Hi from Oklahoma. Why did you start raising meat rabbits

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ArtPick

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Location
Oklahoma
I first started raising meat rabbits over 22 years ago because we (my wife and I) found a black doe that had been turned loose at a grade school with a bag of food. So we rescued it. Then about a week after that we had a NZ Red buck just show up in the front yard. So we started, lol. We only raised them for 3 years. Now, with everything going on with the economy we want to be more self-sufficient, so in Dec 2012 we started raising rabbits again.

My question is why did you start raising meat rabbits? Prepping or you just like the meat...?
 
Dog food, like the meat, and a TINY bit of prepping....but we're not preppers LOL. We just want to know where are food is coming from more like.
 
I am more concerned with all the crap that is in the food that you buy from stores. I want to be able to feed my family real food without all the chemicals, antibiotics, and hormones that you get from commercially raised food....and a I am a bit of a food hoarder. That and I missed rabbit meat. I grew up from a farming family and we raised most of our own food. My grandparents raised 8 children through the Depression with no other job than family farming. Plus, there is no reason not to be prepared for food shortages if they ever happen.
 
The final push was my dh's health. He gets kidney stones and rabbit meat is the only meat that doesn't contain what makes his stones. I had been trying to figure out a way to have a better source of protein for my family. Rabbits fit both needs. It also further teaches my kids where their food comes from. We already garden and have food storage.
 
A greater degree of self-sufficiency. Yes, I do have to buy rabbit food, but I'm hoping to make a dent in that eventually.

Like you, we've been seeing where the economy's going, and we're trying to become less dependent on everything else. We've been raising rabbits for about 4 years now, and our herd sire is a minilop that was turned loose when his owners skipped out on their lease.

Welcome to RabbitTalk, ArtPick! :)
 
Hello Artpick,
Rabbits are such a versatile animals.
If you go to my website you can read exactly
how we came to have Rabbits.
We, my Wife, Daughter and I used to be avid Showmen.
Since My Daughter and Wife have gone to other things
and Showing is not a big part of our life,
I continued to raise/breed my Satins simply because
I like it and it keeps me active. Sometimes I believe that
having rabbit chores is not such a good thing!
That usually takes place in the Winter.
Many times I have thought of tossing in the towel.
Frozen fingers etc. and only those who are involved
with the proper care of Rabbits can understand those thoughts.
The trouble is: Rabbits are like eating potato Chips,
you just can't STOP once you get started!
Ottersatin. :eek:ldtimer:
 
I got started as a way to know I have food. Not exactly wanting to be self sufficient, or even prepping...I have a hang up about food. I grew up with less then stellar parents and their were times the only reason my siblings ate at all is because I had saved food (bought with money I had earned) It is actually why I go by sinnfox...spirit of a fox hiding food away constantly...I dont want to ever not have food...so they help me feel safe I guess.
 
Self sufficiency, wanted my kids to see more than just the enclosed city life and to learn something new.
 
We're not "preppers" either, but are concerned about all the "processing" in our food...chemicals, hormones, genetic modification etc. We're trying to produce more of our own food that we know wasn't grown like that and animals that had good lives. We started with gardening, added chickens for eggs...rabbits seemed the next logical step for us. Plus all the health benefits of the meat itself. We also quit buying pellets or processed food for the animals and switched them to various grains and other things we can also grow ourselves.
 
This whole phenomenon of not knowing where your food is from is relatively new... cosmically speaking... and "prepping" even more of a fad.

When I grew up my parents where not so worried about providing for me, and I hunted and gathered. There were fields near me with brambles and rabbits. I hunted rabbit with a bow almost every day in the summers, they were everywhere. So rabbit, first and foremost, means "meat" to me.

My most recent girlfriend was a bit inspired by my stories and did some research on raising rabbits and it clicked. I bought a doe for $20 and got a free buck. Built some hutches out of scrap and fencing and voila! I've butchered at least 20 rabbits now and didn't have to chase any of them very far :D It's MUCH easier than hunting...

The trick now is to eliminate the feed costs... I plan to forage quite a bit this year to provide for myself and the rabbits and this should keep costs down quite a bit. I am fortunate to be in a rural setting and have access to lots of land to provide a wide variety of both medicinal and edible plants. I am considering building a fodder system, but I am having a hard time sourcing viable seed stock.

All this has nothing to do with prepping, the economy, politics or labels... to me it is simply how to live. It makes sense to me. I do see the meat prices in the stores and it's absurd, but then I know of stores that sell things close to expiration much cheaper and shop there. I never pay more than $2/lb for meat at a store... that being said, my rabbit meat costs me $3/lb in feed, but it is FAR healthier than any store bought meat.

The people I bought my doe from have had a hard time breeding their stock and I think I got their last viable doe, so I am planning on gifting them my original buck as well as a doe that is pregnant by my top quality NZW buck. This is also not about the economy or labels... it's just right.

Rabbits are also cute, quiet, the most efficient domesticated meat producing animals and their poop is not so bad :) Makes great compost!
 
I'm a prepper and proud of it! :p

We live 50 miles away from "civilization", and usually only shop every 3-4 weeks, so we have always kept a well stocked pantry. About six years ago we started getting more serious about having emergency food stores and supplies.

Rabbits are a great "shelf stable" meat choice, since they can be "stored" in their cages until use. ;) I liked the idea of a small livestock animal that could possibly be sustained by foraged weeds and greens.

Plus it gave me an excuse to get more animals! :p
 
MamaSheepdog":1o41uw6w said:
I'm a prepper and proud of it!
Click to expand...
I knew it...lol

I acually started raiseing rabbits to stop playing World of warcraft after 7 long years of gameing....it worked. :comperror:
 
I grew up eating rabbits. as well as other farm animals.
After having 3 heart attacks at the age of 45 I decided it was way past time, to change my diet.
So I started looking into how my food was being grown, all of the junk that was being added to my food.
to make it grow better to produce higher amounts of it, to make it taste better. ECT.
I did not like what I was finding out about Big corp. farming.

So I went back to my roots, I started raising some of my own food. What I do not raise I can get from small family farms at the farmers market.
I raise rabbits, because I enjoy them, they taste way better than chicken, and I make some extra money on the side.
and I am a bit of a prepper.
 
:welcomewagon:

We raise meat rabbits for more self sufficience as well. Also so we know where our food comes from, how it was raised, and what sort of stuff was NOT pumped into it. :)
 
I consider myself more a homesteader than a prepper. But, yes, I started raising meat rabbits as part of my overall plan for "in case of". I want to eat and feed my family with organic produce and humanely raised meat and for my size homestead (and my physical and time limitations) rabbits make the best meat to raise.
 
We are not hardcore preppers, but we do have a well stocked pantry with shelf stable items as well as home canned stuff.
I have long believed that happy animals taste better, and currently we get our beef from a friend and pork from 4H. I dislike grocery store chicken, and have no interest in raising chickens for meat as they are a big chore to butcher and stinky to boot, lol. Rabbit seemed like the obvious choice :)
 
I haven't actually started yet, but the reason I'm setting up for it is basic self-sufficiency. The economy is going down the toilet and the government refuses to make sure that corporations can't force the common man into deep poverty, so I'm forced to do for myself what I can't afford to purchase. These days, that touches on food itself, so...
 

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