Well after thinking about it long and hard if I really wanted to add another piece to this complex jigsaw puzzle of my homestead I have decided to add Rabbits to the homestead but not in the typical way you think of rabbits on a homestead, in elevated cages with chickens feeding below them but in a separate colony set up. The potential of setting them up in the Colony is the only reason I decided to go this route, just like I do not like the idea of chickens spending their whole lives in a small cage I feel the same way about the rabbits. A little more about the colony set up a little later in the post.
I have spent the last couple weeks spending alot of time on two Facebook groups, Backyard Meat Rabbits and Rabbits in Colonies. These two sites have educated me, gave me confidence in taking this route, and at the same time intimidating the hell out of me! These two sites have such a wealth of knowledge and so much experience in raising rabbits, you can post almost any issue and get a response almost instantly on how best to handle it, on the flip side it has opened my eyes to all of the potential issues, but it has also opened my eyes to all of the potential.
Now why did I decide to choose rabbits? Really a couple of reasons (just like every other decision I have made about this homestead!). Rabbits will produce meat pretty much just as effectively as broiler chickens while adding a couple of additional benefits. The diets of the rabbits are a little narrower then chickens however it will all be crops we are already producing on the homestead. In addition to meat for ourselves and family the offal during the butchering of the rabbits will go to provide additional protein to the pigs and chickens, and the pelts can be sold. The excess rabbits can currently be sold for about $15 to $20 (for meat) in the area where we will be setting up bringing in some extra income, and rabbit droppings are an excellent fertilizer that can be used directly on crops rather then having to be composted like chicken droppings. Meat type rabbits will typically reach "Fryer" size in 8-12 weeks perhaps a little longer on natural forage rather then pellets (fryer size is about 4-5 lbs). After 8-12 weeks the feed conversion rate (amount of weight put on for given amount of feed) typically goes down. Any older the 12-14 weeks or larger then 5-6 lbs then you are looking at roaster size and you meat will be a little firmer.
There are so many breeds to choose from when it comes to meat rabbits, the most common are the New Zealands and Californias, both put on good weight and produce white pelts that are most desired by fur traders (due to white being the easiest to dye). I decided against these breeds, I wanted more of a heritage breed and since I am looking at a colony environment with some outdoor pasturing the white is just to easy for a predator to see! Rex rabbits are also very popular and have a velvety feeling fur but I wanted to go a little rarer with a thicker coat. I want a breed that like the other livestock I am looking at raising may have a strong market for their uniqueness. So basically I am looking for a rabbit that is cold hardy, does well on forage, a heritage breed that I can help in keeping the breed going and that will have a good food conversion rate and oh yea, I also want a strong dress out percentage, basically I want it all!
The breed I am going to start out with is the Silver Fox Rabbit. The silver fox is one of the rarer meat breeds of rabbit but has most of what I am looking for. I also like their unique fur trait that when you rub it against the grain, it actually stand up and has to be stroked back, silver foxes also produce a fairly long thick fur that helps keep them nice and cozy in cold weather. While that is not a trait that commercial fur traders desire there is a niche market for it. Silver foxes typically have a dark colored fur with silver furs mixing in the pelt as they mature similar to that of a Silver Fox, hence the name. The down side to silver foxes is going to be finding a good breeding stock, they are not nearly as common so it is not like if I get a bad initial trio or two I can not just go across town to buy replacements! The plan is to start with two trios from different breeders.
I am also thinking about a couple other breeds after talking to my cousin who has a homestead down in Louisiana (that is a funny story in itself, I actually met her on one of the Facebook rabbit pages only to find out we are close cousins!). Since she is offering to help me with some initial stock I may look into that, my main concern is that Blanc de Hotot (which is what she is suggesting) is a white rabbit and I was trying to stay away from those!
As I mentioned above I am going to try to go with a colony setting, ideally I would like an outdoor colony setting but I am not sure how to go about that to prevent dig outs and also keep the rabbits from absolutely clearing the grown they are upon. As this will be a working homestead with alot of moving parts I do not have to time for a high labor type solution and I do not want to restrict the rabbits to small tractors. So what I am thinking is a 12X24 foot shed (or barn section) that will have concrete flooring with 6 inches of initial deep liter (probably wood shaving,) with an exit to an ourdoor pasturing area that can be divided to let the ground recover. Nesting boxes will be set up inside along one wall along with other hiddey holes . One 6X6 foot area will be set up as a bachelor area for when we need to separate the bucks to control breeding. The one factor I still need to figure out is if this will be enough area for the grow outs or if I will need a separate area for them.
We will look at getting this set up by the fall of our first year on the homestead, perhaps even the second spring making this my winter project. There are just to many other priorities for that first year to get it going much earlier with all of the other livestock that has longer maturation times as well as getting the crops established that will provide a majority of our food stocks. I am currently eagerly awaiting the book Beyond the Pellet by Boyd Craven Jr to ensure I have not missed much obvious as far as food options are concerned. As always your feed back is appreciated!!
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