Brand New Beginner!! Need help with a queasy stomach!

[rawketstarling]

Hullo all! I'm a brand spanking new beginner, but like a lot of younger hippies, I'm very VERY interested in ethically raising my own meat and trying to remove myself as much as possible from the Food Industry.
The problem I'm having right now is that I do NOT want to become a vegetarian, and I also believe you should be willing to kill the animal you're going to eat for sustenance. Theoretically, I am all about raising my own meat and I have the space & freedom to do so. However, watching videos on rabbit 'harvesting' makes my stomach a bit queasy, and I wonder if this is something I should wait on (although I don't think it'll get easier). I know the usual things--don't name them, don't get attached, etc.
I'm wondering what YOU did to get yourself ready to kill something you raised? How do you prevent attachment to the kits, and does it get easier after the first kill? These are all things I'm trying to work through before even buying the hutches--I want to make sure this is something I can handle. Watching rabbit wringer videos makes me wonder if when push comes to shove i can actually handle it. Any advice you can give is very much appreciated!

 

[Wheels]

Growing up rural probably put me in a better place to be able to dispatch and process more than anything. While growing up my family didn't raise our own meat but my father and siblings did hunt. We were involved in things like 4-H and FFA and the surrounding culture was that where processing your own animals was common place. BUT even though I saw it often I was never put in a position where I had to do it myself.

When I decided a few years back that I wanted to get meat rabbits I did research. I read and scoured the internet and watched videos. I wasn't sure if I could either! I wasn't alone though - I have my husband and after discussing it with him I knew he had my back and the pact was made- if one of us (me) chickened out the other (him) could follow through. I watched a lot of youtube videos of all kinds of people processing rabbits, I made myself critique each one and make mental notes as to what I though they could have done better or what I liked. I used them to desensitize myself to the process before I even got started.

I purposely purchased rabbits that all looked alike! Nothing wrong with a herd of white rabbits! All the kits produced looked the same and it was easier for me to not to pick single bunnies out of a group.

When that day came - the first time I had to do it all alone, no husband just me (and the first few times my husband did it all alone). There were jitters! I would be more worried about a person not being a little nervous or a little gleeful than the person who dreads the deed - truly not even rabbit raisers enjoy the act, you just get to that point where you realize it has to be done and are matter of fact about it. Now days I'm the person who does the rabbits and have an easier time than my husband. I do feel a lot of pride in what I've raised and accomplished.

I think if you are a spiritual person it helps to pray or meditate - I know I have a prayer I say each and every time. Some people's are short and sweet mine is rather long. I like to thank my creator for each and every aspect of rabbit raising and ask for strength to do the job swiftly and well. I think it helps to put me in the right mind frame calming any nerves and jitters.

 

[rawketstarling]

Wheels,
Thank you so much! That is VERY helpful! When i was browsing CL there were a few I thought "ooh I want those because they're so pretty!" So I knew for sure I wouldn't be calling on those--I can't have pretty/cute rabbits when i want some to eat. I hadn't really articulated it quite like you did but i do like that--a herd of white bunnies. A bit more anonymous, if you will. I was looking at Californians or Blue Americans (there's a reputable breeder near here) for that reason.
My boyfriend is vegan, and has promised that he will not be helping kill, but he would help me butcher afterwards. So I enlisted my father--who has experience in this sort of thing--to help me with the evisceration. He couldn't believe that I would be doing the actual killing so he's gonna help me through the first few times.
Two more things--I think watching more videos CAN be helpful; I hadn't considered it from that point of view. And secondly--I do like the idea of a prayer of gratitude. I think that will be the most helpful thing. Thank you very much--this was exactly the type of thing Ineeded to hear

 

[Zass]

Strait out, I love my meat rabbits. Killing them was hard to start. We sold our first few litters as snake food to someone we trusted to be kind.

My husband does the actual killing, and he used to shake badly when the time came. He doesn't anymore. Actually, I prefer the rabbits to all other livestock because the kill is so fast that I'm pretty sure most never even realize they were killed.

