What do you plan to raise next year?
- Thread starter Bettacreek
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Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Rabbits can produce more meat for you than chickens and the meat is lean and flavorful. I used to raise meat rabbits OVER my chickens, ala Salatin, and it is quite a successful meat project. And the manure is a value added item....great to balance out the hot manure of chickens.
I am planning to raise bees, a pair of ducks for my small pond I plan to build, and will add a ram to my sheep enterprise.
Unless my neighbor should suddenly get generous with his fallow pasture and let me rent it, there will be no more cows for me....they are messy, destructive and a nuisance in one's back yard!
In the next field, maybe...dropping steamies on the back porch, NO! 
I am planning to raise bees, a pair of ducks for my small pond I plan to build, and will add a ram to my sheep enterprise.
Unless my neighbor should suddenly get generous with his fallow pasture and let me rent it, there will be no more cows for me....they are messy, destructive and a nuisance in one's back yard!
In the next field, maybe...dropping steamies on the back porch, NO! 
Wifezilla
Low-Carb Queen - RIP: 1963-2021
My only concern with rabbit IS the fact their meat is so lean. People associate lean meat with healthy meat. Unfortunately that isn't the case. Human bodies run on fatty acids. Saturated fat is what primarily comprises our brain tissue. Animal fat is what we evolved (or were designed...take your pick 
) to thrive on. Sure, protein is important but a high protein diet has its own special problems...
"Vilhjalmur Stefansson wrote as follows:
"The groups that depend on the blubber animals are the most fortunate in the hunting way of life, for they never suffer from fat-hunger. This trouble is worst, so far as North America is concerned, among those forest Indians who depend at times on rabbits, the leanest animal in the North, and who develop the extreme fat-hunger known as rabbit-starvation. Rabbit eaters, if they have no fat from another source--beaver, moose, fish--will develop diarrhoea in about a week, with headache, lassitude and vague discomfort. If there are enough rabbits, the people eat till their stomachs are distended; but no matter how much they eat they feel unsatisfied. Some think a man will die sooner if he eats continually of fat-free meat than if he eats nothing, but this is a belief on which sufficient evidence for a decision has not been gathered in the North. Deaths from rabbit-starvation, or from the eating of other skinny meat, are rare; for everyone understands the principle, and any possible preventive steps are naturally taken."
In the introduction to Alden Todd's book Abandoned: the story of the Greely Arctic Expedition 1881-1884, which recounts the harrowing experiences of the 25 expedition members, of whom 19 died, Stefansson refers to "'rabbit starvation' which is now to me the key to the Greely problem," which was why "only six came back." He concludes that one of the reasons for the many deaths was cannibalism of the lean flesh of members who had already died. Stefansson likens this to rabbit starvation, which he explains somewhat as in the above quoted observation.
Charles Darwin, in The Voyage of the Beagle, wrote:
"We were here able to buy some biscuit. I had now been several days without tasting any thing besides meat: I did not at all dislike this new regimen; but I felt as if it would only have agreed with me with hard exercise. I have heard that patients in England, when desired to confine themselves exclusively to an animal diet, even with the hope of life before their eyes, have hardly been able to endure it. Yet the Gaucho in the Pampas, for months together, touches nothing but beef. But they eat, I observe, a very large proportion of fat, which is of a less animalized nature; and they particularly dislike dry meat, such as that of the Agouti. Dr. Richardson, also, has remarked, that when people have fed for a long time solely upon lean animal food, the desire for fat becomes so insatiable, that they can consume a large quantity of unmixed and even oily fat without nausea: this appears to me a curious physiological fact. It is, perhaps, from their meat regimen that the Gauchos, like other carnivorous animals, can abstain long from food. I was told that at Tandeel, some troops voluntarily pursued a party of Indians for three days, without eating or drinking.""
Of course if you have a variety of foods and access to good dairy fats, no problem. But if you have to choose between rabbits and chickens or ducks, I pick the animal that is the best fat source. Eggs are an excellent way to get those good fatty acids.
) to thrive on. Sure, protein is important but a high protein diet has its own special problems..."Vilhjalmur Stefansson wrote as follows:
"The groups that depend on the blubber animals are the most fortunate in the hunting way of life, for they never suffer from fat-hunger. This trouble is worst, so far as North America is concerned, among those forest Indians who depend at times on rabbits, the leanest animal in the North, and who develop the extreme fat-hunger known as rabbit-starvation. Rabbit eaters, if they have no fat from another source--beaver, moose, fish--will develop diarrhoea in about a week, with headache, lassitude and vague discomfort. If there are enough rabbits, the people eat till their stomachs are distended; but no matter how much they eat they feel unsatisfied. Some think a man will die sooner if he eats continually of fat-free meat than if he eats nothing, but this is a belief on which sufficient evidence for a decision has not been gathered in the North. Deaths from rabbit-starvation, or from the eating of other skinny meat, are rare; for everyone understands the principle, and any possible preventive steps are naturally taken."
