Q & A - Meat Rabbits 101 - The How and Why
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ส.ค. 2024
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We are a small homestead in south central Oregon living the best sustainable life as possible. We raise goats, rabbits, and heritage birds. Follow along as we divulge our secrets to surviving off-grid on solar power and growing our own food.
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Our biggest source of meat and protein on Sprague River Homestead is from rabbits. We have been raising them for years for either Sale, Show, or Stew. We often get a lot of questions about the how and why, so this video is meant to try and answer the most popular questions we get about rabbits for meat.
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We started with pens given to us, and rabbits were given free also. The big initial investment was nesting boxes, feeder boxes, water bottles, hay, and rabbit feed. We had to do some repair work on the pens so we spent about 26 hours working to prepare for them. The initial investment was about $120 (we had to buy some tools to work on the cages). This was awesome for us and we're so excited to be operational.
I'm in about 165-75 my costs were wire, feeders, water bottles and the rabbits (1 F California 1M New Zealand) (1M Holland lop/mini rex 1F same breed), we have sheep so we get hay anyway and my dad is a carpenter so we made a 2 rabbit hutch out of scrap wood
You are so knowledgeable about rabbits and well spoken. You're a wonderful teacher as well. I just found you guys and I'll be watching you much more. Great job!
Thank you so much! I'm not comfortable in front of the camera at all, but I do try.
I just found you. I love the info, you do a great job of teaching! Thanks so much for all your efforts.
Same
Same 😄
Same
Just found your channel and subscribed. Thanks for the info. Looking forward to the series.
Thank you. I'm investigating how to have more meat for cheaper then grocery prices.
Just found your channel. Lots of great information. Thank you.😁
enjoyed watching thanks for all your advice
Liked and subscribed
Great video guys answered alot of questions I had
Thanks for the sub!
Thanks a lot for the info
Excellent video!!
Awesome Video, really well done!
Jazkabor Thank you!
This is really informative, thanks for sharing!
Glad it was helpful!
I love the way you're having the rabbits there as you talk about them.. I don't know much so I found myself wondering what kind they were. They certainly look healthy and content.
Cool thanks mate
Do you break down your cost per pound of rabbit meat grown on your homestead? I would be curious how it compares to other homesteads protein costs and commerical meat costs. Thanks for many great videos about rabbits - I just found your channel tonight and am binge watching!
I did years ago before we started the channel, and don't have it anymore.
I will be doing a growth and cost comparison for the channel this spring, looking at feeding commercial feed, a home mix feed, hay, and a mix of home mix/hay/fresh vegetation.
I am also filming a video in the next week or two breaking down the cost per pound of raising broiler chickens.
Thanks for watching!
Sprague River Homestead got to look for that video...
Great videos on rabbity very informative. New subscribe here watching from the Philippines
Thanks and welcome to the channel!
Yeah thank you
You're welcome. Thanks for watching.
watched in full
Great information
Glad it was helpful!
High bad blood cholesterol is caused by excess carbs, not saturated fats/cholesterol in the diet.
Jury is still out on that. There's quite a bit of medical science that indicates a diet high in saturated fat does lead to high/bad cholesterol. I do agree that excess carbs are a problem as well. Thanks for watching
How do you find specific breeds more easily? I had to go to a show 8 hours away to get my American Blues but I really wanted silver fox and didn't find any for sale. After I have those two breeds I also want the American Chinchillas.
Derik Card - there is a national breed club for every breed. If you go onto the ARBA page and look at recognized breeds, you can click on the breed pic and it will take you to their page. Most clubs have breeder listings. If not you can usually email the club secretary for breeders in your area.
When you get into their "feed" please include wild herbs and plants that are good for them, and other plants that are poisonous to them. Thanks!
I would also like to know about feeding rabbits sunflower and seeds and surplus garden vegetables.
Do rabbit feed bags list "ingredients"? Take a look at that and grow that. Consider that any leafy green that grows above the ground would be fair game, curiously enough they prefer the carrot greens/tops more than they do the carrots themselves.
Can you talk about harlequin rabbits it's so hard to find any information I truly appreciate what you do and would love to here a segment on them thank you so much. Rabbit on.
Hello! Yes, I will be doing individual breed videos on all four of the breeds I have currently. We are a bit behind after having our computer crash, but the new one arrived yesterday so we hope to be up and running by the weekend. Thanks for watching!
I thank you so much for your reply I'm relatively new to the rabbit breeding world about 2 years now we raised them as children and now as adults were getting back into it we raise NZ and silverfox and threw your help we have done very well. now we have came across a breeder that was strictly a harlequin breeder he retired and we took over. Problem is we know very little about the breed. And look forward to here your thoughts and methods on raising them. Can't wait and thanks again. "Rabbit on"
@@SpragueRiverHomesteadwhat breed of Rabbit is in this video?
@@riskreward1447 if I recall correctly there are 2 different rabbits in the video. An American Blue and a Black Japanese Harlequin.
@@SpragueRiverHomestead thanks alot
Do you have a plan printed for your killing station? I'm just starting into it in a couple of months so I won't be butchering for a few. Months yet but I want to have everything ready when I do get into it
We bought a Rabbit Wringer set years ago and just built something simple. No plans per say. We'll see if we can get a video made of how our stand is set up.
What do you think about using Angora rabbits for meat? I like the idea of a dual purpose animal with both wool and meat
I know quite a few angora breeders who do just that. Several breeds are good for those purposes. The only negative I've heard from doing so is that the wool gets in the way during processing and can be messy. Junior coats also require a lot of upkeep (under 6mo of age) so if you are harvesting at 10-12 weeks or older you may find you'll need to groom them.
