Meat Rabbit Farming

160kg of meat produced per year per doe

High protein, low fat

Significantly lower FCR (Feed Conversion Rate) (2.5-3) than Beef (4.5-7), Pork (3.8-4.5), Lamb (4-6) and close to Broiler Chickens (2-3.5).

I also feed my family off my animals with relative ease and minimal loses as well as minimal land use and no supplemental heating during the winter, my rabbits live outside all year long in simple hutches with runs, no need for a barn and no concerns with predators.

https://www.agriorbit.com/meat-rabbi...ng-population/

I can sell my government slaughtered animals for $8/lb.

Is it true they can live on nothing but hay bales?
That would be a very cheap animal to raise.

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Originally Posted by johny

Is it true they can live on nothing but hay bales?
That would be a very cheap animal to raise.

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Rabbit tractors work very well, similar to a chicken tractor. Essentially you have a cage with wire on 6 sides and a sheltered area in part of it. You drag this around the yard and the rabbits eat the fresh grass, you can do this a couple times a day, I have not yet made any due to the number of projects I have on the go but I have some friends who do it, their feed cost is less than mine. The key is to feed grass and not alfalfa, alfalfa gives them the runs, a small animal like that can be dead in hours with the runs.

It Britain in WWII they encouraged people to raise rabbits for meat, this reduced the amount of meat needed by the people and helped out the rations, you can raise them on weeds or grass in your yard, they are quiet, they do not smell much and their poop can be used right away as fertilizer, unlike most fertilizers which is too hot and needs to be aged.

What does the abattoir charge per rabbit down your way?

It was $5 per rabbit here for a while, but it is now $10 per rabbit.

I finally got a couple more young does, our previous does, unfortunately, both died within the past 7 months.

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Originally Posted by mooboy76

What does the abattoir charge per rabbit down your way?

It was $5 per rabbit here for a while, but it is now $10 per rabbit.

I finally got a couple more young does, our previous does, unfortunately, both died within the past 7 months.

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$5.50 with custom labels, that is 2 hours away too. We are in the process of getting the local abattoir involved, they used to do rabbits but got out of it. There are a number of producers here that would be using them, myself included, when you are looking at 200+ rabbits going in a year per producer they start to perk up.

It is really cool to see your product on the store shelves, not something you sold at a sale barn but your product that you had processed and sold to the local grocery store, my rabbits for sale locally to local residents. We are in the process of developing a local network for rabbit in the area, hoping to supply the restaurant market too, directly would be the ideal because it is the most profitable but through an intermediary if necessary, although this hits the price per pound quite a bit.

Where are you guys getting your starter stock? Live trap the neighborhood rabbits? If so I got a few you can have.

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Originally Posted by Snowwalker

Where are you guys getting your starter stock? Live trap the neighborhood rabbits? If so I got a few you can have.

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Where do you get chickens?

There are tons of different breeds, some for fur, yes fur, some for meat, some for show and pets, no different than chickens really.

The main rabbit breeds for meat are Californian and New Zealand White, we have mixes of these, the Californian tend to have a bigger back end, the whites tend to have a larger litter, the mix has done well for us.

There are meat rabbits in my family, my family who raised them was amazed by our rabbits and our production, the past hot summer slowed things down for us but we will be breeding this winter, heat kills rabbits, cold does not bother them one bit.

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Originally Posted by Fox

Where do you get chickens?

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The grocery store...

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Originally Posted by Snowwalker

The grocery store...

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Ha ha ha, there are many breeds of chickens for many different purposes and the same for all other types of livestock, rabbits are livestock the same as anything else.

We raised lambs for the first time this year, I was amazed by how many different breeds there are, just around our area.

The wife cooks a lot of chicken, and I have thought about putting rabbit pens in the back yard. Just enough supply the pot, not really to fill the freezer or sell for profit. Though if we raise enough they could pay for themselves.

Less noisy then chickens..

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Originally Posted by Snowwalker

The wife cooks a lot of chicken, and I have thought about putting rabbit pens in the back yard. Just enough supply the pot, not really to fill the freezer or sell for profit. Though if we raise enough they could pay for themselves.

Less noisy then chickens..

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Check your zoning, in many cases you can have rabbits but not chickens.

They taste sort of like chicken, to the point of being able to use a similar recipe but they are a bit sweeter. They are not fatty, leaner than chicken, so sauced is good but not necessary if you take care.

Remember, these are not the spruce bud eating old rabbits we go out hunting, these are 8-10 weeks old for a fryer and up to 16 weeks or so for a larger roaster, they are much more tender than the wild counterparts and a heck of a lot more meat on them.

The only real problem is that they are cute and cuddly, convincing my wife to help at slaughter is a chore.

Oh, a note on slaughter, if you are selling, feeding to someone that is not your immediate family or having the meat leave your property in any way then you need to have the animals slaughtered at a licensed facility, for your own consumption on your own property you can self slaughter. This turns the meat from a $4/lb cost to you down to about $1.75-2/lb for your meat in the freezer, cost.

We did not do any this year for us, supplying clients and enough other meat in our freezer from other animals, but a couple years back we had 80 or so rabbits in the freezer for us, ground, cubes and rabbit wings (front legs done of the BBQ and sauced), the 100 yard challenge, every item on our plates for a good chunk of the winter came from within 100 yards of our door.

I loved raising rabbits when I lived in the country , had 150 New Zealand does for a while , rabbits are super productive if managed intensively

"The only real problem is that they are cute and cuddly, convincing my wife to help at slaughter is a chore"

I can see that being a problem.