Few small animals on a farm are as versitile as rabbits, providing a wealth of benefits to anyone with an interest in becoming more self sufficient and living a healthier lifestyle.
Besides the obvious benefits of having quality, friendly pets, some of the practical benefits include improving your lawn and garden, lowering your cholesterol, and having an excellent supply of wool to spin:
Lawn and Garden Benefits
The manure is some of the best out there and isn't hot, keeping your plants safe even if used fresh. It has all the benefits of other fertilizers with the distinct advantage of being considered "cold" - it can be sprinkled directly onto your plants. What's more, the pellets slowly break down in your soil (working similarly to "time release" nutrients you get from the lawn and garden store) while improving the porisity.
While it can be sprinkled directly onto the soil or mulched into a bed, you can also make a compost tea or "bunny brew" by putting a scoopful or two in a 5 gallon bucket and filling it with water. Stir it every so often and in a few days you have a liquid fertilizer that rivals anything you can get at the store. Feed your roses, your seedlings, your indoor plants, or anything else. It is a perfectly safe, completely organic waste byproduct - and all it cost you was the price of a bag of feed.
Below is a table breaking down rabbit manure compared to other popular types. When comparing, don't make the mistake of pulling out your bag o' synthetic nutrients and comparing the N-P-K (Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid, and Potash, respectively). According to jerry Minnich, author of Rodale's Guide to Composting "it is misleading to make a direct comparison between farm manures and chemical fertilizers on the basis of the relative amounts of N-P-K." Soil needs a continual replenishment of organic matter to decompose into humus, which will create that rich, black, moisture-retaining soil that we all want in our gardens (and lawns).
| Rabbit | Chicken | Dairy Cow | Horse | Steer | Sheep | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrogen | 2.4 | 1.1 | 0.25 | 0.70 | 0.70 | 0.70 |
| Phosphoric Acid | 1.4 | 0.80 | 0.15 | 0.30 | 0.30 | 0.30 |
| Potash | 0.60 | 0.50 | 0.25 | 0.60 | 0.40 | 0.90 |
Want a lawn mower that doesn't guzzle gas? Or a weed eater that doesn't make you toil all day long? Rabbits can be kept in mobile pens to fertilize your garden, irrigate the soil, and devour all plants in the area, and can even be used as miniature lawn mowers without the hassle of having noticable piles of droppings everywhere. They will happily munch and grow with grass as a supplement to their regular food.
Mini Lap Sheep for Wool
For those who want to a steady source of wool without the hassle of dealing with sheep, there are a number of Angora varieties available that can be live harvested for their wool including a couple of meat breeds. Angoras can be sheared like sheep or brushed out to collect the long hairs. This wool can be spun into a soft, non-itchy yarn for fuzzy socks, warm socks, and light-weight sweaters.
Providing a Low-Calorie Meal
Rabbit meat is extremely healthy, with a mild chicken taste. Out of all of the animals commonly raised for meat on a farm, it has the least amount of fat and cholesterol. This is a great way of keeping meat in your diet without worrying about jogging an extra mile or two every day.
Since it is so low in fat, it cooks faster than poultry at a lower temperature, saving you time while lowering your energy bill. Any recipe you use for chicken can be used for rabbit. It can be deboned and made into a roast, stewed in a thick gravy with carrots and potatoes, fried, grilled: everything.
A single pair can provide you with 50 or more offspring in a year, averaging around 225lbs of fryers per doe (for larger meat breeds). All of this can be done in minimal space (a cage for the buck, another for the doe, and one grow out pen for the fryers). By keeping just four or five does and a buck you can produce the same amount of meat in a year as raising a single steer - all in the middle of the city with a tiny backyard.
All breeds can be raised for meat can also be skinned for their soft fur or to dehair for leather. The soft furs have a wide array of both colors and textures. Solid white pelts are the most common, but spots, stripes, and unusual colors ranging from a "salt and pepper" chinchilla grey to a brilliant red or chocolate are also available. Fur textures range from crushed velvet all the way up to a long-haired breed named after the animal whose fur it resembles: the Silver Fox.
The hair that is scrapped off of de-haired leather can be mixed with duck and goose down and stuffed inside quilts and jackets for extra insulation and padding.
Our Breeds
Mini Lops: Out of everything we raise, Mini Lops have the most laid back personality. While they can be active, they are more inclined to be "lap rabbits." They are great for kids for showing or for pets. While Mini Lops aren't the smallest Lop breed (the Hollands are), they tend to have a better personality than their dwarf cousins and have enough size to them to tolerate being scooped up by younger children. They max out at around 5-6lbs, just a little larger than our Mini Rex.
New Zealands: These are the most popular breed for meat and is being raised for its soft white coat and the interest people have in keeping it as a first-time commercial breed. They are the least expensive rabbit we raise and come from solid lines with large litter sizes and fast growth. The snow white pelts can be dyed a variety of colors and patterns. We are keeping back the largest fryers out of the largest litters that have a coat that "snaps back" for the best pelts available.
Standard Rex: Of all the breeds we keep, the Rex seems to be the most intelligent, always thinking through what they do and extremely playful. They make great pets, have a solid body for meat production, and a fantastic coat of crushed velvet. Large Rexes are difficult to come by and our lines include some fantastic purebreds, along with New Zealand crosses that have the proper coat and conformation in order to aquire the proper size.
Mini Rex: These are the miniature version of the standards, identical in every way, only half the size, maxing out at 4-4.5lbs. They are small enough to be handled by young beginners without becoming overwhelmed. They breed easily, make great parents, and don't take up as much space as the traditional commercial breeds.
Satins: With a beautiful pearl sheen to their coats, Satins are fantastic to keep for fur production. They have an excellent dress-out ratio, equal to the Standard Rex and only a fraction less than the New Zealand. Satins are extremely popular in shows and come in a wide array of colors, making them one of the least difficult breeds we raise to find quality stock.