HAVING BABIES

by Michele Green
(Malvern AR )

We bought our New Zealands with the intentions on raising them for meat. I was told that they could not have kits until they were 8 to 10 months old. About 3 weeks ago when ever I would feed her she would bite me and I didn't know why. Well, my husband went out to feed her and he came back in and said I needed to do something with the babies in the rabbit cage, much to my surprise she had had 5 babies in the night. And she is only 6 months old. They are so cute that I don't know if I can raise them for meat. My grand kids just adore them. Our female's name is AnnaGrace and our male is Smoky.


So if someone tells you oh don't worry she can't have babies at 6 months I'm here to tell you they can.

****Karen Sez****
Yep, you're right! They sure can have babies by 6 months. You didn't get that 8-10 month statement from this website, right?

The cuteness factor is a tough one, isn't it. Problem is...we're way too separated from our food sources, and the thought of death and blood is hard to deal with, when food comes so conveniently in packages from the fast food joint or the supermarket.

Homesteaders do it this way:
AnnaGrace and Smokey are understood to be forever-pets. Their babies are predestined to be meat. The kids know this up front. Nobody gets to name the meatrabbits and the kids know the offspring will soon have a date with a butcher.

Then, when the butcher transitions the rabbits from rabbit to meat, the homesteaders take the time to thank the animal as do the Native Americans. And/or they thank the Creator above for His provisions. It is somewhat comforting to the kids and grandkids to know that AnnaGrace and Smokey will always be pets, and won't ever become meat. (That's an agreement you must never renege on - never kill the pet rabbits.)

Make sense?

Comments for HAVING BABIES

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Oct 20, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Meat Rabbits vs Pet Rabbits
by: Anonymous

Oh I love that statement !!! I am just in process of getting meat rabbits and I'm also having to face the dispatching myself.

I've already decided to move to a short haired meat breed because I have French Angoras and though they are also meat rabbits, the value of their wool far exceeds my hopes and dreams. I also have become attached to some and unless it's a biter and down right vicious, they won't go to the dinner table and maybe not even then. LOL

With this "blessing" so to speak I think I will be able to move on to the dispatching part of their raising with a better perspective. I've always admired and respected the American Indians and will definitely keep this in mind when the time comes.

Thanks
Becca

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Comments.

Protected by Copyscape Plagiarism Check Software

Double-Value Guarantee

Our policy is to always OVER-deliver on value,
which is why your purchase is fully covered by our
Double-Value Guarantee.

Go ahead - take any of our e-books for a test drive. Peruse our detailed informational and educational e-books. Examine our plans for building rabbit cages, runs, or metal or PVC hutch frames. Check out the Rabbit Husbandry info e-books.

If you aren't completely satisfied that your e-book purchase is worth at least double, triple or even quadruple the price you paid, just drop us a note within 45 days, and we'll refund you the entire cost. That's our Double-Value Guarantee.

Note: When you purchase your e-books, they will be in PDF format, so you can download them to any device that supports PDF format. We advise making a back-up copy to a drive or cloud account. If the books are lost, you can also purchase another copy from Raising-Rabbits.