- Welcome, everybody. Yes, my name is Katie Holcomb and I am from Ionia County. I have been raising rabbits, let me get you here, maybe. There we go. I have been raising rabbits for almost 40 years. I am the fourth generation of a six-generation family. So I have been pretty involved throughout my entire life. I serve on many committees at all levels, whether it's the local, state, or even national committees, to help better the rabbit program for everybody involved. I am a member of local, state, and national clubs, so I do get out there and I show and participate at all levels of competition. 4-H leader in Ionia County for 18 or so years. I think that was my number I came up with. I was a 4-H member here in Ionia County, my children were in Ionia County, and my grandchildren will be, as soon as they're old enough. So that's a little bit about me. Thank you for joining us tonight. I have a lot of information to cover in a short amount of time, so please bear with me. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. We'll try to answer them as we go. And I'm just gonna try to give you as much information as I can in that short amount of time. Oh, yeah, probably should tell you, I can talk rabbits, so if I just start talking about them, don't worry about it. Things you wanna consider before you get started raising rabbits. First and most important is, why do you want to raise them? There are lots of reasons. We'll get into all those as we go. Once you've decided why you wanna raise them, you then need to choose your breed. There are 49 recognized breeds. We'll get to that later, too. Once you've got your breed chosen, because they all range in size, you'll have to decide on your housing and your supplies. Once you get your breed chosen, again, you will have to come up with your nutrition because different kinds of rabbits require different kinds of nutrition requirements. How and when you're gonna breed those. And once you get going with them, how you're gonna market them for what you're looking to, or why you're wanting to raise them. So to get started, why do you want to raise rabbits? You can raise them as a pet or a companion, to show them or for just a hobby, maybe for meat, to make money. That one's kind of funny, 'cause sometimes you don't get to do that. But that is possible with enough time and energy put into it. Different ways you can use rabbits: you can use them for pets, for showing, for meat, wool, as there are wool breeds, just like your sheep and your goats, for pelts, and fertilizer. No matter what your reasons are, though, you need to examine all of the elements we're gonna talk about to make the best, educated decision for you and your family. It's a lot of work in some aspects. In other aspects, it's one of the easiest animals you can raise, okay? So, out of the 49 recognized breeds of rabbits, that is per the American Rabbit Breeders Association, and as shown in their Standard of Perfection. There are 4-class breeds, which one you show, that means you show in four different classes per breed. They're also called fancy breeds because they're the smaller version of the rabbits, ranging from 2 1/2 to five, six pounds. Or you have your 6-class breeds, or your commercial breeds, that are your bigger ones. Minimum weight, eight, nine pounds all the way up to the Flemish Giants can get to be 20-plus pounds. So you wanna look at all your aspects of why you wanna raise them to know what breed to pick. Like I said, there's differences. Your size, the different kinds of fur that they have, which are different ways you can use them, whether they have normal fur, which you can use the pelt to make different items with, same with the rex or satin fur, or you have your wool that you can actually spin and make items out of. And we'll get into that in a little bit, again. Your pelt colors will come in solids or broken patterns. So depending on what you wanna make, will determine on what color of rabbit you wanna breed. So if you wanted to do something on a larger scale, you would want something in a more solid pattern so you can combine pelts because, obviously, rabbits aren't big enough to make a coat out of with just one pelt. Again, differences would be your uses for meat, pelts, wool, or even laboratory use. Because yes, unfortunately, they still do use rabbits for lab experiments and such. This is just a listing of the different breeds. All 49 of them are listed and whether they're a 4-class or a 6-class. So this is something you can come back and look at later, once you determine why you want to raise rabbits. I'm not gonna try and touch base on them 'cause I don't know all of them. I know my favorite, but we'll leave that alone for now. Once you choose your breed, you have to determine your housing and your supplies. Are you gonna raise them indoors or outdoors? If you're just using them as a pet, and you have one or two, indoors is okay. Rabbits are actually easier to litter train than a cat, believe it or not. Once you decide indoors or outdoors, you would need to decide your kind of cage you want to use. You can do all wood, if you're outside, you can do wire cages, or you can do one that's both, which has like a wooden hutch with a wire cage. Water bowls. Do you want to use a bowl, do you want to use a bottle? Personal preferences depends on where you're gonna house them. And we'll get into that a little bit more, again, once