Rabbit-8 to 14 Cents a Pound
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Here is how to cut up a rabbit. He makes six generous pieces, plus the liver - as good as chicken liver.
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ONE of the first projects I wanted when we moved to our
place in the country was rabbits. I had read many times
that they produced excellent tasting meat at little cost.
Carolyn, however, was sort of skeptical of the project
because she thought that she she might not be able to eat
the rabbits - they looked so cute.
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One pay-day when I happened to read an advertisement
offering a six compartment, all-metal wire hutch for sale
for less than $20 I couldn't resist this good buy. The
hutch eventually came, but Carolyn was still skeptical and,
anyway, we were up to our necks getting our barn finished
up, learning to milk, .running our broiler battery, our
bees, goats, and setting the geese. It wasn't hard to put
off getting the rabbits for a while.
Then, a friend of mine, Wally Boren noticed I hadn't done
anything with my rabbit hutch and he asked if he couldn't
use it until I got ready. That was all right with me. He
borrowed the hutch, set it up in his garage and began
reading up on the subject of rabbits.
Choosing a Breed
Wally picked a variety called the Chinchilla. You can take
your pick of several good meat breeds. Wally
favored the medium sized breeds - weighing around
8 to 10 pounds grown. You could go in for the Flemish
Giants, for instance, that sometimes weigh 20 pounds. They
eat a lot more, of course, and their fryers, at 7 to 9
weeks, weigh not too much more than do those of the medium
breeds at the same age. The New Zealand Whites are another
popular medium weight breed - their white fur is worth more
than the Chinchilla ...and there are are a number of other
good medium weight breeds.
Of course, there are Angoras (with their beautiful, white,
long fur) and other "fancy" breeds. But these are not meat
rabbits. In ordinary times many of the small rabbit raisers
don't bother to save the skins, but they do have some
value. Right now, for example, buyers are offering from 30
cents a pound to 90 cents apiece. You can obtain names of
buyers from one of the rabbit magazines.
Wally started with a "trio" - a young buck nine months old
and two does of the same age. He bred the does shortly
after he got them. The following month he had 17 bunnies.
Seven is a big enough litter, according to the experts, for
one doe to raise. So Wally destroyed four from one litter
of 12 and gave the other doe an extra to bring her litter
of 6 up to 7. Wally rubbed a little Mentholatum on her nose
so she couldn't smell the difference between her own and
the young one from the other litter.
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