I thought I would start this as a separate thread from my earlier posting.
Here's what I know about rabbits: The manure is fantastic and can be immediately applied to the garden without burning your plants. Many breeds are highly efficient producers of meat and unlike chickens you can breed them in most urban backyards which can provide a valuable source of hyper local meat, if you are so inclined. My minimal experience with the meat side of this was dressing one rabbit a decade ago, and I thought there was something wrong with it because the skin just came off like a loose sweater. I imagine you could fully dress (odd term with the sweater analogy... ) 5+ rabbits in the amount of time it takes to do one chicken for those of you looking for a comparison. People that breed them seem to enjoy breeding them and you don't need a ton of space to do it.
The VPA would love to offer a class on rabbits. I know there are some experienced rabbit people within our community, please PM me if you are interested in teaching a rabbit class. I also know some rabbit people around the country have gotten harassed by people that are anti-eating rabbits, and I imagine we could skirt this issue by making the class be about the raising of rabbits, speaking to breeding and meat conversion and things relevant to meat rabbits (and also pet rabbits with garden benefits) without discussing the butchering phase in great detail. Maybe that part would be saved for a meet-up. If you are possibly interested but have some questions/concerns, send me a PM as well.
Please add comments about other valuable points of interest about rabbits, or if you would be potentially interested in taking a rabbit class, feel free to speak up about that too. :)
Replies
I see that I replied way back when, since then I have taught several rabbit classes to small groups in my home.
I have been raising NZW and moving on to siamese satins. I would love to see others benefit from rabbits. I would be more than happy to teach a class for you.
Topic is probably dead by now... but is anyone still interested in classes on rabbits?
I'm interested- it may take me a moment to decide about the meat part (I've only ever processed quail before, so anything larger than that and I'd be out of my league for sure!) But I'm always interested in animals whose manure can go straight on my plants! I'd certainly be a beginner and need to learn about the raising/housing etc. as I have never had a rabbit before but they sounds like great animals to have as part of a mini farm!
I am interested in helping to teach.
Although I Ihave been successfully raising rabbits since I was 12, I do not think that I would like to take the lead in this one.
I think that Julie H has alot more experience and information than most. She would be a great go too.
I raise New Zealands and have in the past crossed them with Flemish Giants. But I have not ventured into the other breeds.
I agree. It's better to be educated in the ways of dispatching properly, rather than leave anyone out and risk the chance of an inhumane death. There's lots of options for rabbits besides meat. Wool, fur (obviously from meat rabbits), pets, show, 4H/FFA SAE (Supervised Ag. Experience) learning. You could literally write a whole curriculum for just rabbits.
Besides, the actual butchering can be done separate from the classes or as it's own class. Theresa got a nice new Zinger for her dispatching. I've got the cervical dislocator.