My adult breeders have names. Kits don't get names until after 8 weeks and I'm considering keeping them. Those are the ones that are talked about so much that having a name becomes a necessity! Emotionally, it's probably harder on me that way, but I can't help it. I see them all as individuals.

They are....ummm...meat producing pets. I got into this to get away from industry practices after all, and I feel good about how they are cared for.


Anyway, in retrospect.
We feel SO MUCH BETTER about the meat we eat. After years of raising our own food, no one in my family can imagine going back to living out of the grocery stores.

 

[grumpy]

I don't know if you've seen it, but there's a video on this site that is
"relatively" easy to watch.

Personally, I've never had a great deal of trouble doing this sort of thing.
I've been a hunter since the age of four and I was raised by folks that
hunted and harvested all sorts of wild game.

It's been so long ago that I cannot honestly remember "what" was going
through my mind at the time. Again, it's whatever one becomes accustomed to.
Keep in mind that the rabbits you've produced are without question the
healthiest source of protein you could possibly consume. If for no other reason
than that, you should be able to be successful in processing them for yourself
and your family.

grumpy.

 

[Marinea]

Welcome to RT, Rowkestarling!

If you have not found Grumpy's video here on this site, you should watch it. It was our "go to" video when we started processing our rabbits. I say "we", but I mean my husband, mostly. He dispatches them, and I help after they are gone.

I was nervous and unsure the first time. But, it is over so very very quickly, that iit is now a bit easier. You know all the reasons why raising rabbits is good for you, you will know how they lived, and you will appreciate all that they give to you in return. It may not be the easiest thing to do, but I find it easier each time, and more satisfying having more of our food being grown on our place with our own hands.

Best of luck if you decide to join the rabbit adventure, and I hope you will stick around and share it with us.

 

[Dood]

I too grew up in a hunting and farming family so dispatching and butchering was just second nature, my family emphasized doing a "clean kill" to minimize suffering and I wasnt allowed to hunt living creatures with a BB gun, bow or firearm until I had mastered target and skeet shooting, I also had to learn how to quickly render unconcious and bleed out animals others had shot so I could handle it on my own when the time came. I now do most of the dispatching on the farm.

During my university studies in agriculture I visited several large abattoirs/slaughter houses where 100's of animals are rendering each hour and it is basically an meat assembly line

- I hated the feed lots and holding pens and cages where extremely stressed animals awaited their fate.

- At a poultry processor there was a mechanical problem and around 40 chickens hung by their legs for 38 minutes until it could be fixed and their heads were dipped into the electrified water and their suffering ended.

- At a beef fascility it took 5 tries to properly stun a cow and even then I was suspicious that the animal was hung conscious as the line never stopped or slowed down but kept on rolling.

These and other experiences turned me off "factory farming" and grocery store meat forever.

I feel extreme pride in my farming practices and in the knowledge that our animals never had to go through that horror in their last hours or days of life.

 

[hucklekree]

Hello and welcome from another "young hippie"

I just posted on this earlier. We've had rabbits for three years and got into them because I grew up very much like Dood, grumpy, and Wheels. We always had something on the farm or in the woods that we harvested. The only difference for me is that I never did the killing until I got older. Growing up we always had the males in the family or our family butcher for the killing. My sisters and I just took care of the animals. By the time I took some of the responsibility, it was from the end of a rifle hunting mulies, grouse, whitetail and bear.

For my family and me in particular though we find rabbits are a different ball of wax altogether. I find it to be a very intimate dispatching. Not only am I in charge of their keep but also in their killing. However, once I get past the initial deed of the kill, processing is relatively a cinch; as with all animals.

Growing up we named all our animals and not just T-bone and the like. I still name my rabbits and get attached. To some more than others. I may have been quite a bit easier to have just a uniformly colored herd but we don't. We have quite a few different colors hopping around. But raising our own protein and as much of our other food as possible is a must for me. I chose to raise animals just as Zass and Dood chose to raise them; to feel at peace with my place on the food chain. To know that as a meat consumer I was being responsible and taking care of that which sustains my family and myself the best that I know how. We say a prayer of thanks to each animal that passes through and try to utilize all that we can. It's still a rough job after three years for me and my hubby to do but we do it well and quick as possible.

