Pros/Cons of breeding meat rabbits

[Catalytic]

Hi, I posted this on HT, as well. Found this forum in a signature link over there.

While exploring other homesteading ventures today, I stumbled onto an opportunity/market for white meat rabbits. (He specified they prefer white, and NZ or NZ Xs.)

Can you guys tell me the pros and cons of breeding meat rabbits? I don't know how large the market is, but I would prefer to start small anyway. I am in the Deep South, and I know heat is deadly. We've had a pet rabbits off and on for years, so we aren't completely ignorant about rabbits, but we've never intentionally bred them. My parents raised meat rabbits when I was very young, and my mom got very excited when I told her about this opportunity. I vaguely remember the hutches we had (I think i was 3-5 when they did this), and I remember playing with the rabbits and watching my dad skin them, but that is the extent of my meat rabbit experience LOL.

I'm thinking of starting with two does and one buck. I know the buck needs to be penned separately, should each doe have her own pen, as well? I figure starting out, I would breed one, and when its litter was born, breed the other one, to get our feet wet slowly.

I've ordered Storey's guide for rabbits, it'll be here Tuesday, hopefully. Also ordered the worms under rabbits book someone linked, as I'm already into vermiculture.

What advice would you give to a new breeder? (This is very appealing to us, but we want to know the pros and cons before we make any hard decisions about it)

I know most have heard about the Dollarhite's problems with the USDA. I actually had to go back and find some articles about them to see what they violated, and found it was the AWA. According to the USDA's site, "Farm Animals are regulated under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) only when used in biomedical research, testing, teaching and exhibition. Farm animals used for food and fiber or for food and fiber research are not regulated under the AWA." Reading this, I assume that if I do breed meat rabbits, that it will not apply to me? Are there USDA regs that DO apply to raising meat rabbits? I'm asking because if we do go with this, I'd rather build my cages and shelter according to the regs from the beginning, in case it gets to the point I would be considered commercial or whatever. Hope that makes sense.

 

[sjlattimore88]

First raising meat rabbits is a great thing if done for the right reasons which can differ from person to person. Second if you are new to rasing rabbits I think you should start off small you and your rabbits will appreciate it later because there are some things that cannot be taught by a book. The USDA is not a problem if your goin to be raising the rabbits for your self and family even if you sell some rabbit meat on the side it wont be a big deal. My advice to you is start small with your trio test the waters and if you like it and if it is right for you go all in. Rabbit is healthy and delicious there is always goin to be a market for it plus they give your fertilizer for you garden.

 

[MaggieJ]

Two does and a buck should be able to produce approximately 60 fryers a year. (5 litters of 6 each, which is a conservative estimate.) If the fryers average 5 pounds each at slaughter, this will yield approximately 150 pounds of table-ready meat. It may work out to more, depending on the dress-out rate. Again, I have used a conservative figure of 50%. This is a great addition to a homesteading venture, but it is not going to make you rich.

Rabbit meat in the supermarket (when you can find it) is expensive, but few people are willing to pay the small producer what it is worth. Investigate your market thoroughly first if you are looking for profit beyond that of low-cost, high quality meat for your own table. Ethnic communities, haut cuisine restaurants and even the raw pet food crowd may be good bets for selling your surplus rabbits. Regulations governing meat sales vary from state to state, so be sure to find out what is required where you live before diving in.

 

[Catalytic]

Two does and a buck should be able to produce approximately 60 fryers a year. (5 litters of 6 each, which is a conservative estimate.) If the fryers average 5 pounds each at slaughter, this will yield approximately 150 pounds of table-ready meat. It may work out to more, depending on the dress-out rate. Again, I have used a conservative figure of 50%. This is a great addition to a homesteading venture, but it is not going to make you rich.

Rabbit meat in the supermarket (when you can find it) is expensive, but few people are willing to pay the small producer what it is worth. Investigate your market thoroughly first if you are looking for profit beyond that of low-cost, high quality meat for your own table. Ethnic communities, haut cuisine restaurants and even the raw pet food crowd may be good bets for selling your surplus rabbits. Regulations governing meat sales vary from state to state, so be sure to find out what is required where you live before diving in.

