Raising Rabbits for Meat, Fiber and More

By Wendy Brown
Published on September 19, 2013
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"Surviving the Apocalypse in the Suburbs" by Wendy Brown is packed with practical solutions for becoming more self-reliant. From shelter to raising rabbits for food, to transportation to tools, this is the ultimate guide to simplifying your lifestyle while reducing your dependence on oil.
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Medium-sized rabbits are the best fit for urban homesteaders with limited space who are raising rabbits for meat.
Medium-sized rabbits are the best fit for urban homesteaders with limited space who are raising rabbits for meat.

Surviving the Apocalypse in the Suburbs by Wendy Brown (New Society Publishers, 2011) is packed with practical solutions for becoming more self-reliant and transitioning to a lower-energy lifestyle. In this excerpt from Chapter 8 on livestock, Wendy explains how she learned through experience about raising rabbits for meat, and other uses for the urban homesteader.

You can purchase this book from the MOTHER EARTH NEWS store: Surviving the Apocalypse in the Suburbs.

We have had livestock on our suburban farm almost since we bought our house, when we were given three adult rabbits — two unneutered males and an unspayed female. We did not know it at the time, but two does are actually a better ratio for raising rabbits for meat, but as we found out, one doe can still do a mighty fine job of making babies.

We, admittedly, had no idea what we were doing, and a mere eight months after acquiring our breeding stock, we had 21 rabbits. Yeah, there’s that saying about breeding like rabbits, and our initial experience at being rabbit farmers was a really good reminder that most clichés have their origins in truth.

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