Everything You Should Consider BEFORE Raising Meat Rabbits

So you're thinking about raising meat rabbits, great! You are at the beginning of an exciting journey. But before you jump in an make a big investment of time and money, you need to think through a few things first. In this video we cover everything you should consider before you go out and buy meat rabbits.
I've been raising New Zealand rabbits for a long time, and most of this advice is based on my own personal experience and that of others. If you've already got meat rabbits and you've made some these mistakes, that's ok. I've made pretty much every mistake that I talk about in this video. The point is we can learn an do better.
If you haven't got meat rabbits yet, pay attention. You'll thank me later. . .
Thanks so much for watching!
I hope you guys enjoy the videos and if you are looking to help spread the word, please consider liking, sharing, and subscribing.
If you want to help the channel even more and get something for yourself, check out our Patreon!
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As always if you have any questions or suggestions please leave a comment below and I will answer!
You can also visit us at www.westmeadowrabbits.com
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• Why You Should Raise M...
• Is It Cruel To Keep Ra...
• What Is The Best Meat ...
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:50 Why are you doing this?
3:00 Can you process a rabbit?
5:52 Do you want to make money?
9:18 What's our budget?
12:21 Shameless plug!
13:12 How much time do you have?
14:44 What breed and how many?
16:53 Rabbit housing
20:48 Legality
24:19 Closing

[@rexevans9935]

Great video, I've been raising rabbits for 54 years and i think most people should keep there rabbitry small and make it fun. And learn all you can about livestock. You will never make much if any money from raising rabbits so just have fun and happy homesteading. Good luck and God bless.

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Wow that's impressive! I agree though, most people should look at it as a fun hobby.

[@CarlPapa88]

@23:40 Completely agree. That or move just right out of city limits and the city can kick rocks.

[@markskinner2642]

Homesteading and family tradition for me

[@robertspencer5219]

Agree with everything, except I used to live in an area where cages and an impenetrable fortress were needed to keep the predators away from the chickens. So to keep them alive cages were needed at night. I was able to let them out during the day but even the chicken runs were very built up for protection.

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Fair point!

[@luboshcamber1992]

With the prices and push for eating bugs in Canada, not much to think about for me. I used to do rabbits as a teenager amd loved it.

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Good luck up there! Get some rabbits before they make breeding illegal. . .

[@lennacrawford7253]

Love your videos! I’ve been watching for almost 3 years. I still have not been able to start up my rabbitry yet, but I have such a vault of knowledge for when I am able. Thank you for providing such clear, thoughtful, and informative content 😊

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Thank you so much! Its awesome that you've been since the early days! Too luck with starting your rabbitry one day and thank you for watching. We wouldn't be here without you!

[@therabbitcity]

Dude! I love your set up! You seem like a good man. My first dispatch was a very real moment, we have learned a lot since then. Thanks for the info! 🥕 🐇 💕

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Thank you! I appreciate the support! Wait until you see the new setup we are building at our new location.

[@dropinota]

Great video Sam, always appreciated.

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Thank you and thanks for supporting!

[@heavenly-dreamsdairygoats]

I started with a tro set back in Oct 2023 after raising for many years before this. Now we have over 100 with breeders and feedouts. We love eating them they are so easy to grow and take care of their young for the 1st few weeks till you take them and wean them for meat. The rabbits we raise are the best tasting rabbit I have ever eaten. Faster turn around time also compared to chickens. Thank you for sharing. Till next time. God bless

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Thank you!

[@big-grizz1002]

All facts, great informative video. Can’t wait to grab some reds from you this April.

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Thanks for watching and I'll see you in April!

[@boblatrail]

great video thanks

[@westmeadowrabbits]

You are welcome!

[@zone4garlicfarm]

Facebook groups are a good place for beginners to find someone who can teach them how to dispatch and process a rabbit.

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Good point! I'm an old man on the inside and I'm not on Facebook so I didn't even think of it lol.

[@zone4garlicfarm]

@@westmeadowrabbits I didn't use Facebook until I got back into raising rabbits last year. Another KZbinr who raises rabbits talked about facebook groups as a way to market rabbits.

