is it really more expensive?

[PTJeff]

I was reading on line today and there was a comment that went like this, it is more expensive to raise meat rabbits than buying them at the store.
Really?

 

[Peach]

Around here, you pay a heck of a lot for rabbit meat. I guess it just really depends what you feed and growth rate of your stock. Also, the cost of buying the cages, water bowls/system,purchasing your stock,etc that can add up. I still rather eat what I raise : I know exactly what went into it.

 

[Miss M]

I spend about $1.25 - $1.50 per pound for rabbit meat raising it myself, with pellets and hay. Rabbit at the store is about $6 per pound here.

I count only my continuing costs -- food, pretty much. I don't count startup. If I hadn't spent it on cages and a rabbitry, I'd have spent it on a garden or something.

I can sometimes get a pork roast for the same price per pound I spend to raise rabbits, and I can sometimes get chicken for less (though its origins are suspect).

 

[Iggysbabysitter]

True, start up is costly, so is losing your stock to disease or predators or inexperience. But in 2 years I have gained a ton of knowledge, experience, understanding (as have my kids), and I have been entertained (I raise meat mutts, but I take great enjoyment in their personalities and antics)... in the end, I think their worth far outweighs the cost. If I was JUST raising for meat purpose and took no enjoyment from the rabbits I keep I might say it's too expensive. Maybe.
(FYI, I found rabbit at the store for $24... I don't EVER pay that much for that little meat... consider the chunk of inside round I can get for $24 when it's $1.97/lb)

 

[DanaYares]

We feed our meat rabbits the most expensive organic pellets and organic oats, supplemented with lots of greens. I worked it out to approx. $3.30 per pound. If I bought rabbit (not organic) at the store it would be $8 per pound. Raising my own meat an knowing exactly how it's been raised, what it has eaten and how it's been slaughtered is priceless to me.

 

[Saiyuri]

Still looking for cheaper source of pellets but even here in the UK it works out to be about the same (so I guess more expensive if you include cages, water bottles, feeders etc) as the lowest quality meat in the store, although mine are allowed to run about in the garden and non GMO pellets.

Could cut it in half but I live to far away to get someone to drive me to pick up my own feed paying alot in postage.

 

[skysthelimit]

If I was doing it to save money I wouldn't do it. I think about it like this, everyone has habits, hobbies, vices in which they pour money into unnecessarily. this is mine

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

If I was doing it to save money I wouldn't do it. I think about it like this, everyone has habits, hobbies, vices in which they pour money into unnecessarily. this is mine

a hobby you can eat livestock :mrgreen:
because you can never have enough enabling lines when interrogated by family/friends hahahaha

 

[MaggieJ]

I haven't calculated ongoing costs in a while, and since the geese and sometimes the chickens are fed from the same bale or alfalfa or sack of greens, it is a little difficult to be accurate.

On pellets, back in 2005-6, my rabbit meat was costing me about $1.50-$1.75 per pound. When I went to natural feeding this dropped to about $0.75 per pound. Pellets have increased in price a lot more than grain and hay since then.

I should mention that it is rare to find any supermarket meat for much less than $2/pound, even on sale. Rabbit meat is very expensive, when you can find it: about $24 for a fryer that looks very scrawny to me, compared to my meat mutts. And who knows whether it came from China or not. I try to avoid foodstuffs from China (although I do buy Chinese garlic because that is usually all you can get. I'm building up my supply from the garden.)

Alfalfa hay costs $3.50 a square bale. Wheat is about $15 a bag if I can get to Belleville (and thank you so much, Iggysbabysitter, for helping me with this!) or about $20 if I have to buy it locally. But it goes a long way!

From May to October, the free greens are the mainstay of the diet. Free is good.

There are a lot of ways to cut start-up costs if you are resourceful. Our goose/rabbit house is made largely of pallet wood. Doors and windows were second-hand. The shingles were a yard sale find. We did buy cage wire and I think it cost about $100 for the initial 4-5 cages. We retrofitted large dog crates with floor wire for the bucks and future breeders. People buy water bottles, feeders etc. etc. at "new" prices when they could start up with crocks and upgrade when there are bargains.