I would be selling the rabbits live, not processing them myself. Possibly I would barter them, instead of outright selling. I intend to talk to the guy more next week, to see how many he needs on a weekly/monthly basis. I don't have any intentions of selling them to consumers myself, nor do I expect to get rich, or really even make any money, I would be ecstatic to just trade them for things I can't/won't do myself around the homestead. I've spoken with this guy before, and I know he's open to bartering, so I'm good with that. He wants them around 4½ to 5lbs, for the reasons you mentioned about price.

I have raised and bred hedgehogs in the past, I'm guessing rabbits are somewhat similar, though I only bred my hedgies once a year.

If I'm not doing the processing or selling meat, do I need to worry about regs? I combed my state code last night, and didn't find much about any animal breeding and nothing about rabbits specifically.

Beyond the actual market, can you tell me what are the largest pitfalls in raising rabbits? I can use the manure, and I'm sure I can sell some. After an adjustment period, is it possible to get away from commercial feeds completely, or are they absolutely necessary? (Obviously wild rabbits don't eat them, but can domesticated rabbits thrive on vegetation alone?) Right now we have pigs, goats, chickens, and geese. We do have a pet bunny, as well, but I am not interested in breeding her, and she would definitely not be near any other rabbits we had as livestock.

 

[BoxerMom]

We just recently got started in rabbits, and so far everything is going smoothly for us. We raise meat mostly for our family, including our dogs, but we have traded some for fresh garden vegetables and fruits. I would rather do that than sell it. Tomorrow, I am trading some meat for a new custom made show lead

So pros for me: I have fresh meat available to me at any given time. If money ever gets extremely tight, I know I will at least have meat for our table. I know exactly where my meat is coming from, I know what the rabbits have been eating, I know they've had no steroids, who has been handling them, etc. Cost of food is extremely cheap, and the manure is awesome for my garden.

cons: Raising the rabbits from birth makes it a little hard for me to butcher. It's difficult for me to not get at least a tiny bit attached when I have taken care of them for so long.

The best thing you can do is browse this forum, read your books,and ask lots of questions. I think you'll find it's definitely possible to get away from commercial foods. Right now my rabbits eat alfalfa hay, fresh greens, rolled oats, and black oil sunflower seeds, plus sove treats here and there, strawberries, banana peels, mint when the does aren't pregnant, etc...

 

[eco2pia]

If you plan to barter and stay small, and "sell" live animals only, you should be pretty safe, regulation wise. I suspect that if you are not breeding mainly for your own table, in this country meat rabbits are a break-even venture at best--there are isolated pockets of demand but the economies of scale required to really make a living are cost prohibitive for most of us. Not to mention a WHOLE lotta work--feeding and cleaning up to 10 rabbits fits neatly into your day, much more than that, it is a real live job.

 

[akane]

I believe the only regulations you have to worry about in that case is if you are within city limits and might have an animal limit or something applied. Usually the county and state does not apply any limits and you are not selling to pet stores or other places that are reselling live rabbits or using live rabbits for display. I don't think meat rabbit sales are regulated at any income level. The meat is regulated in some places and I doubt I can sell it here for human consumption without being USDA inspected since I can't sell chicken or quail meat but I can sell all the live rabbit for meat purposes that I want.

You can feed a mix of grains, sunflower seeds, and fresh foods with mineral supplements (I use horse blocks) and lots of hay in place of commercial rabbit feed but you may not make weight as quickly and you have to spend time collecting a fairly steady amount of fresh foods or putting rabbits out in pens if that is part of their diet. You can't give a handful for several days and then all they can eat the next just because you had more time that day. They may suffer digestive tract upset and resulting health issues or even death. I find the meat is of better quality and my friends go nuts over the taste but if your goal is to make weight as fast as possible to sell the rabbits so the taste of the meat isn't even going to impact you then commercial feed will get you there easier and be less time consuming. The meat breeds have all been bred over many many generations to perform well on commercial rabbit feed and it might take awhile of breeding and keeping the fastest growing rabbits from each generation to get them to perform the same on a very different diet. While other diets have their health benefits commercial diets were made for production purposes and getting the fastest growth with the least effort. You can't really avoid that fact with any livestock.

The other problem I have is that no one can step in and feed my rabbits for me but I have that complaint with most of my animals. I know exactly how much of the various ingredients and mixes I want to feed each individual or pen every day since I feed nothing on commercial diets and haven't since I started mixing my own feed for our guinea pigs, gerbils, and dwarf hamsters when I was 16. The last time I went on vacation I spent a couple hours writing sticky notes that said "I/we eat x, y, z. Check our water." with amounts, how often, and occasionally even where it should go in the pen and stuck it to every cage, stall, or the fridge door. Then labelled every bag, bucket, storage bin, and premeasured sugar glider feeders in the fridge with what it was. The horses I put colored halters on and color coded the stalls so they'd get put in the correct ones with the correct amount of feed and hay. Vacations are a lot of work when you can't just say give everyone what the bag says it's for.