we get down the line. Automatic watering systems. Those are a great system to use if you're gonna go and do a lot of rabbits because you ensure they're getting constant water. Con is, you can't see how much they're drinking and you really need to monitor how much they are getting. Feeders, you can use a bowl that doesn't tip over. So like they have ceramic crocks that you can use. Or they have what's called a J feeder. And that hooks either inside of your cage or through the wire, you would like cut holes in your wire and attach it so so that it's from the outside so you can feed them from the outside and you don't have to open the cage every day. Those are great when you do the larger scale. Other things you'll need, depending on whether you're indoors or outdoors, would be a tray for your cage. Obviously, if you're in the house, you'd want them to use a tray so that way you're not cleaning up a mess all the time. If you're gonna breed, you need nest boxes. And we'll get into that a little bit more. That's where they're gonna kindle and have their kits. Straw and shavings for your trays and/or your nest boxes. And if you're gonna show, you're gonna need a carrying cage. Cat carriers don't cut it when it comes to rabbits. If you choose to go indoors, in your house, the best cage to have is a wire cage with a tray, a feed bowl that either attaches to the side of the cage or a heavy ceramic crock so that they can't tip it over because you want it to where they can't waste the feed that you are giving them. And, preferably, a water bottle, same reason. Some of those crocks, they can tip them over, then you'll have more of a mess. If you're gonna raise them indoors in a barn, you can do wire cages with or without trays. My barn is half hanging cages that drop the droppings to the floor and half what are called stacking cages. So there's three rabbits on top of each other and they have trays and we have to dump the trays every week in order to keep them clean. Then, like I said, because you wanna, if you have a larger operation, you're gonna want the J feeders with the outside feeding unless you wanna open every cage to feed and water, and water bowls. Again, you can get a water bowl that connects to the outside of the cage, or through the outside of the cage, or the ceramic ones that can't be dumped as easy. And if you go outdoors in like a hutch, like I said, those are usually made out of wood and wire. You always want a wire bottom for them to go to the bathroom on. Urine can stain their pelt, if it's all wood, and can also sometimes, if they get too much of it, it can do like a burn on the bottom of their feet. So that you wanna really be careful and keep an eye on that. When they're in an outdoor hutch, you can do the feed bowl or a J feeder, depending on how your setup is. And you can do water bottle or a bowl. But, proper ventilation is the most important thing for the health of your rabbits. Holmes, real quick, is there a potential downside with co-housing rabbits with chickens? Personal experience, if you have your rabbits and your chickens in separate cages, that's fine. However, if you let your chickens free range, you really don't want them scratching in your rabbit manure because it can kick up what is called coccidiosis and that causes health issues in your rabbits. And if you're gonna butcher them, you'll notice it when you look at the liver, the liver will have white spots on it. So you'll know that they're getting that dust from the manure up into their system and that's not a good thing for them. So I hope that answered your question. If not, let me know (laughing) and we'll go from there. Julie Ann Smith, thank you for being, the little chuckle, I'm sorry, I chuckled at it. She thought when you raise rabbits with chickens, that's how you get your Easter eggs and was just joking. So just to let you know, that's why I chuckled a little bit. Thank you for that. Here are some examples of cages. Like I said, when I look at, when I do mine, mine are all in the cage design there in the upper right-hand corner. I actually borrowed this information from one of the rabbit tracts that I helped Katie with, Katie Ackert, the other Katie. So I've kind of borrowed her little tables, there. But a good standard cage for a single rabbit, I have found, is a 24 by 24, unless you get into the giant rabbits. They will obviously need a bigger one because you want them to be able to lay out and have room where they're comfortable. Also, I know this sounds weird, but if you get into showing, there are breeds that are called running breeds and they need a little bit bigger cage because they seem to be more hyper and they want to run more. So depending on the breed that you get, you may need a little bit bigger, you may need a little bit smaller. But the good standard cage size is 24 by 24. Here's just some of the samples of some of the dishes that I was talking about. Your water bottle, you can clip those on the inside or the outside of the cage. As long as they can get to that nipple and drink, they'll be good. Top middle are some little plastic dishes. They're great because they can't tip them. Downfall, I've found, they like to chew them. Once they chew them down so far, you can't use them, you have to get rid of them and get new ones. My new favorite one is the one in the upper right-hand corner. It's a twist crock that, once you get it