seperate but related question.       Like the requirements for selling eggs can I sell frozen rabbit in small numbers?     Less than a few hundred per year.       I ask because I've got several acres that I can expand the rabbits on if I can make a profit.

[Lilburner]

Good questions! I like the unattended aspect, and I have a structure I'm trying to do something with.

Every heard of "rabbit starvation"? Apparently you can't live off rabbit meat because it's too lean.

ETA: I went to a local-ish farm for a "how to kill animals" demo and they kept the rabbits in tractors - just moved them around to fresh grass. don't know if that replaced any supplemental feeding or what the off-season arrangement was.

[Starlady]

I have chickens and prefer their taste but when I was researching rabbits I came across a few articles about 'colony' living.  You basically dig down into the perimeter a foot or so, put in fencing (you need more than rocks for rabbits), cover it up and then put up your regular fence.  Or just bury 1-2' of a 4-5' fence.   A few small dog houses and once that digging work is done, it's practically maintenance free.  You keep the boy next door and just put the girls in with him when you are ready to breed - removing them afterwards.

I've researched selling eggs, ducklings, chicks & adults in the past 6 months.  To sell any kind of dressed meat, you need a USDA license (and all the hassle of getting approved), plus GA stuff, too. Between the two, you will keep absolutely nothing private in your life (I looked at the applications!) and you are subject to unannounced inspections.  You CAN sell the whole rabbit to someone as long as they don't dress it on your property. Are they likely to come after you for 10-20 a year?  Probably not, but if they do or you get too big, the fines are hefty and they will kill ALL your rabbits to stop you.   In NW GA, I know several folks who've tried to make money selling rabbits and while they could get it to self sustaining, there wasn't any profit to speak of.  It's simply not a big market.  The GA Vet's Office was kind enough to return a phone call during my research when things got stupid complicated with the chicken/duck issue.  They basically told me all the above and that as long as I was selling live animals or eggs from my property (or meeting somewhere), DIRECTLY to the general public, they were fine.  If I sold wholesale to TSC or set up at a farmer's market, they DID care. 

And getting insurance for it is even more damn complicated.  Still, the folks I knew who did it had neither licenses or insurance and were probably under the radar since they were small ops.

Of course, if bad things happen, all bets with rules are probably off. 

[BennyMG1]

I’ve heard that cat tastes a lot like rabbit. I think y’all are looking at this all wrong. For rabbits you need pens and feed and all kinds of stuff. Heck, you feed one stray cat and in a month you have 50

[John Galt 1]

Thanks Starlady,     I was hoping you would chime in on this.      I figured that since you had researched egg sales you may have some information.

At this point I guess the question is does anybody know how many square feet of pasture does it take to mostly feed a meat rabbit?         If the area is too large the fencing costs are too high, but daily feeding with expensive feed also isn't a good choice for me.

[HogJowlHomestead]

I raised rabbits in a 9x9 “rabbit tractor”. I only needed to move it every other day with an average of 12 rabbits in at one time. you could rotate that tractor on a 1/8 acre if you were diligent. The grass just grows right back. And i used them on bald spots in my lawn for fertilizer and those spots are gone. Sometimes the community thing works out but iv had does kill each other. I raised them caged at first and it was frankly a pain to keep up with. Maybe if you installed a 5 gallon water system on the cages you could do 3 checks a week. I really enjoyed the meat, rabbit starvation is of little concern right now because there plenty of fat in our diets as is. (i know you mean like shtf) but a can of sardines would probally cover the fat you need.

The tractor needs wire mesh bottom to keep them from burrowing out. Every time its moves the rabbits need to be put up in a cage so you dont break there feet. I had hanging cages in the hoop house for there nesting boxes and to put them when it came time to drag it aroumd. I would say you are looking at 100 sqft per rabbit, If you only had one rabbit in the tractor i dont think it would even need to be moved.

I only supplimented feed when they were pregnant and i would lock the does in there nesting boxes a week before i thought they were due so they could get it all ready with hay and fur to make there nest.

[upacreek]

Benny - that's not nice. LOL

My late husband nearly got us kicked out of a fancy-shmancy dog bone place in CA by wearing his "Cat - the other white meat" t-shirt.

In all seriousness, I've seen where rabbits live in my yard and always thought that I'd just trap them if I needed a meat source.  I need to get some fencing anyway.  I'll just get extra and store it.  How about guinea pigs?  They breed like rabbits and are easy to keep as well.  Since they aren't wild around here, I'm betting the climate isn't perfect for them.

