Ate Our First Rabbit

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K

kotapony

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Location
Gladesville, WV
Ate our first rabbit on Saturday! A couple days before we did our first butcher. Of my 11 kits, 4 were bucks so we did those first. I caught the rabbits (not hard when the come running over to climb on my feet), and hubby did the rest. I supervised. :lol:

The first one hubby dispatched with a  couple of rubber mallet blows to the head. Once he was done he said he didn't realize how thin the skulls were - one good hit would have been sufficient. The second rabbit went well - one good hit then he held the rabbit up by the hind legs for a minute  to let the blood drain. The third rabbit he tried breaking its neck, and we didn't like that method as well. He just did it by hand so it wasn't quite as clean a kill, and left the bloody mess at the neck others have talked about, even using more efficient methods to break the neck. One good, solid hit with the rubber mallet seemed to work really well for him, so that's what he plans to stick with. I have the world's worst aim so it's not something I'd try, but since hubby doesn't mind doing the butchering, I'll probably just end up leaving it to him. 

Cleaning the rabbits actually took a little longer as hubby tried doing them on a counter on a cutting board. It went fine, but he originally learned to do them tied up and he finds that's what he prefers. 

The buns rested in the fridge a couple days, and Saturday before church we needed a quick meal so we put one whole into the pressure cooker. It came out really yummy and talk about an easy meal. Even my daughter (17 months) really liked it. So it looks like rabbit is going to become a steady meal around here. :)
 
Yay! Congratulations on taking the plunge. My Hubs shoots em with a pellet gun, and hasn't tried any other method. Whacking them or dislocating the neck is a little too personal and hands on for his taste. Kind of a pity, because I was thinking of giving the heads to the dogs but don't want them spitting bullets out- I'm concerned about the lead. Kudos to your Hubs for experimenting with different methods.
 
Glad your first butchering session went well, Katie... and that you and your family enjoyed the rabbit meat. Makes it all worthwhile, doesn't it, to put a delicious, home-raised, home-cooked meal on the table. :)
 
Yay! Sounds like your first try went very well. I am excited to try out my new pressure cooker. How long did you cook and what did you put in there with it?

__________ Mon Dec 26, 2011 10:53 pm __________
 
The easy digestibility is great for hubby. He was diagnosed with crohn's disease early this past spring, and I about lost him over the summer. He lost 40 pounds in a couple of months and was so weak he couldn't even get out of bed for a month solid. It took 6 months of me pretty well running the farm single handed before we finally got things back under control. He takes a number of natural supplements and cannot eat any preservatives at all, and no vegetable oils. Natural fats are OK and a small amount of olive oil once in a while. But it's been a pretty big change for both of us. Before this nothing ever bothered him. He's even had to give up hamburger. He can do steak/roast thankfully, but not hamburger. Keeping beef cows, that used to be a household staple. But it's truly amazing how hard it is to find food without preservatives in it. We should be better prepared next year, but with hubby so sick this year the garden went completely to weeds; keeping up with it was more than I could handle on top of everything else. We didn't end up getting anything canned.

Anyway, he cooked the rabbit at 15 pounds pressure for I think 12 minutes. He's the type that cooks by smell so I can't give you quantities, but he recalls he added: Poultry seasoning, basil, Tyme, butter, salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder. No two meals ever come out quite the same with him, but they're always delicious. He saved the broth afterwards, and rabbit stew has been cooking in the crock pot all night. The house smells wonderful this morning. :)
 
Congrats, rabbit is so healthy and delicious. We eat rabbit at our house more then we eat chicken. I like putting the rabbit in the crock pot, pouring in a cup of water and cutting up some root vegetables t throw in, sprinkling with oregano, and leaving it in for about six hours on high. YUM.
 
Im amazed at the amount of people that have never eaten rabbit.i grew up on a small farm no cows .only pigs and poultry and rabbits.we ate rabbits tame or wild.
 