How to mix your rabbits feeds maize bran,oats,barley,
I can't get pellets no green grass
Check out our videos on mixing special feeds and how to calculate what you need based on what is available in your local area.
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
In Michigan starting up is there a certain way hutches need to face to help with weathering?
It'll depend on what direction the majority of your winds come from. You'll want to make sure that the hutches are placed in a direction that wind doesn't blow into them and that midday sun doesn't shine directly into them either.
Thank you!
hi, may i know if you were the one that bred the harlequin or did you purchase it that way? if you were the one that bred it, may i know what specific breeds did you use? thanks!
Harlequins are an old breed, developed in France and shown for the first time in the 1890s. The exact breeds used in its development are unknown, but its believed that the Dutch rabbit was used.
After processing the rabbit is there a market for the furs?
Not really. There have been companies in the past that bought furs. Unfortunately they only wanted pelts in prime condition, which is around 6-9 months depending on the breed. Not cost effective for meat producers at all. If you have local artisans you may find someone who will buy them, particularly those you do Native American crafts.
Where would I find a good meat rabbits in Lancaster Co Pa?
You can look up northeast rabbit clubs on ARBA's website or there are a few you can find via Google. There will be listings by club, by state, etc. They should be able to help with breeders in the area.
What do you think of pasture raising rabbits in your area?
For us it's impossible. Tularemia was introduced into the area back over 30 years ago to control the wild rabbit population. Measurable amounts can still be found in the soil and wild rabbit populations and therefore is not worth the risk to us. On top of that we are high desert, so our pasture is limited to a very short amount of the year. Changing rabbit's feed is hard on them, so we stick to one base feed and add in garden greens during the year instead.
@@SpragueRiverHomestead Thanks for the explanation. .. Now I'm worried about toxins dumped in the area. I had no idea; kind of horrifying. Btw, I really enjoy your vids. I'm not sure why, but all the info about the rabbits is fascinating even to someone who's never bred them. My only link is to eating them, lol. Also, do you worry about your ground water having Tularemia in it?
I misunderstood what Tularemia is; thought it was pesticide of some sort.
First of all rape videos they're very informative secondly I live in Michigan in a country town near Memphis and I'm looking for a good couple of meat rabbits but not having much luck. I know up here they order chickens online and they go 2 the Post Office but I would not like to do that with rabbits especially after watching a few of your videos so what would be a good resource for finding meat rabbits
We would recommend deciding on what breed of rabbit you're looking for and then contact the national club for that breed. They should be able to help you find the closest breeders in your area. Most will have an online presence on social media or can be found via search on Google or Bing.
Is there a strong smell (urine/poop) from raising a few rabbits?
It's really pretty dependent on how you manage them. Indoors with limited airflow and you'll need to clean daily. Outside under hutches the order should be pretty minimal.
I just got 2 black meat rabbits from my local rural king they had pet rabbits too do you guys have any idea what breed they might be ?
They could be anything. Black is a dominant color and almost all breeds can or do have a black variant.
@@SpragueRiverHomestead ok thanks for the information 🙏🏻
@@SpragueRiverHomestead I actually found out what they are they’re satins
I have been raising meat rabbits for years. I know that i need to keep the parents trim, not fat. But. I just butchered a rabbit that i raised for a breeding doe. She was a he! Anyway he had lots of fat. I raise wheat grass for them in the winter and feed weeds in spring summer fall. And hay. And about an ounce of pellets a day. I dont understand how he got fat. I dont want my does to be fat. What did i do wrong?
It's always possible that he had a hormonal issue. Just like people, some animals just have a different metabolism.
Otherwise, without knowing the exact weights and amounts you've been feeding there's no way to come up with a nutritional breakdown that can determine if your feed is nutritionally "off".
Do keep in mind that too much protein converts to fats, and fodder tends to run around 18-22% protein, from the numbers I've see on other websites.
How can I know how old a rabbit is?
There's no definitive way unfortunately. There are things that change as they get older, but they vary from breed to breed and line to line. For instance, in the Harlequins we tend to see a real change in fur texture (turning coarser) after age 4. Champagnes get lighter as they age, so a 5 year old with be a very light grey, almost white. Americans Blues do both after age 4/5, they get lighter and their fur turns coarser. What breed are you dealing with?
I was wondering if you want to buy some rabbits I have 17 they come from grand champion rex bucks . one of the mix breed one grand champion mix breed at the lake county fair. The are mix breed.
No thank you. We don't raised mixed breeds.
what kind of breed is that ma'am??
The first rabbit was an American Blue. The other was a Black Japanese Harlequin.
How export rabit other countries I am from India Punjab
I've never exported Rabbits, so honestly don't know.
is this a silver fox?
the first rabbit.. they changed
@@alexbiggs8131 no, the first rabbit was an American Blue.
You like to talk.Show me some action..some...visions..some..practice.
There are literally over 20 videos in our meat rabbit series. Somethings require talking, some require showing, some are both. Thanks for stopping by.
Where do you hang the rabbit if your a he who identifies as a she? Lmao
“Allow a woman to do it”? I think many people find this kind of wording offensive. If I were you, I’d edit that remark.
Honestly, we had to rewatch it to see what you were talking about, as none of the 29,000+ folks who have watched it have ever said anything.
It's not as easy as just "editing" out a remark, and truthfully, it's not something we feel is warranted. Anyone who has been around our channel for any length of time knows that neither of us are in any way sexist or discriminatory.
You're welcome to your opinion though, and if it bothers you I do think you've missed the overall message and theme of the video. Thanks for watching.
Calm down Karen