Those of you with Rabbits for meat... *Pics Page 4*

[BantyHugger]

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Umm, did you even read any of the previous posts? Battery farms cram them into tiny cages. Our rabbits get extra large cages where they can spread out. They are in cages so that 1) predators can't get them (if you haven't noticed rabbits don't have great self defense) and 2)So we can manage them. This stops over breeding and makes cleaning, brushing, and checking health a lot easier.
People have toys for their rabbits to play with (examples: pipes/tunnels, ladders, I've even seen balls to push around) We give them straw in the nesting boxes to make nests(natural behavior). We also offer dust bathing material(also natural). They can still clean themselves(STILL NATURAL BEHAVIOR). Other than digging what natural behavior are we missing?

 

[Cara]

I understand that not everyone that farms rabbits does so in small cages, as I have repeatedly stated. The link you posted shows to the contrary in that particular case though, and that is supposed to be a good example?

 

[BantyHugger]

Hmmm, i believe those are the breeding cages, not permanent cages. I understand people putting the bucks & does in smaller cages for breeding because that only takes a few minutes. I can see your point. A rabbit should have room to live. I still see enough room in those cages to lie down and move,though. (my hutch is like it in the sense that 10 rabbits aren't stacked on top of each other.)
I've been following this post for a while now. Everyone has encouraged large cages for exercise ect. I question how this reference to battery farms was even brought up. With the exception of certain rabbitries, i see no problem with the discussed backyard groups. If anyone would like to further discuss this, i recommend starting a new post. The poster didn't ask for this kind of info and we may be preventing helpful posts by getting off on this tangent.

 

[2manyhats]

My rabbits seem quite content when my DD is rubbing their bellies and talking to them while they lay in her lap. She loves on them and we all talk to and pet them. Their cages are huge and they can move freely and communicate with the rabbits in the cages next to the, but can't fight. I don't feel that they lack for anything. They are domestic animals, not wild. They don't know about digging so they don't know to miss it. I won't feel guilty about this. I know that I am not abusing these animals.

 

[MissPrissy]

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I agree with you 100%.

 

[FarmGirl01]

I really tired of everyone trying to defend themselves. We all know we are doing the right thing. I think someone just wants to fight a battle they can't win. I just hope the person who started the tread got all the great info they needed. I am leaving this thread. I don't like the constant bickering. Its seems very childish.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

FarmGirl sorry you feel the need to leave the thread

I only started this thread to sort of shoot around the idea of how many I was to start with and breeding different crosses... I didn't ask for advice or opinions on cages, it just sort of went in that direction.
I'm almost starting to think that from now on I might just post any meat rabbit threads in the meat bird section.

People need to agree to disagree here and let it go.
The bottom line is that our rabbits have food, water, clean shelter, and in most cases some sort of stimulation. By providing those things our rabbits are neither neglected or abused. How is this any different from keeping a pet rabbit in a cage in your house for it's entire life? Obviously that rabbit won't be going outside to range or dig or anything. It will probably be taken out to be held or pet and put back into it's cage in most cases.

 

[Wildsky]

What do you guys do with the skins?

I know that fur is SUPER SUPER soft, I bought some a long time ago to make slippers for my "babY'

Curious...... I'd be interested in buying from you perhaps if you don't use the skins.

 

[Southernbelle]

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Good question.

I haven't processed any of mine, yet, but from what I've researched, the pelts are best on an adult rabbit and we're usually processing 12 week old babies. Preparing a pelt would involve stretching, scraping, curing, etc and I don't think there would be a reasonable return on investment for the effort involved.

I thought I'd just cure a few pelts for the kids to play with and toss the rest.

 

[EweSheep]

We used to raise rabbits for meat and occasionally pelts. Our buck was a Californian and the girls were all mixed breeds of NZ and Dutch crosses.

We had them all in cages, since ease of cleanups and predators problems. Never had any sickness either but had a few new moms eating their babies for the first time and the second time around, they were good mommas. We had kept one daughter and bred back to the father and boy, she was a lovely palomino color but helicopter legs which we ended up butchering her and her brothers for meat. We learned not to cross back to father to daughter agian.

I must agree with Miss Prissy on the set up for rabbits and the reason behind it.

As for the taste of rabbit meat, domesticated rabbits tasted alot like chicken, wonderful grilled or baked. YUMMY!

Yes they do scream when they are butchered.......its more of a surprise for them and death comes very quickly by the knock of the head and throat being cut quickly.

As for pelts, I did one litter and I would not do it again, too much work getting all the gunk off of it and the chemicals needed to be used to clean out the pelts and so forth. And the scrapings I had to endure for eight pelts made me sore. I still have those pelts after all those years...been twenty years now and still wrapped in cedar paper in Grandma's chest.

We were not in rabbits very long, about two to three years before my Dad and sister decided it was time to let them go and let someone else take them. Feed was getting expensive at that time.

It was great learning experience!