The bottom line is that home-raised rabbit is much cheaper for me than other meat.

 

[skysthelimit]

The bottom line is that home-raised rabbit is much cheaper for me than other meat.

Which is why I got rid of the chickens. Pound for lb, I can feed a rabbit to eating age faster than a Barred Rock chicken to eating age, with less work.

 

[Jack]

Cheapest place to get meat is off something like craigslist, if you can find things like 10 pound rabbits that are going for free or $5, YEAH you are beating your price, BUT do you really want a sick rabbit etc.

raising your own, you know what it's history is, you know it's line etc.
and that might be worth a bit more, but your aren't going to get down to on sale chicken prices unless you shoot jackrabbits.

 

[MaggieJ]

The bottom line is that home-raised rabbit is much cheaper for me than other meat.

Which is why I got rid of the chickens. Pound for lb, I can feed a rabbit to eating age faster than a Barred Rock chicken to eating age, with less work.

I agree... but I am so glad to have a small flock of laying hens too. They keep us in eggs at a very reasonable outlay in feed. Nine hens means I have as many eggs as we can possibly use and some to share with friends. They free range, so from May to October eat only small amounts of purchased feed.

I hate processing chickens. Rabbits are so easy by comparison and they don't have that horrible smell.

 

[Miss M]

From May to October, the free greens are the mainstay of the diet.

How much room does it take to grow the greens you feed your buns, Maggie?

 

[Jack]

From May to October, the free greens are the mainstay of the diet.

How much room does it take to grow the greens you feed your buns, Maggie?

It's called a lawn
the difference it you mow it in the HAY meaning, not the pretty 3" grass

 

[Miss M]

From May to October, the free greens are the mainstay of the diet.

How much room does it take to grow the greens you feed your buns, Maggie?

It's called a lawn
the difference it you mow it in the HAY meaning, not the pretty 3" grass

I'm pretty sure it isn't just fresh grass she's feeding, and I want to know if I have enough open space on the land we're moving to.

 

[skysthelimit]

It's definitely more than just grass. How many bunnies you have depends on how much room. I have 40 buns easily, but live on less than a quarter acre, so there is no way I can raise enough food for that many rabbits. i think you'll have plenty of room, taking advantage of the natural plants already available.

 

[Miss M]

I've got 6 adult buns right now. I'm not breeding right now, because of the upcoming move. I would like to expand my rabbitry a little.

We'll have two acres, but about 2/3 acre is heavily wooded. Another 2/3 is lightly wooded, and that's where the house will go. I do want to keep as many trees as I can, but I also have to have enough open space to grow stuff.

 

[skysthelimit]

I've got 6 adult buns right now. I'm not breeding right now, because of the upcoming move. I would like to expand my rabbitry a little.

We'll have two acres, but about 2/3 acre is heavily wooded. Another 2/3 is lightly wooded, and that's where the house will go. I do want to keep as many trees as I can, but I also have to have enough open space to grow stuff.

Might already have some good natural forage material growing there, like clovers, plaintain, dandelion, or other greenery. Some of those trees might be able to provide some food too. A survey party of kids and friends, armed with a weed ID book is in order

 

[MaggieJ]

From May to October, the free greens are the mainstay of the diet.

How much room does it take to grow the greens you feed your buns, Maggie?

Due to my bad knee and the roughness of the land, I rarely forage in more than the two acres right around the house. The plants regenerate within a week to ten days this time of year, so I go one direction for awhile and then another. I've finally got Brian trained not to mow everything at once. :lol: So there is always nice new growth.

It's surprising how much you can get from weeding the vegetable garden. The weeds always seem more lush there. Must be the bunny berries.

We have what used to be a patch of alfalfa, red clover and timothy... just the size of a normal vegetable garden. It still gives us a lot of timothy and some alfalfa. I want to seed a new area next spring with alfalfa and clover. It really helps to have a patch to pick from, especially when the weather is bad. Our big weeping willow tree is a blessing. I heartily recommend planting a few if they will grow in your area.

 

[Miss M]

Thanks, Maggie!