I’ve been raising New Zealand rabbits for meat for that last three years. As far as being a viable meat source for small farms or even urban homesteaders, rabbits are a great option. I’ve become rather partial to rabbit meat, with a wonderful mild flavor.  Almost any chicken recipe can be converted to rabbit with only a minor tweak.

Raising the rabbits is also pretty easy. They do not require a lot of room, they don’t make any noise, and their feed to weight conversion ratio is impressive. There are, however, a few things I have learned from my experiences that I truly wish I had read somewhere prior to starting out. These things could have saved me some headaches along the way. That’s why I’m passing them along to you.

The Key is Organization

The first thing I would like to impress upon anyone considering raising rabbits is the importance of being organized. It’s a funny thing, these all white, beady red eyed, eight pound rabbits ALL LOOK THE SAME.  If you were to take five rabbits out of their cages, let them run around, and then try to put everyone back in their exact prior cages, you will fail. There just isn’t any way of telling them apart, especially if they are all the same sex. This means you absolutely MUST  have the rabbits tattooed and the cages documented. Also, absolutely do not think that you can breed rabbits, not write down the dates, and remember when that mamma is going to have her babies. The days run together, what seems like a week is usually either 4 days, or 10. And not knowing isn’t good. Trust me.

Be aware of mood swings

Another partially related item I wish I had known is that pregnant does can change their behavior the further along they are. What is normally a well mannered lady when not pregnant becomes cranky and aggressive the more pregnant she becomes. This is especially useful when you fail to document when the last time she was bred (see above). This will also keep you from taking things personally as she scratches the snot out of you the next time you reach in to fill the water bowl. My theory is that they know you are the reason they are pregnant, they are big and uncomfortable just like a human, and they are taking it out on you. Or maybe they are just trying to tell you they are craving peanut butter ice cream with pickles on top. Hard tellin.

A Mamma’s got to eat…..

That being said, does are normally very good mothers who require little to no interference with the care of their babies; as long as you provide the right environment for them to do so. If you forget to put the nest box in the cage in time (again, see above) bad things will happen. There is a very low success rate for babies born on the bottom of a cage no matter how much fur the mom has pulled for them. Any doe who is lacking even the least bit of protein in her diet will also make bad things happen after she kits. Think Hannibal Lector and you will get the point. Fortunately there is a relatively easy way to alleviate that problem. Give the doe either half a hot dog or a small bowl of ground beef a week or so before she has her babies. Of course rabbits do not normally eat meat, but it just makes sense if you think about it. It takes an enormous amount of protein for mom to make anywhere from three to ten baby bunnies. So believe it or not, if a doe is lacking enough protein, she will eat the hot dog or ground beef in order to make up for what she needs.

No, I don’t cut myself. I just have rabbits.

Another very important item to learn about rabbits is the proper way to catch and hold them. Rabbits have what amounts to tiny razors on the ends of their toes, and they will NOT hesitate to use them. I picture each rabbit sitting in his cell, talking to the others through the bars, sharing stories of what their crime was and how they got caught, all the while sharpening their toenails on the edge of the cage. That would explain a lot.  Regardless, a rabbit that is not properly restrained can quickly cause quite a bit of damage to your arms. They are amazingly flexible, and stronger than you think.

Stomachs of iron

Finally, anything in the cage with a rabbit that is not metal or ceramic is fair game to be chewed. Plastic bowls will eventually be whittled down to nothing. The wooden framing to your cage will turn into a toothpick if the little beasts can reach it. The reason for this is that a rabbits’ teeth are always growing, kind of like their toenails. The way a rabbit handles that is by chewing on hard objects. This wears the teeth down and  helps keep them a normal size. It is an especially useful idea to keep a piece of wood in the cage. This could be anything from an untreated eight inch piece of 2×4 to a small sapling branch. My bunnies are partial to Sassafras branches. Bonus points if there are leaves on it.

Lesson learned

Raising rabbits can be a  fun and rewarding addition to homesteads and farms. Especially if you can do your homework ahead of time and set yourself up for success.

