Does culling always hurt?

[Oscar]

I found the perfect doe on the computer she's the color I want and she's proven but my mom says I can't get more than two rabbits at the same time so I need to cull my doe that won't breed and she is 8 months old, should I give her more chances or cull her? The thing is every time I think about culling I get a weird feeling in my stomach and I feel bad. Will it get easier or will it always feel bad?

 

[crookdbeak13]

Cull doesn't always mean kill. If you don't want to eat her, but want to "cull" her from your breeding program, you could sell her. How many times have you attempted to breed without a litter?

 

[imajpm]

Unless your a sociopath, you will always feel bad to some degree. It does get easier though. But if you want to replace her then see about selling her first.

 

[Zass]

:yeahthat:

It's never easy for me,
but if it's a health, temper, or rabbitry improvement cull, I always feel a sense of relief afterwards.

Without the sick, injured, neurotic, or unproductive (but expensive) animal in the rabbitry, progress can again be made.

If she is a good natured animal that just won't breed, you could try selling her. It would be a good way to test out the market in your area.

Culling her is good though too, because it would test your ability to handle the process of turning kits you raise into food.

 

[michaels4gardens]

:yeahthat:

It's never easy for me,
but if it's a health, temper, or rabbitry improvement cull, I always feel a sense of relief afterwards.

Without the sick, injured, neurotic, or unproductive (but expensive) animal in the rabbitry, progress can again be made.

If she is a good natured animal that just won't breed, you could try selling her. It would be a good way to test out the market in your area.

Culling her is good though too, because it would test your ability to handle the process of turning kits you raise into food.

I agree with "Zass",
and-- If you are going to raise rabbits [or anything else you want to eat] you just have to learn about, and come to terms with the whole process, from start to finish. If your goal is to raise great rabbits, you can't get there by breeding second rate stock. No mater what, if you plan to breed and raise rabbits, you will have to get used to culling,- feeding and housing rabbits that won't breed is costly, and becomes a hording situation easily. I have been raising rabbits a long time-- and it is still a little sad sometimes.-- but, - after I have seen what happens if I do not cull as I should, it gets a lot easier to make that call.

 

[Oscar]

Cull doesn't always mean kill. If you don't want to eat her, but want to "cull" her from your breeding program, you could sell her. How many times have you attempted to breed without a litter?

The thing is I do want to sell her, but I need to make sure it is ok with my mom first. I have tried more than 5 times and still no litter! She is mean to my other rabbit and buts him off of her standing "post". She eating all of the food and I can't take it any more!!! She driving me nuts and won't cooperate with me and when I try to practice for show she just scratches me!!!!! :evil:
Anyway here is a pic of the new girl I want

What do you guys think?

 

[imajpm]

Yeah when I first got back into rabbits I got just a trio and bred a litter to see if I could even do butchering. If I wasn't able then I'd have 3 pet rabbits and that would be the end of that. I was able, though it is not pleasant and I often put it off but if I couldn't then I would have no business breeding rabbits.

 

[alforddm]

That doe has a very lovely color and looks to have nice round hindquarters. I really can't tell more than that from the picture.

 

[MaggieJ]

Listen, culling is never easy.

Back in the fall of 2003, I started with chickens. I intended to eat all but one of the cockerels . . . but the day we butchered the first of them, my stomach was in knots, I was shaky and I thought I might throw up. But . . . I got through it. The next time was a little easier (physically at least) but killing something is never easy . . . nor should it be.

This doe is of no use to you If you can sell her or even give her away, great. But you are only postponing the moment when you will have to dispatch a rabbit, for one reason or another. There will always be a first time . . . may as well get it over with sooner rather than later.

There are numerous threads dealing with killing rabbits in the Meat Rabbits forum. Read some of them to find out which method would work best for you. If you don't need that information now, you certainly will at some point.

:good-luck:

 

[Oscar]

The thing is this doe is sweet sometimes and I really pritty on the other hand it would be good practice for me and my brother who wants to tan a hide. But I just can't bring myself to kill this soft girl and what would I do with the skin? I will not eat her and never will.

 

[imajpm]

Well I guess you have a lot to think about Raising rabbits in a rural area means your going to cull more than you sell. I'm afraid that is just how it is. I'd love to sell all my extras but I can't and sometimes, more often than not, I have to eat rabbits I like. I had one buck for sale for 9 months. He sold finally and then they ate him 3 months later.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Hi Oscar,

Looking back at one of your original posts, your buck is a mini lop and your doe is a Rex, correct? And you intend to show?

If your purpose is not to breed for meat (I gather, since you can't bring yourself to eat the doe, even if willing to kill her for her hide), why are you breeding a lop and a Rex together in the first place?

What are you going to do with the litter? They are not going to have Rex fur, and you will be lucky to get any with ears that lop, so there is not going to be any special pet appeal to them, at least in the first generation.

I would say that your decision here is simple. Cull the Rex doe either by selling her or butchering her- and give the cleaned carcass to someone who WILL eat it- and get a Mini Lop doe to pair with your buck.

At least that way you can sell the kits at shows if they are of good enough quality, and you can breed your own replacement show rabbits, since they don't generally have a career beyond the first year.

 

[akane]

The first few animals I did were really difficult. Once I knew they would die as quick as possible I didn't really feel like I had a problem dispatching and butchering. However, raising large numbers of meat rabbits for about 2 years just sort of built up. I suddenly did not feel like killing anything anymore and got Netherland dwarf where they would have small litters and sell as pets. I only had to butcher some occasionally. Now I am increasing the meat cavy production but I plan to co2 chamber them. It's a bit less traumatic and bloody so maybe it will not wear on me as much.

