RABBITS for meat, with a twist

Raising your own and being self sufficient.
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egg-centric
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RABBITS for meat, with a twist

Post by egg-centric » Sun Mar 27, 2016 8:27 am

Hi there,

Not sure where this goes ...

Part of homesteading is having dogs, IMO. I have 5, mostly all rescues from awful situations. For various health reasons and because I believe it is better, I feed my dogs raw meat. Lately, our supply has been low (off cuts from butchers and deer leftovers and organs from people who hunt in season). Since we want to be self-sufficient, I am wondering if maybe we should start raising meat rabbits for them. Here is my thinking ... we have to grow them and then we kill them, skin them, cut off the feet (and head if it is not already) and maybe drain them and put them in an ice bath. Voila! Ready meal. The dogs need the skeleton for calcium and the organs. It is a perfect meal. There is not enough meat on chickens to do this.

What I am stumped on is the math. A rabbit carcass would last a few days per dog. I believe in prey model feeding and have had great success even though it is odd so am okay with giving them each a carcass to work at (helps their teeth) over a day or two. Our dogs have such messed up digestive systems that this is the only method that works. Therefore, they do not need a rabbit a day. For example, my Mastiff should eat about 3 lbs of raw meat a day so that makes a 9 lb. rabbit carcass good for 3 days. So she would need 2-3 per week?

Mastiff x2: 2-3 week
Bulldog and other two dogs: 2 week.

Would I freeze the carcasses for the dogs? Could I raise enough to kill fresh all year and give them like that? Am I living a pipe dream by thinking that would be their main diet?

Sorry for the strangeness of the topic. I love my dogs and they are therapy support for my son.
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egg-centric
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RABBITS for meat, with a twist

Post by egg-centric » Sun Mar 27, 2016 8:30 am

ETA Do rabbits even have any fat? Finding beef fat at the butcher's is not hard....
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Cuttlefish
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RABBITS for meat, with a twist

Post by Cuttlefish » Sun Mar 27, 2016 8:42 am

I would add butchers fat to avoid "rabbit starvation" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation
and a few veggies, but otherwise I don't see why this wouldn't work. Wouldn't batches of franken-chickens be a lot less work? Is it the chicken bones?
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thegawd
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RABBITS for meat, with a twist

Post by thegawd » Sun Mar 27, 2016 8:44 am

I believe Survivor Man said if you eat the entire carcus there is enough fat to avoid rabbit starvation... But I am far from an expert in this field.

Good Luck!
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SandyM
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RABBITS for meat, with a twist

Post by SandyM » Sun Mar 27, 2016 9:19 am

I was going to suggest franken chickens as well. 8 weeks and viola.

I also feed raw. But it's chicken carcass (whole) from the butcher, raw organs (beef and chicken) and raw eggs. Squash about once or twice a week for the fibre and organic blueberries. I feed daily, but the last day of each month he is foodless for 24 hours so he can 'detox' if need be. Drake also gets a probiotic almost daily. He just chews them, thinks they are a treat.

Let us know what you decide. I curious. Always looking for more improved ways :)
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egg-centric
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RABBITS for meat, with a twist

Post by egg-centric » Mon Mar 28, 2016 9:38 am

The Franken-chickens are an option but I would have to freeze when I slaughter the two or three times a year. The millions of little bones are also very sharp when broken. I do not have access to a grinder though maybe should look for one for chickens. I could do a combo of ground whole chicken and whole rabbit because I have not have good luck keeping body weight on the Mastiffs with chicken only. Rabbits can be raised year round.

I love this group with its common sense and no judge approach! Would be hard to ask the PETA types these questions...
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SandyM
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RABBITS for meat, with a twist

Post by SandyM » Mon Mar 28, 2016 9:41 am

Well if you do ask PETA, sell tickets and popcorn. That would be one heck of a show. LOL!! And then I'll just bring up their murder rate of their 'shelter/rescued cats and dogs'
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goatgal35
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RABBITS for meat, with a twist

Post by goatgal35 » Mon Mar 28, 2016 11:08 am

If you do this I would love to know how it works out as far as cost. It aint cheap to raise a rabbit up to a 9 lb carcass weight. IMHO
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kenya
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RABBITS for meat, with a twist

Post by kenya » Mon Mar 28, 2016 5:39 pm

I would think the franken chickens would be cheaper and faster to grow out and they do have a lot of meat on them.
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egg-centric
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RABBITS for meat, with a twist

Post by egg-centric » Wed Mar 30, 2016 10:16 am

The Franken-chickens do not have enough meat for the Mastiffs. Problem is that chickens are seasonal and I would have to freeze all that chicken in the fall for the winter. Rabbits are all-year long, from what I understand.

I think we will raise a few rabbits. Now, to research the set-up...
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