in the cage, it goes in between the two little wires on the bottom, and you twist it, they can't dump it, but you can take it out and clean it easy enough, without it causing any issues. Bottom left corner, those are the ones they love to toss. I adopted a whole herd of rabbits from a friend of ours who was having medical issues and I had to get the twist crocks because every single one of them liked to play with their dishes and toss them. So they weren't getting enough water. Water's very important. So I switched to the twist crocks and I've loved them. Ceramic crocks, bottom middle, great. Can't dump them, they stay clean. However, in the winter when they freeze, if you're housing them outside, it's harder to break the water out, per se. Instead of, with those, you'd have to actually take them into the house and thaw them and bring them back out, and you'd have to have more. Bottom left, top right, you can actually smack them, if you smack them just right, like flat-on, ice pops right out of them. And then the J feeder that I was talking about is on the bottom right. Just that you cut, they're just the right size for that feed piece to come in. Hooks to the outside, you can feed them from the outside. If you wanted to, you could hook them from the inside, but then you'd be reaching in your pens every day. Good side and bad side, pros, cons. When you have over 100 of them, outside works best, when you're doing the mass feeding. Nutrition, most important nutrition for any rabbit, animal, human, is water. So, water needs to be given fresh daily, at least two to three times a day. Depending on your temperatures, extreme heat, extreme cold, you wanna do more. When it's really cold, this winter has been horrible, with our negative 20 degrees. We were going out three, four, five times a day, giving them just a little bit because it was freezing faster than they could drink it. Water also helps them control their body temperature and their condition. Okay, condition, if you feel their spine, that means they're lacking condition and you need to make sure that they're getting more water and the right kinds of feed. Rabbits only need to be fed once a day, though. Some animals, I know, they feed them morning and night and I have had people do that with their rabbits, but you don't wanna overfeed them. Ours get fed at night when they're most active. So every evening before dark, we go out, we do chores, and by morning they have eaten all that food. 16% protein is enough protein for good gain on rabbits. Depending on how you're breeding them, though, or why you're breeding them, you may wanna look into a higher protein, the 18% protein is, can be beneficial for lactating does. Not necessary, I feed 16% to everybody in my barn. However, I do know of a couple breeders who raise the Rex breed and they feed the 18% because it helps with their coat. Okay, fiber content. If you're gonna do your wool breeds, this was something I learned, because I don't raise them, I didn't know this, I found this out this weekend, that if you're raising wool breeds, you have to have a higher fiver content in your feed because that fiber is what helps build, or helps them grow better wool for spinning. The amount you feed depends on the size of your rabbit. Most breeds, excuse me, most of your meat breeds need 8 to 12 ounces per day. Which, eight ounces is about a cup, if I remember my math calculations correctly. I breed New Zealands, which is a meat breed, and they do, they get one cup a day, once a day. Quality timothy hay, that can be a good treat. Not necessary. Mine get pellets and they get the good treat that I listed there at the bottom, it helps them with their fur and flesh condition and you can give them a small dose daily. We give that in the morning 'cause they know, when you come out in the morning, they're gonna get their treat, they all come up and want loves. And you just mix one part rolled oats with one part rolled barley, one part black oiler, my bag said oiler sunflower seeds, but I think they're called black oil sunflower seeds, and a 12% protein horse sweet feed. One scoop of each, mix it up, give them just a little bit in the cup of your hand, they'll love you forever, promise. Here are just some samples of the different feeds that are available. This is not all of them. These are just ones that I found. Only you are gonna be able to know what's gonna work best for you, okay? Compare your feed tags and check with your local pet stores or pet supply stores, if you have a Tractor Supply Company or a Family Farm and Home, check and see what's in your area first, try those. If you find they don't do well on those, then you may wanna explore your options a little bit more, find out if there's any dealers in your area on a different feed you can try. Like I said, it's all gonna depend on you and what you want to do with your rabbits. Breeding. There's a lot of controversy, well, I don't wanna say controversy. There's a lot of talk amongst breeders about when the best time is to breed your does. Personally, for me, because I show, I wait 'til they hit senior weight. Once they're senior weight, you won't slow or stunt their growth. I've found if you try to breed them too early, they don't grow to their full potential and you don't know what that potential would be to know what it will pass on to the offspring. Their gestation period is 28 to 31 days. However, don't