 

 

As a self-proclaimed homesteader and faithful follower of the do-it-yourself attitude, I advocate for a way of life in which people know where their food comes from by raising it themselves. I understand that there was a time before the Industrial Revolution in which most homes had a garden and some livestock. Grocery stores were not available in the mass quantities we see today, therefore a handful of chickens, a couple pigs, and a milk cow were usually enough to provide families the nutritional necessities. Scraps from the garden didn’t go to waste, they were recycled in the form of food for the livestock. Manure from the livestock went back into the garden as fertilizer.

Obviously things are different now, and many people can only go so far as a few window-sill herbs or a tomato plant in a pot when it comes to gardening. To consider even a humble laying hen is out of the question, much less a family milk cow. For most, relying on what the grocery store provides is the only option. I’m not going to say that I like it, because I don’t. But what I will do, is tell you the truth about the dairy farms, especially here in the Midwest. I will also tell you the truth about what it is in the milk you drink.

So who are dairy farmers?

Farming historically has been a family business, and dairy is no exception. Many farmers have been at their profession their entire lives, and they do it because it is in their blood. Many times it goes back multiple generations, and they like it that way.  The life of a dairy farmer is not easy. They don’t get often get to take vacations, because taking care of livestock is a 365 day a year job.

There are only two reasons in the world a person will work their tail off every single day of their life. One is if they make enough money to become rich beyond their wildest dreams. The other is if they truly love their job. And trust me, dairy farmers aren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, farmers are paid less than one third of the price you see milk on the shelf for.  Keep that in mind when you see milk on sale for $1.79 a gallon.

Aren’t most commercial dairy farms huge, soul-less operations?

The average herd size of a dairy in Indiana is 84. Throughout the Midwest the average herd size is less than 200. I can compare that to my experience when I was a kid raising hogs. We had 60 sows, (female mamma pigs). Then there were all the babies at different stages to take into consideration. So our wee little farm had anywhere from 80-150 pigs at one time. And I can tell you honestly that between my dad and I we were able to give each animal individual attention. We noticed when things were wrong. We even had our favorites. Some even, gasp! had names. The dairy farmers are the same way.

Is there weird dangerous stuff in the milk I buy at the store?

There are two things that we commonly hear about being added to our milk lately, and those are antibiotics and hormones. To be perfectly clear, neither of those things are ever added directly into milk. EVER. It is truly pointless to add something like that to a finished product. When it comes to antibiotics, they are used on cows that are SICK. That’s it. Antibiotics are expensive, and from a business perspective, dosing every cow that is healthy with antibiotics is a huge waste of money. Also, a sick cow’s milk can not be put into the tanker for sale and delivery. I’ll explain why. Every cow gives approximately 6 gallons of milk per day. At 84 cows in a dairy, a single day of milk adds up to more than 500 gallons. That one cow who is being treated with antibiotics will contaminate the entire batch, and when it’s tested (which it is, over 4 MILLION individual batches are tested yearly in the Midwest alone.) it will be found to have antibiotics. And it will be destroyed. That’s right. Basically dumped down the tube. All 500 gallons. And who has to suffer the lost income? The farmer. That is not a risk a farmer is willing to take.

When it comes to hormones, however, it’s a different story. The most commonly used hormone is recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST). It is used to increase milk productivity in cows. The government has declared that this hormone is perfectly safe to administer to cows because 1) it occurs naturally in cows anyway and 2) when compared with milk from non-hormone added cows shows an “insignificant” difference in residual hormone. Here’s where I’m a little leery because I’m not really big on just trusting what the government tells me. The good news is that at most only 25 percent of dairy farmers even use the hormone to begin with, and the ones who are certified organic are not allowed to use it at all. So if you are concerned about the hormone, go organic for sure.

Where did all this information come from?

All of this information is available at the websites below. I welcome and encourage you to fact check every single thing I’ve mentioned in this post. I fully support you not just taking my word on it. In fact, if you were to visit even one of these sites you would learn even more about the dairy industry, because there is so much more information than I didn’t

even touch on.

