who says there is no such thing as a dumb question

[jamie28]

the neighbor asked me if we had to kill the rabbits to get their fur.

*smacks head*

duh.....dead rabbits don't grow more fur, stupid

Comments

[tleventer]

Ah, but only if one KNOWS you're talking about wooled rabbits like angoras. I have New Zealands that we use for meat primarily but also do tan their hides and I had to read your post twice to figure out why you'd answer that way... because I would have said "well... duh... not like they're going to hop around nekkid!" :-)

[breakableheart]

See, this is where my brain went.

[tleventer]

besides... they may not grow more fur... but they sure taste better nekkid! ;-)

[jamie28]

ick. sorry, i am a vegetarian. animals are friends, not food.

[tleventer]

That's ok. To each their own, but obviously I'm an omnivore. Rabbits make good meals.

[yarrowkat]

i'm with you. we raise Californians and New Zealands for meat, and tan the hides as well. i'm hoping to save up enough of them to make a coat in a couple of winters.

[tleventer]

I'm hoping to do a blanket for this coming winter. How many do you have? What color are your NZs?

[yarrowkat]

oh, that would be warm and beautiful

[tleventer]

No the rabbit in my icon isn't one of mine. But I do have some. We currently have 10 in the "kennel" (production) and 2 pets. The pets are a Broken tort holland lop (daughter's) and a red mini satin (hubby's). The production rabbits (all NZs) are.... 2 white does, 1 white buck (still a jr), 2 red does, 1 red buck, 1 black buck, 2 broken black does and 1 broken black buck. Yeah, I know... too much color for some folks. I have shown a couple of them and would like to do more...but we're primarily raising for meat so the color is an added fun. I currently have an 8 week old litter of 5 all black.... a 6.5 week old litter of 1 red.... and a 3 week old litter of 8 -- 1 is black, 4 are solid chestnuts, 3 are broken chestnuts. Hoping to keep a black doe, the little red (as a replacement... my red buck is getting up there) and one of the nice broken chestnuts to breed back to a red to get a broken red that can be shown. Either way, the meat is yummy and the colors are very pretty

[yarrowkat]

awesome, that sounds like quite the efficient rabbit operation. i'd love to add a red male for our next breeding buck, they are so pretty! are you able to sell your meat? we sell eggs from our hens, and garden produce, and we're raising turkeys for the thanksgiving market (half our birds are pre-reserved already!) but we have not yet attempted to sell rabbit meat, since we're not in real production yet, and while half our friends say "ooh, rabbit, tasty" the other half completely freak out that we're eating the poor little bunnies. like they'd have any other fate, left to their own devices. :)

(my farm/intentional community is sunflowerriver by the way.)

[tleventer]

haven't sold any yet. Just got started in November and had a HORRIBLE winter with litters. :-( Does either didn't catch or delivered the litter in a frigid cold. Had one that was a 1st time mom who was a complete moron and not only wouldn't feed but would scratch her kits. 6 beautiful blacks. :-( We do have family and friends asking and I feed my dogs raw so I have a "market" there as well if we ever get going enough. Yep... half my friends also can't imagine eating the cute wittle bunnies. We're hoping to expand by moving to a farm in a year. Expansion would also include chickens (we go through probably 8 dozen a week) and I hope at least 1 miniature jersey cow! They're adorable and we already have a cow share that gives us a gallon of fresh jersey milk a week and its heaven!!

Intentional community? I'll have to check that out. That's something my hubby would LOVE to be able to do even on a small scale (something we've seriously looked at with buying a farm).

[yarrowkat]

there are four of us in Sunflower River, and i'm inclined to feel that it's a nearly perfect size, because we are not too large to be hamstrung by our own consensus process (which i have seen happen in groups of 10+ people particularly), yet we are large enough to accomplish a lot that one or two alone couldn't do. plus all the ecological and social benefits of living in a group; lighter footprint, more emotional support, all that

[tleventer]

You have a Great Pyr?? I have a 22 month old Newfy! (that's him in the icon at 3 months) He's more of a speed bump than a guard dog, but that's what the australian cattle dog is for (and she's very good at her job).

Well, we kind of have a ready-made group as we're a poly family (there are 3 of us, plus 2 kids)... and I fully expect that to help with getting the farm (both in terms of what we can afford as well as what we can feasibly work). Your setup sounds LOVELY!