Rex for meat and fur

[Hopalong Causually]

In my research prior to starting raising rabbits, I remember seeing numerous sources cite rabbit meat as low, if not the lowest, in fat and cholesterol, high in protein, and very high in amount of protein/meat produced compared to the feed consumed. The "cute" factor never was considered as I refuse to use that word as an adjective. People who have over-used it and adulterated the definition through mis-use have rendered it meaningless in conversation. The wife was repeating some of the comments of rabid purveyors of anthropomorphism that she ran into online where they wished all kinds of evil, torturous death on people who eat rabbit meat. How can people who purport to have such sympathy for animals wish such cruelty on humans?

Ugh. Forgive me for veering off-course. Back to recipes.

 

[NH homesteader]

Don't confuse me with them. I don't care what people eat and I raise (or hunt) and butcher all my own meat. Just no personal interest in eating rabbits. They are cute. I guess I don't feel the need to stop using words because other people use them.

 

[Pastor Dave]

I agree HC
I have been brow beaten on other locations for caging a lifeform and manipulating its life just for human desires.
My thought is: isn't that what animal husbandry started out as thousands of years ago (maybe more depending on your school of thought)?
My guess is most that believe it is so inhumane don't eat meat anyway.
Mine are caged for their safety and my convenience. They are well-fed and watered. Their care and comfort is a concern of mine even up until butcher day when I take additional precautions for their and the remaining stocks' comfort.

The bunnies remain cute as they grow up to weaned status and grow-out weight, much beyond a chick does.
But, when the bunnies are weaned and put in a feeder pen they begin to lose the round, fuzziness and lengthen losing cuteness. They also scratch much worse when handling. Not near as cute when they get to size.

The taste outweighs the cuteness.
There is some need for other healthy fats, but rabbit is high in protein and low in cholesterol and fat. We do not need to buy chicken much anymore, and only buy what specific cuts of pork we really like.

 

[firedragon1982]

In my household my husband is very much a beef man. He loves red meat. So we do get the extra fats and what not from that. We also have the extra roosters and drakes, so we're not eating rabbit exclusively. We purchased a brand new construction on 5 acres last year, and we are ever so slowly getting it fenced so we can raise goats and possibly a steer or two for the beef the boys eat so much of. I want all of animals to "earn their keep" in some way. Of course the dog and house cats get exemption from that rule because they came with us when we moved lol. But I just can't justify keeping all 15 babies from our litters when they don't have a good body type for showing and no one wanted to buy them. I guess growing up with my mom (farm girl even in the city) I took her mindset with me. I can't wait to get my garden going this year again, hoping to reduce the grocery bill for the humans even more!

 

[farmerjan]

Believe me, I am NOT AGAINST eating rabbit. I just know that I cannot kill one; I have enough trouble with the chickens. But I do not have any problem with a rifle shot to the head of the steer or a deer or hog. I'm just no good at the closeup, hands physically on the animal to kill it. I can shoot it, cut it's throat, gut it...but to knock it in the head I just can't. My failing. I have had pet rabbits and they have scratched me badly a time or two.

@Pastor Dave ; I feel about pigs they way you described the bunnies as they begin to grow. They are adorable as babies, by the time they hit 40 lbs or so, I am so over it, and the getting loose, and pushiness....they are then just "bacon and pork chops on the hoof" to me.

 

[goatgurl]

@farmerjan i'm going thru that can't kill a bunny thing right now. when I started raising rabbits the deal was that dd and sil would be here to help me butcher them and we'd share. I can skin, gut and process them all day but I just can't bonk 'em in the head. well.... after I upset the sil several months back they stopped coming around and that left me with 3 pens of grow outs that I have fed outrageous amounts of food waiting for him to get over his mad but nope, not over it yet so I have given myself a stern talking to and am in the process of doing a few at a time myself. I have really bad arthritis in my hands so don't feel I can hold them tight enough to whack 'em, couldn't do that anyway, i'm such a wimp, so I got some low load 22 shells and I just shoot them in the head and that's the end of that. is it easy, no I hate every time I do it but they are ultimately my responsibility and mine to take care of. and you are so right about baby pigs. I can sit and watch my bacon bit for time on end. he is so cute. thank heaven he will grow into a hog.

 

[Pastor Dave]

I can and have used the bonk to the head method, but I too prefer a quick shot to the head with a .22short.
Once that is over, much easier the rest of the way.

 

[farmerjan]

Well, if it's okay to shoot them....I just got the impression that no one shot them....

 

[goatgurl]

@farmerjane if I had to hit them in the head I could never do it. I have a little cage that I put them so I don't have to hold them, the hands thing again, and one little pop and its done. still hard but doable.

 

[Hopalong Causually]

It appears to me that the crux of the matter here is the degree to which one allows his/her analytical thought to be overridden by his/her emotions. Everybody has some level of emotional attachment to pets and livestock. Losing pets is difficult because we've allowed ourselves to develop emotional attachment. Allowing ourselves to build up that same level of emotional attachment to livestock is not appropriate, but an easy trap to fall into. It is then that we find ourselves unable to dispatch them for butchering. Look at the explanations given about becoming able to butcher once the livestock is no longer "cute" and cuddly. The only thing that has changed is our level of emotional attachment. If we look at it from a purely, analytically, rational point of view, we realize that it is more humane to the animal for it to be instantly rendered unconscious/brain dead by a blow to the head or cervical dislocation or gunshot than for the animal to die slowly from disease, injury, or old age. Even when we're dealing with a pet with which we have emotional attachment, don't we logical people prefer to have the animal humanely put down rather than allow it to suffer a prolonged terminal illness?

Those people who scream about animal rights and criticize raising livestock for food have surrendered all rational thought to the complete control by their emotions. They are incapable of holding a rational discussion because they cannot control their feelings. We all have feelings. Control of those feelings is what differentiates rational thought on one end of the spectrum from lunacy on the other. Fortunately, few people ever lose control to the point of lunacy. But there are a lot of points of various degrees of control, or loss of control along that spectrum.