be alarmed, that's the word I want, don't be alarmed if they go more than 31 days. I actually have had mine going 32, 33 days lately. So it all depends, just like a human. They know when it's right for them and then they'll do what they need to do. When you breed, you always wanna take the doe to the buck's pen. Do not take the buck to the doe's pen. Something about the whole territorial issue and, yeah, you don't want there to be a fight in there. So, take your doe to your duck's, your duck, your buck's pen. And I always make sure I have what they call two fall-offs. I put my doe in with my buck, he does his thing, he falls off, I take her out, hold her for a little bit, maybe set her in a carrying cage for a little bit, and then I put her back in. Let him regenerate himself before you put your doe back in there so that way you know you're getting the most optimal breeding opportunity. You may palpate the doe at 14 days. And what palpating is, is where you're actually able to take your fingers and feel the babies as they're growing. Usually about 14 days, if you just kind of stick your fingers in behind their hip bone, up to their belly, it feels like little grapes. And it's kind of really cool. When they get bigger, you can actually feel them moving in there, if you just kind of sit there. I had one doe, she would let me sit there and I'd lay my hand under her belly and you could just feel the babies move on your hand and it was kind of cool. Since their gestation is 28 to 31 days, I always put my nest box in at day 27. That gives the doe a time to get accustomed to the nest box in her cage and decide, if it's a first-time doe, sometimes they need time to figure it out and know what they have to do. Don't be alarmed, again, if the first time they spread them on the wire. You just wanna keep an eye on them. That does happen. I actually had a doe when it was negative 20 degrees, had hers out on the wire and by the time I found them, I couldn't save them. But she's re-bred. Hopefully this time she's got it figured out, she'll have them in the nest box. Nest boxes are in the bottom right corner, there. Those are just kind of some samples of different sizes. Again, depending on the size of the rabbit you choose, will determine the size of nest box you need. You do not want to give them one that's too big. If you do, they get comfortable in it. They will go in, they'll lay on it, they can crush the kits, or they'll use it as their bathroom and then the kits are laying in all of that waste that they don't need to be laying in. Does should only go in that box, they usually feed twice a day. Go in long enough to feed, come right back out. So if you notice you've got a doe laying in there, you're gonna wanna do something about that because you don't want them to get comfortable in there. What I do, for my nesting material, I put large shavings in the bottom of the box and then put some good yellow straw, fill it right to the top, stuff it in there. That doe's gonna go in and she's gonna move that stuff around and build her nest inside there. Every doe is different, though, so again, don't be alarmed, and I know I'm saying that a lot, but it's really, some people do get alarmed really easy and it's not necessary. Every doe is different when it comes time to make their nest. Some of them will do it early. And when I mean early, like the second you put it in there, they're in there making a nest. Others will wait 'til the day before, sometimes the day of. I've had does actually have their kits, then pull fur after they've had them. So every doe is going to be different, you just kinda have to keep an eye on them and make sure, especially in extreme temperatures, like I said, with us having those negative 20 degrees, I had does make beautiful nests, it was just too cold. By the time they had them, cleaned them, put them in the nest, they were already expired. So unfortunately, they didn't get very many babies this winter because they all wanted to go right then. A big topic of conversation amongst people who breed mainly for meat is whether you wanna breed purebred or crossbred rabbits. Once you decide how you want to, or why you want to raise rabbits, then you'll know how you want to breed them. If you're gonna show them, you wanna make sure you stick to breeding true, as you want your animals to be as true to the standard as you can get them. And what I mean by standard is, the American Rabbit Breeders Association publishes a Standard of Perfection that has a standard for each of the 49 breeds. And the rabbit that best meets the standard for their breed is the one that's gonna win that breed. So, breed true if you're gonna show, because you want your animal to best meet the standard for their breed. If you're gonna use them for meat, the possibilities are endless. Obviously, you're gonna wanna breed your bigger breeds. The smaller ones won't have as much meat on them. I still recommend breeding pure. Just because you never now, if you sell one to somebody, what they're gonna use it for. Some claim that crossbred rabbits actually grow faster. I know from personal experience, my New Zealands can be the 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 pounds by 10 weeks of age with no problem if they're given the proper nutrition. So I don't see why to crossbreed them if you're just raising them for meat when you can breed true and have