Nymphadora
Well-known member
Hey guys!
As the title suggests, today was the very first time I did a rabbit processing day all by myself! Everything went as well as I could've asked for, as far as the kills go. It was over very quickly, and (I think) relatively painless for the rabbits. Now I've got two good-looking buns in the cooler, resting in salt water (how much salt do y'all add to the water?). Can't wait to cook 'em up, I haven't had rabbit in too long! :chef:
Now here's the bit that I feel slightly bad about... I decided that it would make the most sense for me to butcher on the far side of the barn. There's a convenient hose fitting, sandy soil (good drainage), and I've got a nice tall privacy fence sheltering the area from view. Unless passersby are on horseback. All day has been relatively quiet, so I think nothing of it, get set up, and start on the first of two rabbits. Quick death, skinning and gutting is taking me a while, but hey I'm still newish to doing this all by myself. By the time I finish I'm feeling pretty good about myself and start the next one.
No sooner did I get the bunny hung up by the back legs and start making my cuts to pull off the pelt, I notice three teenage girls are riding down the street in my direction. :groooan:
They passed relatively quietly, but they were definitely staring. I kept working (thought it might freak them out too much if I turned around to smile and wave with a knife in my hand), but I heard them drop down to a whisper as they passed and they broke into a trot as soon as they were past my barn. I don't feel badly about butchering the rabbits and providing food for my family, and I'm always happy to educate others about what I'm doing... but I also don't believe in forcing others into my point of view, or showing them graphic things (such as butchering a cute bunny) unless they want to see it. So the fact that these teenage girls were on a lovely Sunday horseback ride and saw the new neighbor lady skinning and gutting a rabbit... I do feel a bit badly. Hopefully they are very into 4H (a lot of kids around here are), and understand that people keep rabbits for more than just pets sometimes.
Anyways, that's probably the highlight of my Sunday afternoon, Oh, and I think the second rabbit must have scratched me when I went to dislocate their neck (we use a Hopper Popper), because once they were both in the cooler I noticed I had a scratch on my hand. I didn't notice it while processing, but I rinsed it out really well once I saw it... anything else I need to do? It wasn't a deep cut, but I imagine open wounds are still unwanted when processing animals.
Hope everyone's having a good weekend!
As the title suggests, today was the very first time I did a rabbit processing day all by myself! Everything went as well as I could've asked for, as far as the kills go. It was over very quickly, and (I think) relatively painless for the rabbits. Now I've got two good-looking buns in the cooler, resting in salt water (how much salt do y'all add to the water?). Can't wait to cook 'em up, I haven't had rabbit in too long! :chef:
Now here's the bit that I feel slightly bad about... I decided that it would make the most sense for me to butcher on the far side of the barn. There's a convenient hose fitting, sandy soil (good drainage), and I've got a nice tall privacy fence sheltering the area from view. Unless passersby are on horseback. All day has been relatively quiet, so I think nothing of it, get set up, and start on the first of two rabbits. Quick death, skinning and gutting is taking me a while, but hey I'm still newish to doing this all by myself. By the time I finish I'm feeling pretty good about myself and start the next one.
No sooner did I get the bunny hung up by the back legs and start making my cuts to pull off the pelt, I notice three teenage girls are riding down the street in my direction. :groooan:
They passed relatively quietly, but they were definitely staring. I kept working (thought it might freak them out too much if I turned around to smile and wave with a knife in my hand), but I heard them drop down to a whisper as they passed and they broke into a trot as soon as they were past my barn. I don't feel badly about butchering the rabbits and providing food for my family, and I'm always happy to educate others about what I'm doing... but I also don't believe in forcing others into my point of view, or showing them graphic things (such as butchering a cute bunny) unless they want to see it. So the fact that these teenage girls were on a lovely Sunday horseback ride and saw the new neighbor lady skinning and gutting a rabbit... I do feel a bit badly. Hopefully they are very into 4H (a lot of kids around here are), and understand that people keep rabbits for more than just pets sometimes.
Anyways, that's probably the highlight of my Sunday afternoon, Oh, and I think the second rabbit must have scratched me when I went to dislocate their neck (we use a Hopper Popper), because once they were both in the cooler I noticed I had a scratch on my hand. I didn't notice it while processing, but I rinsed it out really well once I saw it... anything else I need to do? It wasn't a deep cut, but I imagine open wounds are still unwanted when processing animals.
Hope everyone's having a good weekend!