Fatman is my cat - aka Vader aka Fata$$ aka Fattie - not my son, Luke.  My husband was also a Star Wars fan. - He'd be good for a few meals and then I'd work on Luke.

[Starlady]

For those of you planning on trapping and breeding wild rabbits be aware that they are nothing like the domesticated rabbits usually used.  My previously mentioned research showed that they almost NEVER become tame, nor do the babies.  They don't and never will taste like any rabbit bred for meat.  (Then again, neither do chickens, lol.)  They bite HARD and do not do very well in captivity.  Several die hard preppers have actually recommended against planning for or counting on it as a reliable meat source.


Not saying it can't or even shouldn't be done if bad things happen, just passing along info so you don't get a shock.

[John Galt 1]

I've heard the same thing about using wild rabbits for breeding for meat.        Not a good choice.         That's part of the reason I'm considering keeping a domesticated pair around.

[Fixit]

On feeding rabbits. Small holdings in Europe often don't use store bought feed . Garden scrap along with wayside grass is there feed . Through the grass growing season they cut x amount of grass a day. Feed what they need and spread out to dry the rest . Once grass has dried it is loose stacked under cover for winter use .

[nj_m715]

good idea, make rabbit hay with a lawn mower
my rabbits eat very little feed in the summer. they loved mullberry cuttings
they ate the leaves and chewed the branches

[ChristianJ]

Right now I am raising rabbits in cages in a shed I built specifically for that purpose. Finally got the system down to 2 checks a week (when not kindling). Using feed.

It's a hassle. Not sure I would recommend it. It's one of those things, the more you think ahead and develop a system, the more you will get out of it. I also have not been that intentional about the breeding program (did one breed to each doe), harvesting the meat, and really getting the benefit out of the system. I'm starting to move on to other things mentally and time wise...

I'm also becoming more and more aware that homesteading is a lifestyle for a family, not an individual person. It scales very badly exponentially downward for less than 4 people... for the inputs you put into the system. And you have to think of it from a systems based approach, or you will lose time, effort, and money (all three).

[Starlady]

I think that really depends on how far you want to take it and if you have another job.  You do, I don't.  I will do without beef, goat, sheep etc, because at my age, I won't have anything around that can knock me down, lol.

I'm a pretty decent gardener & have planted a lot of permanent food, so with poultry and local hunting, I don't see food boredom being an issue. 

I will repeat, though, that unless you've done some of this stuff you are going to be totally amazed at how much time growing (or breeding), caring for, harvesting and preserving your own food is going to take.  The post apoc books just don't put enough emphasis on that; there's always an elderly lady who keeps the 'farm' running and puts on a feast for 7-10 family members and that won't work. Just growing enough veggies & fruit, then putting them up at harvest for that many people, while still keeping them fed,  will require more than one person.    Start practicing!

[8greenbeans]

Y'all are right, Christian and Star. I'm the one doing 95% of the work on our wee bitty homestead (plus keeping the house, raising the grandbabies, staying on the homeschool high schooler to complete her work, caring for Dad, and trying to care for my own health issues) with hubs having a full time job but helping do the big projects. My cousin helps when she can but her health is not the best and sometimes I need to run errands for/with her when she is unable to drive. This is why I became okay with scaling back to the bare minimum - just enough that we could get it going again in a pinch whether that meant there was less on me and could "do it all" or if shtf and then I had hands to help since there wouldn't be a choice but to help.

The only thing I have to add to the rabbit discussion is actually just repeats of what others have said - rabbits dig way down and out so rocks around a perimeter will not discourage the digging; I plan on doing tractors except during breeding time with minimal 'outside' feed; and I have a friend that absolutely *loves* raising/breeding/harvesting her bunnies - she also homesteads, homeschools, and helps with her hubby's home business... another friend also loves her rabbits - however, her hubs does everything except the cooking - he is actually who I and the first friend mentioned learned from.

[ChristianJ]

This is why I became okay with scaling back to the bare minimum - just enough that we could get it going again in a pinch whether that meant there was less on me and could "do it all" or if shtf and then I had hands to help since there wouldn't be a choice but to help.

THIS makes a lot of sense to me right now both for what you wrote about your situation and also for mine.

I went from 2 pigs, a number of ducks, chickens, and rabbits, down to just chickens and rabbits. And it feels good.