crazy pricing? Are they nuts?

[Andrei]

I wish I live where you do to be able to feed 1000 rabbits with no pellets... I do have winters here

I did not said 1000 at the same time.
Now I am ok with 60 - 100 per year for meat.

 

[coffeenutdesigns]

And I'm with the others. $5/lb does sound reasonable.

It wouldn't be $5/lb, it would be closer to $1.50-$1.75/lb

__________ Thu Jul 04, 2013 6:09 pm __________

Bear in mind that she is likely not using the most expensive feed on the market, either. $4-5/bag may not sound like much, but on a large scale meat operation I can only imagine that it adds up pretty quickly.

Not a large scale meat operation. Backyard setup.<br /><br />__________ Thu Jul 04, 2013 6:13 pm __________<br /><br />

Well, I did not know that Texas has deserts but I am learning.
Mesquite is a great tree for feeding rabbits and the pods are desert.
$20 per pound?
He must be doing some vo-do or else ........
http://seattle.craigslist.org/search/gr ... k=&maxAsk=
In Washington state I see very low rabbit prices.

We have had discussions on this here on RT and I have not been able to find out definitively if mesquite is toxic or not. Some lists say yes and some say no. My foraging animals (goats and pigs) will not touch the leaves, only the ripe beans, so I haven't even tried it on the rabbits. Have you tried it? If it is okay for rabbits, I do have a LOT of mesquite bushes (not the big trees, little spiky shrubs). That would make cheap feed for sure. I haven't been willing to use one as a guinea pig to find out for sure.

 

[SatinsRule]

It wouldn't be $5/lb, it would be closer to $1.50-$1.75/lb

Depends upon how much actual dressed out meat you get. The three small rabbits which were quoted in the original post will most likely vary in weight. Yeah, if each "small rabbit" yields 2-3 lbs of meat when dressed out, I see your point. A lot depends upon the size, though. If they're young dutch or florida whites, different variable entirely.

__________ Thu Jul 04, 2013 6:09 pm __________

Bear in mind that she is likely not using the most expensive feed on the market, either. $4-5/bag may not sound like much, but on a large scale meat operation I can only imagine that it adds up pretty quickly.

Not a large scale meat operation. Backyard setup.

[/quote]

The seller is keeping a tight margin on expenses either way. It's a common business practice to keep expenses to a bare minimum.

 

[coffeenutdesigns]

Maybe she is keeping expenses way down. Whatever she's doing, I know nobody else in the area could sell that low, and even if they could I don't think they would when you can sell a live animal for much more than without putting all that effort into butchering. Most people here overprice things so much, it is almost shocking to see something under priced. I might have to ask here what she is doing to keep her costs so low.

 

[SatinsRule]

Maybe she is keeping expenses way down. Whatever she's doing, I know nobody else in the area could sell that low, and even if they could I don't think they would when you can sell a live animal for much more than without putting all that effort into butchering. Most people here overprice things so much, it is almost shocking to see something under priced. I might have to ask here what she is doing to keep her costs so low.

Yeah, it might be worth your while to ask her, but understand that just because others in the area are not doing it doesn't necessarily mean that they could not do so, either. Most commercial feeds are overpriced at retailers to begin with, but I sense that freight costs are a part of it. It costs so much to ship animal feeds.

 

[DonnerSurvivor]

In MN we have alot of rural areas that have been broken up into small hobby farms. The people on these hobby farms typically raise a few goats/sheep/rabbits/chickens and when they get sick of them they almost give them away on Craigslist. Large butcher goats will go for 50$ each sheep may go for slightly higher. Rabbits and chickens range from free to 5$. All of the ethnic populations that want to do their own butchering and buy animals directly from the farm buy these animals dirt cheap and make it near impossible for anyone to make profit selling live animals off the farm. Not saying this is a case of that but it is a common practice at least in my area.

 

[Andrei]

And it is a Free Market practice.
The main problem is that most of you buy rabbit food from the pet store at pet store prices when Nature provide rabbit food for free.
Only labor and love should be involved in raising 100 rabbits a yr.

 

[hoodat]

I raise rabbits just because I love having them around. Most of their diet is greens from my garden with some wild gathered greens but I do suppliment with some pellets when greens are scarce or the weather doesn't let me forage.
I've worked it out and I can break even at $3 a pound dressed. Anything above that is profit. I don't count my time and effort since I'd be keeping rabbits even if it was at a loss.

 

[Beekeeper10]

I don't buy pellets at pet stores and I don't have time to pick wild forage for all my rabbits.

 

[GBov]

I don't buy pellets at pet stores and I don't have time to pick wild forage for all my rabbits.

Yeh, me too! I get mine at a local feed store less than two miles away but its still $14 per 50 pound bag.

And if I was foraging for them all it would take me several hours a day and, even with the woods to draw from, I would just run out of forage.

Keeping the g-pigs fed on forage is a full time job, never mind throwing in the rabbits :lol:

 

[Andrei]

Hmmmmm, somehow I can fit a full time job and 180 beehives and 40 rabbits and a dog and a wife.
I am just cheap or like it Natural.

 

[LilacGal]

Isn't 180 beehives a full time job? My husband would tell you that I am...

 

[SatinsRule]

And it is a Free Market practice.
The main problem is that most of you buy rabbit food from the pet store at pet store prices when Nature provide rabbit food for free.
Only labor and love should be involved in raising 100 rabbits a yr.

I can honestly say that I have never bought my feed from a pet store. It would be insane to do so, especially when I can get a better product from a feed store for about half the price that Petco, PetSmart, etc. sells their stuff for.

And if you want to run around picking weeds and leaves to feed your rabbits year round, that is your decision. I doubt very seriously mine would look anywhere near as good in the showroom if they were fed that way.