 

[Thundrr]

my only comment would be... if you arent willing to eat them yourself... dont raise them.. and the only reason i say that is people will sell any rabbit calling it a meat rabbit and sell it for almost nothing.. at least thats the case near us.. you'll have some sales.. and you'll be able to barter some.. but if you arent willing to eat them yourself you'll probably end up keeping more than you planned on having.. and that number will only continue to get bigger as time goes on... but if you are willing to eat them then by all means... breed good quality meat rabbits because they are delicious!

 

[hoodat]

Read this thread.
200-rabbits-seized-t4086.html

It seems the House Rabbit People and PETA are now accepted by animal control as "experts" and they will accept their word on whether or not you are raising your rabbits properly. Of course in the case of both organizations the answer will always be no since their agenda is to outlaw rabbit raising entirely.

 

[MaggieJ]

Let's not get paranoid about this very horrible SINGLE case of animal rights activists singling out a breeder and having her rabbits seized. It's a wake-up call for all of us, but it IS a most unusual and isolated incident. I think it would be a huge mistake to live in fear of what COULD happen.

 

[PulpFaction]

One incident? Here's another from January, with even less info available, but "healthy, well adjusted rabbits" confiscated and neutered thanks to an anonymous tipster.

http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktx ... 6052.story

 

[MaggieJ]

First I've heard about this one, Rachel. But I still don't see that it is a good reason not to raise meat rabbits for one's own table or as part of a homesteading venture as Catalytic was asking about.

 

[PulpFaction]

I don't think it's a reason not to, but i think it is VERY important to be very aware of the problem and protect yourself against it. I don't call that living in fear, I just call it being smart. (I am, perhaps, more sensitive to this than many because I live on a very small lot smack dab in the middle of the largest city in the state. AR are a VERY real threat for me.)

 

[eco2pia]

I humbly must agree w/ PulpFaction. Depending on what part of this country you are in, animal rights activists are a big concern. The formal groups tend to target the big guys, but an ARA-inclined neighborhood "vigilante" can make big trouble for even the backyard breeder.

Be discreet, know the laws, and lock your cages/sheds/gates if possible. Educate your kids not to announce to the world that the drumstick in their lunch bag is not actually chicken, or if they must, don't mention that it came from your yard (rather than "the store"). No matter how within the law you are, one militant idiot can ruin your set-up in a single night. This is just common-sense reality, not fear at all. It's like having a pool--sort of an attractive nuisance or something...<br /><br />__________ Mon Aug 01, 2011 9:16 pm __________<br /><br />Though, if they come to my house I hope they try to take my most agressive doe first.... :twisted:

 

[MaggieJ]

You do raise a valid point about location having a lot to do with the danger from AR activists. Maybe I tend to be unrealistically optimistic about law and order issues. These "isolated" incidents (my word from previous post) could be the tip of the iceberg of an emerging problem. The world certainly is changing faster than I can keep pace with and ten years in this quiet little part of the country have probably made me complacent.

Catalytic, I'd modify my first post to say that you need to be aware of your local conditions and if you live in an area where animal rights activists are militant, then do take the precautions about discretion and security that have been suggested. They may never be needed, but better safe than sorry.

 

[hoodat]

Living in San Diego I am surrounded by animal activists but fortunately I live in a predominantly Mexican neighborhood and they are not prone to complain unless things get really out of hand so it's doubtful a trouble making neighbor would ever call the authorities.

 

[TeamHillbilly]

sounds like the gang has given you more than a fair share of home work to study so Welcome Enjoy your rabbits they will kinda grow on you & everything gets it's own house/cage,the doe goes to the buck to breed,never buck to doe she might kill him in less time then it takes to remove him that's Her House.......

 

[MaggieJ]

"Homework" is necessary with any new undertaking... and where the welfare of animals is concerned, it is even more important. There are no shortcuts. Read, ask questions, observe closely and with intelligence. You will save yourself a lot of heartache.

 

[TeamHillbilly]

Good advise he's headed down the right road