A Little About Meat Rabbits

 

So, a little about rabbits, better known to me as rabids. (More about that later)

Rabids have decent sized litters (mine have 5-11) and they grow quickly. I like to process them at 5 lbs so about 12 weeks old. That gives me the greater number of choices in how to prepare them. There are some really delicious recipes online. I have yet to try one we haven’t liked. Our rabids replace chicken in our menus. They are cheaper to raise, easier to process and taste very similar. Babies are cute. Housing requirements are pretty basic and easy. Cleaning is also pretty easy, just rake it up and dump in your garden. Unlike chicken manure, rabbit poop is a cold fertilizer so can go directly on your plants without harming them and it has LOTS of nutrients for the soil. Every part of our rabbits are used, except the pelts, as young rabbit’s skin is too thin to process, although it can be sliced up and dried for dog treats. I will be harvesting a couple of older rabbits and hope to try my hand at processing those hides.

My dogs love the rabbit heads, ears, feet, livers, kidneys, hearts, etc. The flaps are supposed to make good jerky, otherwise they go to dogs as they are rather tough and chewy to eat.

Those are the “pros” of raising rabbits. Now for the “cons”

They can and will try to eviscerate you, given the opportunity, and their claws are deadly sharp, like a cat’s. It is important to wear sleeves (I have special sleeves just for rabids) and know how to properly pick up and hold them (Like a football, but that is no guarantee of safety)

One of my does was suffering from the heat this morning, because her litter insisted on climbing and laying all over her. I was going to be nice and give her some relief by putting her in a cage by herself, under a nice, cool, vine covered arch, and just put her with the kits at night when it is cool.

She decided I should have a mastectomy instead, leaving my arm sored, and my breast and stomach bleeding.

Guess who is going to be the first of those older rabids being harvested soon?

BEWARE

and it's almost July!

 Time flies, so they say. Boone is now 8 mo old and a bit over 100 lb. He will be somewhere between 130 and 150 at maturity.

He has exceeded all my expectations. He can open the backdoor from both inside and outside the house, has opened the bathroom door for me, picks up things I drop or point at on the floor and keeps me upright when walking. He loves people and his public access manners are impeccable. His only challenge is fitting under the table at certain restaurants because of his enormous size, but he makes it work. 

He is very attentive to me and even though this breed is highly and rightfully frowned on as Service Dog prospects, he is exceptional.  It works well for us because LGD breeds are notoriously expert at energy conservation, so he is content to sleep most of the day while I am confined to the bed or recliner due to pain. He doesn't have the exercise requirements most breeds do. He's perfectly happy to make the 4 hour drive into town then quietly lay under the table or on the floor of a Dr's office, which for Fen was absolute torture. As long as he is at my side, he is content. He is much like Heath in that respect, but where being accosted by strange dogs, which has happened more times than I can count due to people who feel entitled to pretend their untrained pets are Service animals, was extremely upsetting to both Heath and Fen, Boone is not bothered in the least. While he doesn't exhibit the stranger and dog aggression of most LGD's, he does have their fearless demeanor. He knows he is the baddest dog on the block and doesn't feel in anyway threatened or compelled to prove it.

My illness has progressed to the point where it dictates every second of my life and battling the accompanying depression is now a losing battle. I have finally broken down and seeking counseling, if for no other reason than to have the luxury of sitting and talking to another human face to face as my isolation for the past 15+ years has completely prevented that. I kept myself distracted for a very long time by staying busy with multiple crafts, ie: stained glass, crochet, sewing, jewelry making, rock tumbling, soaping, candles, baking, embroidery, gardening, you name it, I probably did it. I ran out of RA meds a month ago and they are unable to get any to me until sometime next week, so my hands have been in pretty terrible shape and I haven't been able to do much, other than read. I feed the rabbits in the morning and read the rest of the day. It's not much of a life, clearly. If not for Boone, I don't know what would become of me. Driving to town is excruciating anymore. Just being in the vehicle has me undone before we even get off the dirt road from the ranch, so there is no looking forward to any more trips to see my family or friends...those I would usually see all moved anyway so I guess it doesn't make much difference.

We did have a visit from one of our daughters and her kids. Boone really enjoyed having the children around.

Fen and Boone wear each other out every morning and evening while Randy does chores. I have a message in to pain management agreeing to have a device implanted, in the hopes it changes my life. Here's to hoping! Meanwhile, my little poneh will keep me going as best he can.

til next time!