Ultimately as all the other lovely posters have said, it's well worth a few moments of agony at the beginning if your end goal is to know where your food comes from and to be a responsible consumer. (yeah, I used my artistic license)

Welcome and please share your journey :good-luck:

 

[akane]

Starting with poultry was much easier. I had chickens but they are a little more complicated to kill than smaller stuff so I got 200 coturnix quail eggs to hatch out. About 120-150 made it to slaughter (they are horrible about killing themselves) and I had pretty much had it with the stupid things. Raising a few would probably make them cute and friendly but raising 100+ just makes them dirty, suicidal, and murderous if you don't separate or butcher in time. I got a pair of shears. They were actually for cutting fish bones and then later I got some actual gamebird shears. They have a bone cutting knotch in them so I taped down the wings of the quail, covered it's head in a paper towel, slid it's neck by feel in to the bone knotch, and then smashed it down in to the sink and stood there squishing the quail in place for awhile before I could take the paper towel off. 100 quail later I found killing was the easy part. I chopped off heads and a friend cut them up cause she wanted to learn about poultry too. Then we moved on to an ax and a few annoying standard chicken roosters. Made it much easier to butcher rabbits. It also helps to have a violent demon rabbit who will even attack you from the ground and then gets mastitis so you turn her in to dog food. That was my first rabbit. She tore through leather gloves once.

 

[azbowhunter]

For myself, i dislike taking life unnecessarily.
Each time i dispatch an animal taken for food, i honor the animal for its sacrifice in providing itself as food for our nourishment.
I thank the animal beforeidispatch it, and make use of everythingican from each carcass.
Feathers go to people that tie flies for fishing, hat making, and other craft people.
We tan pelts and hides for our own uses.
Meat is consumed by our family.
Bones are crushed or ground up and used for garden fertilizer.
Guts and blood are put in the compost piles, even though most say don't due to predator attraction.
It's possible to overcome theuneasy feelingyou get, but it never goes away completely.
Just respect theanimals for their gift to you.

 

[LPH_NY]

The first rabbits we dispatched were ones we did not raise ourselves. I wanted to test our ability to dispatch and completely dress and cook (and enjoy eating) rabbits before we bred ours. Having very little emotional attatchment for the very first kills probably helped... but it still wasn't easy. I pulled the trigger on the very first one, because rabbit raising was my idea and I had to be certain I had the resolve to follow through all the way. After those four, I assisted in the next dozen or so that we raised from birth. But when it came time to put down a breeding doe that I very much cared for and had suffered a very unfortunate injury, I asked if hubby would do the killing alone. The killing is hard for me. We do thank them all, and I find that does help. Everything AFTER the killing, though, is theraputic and rewarding. I like to take my time cleaning the meat and cutting it and weighing the cuts. I love cooking with it and we all enjoy the taste.

I totally see the emotional benefit of a single colored herd, but I refuse to have it that way, myself. (Particularly because I don't like red-eyed rabbits) I love variety.

 

[Audrey]

There are 2 local butchers within a 40 minutes drive of me, one is 20 minutes away, that will process them for $5. I know that does add to the cost for sure though. I am unable to kill things that aren't gravely sick or injured, and while I too share your ideals of raising up my food so that it lives a great life up until it is its time to die so I can eat. I feel that as long as the animals have a clean, least stressful death as possible that is good enough for me, I don't have to be the one to do it LOL. If I can't hire some friends to do it for me, I will be taking mine to the closest processor to do it for me.

 

[grumpy]

I feel that as long as the animals have a clean, least stressful death as possible that is good enough for me, I don't have to be the one to do it LOL.

Then all of your hard work and efforts may well go for naught.

Who's to say, "HOW" they were processed...How clean was the environment?
Did they wash their hands BEFORE they started? Was the water, clear, clean,
and "cold? The list can go on ad infinitum.