Congrats!! For us, it's just so nice to have the meat in the freezer, it's delicious, and so fresh. We've spoiled our family by sharing here and there too. :D It's very rewarding to be able to do that for them. We took each family a freshly cleaned (frozen) rabbit for X-mas, and the loved it!
 
Oh man, sympathies for your husband...my doctor suspects I have Crohns but they can't seem to get a diagnosis and I cannot afford all of the testing they want to do. Either way my gut is pretty bad, I can barely eat meat yet I love it so. I can't hardly digest beef and I try to stick to venison and rabbit. :)

Actually my bad gut is one of the reasons I started keeping meat rabbits...I think more people would be healthier if they had a hand in where and what they ate. :)
 
Yikes, Crohn's is nasty business! Glad your hubby pulled through! Hope you don't have it, Kyle. Have you tried an IBS supplement? My mom and I both have IBS, and, when it flares, we take "Digestive Advantage Irritable Bowel Syndrome", though they've changed it from "Irritable Bowel Syndrome" to "Intensive Bowel Support". The stuff works. Two tablets a day for three days, then down to one. The pain is gone.

Maybe you could try it just to see if it works. It's at Walmart and everywhere else. Careful not to get the lactose intolerance formula, they look a lot alike.
 
You both have my sympathy. After seeing what hubby went through this summer I wouldn't wish any kind of IBS on my worst enemy. We had the tests done to find out it was crohns. That didn't end up gaining us much but big bills. All the crohns meds we tried either made hubby worse (the first one broke him out in a rash that took over a week to clear) or did nothing to help. I read forums for hours and had him taking every natural supplement I could find from colostrum to bee propolis. In the end, a friend referred us to a lady in a nearby Amish community who sells natural supplements. She got him on a regimen and within 2 weeks of starting it he was well on his way back to normal. Within a month, he said he felt better than he had in years. I can't say this would work for everyone, but it's been a miracle for us. Integrative is the brand he takes. Their probiotics are I think what helps him the most. He tried other brands without much success. So in addition to those he takes iron pills, a multi-vitamin, a fiber supplement, and two different sensitive stomach/digestive aids. It gets expensive, but he knows when he misses a dose as he starts to backslide immediately. And as we found out, life is nothing if you don't have your health.

It makes me so sad, there's a nurse at my OB's office whose daughter has crohns. She was diagnosed at 5, and is now 12. They still can't get hers under control. She's already had two surgeries for it, and trips to the emergency room are frequent. It just breaks my heart what she has to go through, and I'm terrified this will end up hitting our kids. If it does, I pray they end up like Ern. I tell him all the time how lucky he really is. He really hasn't had to give up much - he just ends up making it himself. And really, having to eat home made bread, etc. all the time? I can live with that (as long as his supplements continue to keep this in check). :)
 
Miss M":anrvx7u0 said:
Yikes, Crohn's is nasty business! Glad your hubby pulled through! Hope you don't have it, Kyle. Have you tried an IBS supplement? My mom and I both have IBS, and, when it flares, we take "Digestive Advantage Irritable Bowel Syndrome", though they've changed it from "Irritable Bowel Syndrome" to "Intensive Bowel Support". The stuff works. Two tablets a day for three days, then down to one. The pain is gone.

Maybe you could try it just to see if it works. It's at Walmart and everywhere else. Careful not to get the lactose intolerance formula, they look a lot alike.
Click to expand...

Haven't tried that but I might just do so, I have to run some errands today so I'll look for it. :) I'm getting frustrated by how long it is taking to get an actual diagnosis (my doctor keeps reassuring me it is a process of ruling out everything else under the sun, grrr) and I hate how much it is costing me. If this stuff helps, I'll consider it a blessing. :)

