Apparently I'm a horrible person.. plus 1 question...

[ipoGSD]

So my brother in law dispatched 6 rabbits for me tonight, we have 3 little dogs so that's 2 meals each for them, technology it's probably 3 if not 4 meals. The rest either have homes or I'm letting them get bigger for my gsd.

Everyone is furious at me and my BIL for doing it. They all knew from the jump the reason we were raising them was for food. They think it's evil that I was able to love them and hug kiss and spoil them then have it done. They all refuse to see its better they were treated with love and kindness vs how animals are treated before they end up in those clean neat meat packages in the grocery store.

It wasn't something we enjoyed, we dont need the guild trip! but my dogs love rabbit, it's very healthy for them and it helps us save money. But they don't care, everyone is flippppping out. We didn't even plan on telling them but when my BIL told his wife, there went the idea of keeping it quiet..

Anyway for my question.. I plan on freezing them whole, then cutting them in half while frozen. Do I let them get room temp before I freeze or can I freeze right away?

 

[Zass]

My family gave me a hard time about the rabbits too...
Then, they got over saying anything about it when i was able to defeat their arguments with an unflinching resolve that my rabbit did indeed enjoy a better life and less stressful dispatch than most commercial meat animals.
Finally they started feeling a little proud when people they worked with started asking me for rabbit meat, brood stock, or advice on care.

I don't see any problem with freezing right away if they are just for dogs.

 

[ipoGSD]

I've explained til I was blue in the face that those convenient meat packages that we all buy are abused their whole lives then die horribly. They just refuse to see it and understand. They shut me up when I attempt to explain the conditions they are kept in. Their argument is they don't have to see it grow up or any aspect of it so it's not mean to just buy the meat.

Oh well.. it's going to keep happening so hopefully even if they don't like it they can ignore that I do it.

 

[wamplercathy]

My family thinks I'm nuts too.
Butcher a cow fine
Butcher a pig fine
Butcher a rabbit not ok?
I show them my arm and the scratches and they shut up quick. I'm proud that I can put hormone and antibiotic free meat on my table.

Anyways I butcher 3 at a time. Cleaned and skinned. Then rinse them real well with cold water and then freeze. I never leave any out unless I'm planning on cooking it that night or the next day.

Chin up people are crazy. But you might want to invest in a lock for your rabbitry.

Some how releasing tame rabbits into the wild is more humane then the safe cage with clean water, pellets on demand, and all the hay they can eat. :evil: But what do we know we only care for them 24/7. :x :lol: :lol:

 

[FourRingCircus]

We are reading Little Britches aloud with the kids and the father in the story explains it well when he is comforting his son after he sees the pigs they raised hanging up for butchering. I can't find the exact quote right now, but essentially it's not a sad event, they fulfilled their duty here on earth. The only time it's sad is if life is cut short before they can reach their God given potential. I'll have to search for it a bit more tonight or tomorrow... time for bed!

 

[akane]

My family just decided they didn't want to see or hear about any of the butchering and beyond part. No rabbit meat or anything. I can't stick dog or cat eating prey model raw on my facebook. I had to butcher down in the trees at the end of the pasture until I moved and now I butcher in the bathroom. Despite understanding all of it and not having a logic problem with it my husband couldn't stand to look at rabbit meat. I had to start out removing the legs from the body and the feet off those and packaging them up in their own baggies. Then repeatedly telling him to give the dogs a treat and insisting that it just looks like chicken wings in the bags. I also had to confine the cats on raw rodent feeding day and clean all the blood up before my husband got home. Eventually he realized it was not horrible to see the processed meat even when the animal is whole - minus head and fur/feathers. Just before we switched to cavy instead of rabbit he had reached the point that if we had a particularly bad tempered rabbit he could actually know the carcass he was handing the dogs was that rabbit. The cavy he doesn't even care now because he doesn't like them anyway.

If you think bringing up meat rabbits to people is bad try cavy.... We tell absolutely no one their purpose. I had to let my sister in on it because she went with me to pick up some new breeding stock and the breeder brought it up. She hasn't said anything. Most things she finds out get back to my mom but this one might have been bad enough she didn't want to be the one spreading it.

