I'm going to see a pair of NZ/Rex does tomorrow. I have to get them as "pets". My wife would eat a deer when I was hunting, but she flipped over the idea of eating a cute little bunny. At least we can get used to raising and caring for them. I'll sneak buck home later and "oops" how did they get pregnant :dunno:. Maybe someday we can move up to a pair of pet potbelly pigs if I can bring her around:crossfinger:. We eat a lot of chicken quarters because it's the cheapest thing here. I'm sure I can swap in rabbit quarters and stew/ground meat without getting caught. I know it's a dirty trick, but that's how I got here to eat game in the first place. She was mad for a day but she got over it when she realized it tasted better and fresher than anything from the store. She didn't want to see it getting cleaned, but once it looked like steak or chops it was all good with her.
Gotta admit, I'm just like your wife. I've had rabbit before, it's good, but I don't want to see Thumper (or Bambi) getting cut up. But give it to me looking like something I picked up at the grocery store and I have no problem cooking it.
Don't let her take care of them. Don't let her name them. Don't let her pet them. Don't ask her to help butcher. Don't even tell her when you are gonna do it. Just do the deed yourself and move on. Sorry for all the "don'ts". My dad raised all kinds of animals for the express intent of butchering. My mom got emotionally attached to every single one of them. Worse than us kids ... even when we were little. I remember my dad not letting me go to the shed when he was butchering rabbits when I was younger (like 5 or 6). I was a daddy's girl so I wandered out there (even though he told me not to) and found him with a half dozen rabbits hanging on hooks bleeding out. I said "Oh, daddy, that's kinda messy don't you think?" I scared the bejeebus outta him. He told the neighbor (a dairy farmer) when he took meat to trade for milk that he nearly had a heart attack but it was good to know I was tougher and more practical than my mom! LOL My dad finally stopped talking about it, stopped asking her to help take care of them and started just doing what he needed to do. She finally got over it ... that fresh meat just tasted so much better than storebought (and they were feeding 7 kids, so the savings at the grocery store didn't hurt either).
Exactly. I'm not a vet or anything, but I just feed my 3 rabbits oats and hay that we raise here on the farm and they do fine. I don't even buy commercial rabbit pellets any more. Maybe one of those salt spools once in a while.
My mother always said that you shouldn't name your food, as soon as you give an animal a name it becomes a pet.
My dad always said you could name it, just don't get attached to it! We had a pig named Hamlet and a steer named T-Bone ... They were both very, very tasty. My oldest son had a cat he was extremely fond of. It got out on the road in front of our property and got hit by a car. Terrified to tell him his cat was dead, but figuring he was old enough to handle it, I told him what had happened and that Fluffy was no longer with us. He looked down at his shoes for a minute, scuffed his toe in the gravel and said "Damn cat ... I told him to stay off the highway!" It was all I could do to keep from busting out laughing ... couldn't even reprimand him for his language (he was 6) ... that kid has always been a handful!
My son I and picked out an almost matching pair of does white w/ black markings and brought them home. We have them in our old dog cage until we can get an outside hutch. I think they poop more than the dog and he's over 90#s. I was calling them thing 1 and thing 2 (my boy's 6yo) until he picked names. Now I tease him and call them Acme and Aldis. It's safe for him to get attached. I made it clear they are our pets and we will have them for a long time, but they might have babies someday and we don't have room for all of them when they get big. Anyway, does anyone know what kind of greens they can eat or more important what they can't eat? I'm talking about wild or easy to grow stuff. I want to feed them with as much natural veg as I can during the summer and only use feed/hay as supplant or in the winter. I stuck a box in the cage for them to curl up in and they just chewed the heck out of it. Do they need something to chew on or are they just destructive little critters? I never had rabbits, but grew up with dogs so I know a little about animals. I read up on rabbits, but I guess not enough. That's why I want to dive in and get my feet wet. If I can raise I, I can raise 10 or 100 if needed. The guy I got them from might be a closet prepper. He had cages full of animals stacked in his basement and was raising some little birds that looked like softball sized chickens, I forget their name. He talked about having ducks in the backyard, but he wasn't happy with them because they weren't laying enough for him. We talked for awhile. He just got started a few months ago, but had some helpful advise. I was afraid to mention meat rabbits until I saw his set up. Thanks. pics soon.
Some info on rabbits: http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f36/food-prices-going-up-4623/index3.html Do NOT feed apple cores or peach, apricot, or plum seeds. The seeds are toxic to them. They do need twigs to chew on or their teeth will grow too long....really! They can have one or two fruit tree twigs occassionally, but too many can be toxic. They do need twigs on a continuous basis....oak, they LOVE sugar maple and other non fruit tree twigs. The manure is like GOLD for the garden!!
My daddy told me rabbits need something to chew on because their teeth grow constantly, and must keep them worn down, they overgrow and they cannot eat. I do know not to keep them in an all wood cage or they will chew through and escape.
CVOR nurse is spot-on. Their teeth grow throughout their entire life so they need something to gnaw on. In the summer I feed mine orchard grass instead of hay but any fresh green grass seems to do the trick. All you need is a handful per bunny.
Thanks, We can forage greens in a few more weeks and we have plenty of oaks for twigs. They have become used to us already. They come over, stick their noses through the cage a beg for treats like our dog. At first they ran to the far side of the cage when anyone came near.
When one of our nieces was younger (about 12) she had dinner with us "rabbit & dumplings" she did not know it was rabbit, said it was the best chicken & dumplings she had ever eaten. Later her father told her what it was and she threw up. Some people can't get past it.
As a picky eater myself, I can sympathize with your niece. My daddy was a big believer in clean your plate, but I have/had a "nervous stomach". They finally stopped making me eat, and I have never forced my kids to eat anything they didn't want to eat of their own accord. In desperation once, he lied and told me the rabbit was all white meat chicken. I kinda thought something was up but ate it anyway and discovered that I did like rabbit. I have kinda outgrown my nervous tummy, and will try new foods now, but.... do not always like them. Funny thing to me is that my 2 girls, the only blood related children I have, have some of those same dislikes that I exhibited as a child, even though I outgrew them well before either was born.
My husband and I breed rabbits for meat. Sorry, but I cannot be counted among the women who are skweemish about killing and eating bunnies. Bothers me not. :dunno: If it makes us more self sustainable, I'm all for it. In our house, the cute little bunnies are food. Period. Dogs and cats are pets. Then, there is the goldfish...but hubby keeps threatening to use him as bait...