[@joeldavis8851]

Looks like you have some nice animals. The Californians are my favorite breed though I like the broken New Zealand as well. I always preferred the commercial breeds. The fancies are a lot of work to get a perfect one according to the ARBA Standard. 🙂

[@yunk9]

"If it's good enough for your wife then its good enough for rabbits!" lol 😆

[@ericwaddle3]

Been having a hard time finding 14ga wire. KW cages so expensive, hate to spend that much, would rather build. But all local farm stores carry flemsy small ga wire

[@westmeadowrabbits]

I think I saw your email, but I recommend Kluberantz

[@MariaZontini]

I live in Maine, and have my cages made, and am ready to buy a trio of meat rabbits. I was wondering if you were close enough for me to purchase them from you or if not, do you recommend anyone closer to me. I enjoy all your videos...thank you for all the great information! really appreciate it! Bob

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Hi Bob, thanks for watching! I'm located in Southern NH, so unless you are in northern Maine I should be close enough. Fill out the contact form on my website and I'll add you to the waitlist. I should have kits ready to go in May.

[@tjduff]

WONDERFUL video! This should have a views to likes ration of 1:1

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Thanks for watching!

[@CassieDavis613]

Will you be placing this series in a new playlist?

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Yes, just created it now.

[@ShilohHuite]

How do you sift your poo? I have trays right now so of course i lose some dumping the tray but i get hay and some pellet bedding mixed in. I have a screen made of 1"x1/2" wire but still not as clear of debris as your wheelbarrow looked. Until i get them going on the ground im gonna have the pellet bedding because it helps with the smell and mess a bit since they are in my garage right now.

[@westmeadowrabbits]

The short answer is I don't sift! Hay is a perfectly good addition to compost. The reason you don't see much debris in the manure is because we don't use bedding, the manure just sits on the ground. That being said it's totally fine to compost bedding, so no need to sift.

[@travisjohnston1923]

I started out intending to farm rabbits for the hides, with the meat being a byproduct (dog food, predator bait, etc) to now being curious what they taste like.

[@westmeadowrabbits]

It all depends on how you cook it! Young fryers (less than 14 weeks old) are mild and tender. They can be used as a chicken substitute. But if you are trying to get hides, than the rabbits will have to be at least 6 months old, and even then the hides aren't really worth it unless they are from 1 year old+ rabbits harvested in the winter. These animals have a much stronger taste, and are really only suited for stewing, roasting, or crock pot.

[@travisjohnston1923]

This, good sir, is what I call useful information. I don't mind a more gamey or wild taste if that's the sensation you're describing. I look forward to checking this out.@@westmeadowrabbits

[@birgitelisabeth9661]

Chicago does not have restrictions on keeping lifestock.

[@westmeadowrabbits]

I just checked and it seems you're right although slaughtering animals is illegal unfortunately.

[@birgitelisabeth9661]

Who would know if you don’t tell.

[@matthewd445]

Not an angry vegan here. Just curious. How do you feel about harvesting your rabbits? I've never really considered it before. Not to be dramatic but does it "get easier"?

[@westmeadowrabbits]

It does to some extent but I still hate it. And that's important. I think we take meat for granted in the modern world. We don't appreciate that a living creature is sacrificing to sustain us. When we buy plastic wrapped meat from the grocery store, it's easy to stuff our faces with it and forget about this. But when you have to process your own you go through a ton of physical and emotional effort, and you respect that meat much more.

[@donscottvansandt4139]

I've raised rabbits in the past. One thing I didn't realize at first is how many babies they produce. I started with 4 does and one busk. I also was very methodical about breeding... I ended up with rabbits coming out of my ears and a freezer full in no time! Also I couldn't find a outlet to sell ... that's one reason I got out of It

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Yea it doesn't take much to feed a family!

[@onlyintime9914]

Ain't it funny how the law tries to teach us how to be all "human" by avoiding homesteading and treating it as an evil thing.. But homesteading taught us how to live and live well without the law and brings us closer to God and his ways amen. God wants us to be free and the devil wants us to be deceived and enslaved.

[@Direblade11]

As a non-homesteader, my reason would be to have small furs to learn tanning/curing through to start. Probably won't do that though, since my gf loves cute bunnies lmao. Also not good at wanting to murder animals, and have tested vegetarianism because of that lol

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Fair enough! Although we producers tend to frown on word "murder" because that implies a crime.