 

[JudyM]

Misery loves company... I had my first kindling this past Sunday - 8 kits! So I send out a text to my family 'cause I'm excited. I probably sent it to 7 people. No one responded. When I first brought home my 2 does and a buck they were, ooohh, how cute! You're gonna do what!!!??? One of my sisters later apologized for her reaction but I know that doesn't change how she feels about it.
Thanks to all who shared what they go through. I know I will need to use some of your arguments. And I will post pictures when I figure out how to do that - I'm computer challenged.

 

[Rainey]

I've been surprised at how accepting people have been of our decision to raise rabbits for meat. I have extended family members who wince and say they couldn't do that, but they don't put us down for doing it. And last year we had several visitors who were really interested in helping with processing rabbits because they were thinking about raising more of their own food and wondering whether they could process their own meat.
Way back when I was homeschooling my son and daughter before that was less common than now, I heard other parents worrying about how people reacted to them. I didn't get hassled much. When anyone did start the "how could you do that to your children" routine, I told them I'd chosen not to institutionalize my children and didn't understand why so many other parents chose to do that. But I didn't get into long arguments. And neither I nor my children felt anxious or defensive about what we'd chosen.
Same thing with raising our own food. We know that not everyone chooses to do it. But it makes sense to us and we're willing to share what we've learned with anyone interested and to shrug off people who would call it cruel or unreasonable without being willing to look at the choices they make about what they eat.
So hang in there, those of you who are being bullied. Take a deep breath and try not to let them push your buttons.

 

[AprilW]

.

 

[akane]

When someone gets upset over raising for dog food I just point out cats and dogs are not vegetarian/vegan like them and cannot be. Then I point them in the direction of how and what meat gets into dog food such as battery hens, ground up rooster chicks, and what is designated denatured meat. I haven't had a single person continue after that but I do know there are a few out there that would argue dogs and maybe even cats can do a vegetarian diet. Luckily these are rare people.

 

[Rabbitdog]

Foolishness runs far and wide in our overly prosperous society. We are truly victims of our own success. Don't waste your breath trying to enlighten a fool. Commercial food production has separated consumers from their food way too much. What this country needs is a long, healthy famine! What a sad world we have become.

 

[BlueHaven]

And the sad thing is, that, this world probably would not need to suffer hunger at all. Just look at all the meat we throw away. I think rabbits and small animals like guinea pigs could do so much to feed this world, but for some reason, its not happening. I would much rather see a savage dog go to feed someone than be put in a landfill. Seems crazy to me.

 

[ButtonsPalace]

We are reading Little Britches aloud with the kids and the father in the story explains it well when he is comforting his son after he sees the pigs they raised hanging up for butchering. I can't find the exact quote right now, but essentially it's not a sad event, they fulfilled their duty here on earth. The only time it's sad is if life is cut short before they can reach their God given potential. I'll have to search for it a bit more tonight or tomorrow... time for bed!

First of all my kittens name is Little Britches but he has like a million nicknames lol. Second of all as I see it rabbits are *meat rabbits* for a reason. Smaller "pet" rabbits were bred later on for size and tameness *Correct me if I'm wrong* But I mean what are rabbits out in the wild? Fluffy little cuties that just run and play all day and enjoy life to the fullest? I think not. It's more like a constant struggle to live having to find food, water, shelter and survive from predators. I am starting to breed meat rabbits and having to come to face the facts of it all. I love my buns but I'm going to have to separate pet from food in my mind. I might not even eat any of the first few but who knows. I managed to eat lamb on easter and it was good so I just gotta get out of my head about it! But I love all my bunnies and I tell them I love them and I give them treats they are all very happy rabbits and it shows when you see them come up to the front of the cage like Hi! I only have 3 that don't and I've only had them a few weeks so they don't know me yet

 

[GBov]

I just ask anyone with a problem if they are Vegan. If the answer is no then I say we have nothing to talk about then.