If you don't do it yourself....or closely watch the process, making sure
everything is done correctly and to your satisfaction. You've no
guarantee as to the cleanliness and purity of the finished product.

There goes all of your hard work and honorable intentions.

Grumpy.

 

[Rabbitdog]

I feel that as long as the animals have a clean, least stressful death as possible that is good enough for me, I don't have to be the one to do it LOL.

Then all of your hard work and efforts may well go for naught.

Who's to say, "HOW" they were processed...How clean was the environment?
Did they wash their hands BEFORE they started? Was the water, clear, clean,
and "cold? The list can go on ad infinitum.

If you don't do it yourself....or closely watch the process, making sure
everything is done correctly and to your satisfaction. You've no
guarantee as to the cleanliness and purity of the finished product.

There goes all of your hard work and honorable intentions.

Grumpy.

Excellent point Grumpy!
Sort of like tilling the ground, planting the seed, watering and pulling the weeds, then paying someone else to harvest and cook.

 

[a7736100]

I find using a pellet air rifle the easiest because I'm not in contact with the rabbit, I'm not facing it, and it's over in a second without any struggle. After it's dead it's almost like processing a whole chicken as far as the eck factor goes.

http://www.how-to-hunt-rabbit.com/shoot-rabbit.html

has a picture of where to aim but I prefer to shoot in the back of the head. Sorry no picture.

 

[gardenbunny]

even though my husband and his hunting buddies do the actual killing I still had a hard time coming to terms with raising meat rabbits. i'm the world's biggest animal lover( I once got into a fist fight with a biker with tear drop tattoes because he was abusing his dog, the cops came before he killed me lol)
I love everything about baby animals but always worried about over population, never allowing my cats to breed made me sad when friends had kittens but I couldn't stand to think of how many homeless kitties there are already. now I get to play with baby animals and care for animals as a hobby and the reward of meat that tastes like it was treated well is worth the work. the first time I ate a rabbit I raised I was sad to see it go but felt so good when I tasted it. I kept telling ppl I was eating betty chops. I feel healthier knowing where my meat came from and that it was treated well until the moment of death.
I would like to help clean next time and then participate in the killing the time after. I buy all my other meat from local hobby farmers( my friend raises pigs, ect.) I tell ppl i'm a farmatarian because I try to only eat meat and veggies from farms not from stores. there are ppl who call me a monster for raising meat rabbits or ask if i'll eat my cats too but I feel good about my choice so let the haters hate.

 

[Noblegarden]

I am also a beginner that loves (LOVES) animals. I live in a food desert, where there is not a lot of options for fresh food from farms. Last year we visited friends in Utah and they about died when we excitedly told them we paid five dollars for five ears of sweet corn (GMO free) - they said that price was ridiculous. We have tried buying grass fed meat from our "farmers markets", but it tasted so horrible I couldn't eat more than half -- and I am able to eat 4 day left over chicken to keep it from going to waste, so I don't have a "special pallet".
We decided to raise meat rabbits because the only next step for us was to order meat from out of state. After doing my research, I found that the only farmers, or companies I trusted were very expensive, and would not work for my family. I even considered becoming a vegan, but I like meat -- against cruelty (who isn't?), but love meat.
We have butchered 2 rabbits so far, one we didn't name and the other we names Moose. They were both very nice rabbits. My husband butchered the first one, then I helped process it, then I butchered and processed the second one.
I watched YouTube videos and found that pretty helpful. For me, the part that bothers me is cutting off the head - even if the rabbit is dead, that part really bothers me. Actually handling it I am not a fan of touching warm meat, but I just kinda phased out and went into auto piolot.
I don't think it ever gets better when it comes to taking a life, I don't think it's supposed to...
Before we butchered them, I sat and held each one, thanked it for providing food for my family and that I loved it for that. I promised to make it quick and as painless as possible.
After they die, their boddies "twitch" -- I think of that as them running to Heaven.
I personally have named my breeders, but will not name the ones that go to freezer camp - it doesn't bother me with them having a name, but it does bother my Mom and a few other people.
Hope I helped. <3 Big hugs and your doing it right <3