Sallygarden Smallholding - The Forum For Sustainable Living

As this is a forum aimed at smallholders and those living sustainably, the Rabbits category is not about pets.

I decided to include this category as rabbits are accepted as a source of homegrown meat in America, and as far as I can see from other forums, Wales and France are quite keen on it too. Interestingly there is not category for rabbits on the famous UK River Cottage forum, although if you do a search there is a little discussion on it.

In Ireland I have come across only one person keeping meat rabbits, and she is German.

In your neck of the woods do people raise rabbits for meat?
What do you think about it, could you get over the cute n cuddly factor?

In terms of producing home grown protein from a smallholders point of view rabbits make a whole lot of sense. With a breeding pair you could get 10 kits per breeding, so just two litters a year would stock a freezer with plenty. The rabbits are capable of producing a new litter every 5 weeks, but that would be unfair to the female, and too much for a family to consume. They also take up a very small amount of space compared to say a goat which only breeds once a year and produces two kids for the freezer ... if both kids are billies that is. Although you have the benefit of milking with goats, and meat is more of a bonus.

Interested to see what others think. I think its a good idea. Not sure how the children would cope with the pet/livestock boundary when it comes to rabbits though.

My sister and I had rabbits when we were children, and they were not for eating at all *giggles* But after tasting rabbit 10 years ago, I've had an idea to breed rabbits for eating... my sister says I'm crazy and that I could never eat them! But I'm not so sure. It's wonderful food and yes they sure are cute and cuddly... but I've seen them try to chew my toes, so if they can try to eat me, sure I can do that to them as well? *smiles*

Seriously... if I breed rabbits that way when I get children, I'm sure it's healthy for the children to know, that animals are also for food and not just for being Disney-cute and cuddly.

I don't know anybody who does this, and it's quite hard to find rabbit meat to buy in Denmark (I don't think I ever saw it). I really think it's a shame

We have a free range bunny and I really don't feel that my children could cope with the pet/food boundary. That's something I don't feel I could consider for that reason. Were I not a parent then maybe.

rabbits for the table -absolutely acceptable. my husband grew up in malta and like the italians everyone kept rabbits for the table.
the cuddly issue happens with all animals you keep and as you will want to retain your breeding pairs let the kids get attached to them.
as another member pointed out rabbits are a much easier alternative for meat than larger animals goats/sheep pigs etc. Presumbaly you also have no issues with paper work and slaughter is DIY .
We built 4 hutches for this very purpose just before the foot and mouth crisis in the UK- consequently couldnt import rabbits to ireland and then didnt try again.
i would love to know if there is anyone here who can supply table rabbits as i would be very interested in trying again.

Well, out here they eat anything and everything. We don't have rabbits partly because I find them delicious but so fiddly to eat; partly because there's an excellent supplier just down the road; and finally because we are so overrun with the ruddy things that breeding them would be pointless. I'm afraid in our case it's a case of trying to get rid of what's already here - I got fed up last year of providing lettuces for the rabbits. Not to mention the French beans and, well, you get the picture!

However, I have no problem with the principal. I think it's a good idea to provide as much food as possible from the garden, be it veg or livestock. Good for children to be a part of it.

A friend's 10 year old daughter came to stay and when I went to our local butcher with her she was horrified at all the blood. "We don't have blood in England" she said - and wouldn't eat the meal! (And no they are not townies, and her mum's an amazing cook).

Hi Jean

I love how the French do meat. The markets are fantastic, everything is on display. The meat is meat if you know what I mean! Poultry still have theirs heads and legs on, so theres no mistaking it. Trotters, tails, etc. Rabbits are often skinned but still whole, with eyes in, or very often sliced straight down the middle! My girls found it all fascinating, it was a real biology lesson for them.

Even their supermarkets market meat very differently, on what I see as a realistic level. The labels on meat packets aren't of sheafs of wheat and corn, or a picture of a farmer in a field ... its a picture of a chicken, or a cow, or whatever, so you know whats in the packet and where it comes from.

Here and in the UK its not difficult to see how kids these days don't equate meat with animals, never mind blood.

I love how the French do meat. The markets are fantastic, everything is on display. The meat is meat if you know what I mean! Poultry still have theirs heads and legs on, so theres no mistaking it. Trotters, tails, etc. Rabbits are often skinned but still whole, with eyes in, or very often sliced straight down the middle! My girls found it all fascinating, it was a real biology lesson for them.

Let's hope it can continue and the EC doesn't put a stop to it.

I dread the day the French put a ban on unpasteurised cheese, market fish stalls, and "bloody" meat. It would put a stop to a lot of the market stall holders. Already, and I suppose inevitably, the number of people selling live poultry in the markets has gone way down. The new rules have made it not worth their while. I had to drive to a town 40 minutes away to buy my chickens.

Our local market is only once a week but it provides for a small village (1617 inhabitants) many of whom don't have cars. One forgets just how rural, rural France is.

We eat rabbit on a regular basis, however it is not farmed\home grown.

There are so many wild rabbits that local landowners have a problem keeping the numbers down.
As a result, I help them out with a quiet hunting trip late in the evenings.
The quality of the meat is superb! Low fat and totally free range.
And I gain brownie points that will probably be cashed in later, like with the pig sty...

