Rabbit-8 to 14 Cents a Pound
(Page 2 of 5)
At seven weeks all 14 of the young rabbits were alive and
frisky. At this age they weighed 44 pounds. The two does
were bred again.
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8c to 14c A Pound
Wally kept some careful records. Here's what he learned
from them. A Chinchilla weighing 3 pounds, live weight will
cost you from 25c to 35c or a little more to raise. You'd
pay a dollar, at least, in the market for him.
Wally figured out how much time it took him to
raise one 3 pound fryer. It took one hour flat .
That is, he explained, "I spent 14 hours actual chore time
- as a dub beginner - raising 14 meat-meals for the family.
I could cut that in half, but I like puttering around
them."
Wally had such good luck with the rabbits that, of course,
I wanted to see what I could do. Wally, who is a most
generous-minded fellow, kept us supplied with rabbit - he
kept saying that after all he had to pay "rent" in some
form or other for the hutch. Carolyn and I both liked
rabbit very much; it tastes something like chicken but has
a "firmness" that chicken doesn't have. I guess it was a
year before I got my hutch back and got to keeping rabbits
myself.
Incidentally, after we did get the rabbits we didn't mind
the idea of raising them to eat - I guess after eating some
rabbits raised by somebody else it's easier to go into
rabbit raising strictly from the standpoint of raising them
for meat and not let yourself make pets of them. Of course,
when you can put rabbits or chicken or anything else in a
freezer and leave them there for a few weeks or months
you'll find that you think of them as "meat" - not "cute
animals."
What To Feed Rabbits
You'll see in the diagram on Page 43 a hayrack indicated
for each hutch. This you keep full of hay - the rabbit
experts, because the industry is located in California
where Alfalfa is easily obtainable, recommend Alfalfa. But
a good, leafy clover hay is all right. Timothy isn't as
high in protein as clover, but if it's properly cured it's
better than a poorly cured clover or Alfalfa. The rabbits
can manage the hay better if it is cut up in 3 or 4 inch
lengths. (Take a handful, squeeze it into a bundle and saw
it off into a box with an ordinary hand saw.) You can also
feed vetch, cow peas, and other rich hays. You can give
your rabbits dried scraps of bread and crusts; also any
kind of vegetable parings and tops they'll eat. You can
feed them lawn trimmings and weeds. But don't leave what
they fail to eat in the pen. Take it out next day and
pretty soon you'll find what they like best and how much to
feed. Rabbits relish carrots and other root vegetables.
Feed green feeds sparingly, at first if your rabbits aren't
used to them. Sometimes they over-eat and bloat or get
diarrhea.
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