Guest1 wrote 09/12/2008 07:19 AM
 Re: Feeding Whole Rabbits
[Re: Melissa Thom ]
#209394 - 09/12/2008 07:19 AM |
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Melissa,
Is this also the time of year where a lot of breeders ditch a good deal of their stock with the upcoming winter? That is what I've been told....at least in my area.
If that's generally true, now would be a good time to start looking.
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Re: Feeding Whole Rabbits
[Re: Melissa Thom ]
#209409 - 09/12/2008 09:31 AM |
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Thanks, everyone, for the great ideas, info and links.
Deanna...I think it's so cool you dress and clean things<g>...I had a very hard time in HS science class when it came to the frog dissection (and I though I wanted to be a doctor for about ten years<g>  . Doubt I could ever raise and feed my own, tho I do think it's a great idea...in theory. (Nice site, LOVE your dogs, btw.)
Melissa! Thanks for the wealth of info...If I were to obtain live culls, how to I dispatch them before feeding them? (I sure hope it's not pithing...or smacking their heads against something...do you just wring their little necks? this is most likely a job for the spousal unit<g>.)
oh man<shudder>
leih
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Re: Feeding Whole Rabbits
[Re: leih merigian ]
#209423 - 09/12/2008 12:18 PM |
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Leih, if you asked me if I could ever do this 8 years ago I would have told you no way. You can do what ever you set your mind to. This year I raised 15 ducks, 20 meat chickens, and 25 rabbits. All on 1/4 acre. The longer I have been feeding this way the more I start to question the current standards of factory farming and the true safety of our very own food.
Cervical dislocation is how I do the deed. Raw Dog Ranch has some graphic, but helpful photos of how using a broomstick. Google their site. There are other methods involving CO2 but I have not tried them. Amber Morgan here on the board uses that method I believe.
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Re: Feeding Whole Rabbits
[Re: Deanna Thompson ]
#209428 - 09/12/2008 12:48 PM |
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Rabbits don't really have a cull season like cattle do. You feed them pellets year round anyways and they breed year round so there is no need. In fact around now is when rabbits are going into their prime coat so it may be more difficult to aquire them depending on what you're after.
The only legal method to dispatch rabbits is CO2 in my state/county. Check your laws and see if rabbits are poultry or slaughter animals or even protected in your state. That will determine what method to use. Creating a kill box isn't hard and just requires some tubing a control knob and dry ice. Done correctly it's very peaceful... done poorly well... let's not go there.
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Re: Feeding Whole Rabbits
[Re: Melissa Thom ]
#209433 - 09/12/2008 01:03 PM |
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For some reason the idea of pulling/twisting/stepping on the rabbit in order to break its neck just creeps me out to no end, so I use the mallet-to-the-head method.
Instantaneous and foolproof so far. Not a single miss or blunder in the 50+ rabbits I've dealt with over the past couple of years.
I very quickly and tightly wrap the rabbit up in a plastic bag, lay it on its side on a hard surface - rock, concrete etc - then deliver a hard hit to the head with a mallet while using my other hand to hold the animal still. Done.
And I've never had a rabbit panic & try to escape either (whole thing should only take about 5 seconds, not long enough to worry the animal).
They really don't see it coming.
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Re: Feeding Whole Rabbits
[Re: Yuko Blum ]
#209479 - 09/13/2008 09:00 AM |
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Thanks again, everyone.
I absolutely agree with local food production for us and our animals. The more local (i.e., one's own property) the better.
Perhaps I'll be able to get over my squeemish aversions to killing and dressing one of these days...
I appreciate all the great info and will look into sources.
leih
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Re: Feeding Whole Rabbits
[Re: leih merigian ]
#209513 - 09/13/2008 02:06 PM |
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Just remember there are other options to raising your own rabbits. Chicken, ducks, quail, rats, and even the humble guinea pig are all things I've heard of being used for carcass feeding raw and are fairly easy to raise in small spaces with a little research.
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Re: Feeding Whole Rabbits
[Re: Melissa Thom ]
#209515 - 09/13/2008 02:36 PM |
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This thread has gotten me interested once again in feeding raw.
I had gotten away from raw feeding due to the problems I was having with it; my schedule, the cost, availability, convenience. In addition, I was feeding a lot of alligator that I was able to get for free and this caused the dogs to have an awful fish smell.
My dogs are 65 and 100 pounds, respectively. How much rabbit should they be fed and would whole rabbits make a complete enough diet?
As it is now, my GSD will once in a while catch a wild rabbit and enjoy it.
If I were to go this route I think I would cultivate my own rabbits.
Always looking for training avenues close to home. Any suggestions? |
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Re: Feeding Whole Rabbits
[Re: Eric Eschmann ]
#209518 - 09/13/2008 02:52 PM |
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.... would whole rabbits make a complete enough diet?
This is a very good question. I think that the answer is no.
Humans seeking to reduce their ingestion of animal fat because of coronary artery disease might eat rabbit meat because of its extreme leanness. Dogs, of course, use fat very well indeed, and don't have the kind of coronary artery heart disease that humans have (although they have other kinds of heart disease).
There is such a thing in humans (mentioned here in the past) as rabbit-meat starvation, which is basically extreme fat-hunger.
I imagine that like most protein profiles, it's great as a diet ingredient. I do wonder about its suitability as a major source.
I saw that Deanna raises them as part of a wide variety and not as a sole protein.
Or maybe wild rabbit is the extremely lean rabbit mean that is addressed here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation
Does anyone have information about this? I admit that I have not researched it.
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Re: Feeding Whole Rabbits
[Re: Eric Eschmann ]
#209519 - 09/13/2008 02:56 PM |
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For a 3% of bodyweight starting point:
65 lbs. = 1.95 lbs. of food
100lbs. = 3 lbs. of food
A diet of whole rabbits alone would not make a complete enough diet.
Whole rabbits with some red meat added in regularly(beef or pork), a whole chicken every now and then, maybe some venison...now we're talkin'.
While I don't know exactly what, a rabbit only diet would lack *something*. I know, that is so vague I probably shouldn't have even said it.
Feeding one, and only one, *thing* is setting yourself up for potential problems. If you feed one thing, your dog could be getting deficiencies in some places and excess in others. Variety keeps this from happening.
That said, even if rabbit was A LOT of your dogs diet, but they still got other stuff regularly, I say go for it.
Whole rabbit is a great food. You could probably knock a huge dent in expenses raising rabbits for food.
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