I realize that maybe only in my version of a perfect world is everyone able to have their own milk cow and have dairy products fresh from the source every day. I certainly know its on my list of things to do in the near future. There are always going to be things I don’t like about mass producing something for the average consumer. However, I’m pretty happy and proud to have gained some knowledge on how the dairy farmers of the Midwest operate. I really like knowing that they want the same things for me and my family as they do their own families. And that makes grabbing that carton of milk from the supermarket cooler a little more satisfying.

http://www.farmersfeedus.org/in/dairy/1

http://indianadairy.org/

http://www.indianafamilyoffarmers.com/consumer.html

https://winnersdrinkmilk.com/dairy-facts-myths/

https://www.midwestdairy.com/dairy-resource-center/on-farm-resources/

 

 

 

 

A Tale of Two Lessons

This next entry in the chronicles invloves two lessons learned in my new world of black (and white) sheep. Both lessons are learned in the category of “work required to accomplish a task.” Just in case you didn’t get a chance to read my first episode of the Wooly Chronicles, you can find it here The Wooly Chronicles Episode 1.

Portable Is Good

The first lesson is in building a portable pen for the critters. The original fencing on the property is about as old as I am, and so we needed to make a plan immediately. Proof positive that my dad is the brains of the business, he came up with a nifty little contraption.

The general idea is to put together four livestock panels,(preferably heavy duty ones) in a square. The corners are set into old tires which act as skids. Then you keep the whole thing … Read More »

I decided this spring that I needed more animals in my life. I’ve had livestock since I can remember, and I understand that they are a lot of work. Working in the cold rain or baking sun, healing wounds, nursing when they get sick. Winter chores are even worse, making sure that livestock are kept warm and dry, all while managing to feed and keep water in a liquid state in three feet of snow and below zero temps. Then there’s fencing, which is the matter of keeping critters contained within a specified area, most of which is for their own benefit and safety.  Of course, that last part always seems to be lost on them, since their idea of a good time usually involves escaping from said area.

Nevertheless, I felt the desire to have livestock again. It’s a feeling that is very difficult to explain to most people. Just why would a person put themselves through the bother and pain and potential heartbreak of raising their own animals when you so easily can get what you need from the store?  There are a few reasons.

For some, and there’s a growing number of us, it is a desire to know where your food is coming from. To know just what you are consuming on a basic level. When a person walks into a grocery store and picks up a package of ground beef or chicken wings, there is no way of telling if it even came from the United States, much less what additives may have been injected. Now, I like a good mystery on my tv as much as anybody, but not so much on the food I bring home to my family.

There is another reason for me to raise my own livestock, and may be the hardest to understand. For me it fulfills a basic need. To get up and do chores every day, it’s part of who I am. To make it my job to see to it that my animals have a happy, healthy, life every single day brings ME happiness. To watch newborn baby pigs find their mom and have their first meal, and listen to them all grunt contentedly. To see calves turned out to pasture for the first time and watch them kick up their heels and dash around like mad. To see lambs resting in the field chewing cud after grazing happily for hours. Those things all b

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ring me fulfillment.

It is important to note, my father is the exact same way, and it is likely that I get this part of my personality from him. In fact, it may be relevant to mention that he and I are quite alike in MANY ways. I imagine this is a bit of a chagrin to Mom. To be clear, Mom is just as instrumental in this project.  Not only are we are lucky she’s such a good sport and quite tolerant to our animal shenanigans, but Mom is often the ‘adult supervision’ in any given situation. (Insert rueful apologetic shrug here)

That being said, I finally circle back to the reason behind my little story. I am now the co-owner (with Dad) of seven fluffy little lambs. This Wooly Chronicle is the story of our foray into raising the four-legged lawnmowers known as sheep. Who knows how successful it will be. With animals, it’s always a gamble. There’s always the chance we will lose our shirts. But this also could be a win for us. To be sure, there will be ups and downs, and adventures a plenty. But we will learn as we go, and see where this takes us. I think a farm name would be a good start, don’t you? How does ‘Peas in a Pod Farm’ sound?