My doctor does keep saying "if we are lucky it is just IBS." I keep thinking...JUST??? As if that was something dismissive??? Really?! :(

kotapony":anrvx7u0 said:
You both have my sympathy. After seeing what hubby went through this summer I wouldn't wish any kind of IBS on my worst enemy. We had the tests done to find out it was crohns. That didn't end up gaining us much but big bills. All the crohns meds we tried either made hubby worse (the first one broke him out in a rash that took over a week to clear) or did nothing to help. I read forums for hours and had him taking every natural supplement I could find from colostrum to bee propolis. In the end, a friend referred us to a lady in a nearby Amish community who sells natural supplements. She got him on a regimen and within 2 weeks of starting it he was well on his way back to normal. Within a month, he said he felt better than he had in years. I can't say this would work for everyone, but it's been a miracle for us. Integrative is the brand he takes. Their probiotics are I think what helps him the most. He tried other brands without much success. So in addition to those he takes iron pills, a multi-vitamin, a fiber supplement, and two different sensitive stomach/digestive aids. It gets expensive, but he knows when he misses a dose as he starts to backslide immediately. And as we found out, life is nothing if you don't have your health.

It makes me so sad, there's a nurse at my OB's office whose daughter has crohns. She was diagnosed at 5, and is now 12. They still can't get hers under control. She's already had two surgeries for it, and trips to the emergency room are frequent. It just breaks my heart what she has to go through, and I'm terrified this will end up hitting our kids. If it does, I pray they end up like Ern. I tell him all the time how lucky he really is. He really hasn't had to give up much - he just ends up making it himself. And really, having to eat home made bread, etc. all the time? I can live with that (as long as his supplements continue to keep this in check). :)
Click to expand...

I like having homemade and from-scratch foods...not only is it easier to digest, but often it tastes better too! Food full of dyes and preservatives and gods knows what else loses flavor and over time as it ages, it loses nutrients, too! Plus they have linked some health issues to the vast quantities of hormones and antibiotics that many animals raised for meat are pumped full of. So disgusting!!!

Though the other day, when someone mentioned eating "non-beef" I did mention I raise meat rabbits and enjoy a healthy meat alternative, they looked down their nose at me and asked what kind of morally vacant person I am, because I must be awful and terrible to be willing to kill my own food. :p What a jerk. My favorite line was "you must not be fully evolved." What does that even mean?!

Okay and now I'm tangenting, sorry. XD
 
Oh my word!

Honestly, I think it's much more evolved to raise your own meat and be responsible for it's welfare and well-being, and the fact that it dies without suffering, rather than be a sheeple and bring home the pink or blue Styrofoam mystery package from the local grocery.
 
Humph! We called a friend on Christmas Eve, and he asked "So, which one of your pets are you eating tonight?"... :explode: Much better to eat a strange unloved animal, I suppose. Aaaarrrgh! Some people just don't get it. Let 'em eat their "Mystery Meat"... or "Misery Meat" as the case may be!
 
Kyle@theHeathertoft":2e7vh7u8 said:
My doctor does keep saying "if we are lucky it is just IBS." I keep thinking...JUST??? As if that was something dismissive??? Really?! :(
Click to expand...
Yeah, yikes... though, I guess with IBS, at least you don't have sections of your intestines going necrotic, like Crohn's, so, I guess it's not as bad in that sense... can be very, very painful, though. I was at a pediatric appointment with my son, when his doctor asked me if I was okay. Apparently, I had gone white as a sheet, and I was unable to pay attention, and I was trembling. I wasn't aware of all that, I just knew that I suddenly felt like I was being repeatedly stabbed. I ended up at the ER, the pain was so bad.

Kyle@theHeathertoft":2e7vh7u8 said:
Though the other day, when someone mentioned eating "non-beef" I did mention I raise meat rabbits and enjoy a healthy meat alternative, they looked down their nose at me and asked what kind of morally vacant person I am, because I must be awful and terrible to be willing to kill my own food. :p What a jerk. My favorite line was "you must not be fully evolved." What does that even mean?!

Okay and now I'm tangenting, sorry. XD
Click to expand...

Must have been the person who made this comment in their newspaper:

meet2.jpg
 
LOL- I just love that news item! We can only hope that if the $#!+ hits the fan that Darwin's theory of Evolution has some truth to it.
 

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