them as pure as you can get them. But, it's a personal preference so if you wanted to crossbreed them, that's your options. This is just a standard, or excuse me, an example of one of the breeds that's listed in the Standard of Perfection. So you can kind of get an idea of what it is they're looking for. The Argente Brun is the most recently accepted rabbit breed in the Standard of Perfection. And this kind of tells you, if you're gonna show them, what they look for for their schedule of points. That's just how they judge them and what they judge them on. Tells you ideal weights for the different ages, tells you about what their type should be, what colors, you know, how their colors should be. This is just an example. It was the shortest one that I could find. Because some of the breeds actually have many pages. So this was just one I could show you. If you're gonna show, the Standard of Perfection is your bible when it comes to showing. So you'll wanna make sure you invest in one of those. Like I said, the rabbit that best meets the standard for the breed is the one that's gonna win the show. And you use that standard, you'll get your best results to help you ensure your breeding program is working for you. Oops, another funny, sorry. Once you get started, let me tell you what, it's really hard to have just one or just two rabbits. If you get into them and you really like them, make sure you have the cage spaces because they're gonna keep coming. Mom went to the show this weekend, hasn't had rabbits in several years, and now she has three of them in my barn. So I'm glad I had empty cages for her. Marketing. This is just some of the ways that you can market your rabbits or products from your rabbits. Like I said, in the beginning, you gotta determine how you wanna, or why you wanna raise them. And that's gonna bring you to your marketing aspects. Your pets, your show, your rabbit meat, wool, pelts, fertilizer, worms, I didn't mention before, or again, your laboratory. I had someone ask me, how do you budget for raising rabbits? It's all gonna depend on what you wanna raise them for. Because depending on all the aspects that we just talked about, cage space, feeders, waterers, it's all gonna depend. So once you decide what you wanna do and how much time you wanna put into your project, that's gonna determine your budget and your profit margins. When it comes to marketing for pets, you can sell to pet stores, sell to individuals. Like I said, this is just some examples because you're gonna find other ways that you can do it too. You know, showing, you can sell to 4-H members. 4-H is a great tool to get kids started in the project. A lot of our kids start in 4-H and end up showing actually at the state and national levels, where I'm at now. Or you can sell to other breeders. We do that all the time. My family is really big into showing and breeding so we tend to swap a lot and, you know, share our different lines when it comes to our show rabbits. Meat, if you're gonna market your meat, must be processed through a licensed USDA facility if you're gonna try to sell it. You can sell them live and the buyer can process their own or you can process your own for your own personal consumption. When it comes to wool, you can sell as raw wool, spun wool, or you can make products out of your wool and sell that, such as by knitting, crocheting, or needle felting. Pelts, this is one thing I've never ventured into yet, but you can sell your pelts to someone to tan. You can tan and sell them, or again, you can tan and make products out of those pelts to sell, such as hats and coats. And like I said, if you're gonna try to do something bigger, you're gonna wanna use a solid color. Or something, if you don't care what the patterns match up. Because once you see, there are, on the different colors, patterns can be a big difference on some of those. Fertilizer, use in your own garden or you can actually sell your rabbit poop. I know that sounds funny, but I'll go into it in a little bit here in a minute. Your worms, you can grow and sell those. Or laboratory use. You can sell your rabbits to labs. They prefer white, from what I've been told. But, as my note says, I'm not knowledgeable in the use of them for lab use. So if that's something you wanna look into, that's something you'll have to research because the little bit of research I was able to do, it's pretty difficult. A question's being asked. We have found only one USDA processor in South Michigan. Any recommendations? Overgrown Acres, if you give me a minute, I've found a map. We'll get to that here in a couple slides and that'll kind of show you the ones that I've found. But you'll have to contact them to find out if they do rabbits or not. Pets. If you're gonna sell them as a pet or for show, in the state of Michigan they have to be a minimum of eight weeks old to be sold. So, make sure you're following that rule because I don't want anybody to get in trouble if you try to sell them too early. You wanna make sure they get that, at least that much time with their mom so that they're getting the best nutrition from her to get their base set for growing. But as your pets, you can talk to your local pet stores. I do know, like down here where I'm at, Tractor Supply and Family Farm and Home will sometimes buy them from some of the local breeders to sell right from their stores. You can share on Facebook