Raising rabbits

Anybody here a rabbit farmer - raising them for meat on a significant scale? I was doing that as a teenager in the 60's. It was my first taste of trying to run a business. Had to buy all the feed at that time and in the summer months there was no market so ended up not making any money. Didn't help being young and knew nothing about running a business. I think if you're near a market and can raise the feed then some money could be made as a niche market. If you look at the nutrition on rabbit its great meat. Its the kind of farming where the old, not so expensive machinery would work well. Seems the best markets are near big cities where people don't know a rabbit from a cow.

you don't have a daughter headed for college do you?.............. NVM

(quoted from post at 17:34:12 08/23/17) you don't have a daughter headed for college do you?.............. NVM

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OL

My step-dad sold meat rabbits as a side business/hobby in Michigan. I think he had maybe 200-250 going at a time. He had a place that bought them all...maybe an Asian market, can't remember now.

I don't think there was alot of money in it. It wasn't very difficult to upkeep if I remember and it didn't take up a ton of space. He had them all in 2x2' pens, similar to what most chicken (egg) farms that I've been in/worked in. He built a narrow, long building that housed them on each side, with the cages maybe 3' off the ground.

Most of what I dealt with was scooping poo into wheel barrels inside his "bunny barn" and filling up a dump trailer. Some guy down the road bought the fertilizer.

We ate alot of rabbit while I was living out there, and I enjoyed it. I only lived there a couple years, and he shut the meat rabbits down sometime after I left. I think you would have to have a buyer ahead of time to be profitable. They do finish out quickly, and the actual labor input seemed to be pretty low.

One of the biggest issues he had was predators (cats, dogs, bobcats, fox, raccoons, black bear, etc) that were drawn to the "bunny barn." I'll bet I shot more varmints out from around the rabbit hutches then I did the rest of the farm combined.

When I was a kid my school bus driver was a retired military man and he raised rabbits. He built himself some rolling hutches about 30' long, had stacked, cantilevered hutches with an aisle down the middle and a tin roof over the whole thing. He would move the hutches every day with his old John Deere ''B'' and scatter the manure, I know he fed corn and clover hay same as feeding cattle because he bought clover hay from our farm and shell corn from the local elevator. This was in the mid 60's but he was still in the rabbit business in the mid 80's because I stopped at his place one time and he still had the same set up going. Rabbit meat was common in grocery stores in my area for most of my life but is now scarce. I think it has to do with people not cooking as much and eating fast food, the whole meat counter has shrunk in the two grocery stores in our town and sometimes there is very little on offer.

I raised a few for meat and showing when I was a kid. One thing comes to mind is that the most efficient and complete feed ration you can get is pellets from the feed store. It gets cheaper if you buy a bunch, but it might get stale. I don't think I would try making my own ration, but it would be an excuse to grow some crops. Alfalfa, corn, soybean meal and oats run through a mill and mixed? Also, use all wire cages. None of those cutesy wooden ones. They hold moisture and disease. You might find a market for pelts, meat, and manure. I have considered getting a pair again and raise some just for my family to eat. Feed conversion is slightly better than chickens, I believe. And you don't have to pluck feathers off a rabbit. Best of luck to you! My email is open.

btdt , and glad i was a kid when i did ,man we ate alot of them back then ..my sister still has about 40 to look after,.. they sell pretty good dressed out

Some doing it around here in the SF Bay area. The market is largely high end specialty restaurants, mostly French, and some ethnic markets, mostly Eastern European. If you can find those and provide a consistent quality product it can be worthwhile.

I raised rabbits until the kids realized we weren't eating chicken. Dad would shoot the cotton tails in his beans, and would dress them out for Mom to cook. More than once I bit down on a shot. Stan

(quoted from post at 21:11:07 08/23/17) Anybody here a rabbit farmer - raising them for meat on a significant scale? I was doing that as a teenager in the 60's. It was my first taste of trying to run a business. Had to buy all the feed at that time and in the summer months there was no market so ended up not making any money. Didn't help being young and knew nothing about running a business. I think if you're near a market and can raise the feed then some money could be made as a niche market. If you look at the nutrition on rabbit its great meat. Its the kind of farming where the old, not so expensive machinery would work well. Seems the best markets are near big cities where people don't know a rabbit from a cow.

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Research your market thoroughly. MOst people these days won't eat anything but beef, pork, chicken and turkey. Better to have a contract before you start.

My uncle raised registered Checkered Giants for show and had a fryer business on the side. Numerous times he'd ask me to come over and butcher a bunch for him. I raised some later on in life and found that they quit breeding in hot weather. However, I'm providing feed and habitat for rabbits here and in the wild/semi-wild, they have NO problem with heat.............or coming in heat and producing........

My wife, in the early days of our marriage, insisted on having the breast portion when we ate chicken. Friends and I went rabbit hunting one day and I brought some home and prepared them, sight unseen to her. Again she insisted on the rabbit "breast" not knowing what she was asking for as she had never eaten rabbit. I insisted that she was sure that she just had to have the breast and she said yes as usual...... she got it. That was the end of that "gotta have". Hard not to rub it in but...............

I've never had rabbit. What's the story behind rabbit breast, or the lack thereof?