Really no matter what you raise for rabbits you have to be prepared to dispatch some or to sell some to someone who will. If you can do it yourself you don't have to skin and butcher. You can freeze as is and sell them to reptile owners. Some have even found raptor rescues that will take culled mammals for feeding the predatory birds. You can find kill buyers at some shows that will give you a small amount of cash or reptile feeders who are setup to dispatch their own before feeding. Of course you want to avoid those that feel the need to feed live to their animals.

 

[Oscar]

When I get hunk about it it isn't as bad as gutting a deer or elk so that gives you a different prospective on the whole thing. But I still don't want to eat her but I will if I have to.

 

[Deer Heart]

The very first time I fatally culled an animal, I had 3 roosters and one attacked another (he had the other by the comb and was trying to spur him like crazy and I was too scared of getting hurt to break it up, so as soon as they calmed down - which took 15 minutes - I grabbed the instigator) and found that there really wasn't much guidance for fatally culling chickens at the time. Everyone said to slit a very specific set of arteries in the throat that you can't really see or to chop the head off. For the record - chicken folks please do not ever ever tell someone starting out with butchering to use those methods, especially for a first timer you are not physically there to assist. :| Seriously. Margin of error is extremely big for both and broomstick method works just fine for poultry, just like rabbits. Long story short, I attempted to take the head off and it went very wrong. I was a sobbing mess for days. Even though the rooster he attacked was injured, I was in such a mess I couldn't do what needed to be done for over a week after the fact. When I finally came to the injured rooster, I tried the arteries instead, but again - huge margin of error. That also ended up horribly. I did not eat either bird, I felt too awful to go beyond culling and buried them in a little graveyard. I didn't cull again for almost a year after that.

I started again with a pair of drakes I had gotten for free from the feed store, fed them for a week then broomsticked, butchered, and ate them. They were so damn tasty it made the best steak I ever had seem like fast food in comparison. After that, it got a lot easier honestly. I made a lot of modifications to how I do it and how I handle the animal before during and after... the better you get at it, the better the whole thing is because you know that animal didn't suffer and likely died with no clue that anything was going to happen to them that day.

It is a huge relief once the problem animal is culled as well because then there is more to go around to the animals that aren't(not just cages and feed, but your attention too which is also very important). Not only that, but so far I have found that most of my animals that aren't productive or nice have something physically wrong with them in one way or another. Sometimes pain can cause aggression. Other times, I think aggression in itself is an animal that is suffering. Maybe not physical pain, but emotional pain. They aren't happy, they are scared and feel like they need to be constantly on alert which is extremely stressful to them and will likely result in illness eventually - which might then spread to the others.

Sometimes the kindest route is the hardest route.

 

[Oscar]

It's hard because her best buddie is Oscar my other rabbit and he would wonder what the heck? And I have spent so much time on this little girl that it is hard to do what you know is right and I know she is hurting from sore hocks but I do love her and I want to get another rabbit to replace her before I do cull her out or get her in a different cage so her feet heal up better. But I know I'm just postponing the moment I do need to cull her.

 

[TF3]

Hi Oscar,

Looking back at one of your original posts, your buck is a mini lop and your doe is a Rex, correct? And you intend to show?

If your purpose is not to breed for meat (I gather, since you can't bring yourself to eat the doe, even if willing to kill her for her hide), why are you breeding a lop and a Rex together in the first place?

What are you going to do with the litter? They are not going to have Rex fur, and you will be lucky to get any with ears that lop, so there is not going to be any special pet appeal to them, at least in the first generation.

I would say that your decision here is simple. Cull the Rex doe either by selling her or butchering her- and give the cleaned carcass to someone who WILL eat it- and get a Mini Lop doe to pair with your buck.

At least that way you can sell the kits at shows if they are of good enough quality, and you can breed your own replacement show rabbits, since they don't generally have a career beyond the first year.

It is hard to do, for sure.
I think what MSD says in the quote above is SO important as you think about this...establish your goals and these decisions become considerably easier...
"does culling this doe help me reach my goals?"
Yes or no?
If yes, then you can have a more peaceful mind about it going forward.

 

[Oscar]

Hi Oscar,

Looking back at one of your original posts, your buck is a mini lop and your doe is a Rex, correct? And you intend to show?

If your purpose is not to breed for meat (I gather, since you can't bring yourself to eat the doe, even if willing to kill her for her hide), why are you breeding a lop and a Rex together in the first place?

What are you going to do with the litter? They are not going to have Rex fur, and you will be lucky to get any with ears that lop, so there is not going to be any special pet appeal to them, at least in the first generation.

I would say that your decision here is simple. Cull the Rex doe either by selling her or butchering her- and give the cleaned carcass to someone who WILL eat it- and get a Mini Lop doe to pair with your buck.

At least that way you can sell the kits at shows if they are of good enough quality, and you can breed your own replacement show rabbits, since they don't generally have a career beyond the first year.

So I didn't really mean to breed them when I got them the people that I got them from said they were the same gender but no so.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

So I didn't really mean to breed them when I got them the people that I got them from said they were the same gender but no so.

Okay. So what changed and made you decide to start trying to breed them?

I have tried more than 5 times and still no litter!

 

[Oscar]

I don't know I just did. But I would rather have a purebred babies so I can show and I'm thinking about culling her and moving into NewZealands because I found some really pritty ones that are proven that are just in Firestone Colorado if i can get my mom to agree.