It would seem a little hypocritical for me to start breeding them when they are such a nuisance to my neighbours and I'm helping them control numbers.
However, they are VERY popular with family, friends and colleagues who have to wait in turn for a 'delivery', though they all insist on it being supplied "as meat" - being jointed ready for the pot.

With regards to the children food\pet boundaries, I think that so long it is made clear at the start that the animals are food and the children are given regular reminders they will be fine with it and probably be better off for the experience.
This was demonstrated by Gordon Ramsay when he had turkeys, pigs and sheep in his garden.

just my 2p worth

Danny

I raised rabbits for the table a few years back. I wasn't able to get the proper table-breeds like New Zealand white or flemish giant, so I went down to Pet World when they had in a few decent sized animals and bought a buck and two does.

The buck went in the hen run, and the does had a large run each with a kinda modified cat litter box (the lidded type) as a house.

One of the does turned out to be neutered (a returned pet I suppose.) The other one had quite a few litters, and it was quite successful.

I had to move the runs more often than I expected due to urine/droppings and they eat a lot. I read 3 rabbits = 1 sheep grass-wise.

Also, they are horrible nasty scratchy things and I can't imagine why someone would give one to a child!

As we were moving house we eventually eat them all. Here again we have very few rabbits, so I would consider them as a food source again. But only with the bigger breeds. I have seen Flemish Giants in a local pet store but they're €100 a pop... that's a lot of chicken for a rabbit!

If we had wild rabbits in our area that would be fantastic ... well for our meat eating it would be fantastic ... for our veg growing it would be a disaster!

Our neighbour remembers that when he was young there used to be loads of rabbits here, but no more.

I have sourced some Californians, a meat breed of rabbit, and hope to be up and running soon. I know somebody who had Belgian Giants and we have talked about crossing. Problem is that if they ever escaped to the wild, my name would be mud, as Leitrim would be over run with very distinctive large white rabbits with black noses and ears!!!

A rabbit can produce a litter of up to 10 kits every 5 weeks, but wouldn't be allowed to breed that often as it would be so hard on her. But even if left breed twice in a year, thats potentially bunny stew dinner every 2 weeks.

Have any of you seen the giant German rabbits? The North Koreans wanted to get some to solve their famine problems, but they botched the deal.

You can read about it here, and there's even a clip of a short film that an NYU film student made. Really interesting, and adorable!

I don't know if I'd be able to kill one of these personally, but sometimes I fantasize about having one as a pet. In the video it looks like the breeder is feeding the rabbit a broccoli stalk, so maybe one would be able to just feed it vegetable "scraps." Then again I imagine looking down over the side of my bed and seeing a gigantic rabbit wiggling it's nose.... and it becomes a little nightmarish!

we keep a few broilers (ross cob ) chickens every year but i would love to breed large rabbits like new zeland white or similar breeds. i often prepaired a wild rabbit but they are all wiped out buy disease can anyone point me in the right direction to a breeder of large rabbits it would be greatly appricated
regards nemo

Hi everyone,
this is my first Posting, I found you with a Google search for Meat Rabbits,

to me it seems like the perfect smallholding animal, but most people that have first hand experience / knowledge of rearing them say that they are reared in cages, but surely wouldn't it be better to rear them in large cage runs on fresh grass (with some kitchen scraps and a bit of hay), and move them everyday or so, surely this would be a much better 'self-sufficient' idea

Does anyone have any views on this, if you are rearing them for your own table you don't need to 'fatten' them up as much as possible, unlike a commercial enterprise.

Jon.

Hello out there! This is my first posting on the forum and already, I'm looking for something!

I live only a 40 minute walk from Dublin city centre and I'm passionate about organic food. I have managed to source a few Sussex Bantams to supply us with some eggs and would love to incubate and raise some "broilers". However, as you know, to do this you need a cockerel and I know for a fact that this would not go down too well with the neighbours (they have no sense of humour!).

So, the next best thing to provide a bit of protien is the humble bunny. I've done a bit of research and the venerable John Seymour suggests that medium to large, but not giant, special purpose rabbits, like the New Zealand or Californian are ideal for the job. I've also read that the crosses of these two breeds are vigorous, healthy and fastgrowing.

I've sourced housing and managed to find space in my very busy "urban smallholding" but haven't had a lot of success finding the ideal rabbits.

Also, in order to produce organic meat, I'll have to feed organic concentrate or pellets. There doen't seem to be a lot of this floating around either! There are a few suppliers of pet food around, but they seem to be charging "boutique" prices........

Does anybody know where I can source the suitable rabbits and the suitable feed for said rabbits in the Dublin area?

Any help/advice/contact information you could give would be greatly appreciated.

JoeyO

I'm very interested to hear how ye are getting on with your rabbits?
We have tried the broilers and ducks and were very disappointed. The broilers were good but cost to much in feed and too much prep. ie plucking and ducks were great layers untill i finished them and got a monthful of meat. so disappointed!!Not worth the hrs of prep.
would love to hear want rabbits are like
-cost
-prep for table
-meat quality/quantity

Marie