In the introduction to Alden Todd's book Abandoned: the story of the Greely Arctic Expedition 1881-1884, which recounts the harrowing experiences of the 25 expedition members, of whom 19 died, Stefansson refers to "'rabbit starvation' which is now to me the key to the Greely problem," which was why "only six came back." He concludes that one of the reasons for the many deaths was cannibalism of the lean flesh of members who had already died. Stefansson likens this to rabbit starvation, which he explains somewhat as in the above quoted observation.
Charles Darwin, in The Voyage of the Beagle, wrote:
"We were here able to buy some biscuit. I had now been several days without tasting any thing besides meat: I did not at all dislike this new regimen; but I felt as if it would only have agreed with me with hard exercise. I have heard that patients in England, when desired to confine themselves exclusively to an animal diet, even with the hope of life before their eyes, have hardly been able to endure it. Yet the Gaucho in the Pampas, for months together, touches nothing but beef. But they eat, I observe, a very large proportion of fat, which is of a less animalized nature; and they particularly dislike dry meat, such as that of the Agouti. Dr. Richardson, also, has remarked, that when people have fed for a long time solely upon lean animal food, the desire for fat becomes so insatiable, that they can consume a large quantity of unmixed and even oily fat without nausea: this appears to me a curious physiological fact. It is, perhaps, from their meat regimen that the Gauchos, like other carnivorous animals, can abstain long from food. I was told that at Tandeel, some troops voluntarily pursued a party of Indians for three days, without eating or drinking.""
Of course if you have a variety of foods and access to good dairy fats, no problem. But if you have to choose between rabbits and chickens or ducks, I pick the animal that is the best fat source. Eggs are an excellent way to get those good fatty acids.
framing fowl
On a mission
I hope this is on topic and not hijacking a thread, if so I can start a new one on rabbits vs. meat chickens... in the meantime
I really appreciate the varied perspectives. Here are my current thoughts on the subject of rabbits vs. chickens for meat... the rabbits would be easier to process I think. I could also put their hutches in a side yard away from the dogs. I would like to keep a small flock of laying hens but it getting a little out of control for me having my broody raise chicks and then keep them long enough to butcher out. 20 chickens is too many for me right now with the space that I have. 6 laying hens is manageable. So maybe do rabbits for meat and eat eggs for breakfast...
Does anyone that has raised rabbits have a cost estimate on what it costs per pound to raise them? (I know it will vary depending on location but it would at least give me a starting point). I've seen in a couple people's journals their costs associated with chickens. Thanks!
I really appreciate the varied perspectives. Here are my current thoughts on the subject of rabbits vs. chickens for meat... the rabbits would be easier to process I think. I could also put their hutches in a side yard away from the dogs. I would like to keep a small flock of laying hens but it getting a little out of control for me having my broody raise chicks and then keep them long enough to butcher out. 20 chickens is too many for me right now with the space that I have. 6 laying hens is manageable. So maybe do rabbits for meat and eat eggs for breakfast...
Does anyone that has raised rabbits have a cost estimate on what it costs per pound to raise them? (I know it will vary depending on location but it would at least give me a starting point). I've seen in a couple people's journals their costs associated with chickens. Thanks!
- Thread starter
- #15
Bettacreek
Almost Self-Reliant
We butchered a rabbit today. We did not breed them, he was the freebie that I picked up and liked so much (until he started getting aggressive). There wasn't nearly the amount of meat that I was expecting, but it was something. I've never processed a chicken before, however, I will say that quail are MUCH easier than rabbit. Granted, I skin my quail. Maybe raise three species? Chickens for eggs, quail for poultry and rabbits for (red?) meat. The quail can be kept like rabbits, so there wouldn't be as big of a space issue with them as with chickens.
freemotion
Food Guru
Was that a meat breed rabbit? New Zealand, CA Giant, etc?
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- #17
Bettacreek
Almost Self-Reliant
Mixie, but I think he had NZ in him.
Hmm, come to think, since we're on the subject, can you use rexes for meat rabbits, or would they produce a good bit less meat?
Hmm, come to think, since we're on the subject, can you use rexes for meat rabbits, or would they produce a good bit less meat?
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
A standard rex can get quite big but not nearly as big or meaty as your NZ or Cali. breeds.
Wifezilla
Low-Carb Queen - RIP: 1963-2021
If you have the space this would work. As it is now I am getting more eggs from my quail than my ducks. Slackers!!!
I probably wont get rabbits. My brother had the tip of his finger bitten off by one and I have a scar on my stomach from a "pet" buck I used to have.
I tend to not raise things that can take chunks out of me. Strangely enough one of my worst animal bites was from a parakeet. Evil little beasts!!!
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- #20
Bettacreek
Almost Self-Reliant
I have a nice scar on my finger from a rat who bit me. It's been a few years since it happened, but it definately changed my fingerprint, lol.
As for bites, that's why this monstrosity was put in the fridge... I cannot stand a mean animal, and when one is mean, it makes it all the more easier to off them. However, I did tell the future BIL that it would be his job if I wasn't allowed to shoot them with the .22 pistol, lol.
As for bites, that's why this monstrosity was put in the fridge... I cannot stand a mean animal, and when one is mean, it makes it all the more easier to off them. However, I did tell the future BIL that it would be his job if I wasn't allowed to shoot them with the .22 pistol, lol.