and Craigslist. However, you wanna make sure you're following the rules for both. I know Facebook has gotten kind of stingy on what you can and can't sell on their pages. So you'll wanna just make sure you look into their rules and make sure you're following what their requirements are. Word of mouth is great. People learn you're raising rabbits and you're gonna get, they'll spread the word like wildfire. I can't tell you how many times I'll get a phone call saying, hey, so-and-so gave me your phone number, they say you got rabbits, can you help me out? You know, word of mouth is a wonder. Some people place newspaper ads. Or you can go to your animal swap meets. And breeding for holidays, like Easter. I know they say there's a big thing about using rabbits as pets at Easter. Some of the kids that get started, that's how they got their first one is through doing their pet at Easter. Make sure you got the right family to buy your bunnies. I've sold a couple of them and I get pictures still to this day. The one's three years old, and I still get pictures of this spoiled rabbit that lives with two dogs and a cat. And she's the queen of the house, so. It, sometimes it's worth it. Same with showing. You could share them on Facebook or Craigslist, word of mouth, newspaper again, or advertise at your local fair or shows. If you're gonna be showing them, you'll see the people, trust me. I bet we had three or four hundred exhibitors this last weekend at the state convention in Lansing. So the people are out there and they will spread the word for you. Meat, different avenues for your meat. Restaurants. There are actually restaurants that prepare rabbit, you just have to find them. Again, you'd have to make sure that you check with your health department and state rules for your regulations for processing and selling meat in your area. You can advertise at animal swap meets, flea markets, Facebook and Craigslist, again. Best place, family and friends, word of mouth. Also, rabbit meat is used by cull buyers, who use that for animal food. We have one that comes to a lot of the local shows. You've got some of those older ones, the older ones are tougher, you don't wanna take the time to butcher them, if you sell them to them, they'll use them for animal food. Okay, hold on a second, I'm reading the question, here. Hmm, Julie is asking, are you required as a seller to have inoculations and worming for the rabbits or is that on the buyer's part? Most places, such as Rural King, have the rabbits with all their immunizations. What are the restrictions or requirements for selling? Personally, I, I guess I'm not sure what kinds of inoculations you're talking about. There are no, like, required shots or anything that rabbits are supposed to have. Worming is on an individual basis. Each breeder does their own, if they're gonna do that. So I mean, I guess it depends on what you're doing for your farm. There are no immunizations for rabbits, though, that are required, to the best of my knowledge, 'cause mine don't get shots. So, and they go to all the shows and everything. So I do not believe there any requirements for selling animals with immunizations. I'd be kind of curious to know what it is that they immunize them for. Marketing still. This is just some information for you guys on rabbit meat. The nutritional facts, calories by pound. As you can see, they have less calories per pound than all your other meats out there. And same with cholesterol and fat. They say rabbit is the healthiest farm-raised animal you can eat because it is lower in fat and cholesterol than even chicken. So as you can see, there are large health benefits for eating your own rabbit. And here, Overgrown, here's that map I was talking about with the link, I did find this on the MSU website, of all the licensed processing plants in the state of Michigan. However, there were so many of them, I could not find just a map that showed who did small animals. So you would have to pull up that map and maybe look at the legend and find out which one of those are certified, USA, excuse me, USDA processors that handle rabbits. So I hope that answers your question. If not, let me know and we'll see what we can find. When it comes to marketing wool, you can market them at wool and fiber shows or craft shows. Again, here we are with Facebook and Craigslist. You can also do Pinterest. Pinterest is full of so many different craft sites and such where you can actually sell your spun wool, your dyed wool, I mean, whichever you wanna do. And I know some of the wool breeders actually do strictly rabbit, or they mix it with alpaca, llama, there are wool goats or sheep's wool. There's so many different options out there. And obviously, again, your word of mouth. People know you make stuff out of it or you have that available, they're gonna come to you. Same with your pelts. Craft shows, good place to go. People that are into making different crafts will buy those pelts if you've got them tanned. Or I believe you could probably even take them not tanned, but you'll just wanna watch how long they've been out 'cause I think there's different rules. Never gotten into that either, for tanning purposes, but I'm sure you wanna do it by a certain time before they'll, they'll go bad. So same thing, again, Facebook, Craigslist, Pinterest. You get all your crafters out there and they're gonna wanna use those items