cost of raising meat rabbits

[lexibot]

What we do here is butcher at 2 month, after calculations, we only got 1 lb more per fryer but they consumed a buttload more food during their 2nd to 3rd month.

Now i am still trying to experiment, so when my new breeders begin to mate, i am gonna see about leaving kits in with a couple mothers and see if they will weigh more compared to removing them when they reach 30 days old. Im doing mine more for off setting meat costs on the grocery bill.

Mine cost roughly $16 a month but im having issuses getting them to breed right now, they are all first timers.. when the babies come im sure the cost will double. After the first 3 months, i should have a constant supply of meat. Rabbits seem to be priced $7-10 here be it live or processed. I should have around 32 kits a month. If they weigh more when they are allowed to stay with mom, then ill rebreed a doe every six weeks. All depends on what gives me the most weight with the least cost and in the shortest amount of time.

 

[sawfish99]

Sawfish- Thank you for this post. I hadn't figured out what we put into the rabbits I raised this summer and was curious of cost and how much folks selling were getting. I have some excellent quality Calis from one of the top breeders in the state here. I just processed 5 of the 13 and they were 6-6.5 live and I got 3-3.5 dressed on all of them so far. They were all very uniform, and I am surprised by the amount of meat on just one rabbit. When the breeder I got them from said one rabbit should feed my family of 5 for one meal, I thought that was crazy, but she was exactly right. I am new to meaties and eating rabbit, so this is a whole new venture for me. I have been breeding Mini Rexes for 6-years before taking on these bigger Cals.
I am seeing where many of the meat breeders are breeding back almost right after weaning off a litter. I am concerned that this wouldn't give the does enough recovery time? I don't need that many rabbits anyway, so I will let the girls rest until I know I need more.
I am feeding Kent Show Ration. The cost for a 50# bag is $16 right now after the cost went up this summer. It is the best food I have ever gotten for my buns, is fresh and smells wonderful, every bag with very little fines. A friend of mine is a dealer and introduced me to it. It is what I feed everyone all the time. If I feel the does need a boost in protein when nursing a litter, I add a spoon or so of Calf Manna.
I want to continue breeding the Cals for both meat and for show purposes. I am considering the financial advantage to raising them for selling the meat as well if I can set up to do more processing. It sure could help offset the feed and cost of raising them since they consume a lot more of the feed than my MRs do.
I would also like to see pictures of your set-up for raising rabbits. I am building a new rabbit shed/chicken grow-out shed and would like to have a better design for being able to clean out everything than what I have now with just stacked cages and pans, if there is one.
Thanks again.
PC

I'll try to get some pictures and post soon.

 

[sawfish99]

Sawfish, what breed are you raising? I have Florida Whites. I recently purchased a New Zealand buck and a doe (different breeders) and thought about cross-breeding with the Whites to get a larger rabbit. Here in Colorado we can not sell the processed meat, but must first sell the rabbit, then offer to process it on the premises. Since Colorado's Pro Manna isn't as pricey as CT (about $15 for regular, $12 for grower), I want to make sure when I sell, I make a little bit of profit without charging too much. Like you said, feed is going up, so I will soon be making my own. Any suggestions on feeding the adults certain fresh greens? I have a garden in the summer and would like to cut down the use of processed feed if I can.

We have a variety pack. Some are pure American Chinchillas. We also have 2 New Zealand does (1 is going away because she has not yet produced a litter after 3 breedings), a 3/4 Am Chin - 1/4 Flemish Giant doe, and some mix does being raised for adding to the group. We have been using our pure Am Chin buck and a New Zealand mix buck (doesn't appear to be pure, but makes a good meat buck).

My wife manages all the feeding decisions.

 

[JRabbits]

I don't think it makes any financial sense to sell rabbits for butcher unless you're actively trying to get rid of them or just raising them to eat yourself. Here in California, a buck (Californian/NZ) is going to cost you at least $30 and a doe is going to cost you ate least $40. Its the difference between getting $12+ per lb alive and only $3.75 per lb dead.

 

[sawfish99]

I don't think it makes any financial sense to sell rabbits for butcher unless you're actively trying to get rid of them or just raising them to eat yourself. Here in California, a buck (Californian/NZ) is going to cost you at least $30 and a doe is going to cost you ate least $40. Its the difference between getting $12+ per lb alive and only $3.75 per lb dead.

I haven't met anyone raising meat rabbits that is able to only selling breeding stock like you describe. Yes, we have started charging slightly more for breeding stock. The way I determine pricing on a live rabbit is, if they want to know sex, they are after breeding stock. If they just want a couple of rabbits and don't care about sex, they are purchasing to slaughter themselves. It's a feel of the discussion.

So why bother selling a rabbit for only $6-7 profit? Because if I want to keep about 50 rabbits for my family, then I need to raise an additional 85 for sale to break even. So basically, I could raise about 6 litters a year for my family (1-2 does) or raise 16 litters (4 does with 4 litters each) and break even. For the incremental work of having the extra litters, it is worth it for us (for now).

 

[Prairiechick]

I don't see us eating a lot of rabbit, but we will do some. We also have our freezers full with chicken (since I am a poultry breeder and have 13 breeds + others, and ducks and turkeys), duck and turkey, and we just got a 1/4 of beef from a friend. But, we also breed to show, and so there is no way with 3 does and 2 bucks I want to just feed them for 2 or 3 litters a year. Plus, I don't want the does getting fat from only breeding once a year, so I am planning to sell the extras. I appreciate you sharing the information you have because now I have a good idea of what to sell them for. I know there are people on Craigslist looking for rabbits to eat from time to time. If I can get a few regular customers, it would make it worth it for me.
I also have a connection for a person who buys to make raw food for dogs, and they pay market price. And I have 3 Standard Poodles who I am trying to feed at least a partial raw diet to, so I can take care of most of the production of offspring here, I think.
All that being said, the folks I got my Cals from laugh when someone is looking for rabbits to run a meat operation with them because there isn't enough in it to make it profitable. I am just hoping to re-coop the cost of keeping them and having some healthier meat options for my family and my dogs as the primary reason for keeping them. Oh, and maybe offsetting the cost of having my foo-foo Mini Rexes, since I am not up to tanning rabbit skins. Frannky, it sounds like a very gross thing to try, as in smelly and too long of a smelly.

 

[Harbisgirl]

I don't think it makes any financial sense to sell rabbits for butcher unless you're actively trying to get rid of them or just raising them to eat yourself. Here in California, a buck (Californian/NZ) is going to cost you at least $30 and a doe is going to cost you ate least $40. Its the difference between getting $12+ per lb alive and only $3.75 per lb dead.

Yep, sure is expensive where I live in Ca too. I'm concidering raising them for meat for our family as well. To buy a dressed rabbit at the butcher shop it's $20-$25. Where did you get your rabbits? I'd like to get 2 does and 1 buck to make CA/NZ kits but I can't find a breeder nearby. I see them on craigslist but they are usually people selling pets - not breeders. I don't want the hassle of people freaking out when I say I want to raise meat rabbits.