what kind of rabbits to buy for meat

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It'southward been said many times that meat rabbits and goats are a poor prepper's cows, but I don't think that mantra is quite right. Don't get me wrong, cows are great — although they intimidate me a bit, which is insane because I love horses — but not everyone has the space, equipment, or skills to raise and butcher cattle.

Meat rabbits (as well as pygmy and Nigerian dwarf goats, for that matter) have up so little infinite that a smart prepper, non necessarily one with empty pockets, tin raise and butcher them. Even an urban prepper probably has plenty space to go on a mating pair of meat rabbits in a city apartment.

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Meat Rabbit Husbandry Tips

The key to raising quality meat rabbits, particularly for novices, is starting pocket-sized. Invest in proven convenance stock and buy but one cadet and i doe. Rabbits, as we all know, reproduce rapidly.

A beginning keeper simply won't be able to adequately keep upwards with the daily health checks, feeding, and hutch cleaning necessary for multiple convenance pairs or groups from twenty-four hours one — at least not while producing disease-free animals that churn out satisfactory meat.

Once you truly larn the cornerstones of meat rabbit husbandry, then it is time to expand your colony and starting time butchering and preserving the meat for an SHTF event. The perfect meat rabbit colony ratio is one buck to two females. Such a setup should most probable produce up to 50 kits (babe rabbits) on an annual basis.

A pocket-sized colony of rabbits, regardless of the meat breed, tin can produce more than 300 pounds of only female person kits per twelvemonth, creating a steady supply of future convenance does. A small rabbit colony, one that lives in merely a humane iii-pes by 2-foot hutch, could ultimately produce around 960 pounds worth of kits each yr.

It might sound shocking, just it does not take long to air current up with a rabbit colony with 100 members if you lot purchase multiple does and a cadet or two.

Hither is a brief breakup at the amount of work per calendar week that is required to care for such a large colony while waiting for them to reach butcher weight:

Feeding – 2 ½ hours
Hutch Cleaning – v ½ hours
Mating – two ½ hours
Weaning Kits and Intendance of Doe Nests – 3 hours
Feeder and H2o Container Cleanings – iv ½ hours
Health Checks – ii hours

As yous can meet, whether you are a smart prepper or a poor prepper, or both, you volition be putting in a whole lot of time inside the rabbit pen if you attempt to go along a big colony.

There is a lot of benefit to keeping a big rabbit colony, but doing then while still learning husbandry techniques, including butchering and preserving, which was non factored into the in a higher place list, requires a substantial time commitment and tin become very overwhelming.

In spite of the time commitment, raising rabbits for meat is worth the effort. Here's why.

Meat Rabbit Buying Tips

Review the rabbit's concrete attributes and look the animal over thoroughly for signs of both ill health and under development.
Look to make sure both of the fauna's eyes are bright and announced articulate, a typical sign of good health.
The coat of the rabbit should not bear witness any signs of molting fur. If fur molting is present, the glaze will neither feel soft or make clean to the impact due to unsanitary living conditions or illness.
The rabbit'southward teeth should show no signs of overgrowth and exist aligned properly. A rabbit with signs of an overgrowth likely has either a jaw alignment issue which prevents it from grinding down its teeth in a natural manner or has an internal medical status.
No discharge should be visible on the olfactory organ of the rabbit. A rabbit with consistent sniffles could have Pasteurella, which is an oft concluding and contagious affliction.
Ask to view the convenance pair that produced the rabbits if at all possible. A healthy rabbit should exist expected to sniffle or even sneeze on occasion, but not have snot bubbling coming out of the olfactory organ fairly consistently. If yous handle a rabbit with these apparent issues, make sure to disinfect your hands completely before handling some other 1.
Never purchase from an auction. Although these rabbits might be healthy, y'all volition not have the time necessary to inspect the animals or even talk to their keeper.

Elevation 12 Meat Rabbit Breeds

i. Californian Rabbits

These meat rabbits are stocky and often grow to counterbalance almost eight to twelve pounds. They are a cantankerous-brood betwixt Chinchilla rabbits New Zealand Whites.

2. New Zealand Whites

This breed of meat rabbits is perhaps both the most mutual and the nigh pop. They routinely weight between ix to twelve pounds. It is non uncommon for kits to reach eight pounds when they are just nigh eight weeks old.

iii. American Chinchilla

Chefs around the globe tend to favor cooking and smoking this meat rabbit breed. Mature Chinchilla meat rabbits weigh about 9 pounds.

4. Satin Rabbits

It would be difficult to detect a more cold hardy meat rabbit than the Satins. They avowal a thick fur that is also heralded for its beauty. These meat rabbits normally weigh most telve pounds when fully mature.

v. Flemish Giants

It may cost a piddling bit more to continue this meat rabbit brood due to the voracious appetite of the animals, but they do regularly weigh upwards to 20 pounds when butchered.

half-dozen. Blanc de Hotot

These are amidst the largest breeds of rabbits and are also a heritage brood. They were created in French republic during the 1900s and were only the 2nd rabbit breed to ever stem from breeding cultivated by a woman. Typically, Blanc de Hotot meat rabbits weigh about eleven pounds. The does are highly regarded for their robust litters and maternal instincts.

vii. Rex Rabbits

Mature meat rabbits of this brood generally weight around x pounds. Rex rabbits too boast a cute and thick fur that has long been used in making outerwear and linings.

eight. Palomino Rabbits

This meat rabbit breed has been popular in the marketplace for decades. They commonly grow to weigh between eight and xi pounds.

