Posted in Homestead Barnyard

I'm sorry this post is late this week-we have had one of those weeks here at faithfarm!  Thankfully all is returning to normal now.

here is some basic rabbit info that I have left out before:

The average # of litters a doe produces a year is five litters.  Depending on your breed of rabbit and size this can produce an average of 6-8 kits per litter or 30-40 kits a breeding season per doe.  Fryers range in size from 3-5 pounds depending on age.  Average butchering age is 10-12 weeks.  I usually opt for 12-13 weeks for weight purposes.  So an average doe has the ability to produce almost 200lbs of fryers per year.  Now this is per doe.  So it is easy to imagine how quickly these numbers multiply by adding additional breeding stock.  So you have all this lean healthy meat in your freezer...how do you cook it?  I use rabbit meat the same as I use chicken.  Everything I can do with chicken I can do with rabbit.  The only difference is it is a very lean meat---you need to cook it slower and at a lower temp to avoid the toughness commonly associated with rabbit meat.  Grilling or BBQ cooking rabbit is a favorite way in the summer.  Average cost to produce a 4lb fryer ranges from $1.92-$2.56 depending on feed costs.  Keep in mind that you are providing healthy drug-free, hormone-free meat for your family.  You know what your putting into your meat---do you know what commercial producers put in their's?  That is one of the main reasons I started with raising meat rabbits.  There was no other way that I had available to me in the amount of space and money I had to work with to be able to provide so much of what my family needed.  The numbers just added up....it worked.  Funny enough as it is I had never even ate a tame rabbit when I started all of this.  Let me tell ya--they are so much better than wild rabbit!  I hope this has helped and answered some questions.  Blessings>faithfarm