And if its yes, then I say "At least I KILL my food first, you eat your carrots ALIVE!" :x

Laughter is great for diffusing things. :lol:

Seriously though, I dont hide what I do with my animals, even the guinea pigs were right out there. Many people react with horror but most are interested and some convert to raising their own.

Raising for pet food, funny enough, is harder for people than raising for people food. Dont know why that is but when I was trying to work out how many chicks I would need to hatch to raise for the dog I got some, um, interesting? reactions.

But it makes perfect sense, one bag of sweet feed ($7.99) will raise 20 chicks to between 3 - 6 weeks of age. Well, good dog food costs waaaaay more that that! And hte fact I can hatch our own eggs makes it even better. And the dog LOVES chicken so win win!

Rabbit is a bit too good for him though so he only gets gutty bits, feets, heads and the odd one found dead in the nest box.

:roll: Had a lovely discussion once on respect to the dead when I didnt bury a dead bunny but gave it to the dog instead. :roll:

Sometimes though, one has to agree to disagree and then never raise the topic again. One of my friends its religion, another its politics and still another its meat but we are all still friends, despite having things we dont talk about together.

 

[a7736100]

I would cut them up before freezing. It's hard to cut frozen meat.

 

[Kenzierey]

I have had a lot of people get very very upset with me this year. We have done chickens and people have known for a while that my boyfriend and I wanted to expand beyond chickens but when I told them about the rabbits there was a huge backlash. I felt like I had no support and that everyone was against me. It took a while but now I have way more people on my side than when I had started this journey. I have found that inviting people to be a part of it has helped tremendously. I frequently post pictures of current litters and such and I have been very open about it since the beginning. If I am talking to a new person about it, I try to get a sense of how well they would be able to handle it and if I get the feeling that they are sensitive I generally stick to talking about chickens and avoid the rabbit topic all together.

My friend videotaped one of our chickens being butchered and put it on Facebook with a warning last week. The response was incredible! I was expecting so much backlash but everyone was praising us surprisingly. Even many vegans and vegetarians were commenting on how humane and well done it was. There was only ONE response that was negative and everyone quickly came to our defense and jumped down that hypocritical girl's throat for what she had said. It made me feel so much better. People were genuinely interested.

After the positive response from the video, I decided to make a post on our next butcher day inviting anyone who was curious about it to come and watch. Quite a few people showed up. Lots and lots of animal lovers, two girls who even said that holding the babies made them sad because they knew what they were being raised for showed up and watched. My boyfriend ended up having his first mess-up in front of all these people. He didn't get a clean kill on the rabbit and it came to and started squealing, not moving, just squealing. It was the first mess up I had seen and I was slightly upset. Turns out these animal lovers who were so against it earlier in the year, ended up consoling ME! It affected me way more than anyone who had been watching. Even though it was a mess up people were still impressed with how easy and quick it was. People watched in awe while he skinned and gutted the rabbit. They were even passing the organs around the group! And we have had multiple requests for rabbit meat since then. I have found that being very open about it and turning it into a learning experience for the people who are against it has been the best way to combat the negative responses. And for the ones who can't keep an open mind, who are just honestly obnoxious about it and just want to throw their opinion in there, well I say SCREW EM'! I smile and ignore them just like how they choose to ignore all the benefits to butchering yourself.

 

[GBov]

Well done YOU!!!

 

[SEP board]

Has anyone ever watched 'Man Women Wild'? It's a husband and wife (Mykel and Ruth Hawke) team. He's a former Green Beret and she was a journalist. He takes her all over the world and they survive in different scenarios. In one, she has to dispatch a chicken. She made the statement that everyone should have the experience of getting their own food in this fashion as it makes you appreciate what you have i.e. the convenience of the grocery store.

Plus, and this is the most important part, you don't NEED the grocery store when you have this type of self reliant skill.

 

[GBov]

Because of this kind of skill, I havnt bought meat, of any kind, for over 3 years.

 

[Schipperkesue]

With great pride I showed my brother pictures the chickens I raised and had processed. They were professionally packaged and in my eyes something I was extremely proud of. His reaction was so upsetting. Disgust, annoyance and no understanding of why I was so proud. It cut me to the quick. He eats chicken, for goodness sake.