[@Direblade11]

@@westmeadowrabbits Fair. My particular case was trying to hunt a very dumb deer while abusing the power of a deer call. Did not feel like a fair hunt, and I was just thinking how I could go home and buy meat that is otherwise going to go bad. I'd like to connect with my farmer roots, but didn't grow up in that at all. Maybe one day I'll do light homesteading

[@FindTheFun]

What are your opinions on the *reasons* the laws restricting raising meat livestock exist in the first place? You mentioned a lot of inexperienced homesteaders killing off lots of their rabbits due to disease and things. As far as I understand, that's why these anti-meat livestock laws exist. Not saying I support them, but I do acknowledge their purported purpose. What is the solution to widespread disease then? I'm sure proper care of the animals like you explained is the biggest part, but on a nationwide scale you can't rely on people knowing what they are doing unless you introduce licenses and things people need to earn through training or something. Just curious what your take on all that is. I basically know nothing about it and that's why I'm asking you.

[@westmeadowrabbits]

That's a good question! It's really a subject for a whole video, but here's a summary. The primary purpose of livestock regs in most places has to do with the rising standard of living. 150 years ago, if you wanted fresh eggs or meat, you would have to live near a source. Keeping livestock, even in cities was totally normal. As we grew more prosperous, having animals running around your yard or city was seen as low class. Towns and cities increasingly pushed agriculture out to give the appearance of wealth. This became even easier with the invention of refrigeration. Now there is something to be said about disease. Overcrowded and unhygienic conditions are a recipe for problems, but like you said this could be dealt with by knowing what you are doing. But even in well managed operations, animals still occasionally have smells, make noise, and wander. As more an more people grow up in urban areas they aren't used to this and react negatively. That's also why farmers are increasingly under pressure as developments move into rural areas. Most people don't want to know farms exist, even if they need them to eat. The final problem is the few bad apples. People who don't know what they are doing can cause huge problems, and force the city to react. They don't want a repeat so they make particularly tough laws to cover themselves in the future. It only has to happen once and now the laws are on the books. Here's a workable solution. If you have over 5 acres, you have an unquestionable right to farm and keep livestock how you wish. You also have right to slaughter livestock for yourself or for sale. If neighbors have a problem, they can complain to a court or board, but they will only win if something is grossly wrong. Ex. You are keeping 1,000 pigs on five acres and manure is running off your property and polluting your neighbors well. If you have 1-4.9 acres, you have a limited right to farm. You have all the rights mentioned previously, but within limits set by laws. Ex. You can have pigs, but no more than 20. You can still slaughter and sell meat. Under 1 acre, you don't have right to farm, but you can still keep and slaughter animals. However if you are impacting your neighborhood, you won't have as strong a legal standing as the other two groups. At this scale cities can ban animals bigger than a goat. This isn't a perfect solution and I don't think most people would be happy, which is why it's ideal.

[@jkasak7633]

Why would you need a license to grow food? That is the most basic element of being a human being. Where do you get the idea that there are so many losses from disease? In 15 years I think I lost 1 chicken and 0 rabbits to sickness.

[@FindTheFun]

@@jkasak7633 You kinda totally missed the point of my comment.

[@user-oh7vp2rc3w]

Why New Hampshire? Easier to raise rabbits there?

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Yes, and it's more rural so I was able to get much more land.

[@user-oh7vp2rc3w]

@@westmeadowrabbits Nice.

[@CassieDavis613]

If it's good enough for your wife..... You funny.

[@TB-ki1ux]

ThumbUp& LeaveAnyComment 4AIgosAll

[@lcotee]

Just wanted to mention yhat the whole lab animal thing is immoral to me. Especially since Dr Shiva invented Cytosolve which completely eliminates the need for animal testing ❤ I want to keep rabbits for cat and dig food. I aksi wanted to mention that I think it's a great idea to get animals so drunk they don't feel ir care about slipping over ti the other side. No bad days!

[@westmeadowrabbits]

Fair but don't forget lab rabbits are used for much more than just testing. They produce biologic chemicals used in all kinds of medicines!

[@Buy.YT.Views.677]

10/10 would recommend to friends. 👫👭