Most people enjoy watching furry little rabbits hopping around in the wild. We read storybooks and fairy tales to our children written about them. Disney has even made movies that have cute bunnies as characters. Remember Peter Cottontail and all his adventures when you were a child? Just as we enjoyed those stories as children, we can now enjoy raising rabbits on our homesteads and farms as well.
Have you ever considered raising rabbits on your homestead? They are beneficial to the homestead in so many ways. Read along and see if they are right for your homestead.
Benefits of Raising Rabbits
Raising Rabbits is easy.
These furry little creatures thrive just about anywhere and are pretty inexpensive to purchase. They are almost, if not the easiest, animals to maintain.
Their feed, equipment, and preventative medicine are easily found. You can find books just about anywhere on their care as well as on the internet. They are well known for their abundant breeding also.
Rabbits are a great source of protein
Rabbits are white meat. They have a chewier texture than most meats but are finely-grained meat. Rabbit meat exceeds beef, pork, lamb, and even chicken in protein. It is lower in its percentage of fat, has less cholesterol, and has fewer calories than any other meat.
Rabbit meat can be breaded, fried, broiled, baked, and barbecued, even older, larger rabbits can be stewed or roasted.
One doe (female rabbit), can produce 75 to 90 pounds of meat per year! Italy, Ukraine, France, and Spain are the biggest producers and consumers today. The United States falls behind in the popularity of raising rabbits for meat, but slowly more and more people are starting to enjoy the benefits of raising them.
Because of their frequent breeding, this is one animal you will want to have if there is a food shortage. You will always have rabbits available. And since they birth their young usually right at 30 days it will be easy to plan continuous rabbit meat for your family.
Rabbits provide many products
Rabbit fur can be sold, sometimes, at high prices, due to the demand for certain types of furs. Angora rabbit fur is used for sweaters and so forth and can bring a nice side income to the homestead. Rabbit fur is turned into mittens, muffs, sweaters, and more.
Rabbits also provide an abundant amount of manure that is like gold to gardeners. There are people local to where I live that bag up all their rabbit manure into garbage bags and sell it to local farmers and homesteads. This manure is great for flowers, trees, vegetables, lawns, and shrubs. It can be worked into the garden immediately upon collection. This is another composting resource!
Other Reasons For Raising Rabbits
They make great companions, they are friendly and fun to interact with. And they are great with children when raised with them from babies. They love to be petted and are usually fairly calm creatures, especially when you raise them from birth.
Some people raise rabbits as show animals. There are many breeds recognized by the American Rabbit Breeders Association. 4-H, Scouts, and many other organizations for children show them at fairs annually. They make a great project for kids because of the ease of their care.
If you are looking for an animal to add to your homestead, these furry creatures may be for you. They can provide meat for eating, fur for making a profit, and manure to enhance your gardens. Consider these furry creatures for your homestead today because I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.
Do you raise rabbits on your homestead? Please share what kind and what you raise them for. For more information on which breeds you may want for your homestead read Choosing Rabbits for your Homestead.