Meat Rabbits

ssramage

Senior Member
Does anyone here raise rabbits for meat?

I'm not sure my wife is sold on the idea, but after the whole COVID hysteria this year it has opened our eyes to trying to become a little more sustainable. We were kicking ourselves some for getting rid of our chickens last year but fortunately had a freezer full of deer meat that carried us through.

I've been doing some research on raising rabbits for meat, and it seems like a fairly simple/cost efficient operation for substantially adding a lean meat source to our diets. From what I've read, 3 rabbits can produce 150-200# of meat annually.

Still trying to convince my wife that eating rabbits is healthy and they taste good, but she's having trouble with the optics. She's a little more "citified". :ROFLMAO:
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
I've dabbled with it a time or two over the years, but never in a serious manner. They are great eating, and produce a good bit of meat. But to be honest, I really hate picking up one of the cute little fuzzy fellers and killing it.
 

kmckinnie

BOT KILLER MODERATOR
Staff member
I seen a guy that lived in town raise them. He’d pick it up by the back legs. Karate chop it To the back of the neck. Then skin and grill it.
 

ssramage

Senior Member
I've dabbled with it a time or two over the years, but never in a serious manner. They are great eating, and produce a good bit of meat. But to be honest, I really hate picking up one of the cute little fuzzy fellers and killing it.

Yeah I can see the same thing. I have 3 small kids at home that are fairly outdoorsy and hunt with me frequently, but I imagine the butchering would be left to me, in secret, for a while.
 

Hillbilly stalker

Senior Member
I believe, done the right way, its good for the children to see and engage in butchering. They need to know how and where their food comes from. Too many people in todays society have no ideal. That's why we are infected with a bunch of tree hugging sissies. Its not cruel, inhumane or demonic....its natural. When I was a chap ( I'm 53 now) it was normal for the family to gather if we killed and scalded a hog and everybody had a role to play.
 

JustUs4All

Slow Mod
Staff member
Kids should be taught that their food comes from nature and that something has ti die and be butchered for them to enjoy a steak, chicken wing, or fried rabbit. I don't want to sound too harsh but it is the parent's job to teach them. If they don't the .Gov will teach them that tofu is great along with all the other garbage that it is the parent's job to filter out and explain.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
I believe, done the right way, its good for the children to see and engage in butchering. They need to know how and where their food comes from. Too many people in todays society have no ideal. That's why we are infected with a bunch of tree hugging sissies. Its not cruel, inhumane or demonic....its natural. When I was a chap ( I'm 53 now) it was normal for the family to gather if we killed and scalded a hog and everybody had a role to play.
When we were kids, grandma would hand us a hatchet and tell us to go get her a chicken.
 

ssramage

Senior Member
Kids should be taught that their food comes from nature and that something has ti die and be butchered for them to enjoy a steak, chicken wing, or fried rabbit. I don't want to sound too harsh but it is the parent's job to teach them. If they don't the .Gov will teach them that tofu is great along with all the other garbage that it is the parent's job to filter out and explain.

I don't disagree. My kids have been present for every game dressing/processing since they were born. They understand that what we eat was likely harvested by Dad at some point. Heck, my 2 year old daughter asks if we're eating deer meat before dinner now.

My wife polled the kids last night to see if they'd eat rabbit (she doesn't want to) and each of them said yes. I also recognize that butchering a cute, fluffy bunny in front of a 3yr old may not be the best right off the bat.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
Yeah, but chickens need killing. They are mean, ornery, evil, things deep down.
Undoubtedly. And, unfortunately for them, they are also delicious. :)

I have killed thousands and thousands of animals, both wild and domestic. It doesn't bother me in the least to shotgun a rabbit running across a field, or sneak up on one and put an arrow through it. But, I do not like picking up the little fluffy cute bunny with it looking at me and trying to snuggle up to me, and then killing it. I don't know what the difference is. I'll do it, but it makes me feel crappy.
 

CurLee

Senior Member
My girls have been witness to my slaughtering chickens for years and are now starting to help with the process at 7 and 10 years old.
Meat rabbits are amazing grilled with some white barbecue sauce. Some breeds get. very large fast too.
I'm kinda in the same camp as NChilbilly, I want to, but, dang!
We got my youngest daughter two rabbits as pets this year, warned her if they had babies they would be raised for meat. Lucked out and they're both male.
 

Toliver

Senior Member
My kids were exposed to processing animals at an early age. I can't remember how young my daughter was when she first looked out at a pasture full of cows and said, "MMMMMM..... Steak". They've held legs while I gutted a deer. They've watched birds of all types get killed and cleaned at the farm. My son helps and is good with it but my daughter really gets into it. She plays with the cut off legs. Walks around with a heart making it beat. Come to think of it.... I might need to keep an eye on her.... :eek2:
 

dirtnap

Senior Member
Undoubtedly. And, unfortunately for them, they are also delicious. :)

I have killed thousands and thousands of animals, both wild and domestic. It doesn't bother me in the least to shotgun a rabbit running across a field, or sneak up on one and put an arrow through it. But, I do not like picking up the little fluffy cute bunny with it looking at me and trying to snuggle up to me, and then killing it. I don't know what the difference is. I'll do it, but it makes me feel crappy.
Off subject, but I used to always keep a couple hogs and my wife and daughter named on Sweetie. When I killed her and had her in the freezer they wrote sweetie on every pack and they said they couldn’t eat it
 

CurLee

Senior Member
When I was a kid we had a steer named Gus on our dairy farm. My brother and I would take turns, one riding, the other leading Gus around the field. My folks thought we'd be mortified when it was butcher time.

Instead we would enthusiastically ask "we eating Gus-burgers tonight??"

I've raised my kids similarly except so far with fowl and have recently purchased our first bull/bred cow pair. Hoping for a bull calf to castrate and butcher.
 
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