How to Process a Rabbit

As with anything else in farming, there are many different ways to slaughter and dress a rabbit. Learn how with these simple steps.

By Nichki Carangelo With Photos Christine Ashburn
Published on January 24, 2020
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by Christine Ashburn

As with anything else in farming, there are many different ways to slaughter and dress a rabbit.

Grading Your Meat

Grading meat in the United States predominantly exists for beef, pork, and poultry sold by distributors and not so much for small, direct-to-consumer farms. USDA grading guidelines for rabbit do exist, however, and even though it’s very unlikely it will ever make sense for you to have your meat graded, knowing the standards is useful. Otherwise, how will you know how your rabbits measure up?

Graded rabbit carcasses are given either an A, B, or C designation. Just as with beef, pork, and chicken, an A indicates the highest quality. In order to get stamped with one, a rabbit has to be very clean with no signs of blood clotting caused by incomplete draining. Soaking the carcasses in salt water during cool-down helps achieve this. It should also be blemish- and bruise-free. Since dead and drained rabbits can’t bruise (because there’s no blood), in order to prevent bruising, it’s imperative you treat your live rabbits gently and carefully before slaughter. Grade A rabbits shouldn’t have any broken bones, with the exception of where the legs were clipped to remove the feet, and should be clean of any fur, bone shards, and dirt.

When grading your rabbits, look for a moderate amount of fat around the kidneys as well as around the crotch and inner walls of the body cavity. You want your rabbits to have a broad back, wide hips, and deep-fleshed shoulders. Rabbits that are thin, lean, rangy, bloody, bruised, or bony fall into B or C, depending on the degree.

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