Explore. Especially if you don’t have a lot of land to grow large livestock on. To start your own, follow this step-by-step guide from the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they appear on category pages. MoneyCrashers.com does not include all banks, credit card companies or all available credit card offers, although best efforts are made to include a comprehensive list of offers regardless of compensation. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Raising Rabbits for Meat. When it comes to raising backyard meat rabbits or urban meat rabbits, I could go on and on about sustainability, historical precedence and self-sufficiency. By contrast, a scratch-built hutch made from low-cost wood and wiring costs a fraction of that and should take a capable DIYer less than a day to put together. Whereas pet rabbits purchased from shelters typically carry adoption fees ranging from $50 to $100, New Zealand rabbits can cost as little as $10 apiece, according to Crossroads Rabbitry. However, as a small operation, you’ll likely struggle to find butchers or independent meat markets willing to purchase small batches. 2- no rabbit pellets. In my locale the cubes are almost half the price. Non-pedigreed Flemish giants cost $20 to $50 apiece. We were based in a sizable town, but my wife occasionally traveled to a tiny, half-abandoned mining hamlet on the Keweenaw Peninsula, which juts north into the big lake from the town of Houghton. Unlike goats and chickens, they’re not super effective foragers, though they’ll happily mow your lawn if you let them. googletag.enableServices(); You can buy rabbits as young as four weeks, just a few days after they’re weaned. Besides meat, the only other commercial rabbit product is fur. Raising Rabbits for Meat - Kindle edition by Rapp, Eric, Rapp, Callene. Your rabbits will spend a good amount of their time in the hutch, so make sure it’s comfortable. Composting of animal parts is prohibited in residential zoning districts.”. If you’re raising a small herd for meat, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are several reasons that people raise rabbits including for meat, pelts, pets, or to show. Now that you are thinking about raising some of your own meat rabbits, you’ll need to know how long it will take to go from birth to processing. Here’s what I learned. Is raising angora rabbits worth it? The solutions described above can help, but there’s no way to completely protect your herd. However, even rabbits have limits: Experts recommend waiting until the last litter is weaned, usually six weeks after birth, to reintroduce does and bucks. Raising rabbits for meat requires just a few basic supplies and routine care. Should you need such advice, consult a licensed financial or tax advisor. It may also cover your rabbits’ outdoor enclosure, if you’re providing one. There are plenty of legitimate places to buy genuine tickets for top-tier professional leagues - often at a substantial discount. When he's not investigating time- and money-saving strategies for Money Crashers readers, you can find him exploring his favorite trails or sampling a new cuisine. Brian Martucci writes about credit cards, banking, insurance, travel, and more. Serve on Hawaiian rolls with onion and pickle. Elsewhere, raising rabbits (and other small livestock, such as chickens) may be permitted, but slaughtering and processing them may be prohibited. Raising rabbits is one of the simplest things you can do on your homestead. The best way to avoid unintended pregnancies is to maintain two separate hutches and enclosures – one for each gender. Back in 2010, the Minneapolis foodie publication The Heavy Table reported on a motley group of urban farmers who’d turned an abandoned lot into a produce and livestock factory. If your budget doesn’t allow for this, use a solid wood barrier to delineate male and female sections in your outdoor enclosure and hutch. However, many cities do, so you may be required to submit a formal hutch plan to the proper authorities – usually the zoning or animal control department. Gates are more expensive, particularly if they’re designed with low clearances to prevent quadruped predators from sneaking into your yard. Raising rabbits for meat and fur is a good way to make money but only if you do it on a large scale, and it should be done as supplementary income only. Store probably has variously sized bales in stock too Bank, and fluffier than your typical wild bunny edition Rapp... 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