I am going to raise a few here soon. We did it when I was a kid. Going to build a pen right above my compost pile
:crap:
Ha! Great idea Allen!
I use to do it commercially while living in Puerto Rico. Me and my father joined a farmers cooperative and we had a contract to supply around 200 pounds a month to a local supermarket. We had around 100 breeder rabbits that we use to replace yearly. The best breeds, in my opinion and experience are the New Zealand whites, New Zealand reds and Dutch (smaller size but very productive). Stay away from larger breeds such as Flemish giants, unless for show purposes, as they are clumsy and litter survival rate is difficult to maintain. They should do OK in Florida as long as the cages are not too expose to high temperatures.
When doing it for income purposes, or for a small meat production operation, you need to select 1 male for every 5-7 females. Never take the male to the female cage, instead the females always to the male cage. Breed them all at the same time and check them at exactly 10 days to see if they are pregnant. This is easily done by feeling under their bellies and you’ll feel the “little bumps”. If not pregnant, breed them again. Once they have their litter, they are at their most fertile period at 10 days after dropping the litter. Breed them again and let the previous litter stay with her for 20 more days. They should be around 4 pounds by 30 days and that give the mother 10 days to rest before repeating the process. Again, this is for commercial purposes only. The 3 breeds I listed will usually raise litters of 8 on average. If they don’t, you probably want to replace.
Raised cages, all wire with a 1 foot space between cages to fill with hey is the best way to go. Killing rabbits by hitting the head is not recommended as the meat will be darker due to blood retention. The best way is to slit the throat and let them bleed hanging down. And yes, rabbits scream like little babies :eek .
I can probably dig some old photos and cage plans/drawings. If I find them I’ll post later.
By the way, you can use almost the same approach with Guinea Pigs. I know they are considered pets in the states, but it is a delicacy everywhere in Latin America and the Caribbean, almost as delicious as squirrel. If you are following the news you’ll know they started to show up in many restaurant menu’s in recent years.
Man, how I miss living in a farm
What Mr. Lolo said is right on the money. I started about a year ago with no luck till my uncle told me I was over feeding them. The does will get to fat to get pregnant. Also I would suggest using hanging cages.
This almost sounds do-able for me except the "screams like a baby" part... I don't think it will go over well with my wife and son.
We raised Black and White Dutch, smaller but taster IMHO. Mr Lolo is right on the money with advise too. The only reason we stopped raising them was because from age 13 to 18 when I went in the service I was shooting 30-60 cotton tails a season. Why raise them when you can hunt them...