9. Silver Foxes

These rabbits take long been a favorite among homesteaders. They are not ever like shooting fish in a barrel to notice, which means selling some of the offspring could help fund the feeding and caring of a rabbit colony or exist used to purchase other needed preps. They commonly grow to weigh betwixt ten and twelve pounds.

ten. Champagne d'Silverish

This moderately stout rabbit breed has been raised for meat production since the early 1600s. They typically counterbalance about nine pounds when mature plenty for butchering.

11. Belgian Hare

This heritage breed of meat rabbit is also a threatened brood due to the declining numbers currently being raised around the world. The Belgian Hare was instantly popular on the meat market when it was kickoff introduced in America during the early 1900s.

A single rabbit of this brood could sell for up to $5,000 each during their heyday. In fact, millionaires like J.P. Morgan even invested heavily in the breeding of Belgian Hares to increase their private fortunes. Unfortunately for the folks hoping to get rich on the backs of rabbits, they found themselves with filled hutches in an over-saturated market place afterward prices dropped dramatically.

The rabbits take fine basic and produce a lean meat. These rabbits have been known to be fairly difficult to breed. The breed is extremely active and needs plenty of room to deter poor behavior. Mature Belgian Hares tend to weigh between vi and 9 pounds.

12. Cinnamon Rabbits

Rabbits of this meat breed typically weigh about 10 pounds. The breed was created accidentally during the early 1970s after a little girl in Montana received a Chinchilla rabbit for Easter. It bred with New Zealand Whites she and her brother after caused, and somewhen, the kits were also bred with their father's Checkered Giant and Californian rabbits. The breed is named afterwards the beautiful color of their coats.

13. Florida White Rabbit

The Florida White Rabbit is an excellent all-purpose rabbit breed for smaller sized homesteads. Florida white rabbits are noted for their lighter bone structure and having less meat, only they also typically accept a smaller demeanor and temperament than other rabbits besides, which makes them a good beginner breed to heighten. These are a good rabbit to raise if yous have limited space.

fourteen. Himalayan Rabbit

The Himalayan Rabbit is ane of the oldest rabbit breeds in existence; their origins are largely a mystery, but it is known that they first arrived in the U.s. in the early 1900s. This breed is known for being very calm and peaceful and is therefore like shooting fish in a barrel to have intendance of.

This is especially important for beginners and is ane of the main reasons why they accept been and then successful. Have annotation that they are sensitive to cold temperatures (which is odd considering the 'Himalayan' name), so during the winter, you may need to proceed them in an indoor pen.

15. Dutch Rabbit

The Dutch rabbit is another very common species of rabbit. Showtime bred in the 1830s in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland (opposite to their name), information technology's also very popular in the United States. The Dutch rabbit is very energetic and needs enough of outdoor space in order to thrive, much similar the Belgian hare rabbit that we but discussed.

Take annotation that dutch rabbits are small at usually around five pounds each, and will therefore have less meat on them. But they are widely available and usually inexpensive to buy.

Meat Rabbit Supplies

Once you choose the blazon or types of meat rabbits to enhance, it is time to become shopping for all of the necessary husbandry supplies.

Here is a breakdown of the bare essentials in rabbit husbandry and their approximate cost:

Rabbit Hutch – Y'all can make your own out of scrap forest and wire for side by side to goose egg if you accept such materials bachelor. Ever utilize a sturdy gauge of hardware cloth fencing and never chicken wire.

A hutch designed to house two rabbits should be approximately 3 feet wide, 30 inches deep, and 20 inches alpine. The wire used on the floor, sides, and bottom of the hutch must keep out small predators like mink and raccoons who tin can go through chicken wire and exist supportive enough non to sag beneath the weight of the rabbits.

The cost of a commercially manufactured small rabbit hutch is about $50, with larger cages costing as much as $200.

Feeder – A plastic or metal feeder big enough to feed at least one rabbit typically costs about $x and are usually between nine and twelve inches tall.

Waterer – These husbandry supplies also cost $x or more than each. They are often made and then they hang outside of the hutch with the bottle portion beingness fabricated of plastic and the metal drip waterer that goes inside the cage made of metal to deter chewing past the rabbits.

Nesting Boxes – Each doe will need her ain nesting box for protection confronting inclement atmospheric condition and during convenance. They are commonly sold or synthetic at home out of either woods or metal – the rabbits will eventually chew through and shred plastic nesting boxes. Nesting boxes usually sell for anywhere from $ten to $25 each.

Fans – Many rabbit keepers and breeders use solar fans that can be attached to the hutch to keep the rabbit cool during the summer. When temperatures go over 90 degrees, rabbits (particularly significant or nursing does) tin dice of heat stroke. Solar fans too sell for about $20 to $35 each.

Lights – Placing some solar landscaping lights in the ground around the hutch and/or solar movement-detecting lights on the hutch, can help deter predators. Prices for lights varying depending upon dimension and type only tin typically exist purchased for less than $30 each. Dollar stores often stock unmarried landscaping solar lights.

Heaters – Solar powered heaters to help keep the rabbits and their kits warm in the winter mostly cost betwixt $50 to $75 each.

Feed – A bag of rabbit feed by and large ranges in price from $9 to $25 for a 50-pound sack. A squad bale of hay typically costs almost iv or five dollars.

Bedding – The rabbits will need bedding to sleep on and to brand a place to keep their kits in the nesting boxes. A square bale of straw normally costs about $3.

Await to pay between $25 to $60 per quality meat rabbit. Prices on some breeds tin can run up to $85 each.

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