New here

[Smileybans]

I’m here from BYC. I would like to own a cow or two in the future and my husband wants to get goats when we move. But currently I own two rabbits and a bunch of surprise kits. I’m here to seek advice about one of these babies in particular. I will start a new thread about it but just wanted to introduce myself first. The rabbits were gotten as pets for my kids and sexed by the seller as two females. We had a vet sex them a couple months later and she sexed them as both males. Then Xmas, or thanksgiving, rolls around and we have surprise babies. Four of them. And mom was pregnant again. Well we re-homed the original four and have six left of the second litter. Two died due to what I think was the sudden cold snap we had. It has been a roller coaster. The male is now fixed and waiting in hutch jail for one more week. The second litter is four weeks old.

 

[Legamin]

I’m here from BYC. I would like to own a cow or two in the future and my husband wants to get goats when we move. But currently I own two rabbits and a bunch of surprise kits. I’m here to seek advice about one of these babies in particular. I will start a new thread about it but just wanted to introduce myself first. The rabbits were gotten as pets for my kids and sexed by the seller as two females. We had a vet sex them a couple months later and she sexed them as both males. Then Xmas, or thanksgiving, rolls around and we have surprise babies. Four of them. And mom was pregnant again. Well we re-homed the original four and have six left of the second litter. Two died due to what I think was the sudden cold snap we had. It has been a roller coaster. The male is now fixed and waiting in hutch jail for one more week. The second litter is four weeks old.

Welcome to the site! Good to see new folks here! I’m a sheep, chicken and bee farmer but have been thinking about meat rabbits. It sounds like you have a good thing going and could cage them together, have a batch…separate them, grow and finish the babies over 16 weeks, put the rabbits back together after 14 weeks, slaughter or sell ….rinse, repeat throughout the year! Rabbit meat is very lean, a highly desirable protein source that is tasty and filling with small serving size. You can usually ‘part out’ the meat and realize $30 per rabbit at 3lbs each. A health license and a clean kitchen gets you on your way! There is a lot to be said for self-sufficiency. We have expanded and are considering further expansions to take full advantage of our small acreage with four barns, machine shop, garage and slaughter/honey extraction ‘clean room’. And we had no intention of farming when we bought the place! Life is fun! Make the most of it!

 

[Smileybans]

Welcome to the site! Good to see new folks here! I’m a sheep, chicken and bee farmer but have been thinking about meat rabbits. It sounds like you have a good thing going and could cage them together, have a batch…separate them, grow and finish the babies over 16 weeks, put the rabbits back together after 14 weeks, slaughter or sell ….rinse, repeat throughout the year! Rabbit meat is very lean, a highly desirable protein source that is tasty and filling with small serving size. You can usually ‘part out’ the meat and realize $30 per rabbit at 3lbs each. A health license and a clean kitchen gets you on your way! There is a lot to be said for self-sufficiency. We have expanded and are considering further expansions to take full advantage of our small acreage with four barns, machine shop, garage and slaughter/honey extraction ‘clean room’. And we had no intention of farming when we bought the place! Life is fun! Make the most of it!

Thank you. These rabbits are pet rabbits but getting meat rabbits sounds like a good idea when I move. Where I am currently I don’t have enough room to set up properly for meat rabbits. I’d like to be more self sufficient and definitely off the grid the way things have been going.

 

[BarnOwl]

Hello from Tennessee. We have goats and chickens (and pigs...for a while longer anyway). I hope you get an answer to your rabbit question. There are lots of knowledgeable and helpful people on the forum. We have a single indoor pet rabbit (that turned up under our porch and we adopted), but I doubt I'd have the experience to help.

 

[Alaskan]

So... the vet that thought both were male... is that the same one that you used to neuter the male?

What excitement, and not all of the good variety.

Are you wanting cows and goats for milk?

 

[Smileybans]

So... the vet that thought both were male... is that the same one that you used to neuter the male?

What excitement, and not all of the good variety.

Are you wanting cows and goats for milk?

No we used a different vet to neuter the male. The vet that sexed them also didn’t sex the rabbits the way I’ve seen people recommend sexing them. She just held them and felt for testicles. She’s a farm vet though and the only one that does rabbits at the clinic.

I want cows because I absolutely love cows. I’ve always wanted to own some and I want to learn more about keeping them. I only want to keep a couple and I don’t know much about milking them. I grew up around a bunch of dairy farms but have never worked on one. I have always been told they need to be pregnant to be milked and if that’s the case then I probably won’t get much milk from them. My husband wants the goats for milk. So we need to learn about them as well. He wants pigs as well at some point too.

 

[Alaskan]

Milk production starts up after birth/kidding/calving... whatever.

So... to put it in super simple layman terms:

Mom has a baby, and starts to make milk for the baby.

Some breeds of cows, sheep, goats...have been bred to be milk animals. After the mom has their baby the mom can produce way more than the baby needs, and so can be milked for household use while she feeds her baby. Sometimes, if you want all of the milk for the household, then the baby can be sold or eaten. Some breeds will keep making milk "stay in milk" way longer than others.

Most cows, goats, sheep will stay in milk for less than a year, so have to get pregnant each year.

The goat breed, Saanens, are an exception. A good Saanen can get pregnant, have kids, and then milk steadily for YEARS. Really nice.

 

[Bruce]

The goat breed, Saanens, are an exception. A good Saanen can get pregnant, have kids, and then milk steadily for YEARS. Really nice.

That does seem useful for those that don't want to deal with new kids every year!

@Smileybans