for their different projects they're making. And again, word of mouth. Fertilizer. This is my favorite part of marketing my rabbits is the fertilizers. Fertilizers, rabbit poop, we'll say, is the best fertilizer that I have found. Rabbits are pellet fed, not grain fed, so you don't get any volunteers in your gardens such as corn or oats or wheat. And it's not hot, so you won't burn your plants. We clean our barn heavy twice a year, in the fall and again in the spring, and all of it goes on our garden. We till it in, makes that soil really rich, really good for growing. That's actually me down there on the bottom right with our tomato plants, when they were about four feet tall. They ended up seven feet tall that year. We had to put in these huge stakes and hold them together, hold them up, so that way they didn't fall over. And then we still had some falling over and we had to go in and stake even heavier 'cause once the fruit came on them, we had huge tomatoes. So, Terry's asking, do rabbits bite? And do you need to protect yourself? Just like any other animal, there's always the possibility that they bite. I won't say they never do, 'cause I actually had one a month ago get me. Needless to say, he's not in my barn anymore 'cause I won't have them in my barn if they bite. So if you get your rabbits young enough and you work with them, they're less likely that they're gonna bite you, okay? Don't be afraid of them. They're just like a dog, they'll sense if you're afraid. Then they're gonna act more afraid, and there's a higher possibility that they could bite, okay? So I'm not, like I said, I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna say they don't, because there's always that possibility, but the more you work with them, the less likelihood you'll have. Worms, has anybody heard of vermicomposting before? Rabbit poop, for lack of a better word, is really great, if you set up your barn, if you're doing an outside barn, and you set up right, bottom left corner you can see they've built boxes underneath their cages. They've got red worms in there. Great for growing worms. You can build those worm boxes. You can even build one separate, you don't do it under your cages. You can put some worms in there with the poop and other things. Great for selling to bait stores, having roadside stands, advertising that you've got worms. Swap meets, farm markets, et cetera, again. I know, up to my brother's house, he's got a big pile out back. Took Grandpa's tractor out there, scooped it up with the big scoop, and you would not believe all the red worms that came out of that pile. So it is possible. I know there's a big farm down in Indiana that they have their setup kind of similar to this and they have big trenches underneath. And they raise worms under those. So, it's another option. My little disclaimer, just to let you know, these are suggestions from me as a longtime breeder. It's what we use, it's what works for us. Okay, only you are gonna know what is gonna work for you once you get started. Rabbits are one of the easiest animals to take care of, I promise, other than having to scoop poop now and again. And they are so loving. So this is just suggestions from me. Only you are gonna know what's gonna work best for you once you get started. I'm always here if there's questions. All you gotta do is make a phone call or send me an email, whatever. But this is a good place to start. Reading a question here. Regarding USDA processing, we have contacted all listed and they are not doing rabbits, even if listed as able to do so, except for one. You may not know the answer, but I'm wondering if others have had this experience and what they are doing about it. We've tried going to Indiana, but they have cut USDA rabbit slaughter as well, due to costs. Looking for info if anyone has it. So if anybody knows anything about the USDA processing, like I said, the only, if you're gonna consume them for yourself, they don't have to be processed at a USDA processing plant. You can do that yourself. Usually, if you're giving them to like family and friends, you don't have to have a USDA processor. Only if you are gonna sell that meat. Because there's certain requirements that have to be met in order to have them processed and packaged. I can try and do a little bit more research for you, Overgrown, if you would like, and see what I can find out. I may be able to touch base with a couple people that I show with that might know a little bit more. I do know one lady that lives down by Kalamazoo area that used to do big-time processing. And I'll see if they happen to know if there's anybody still around. Holmes is asking, how long do rabbits live? Again, that's all gonna vary, depending on what you're using them for. I've had some, let's see, the oldest one that I had was 14 years old. And that's a long time. Good average, if you don't over-breed them, or if you have a buck, is usually six to eight years. Once you get a doe and you keep breeding them, sometimes, you know, that will dwindle their lifespan. Overgrown, again, asks, or stated, we have restaurants who want to buy but their cost is about $30 after travel, slaughter, et cetera. Which is probably, it's probably about right. But again, we'll look, we'll see what we can find out for some USDA slaughtering options and see what we can find out. So you're welcome for the thanks. And here's just another funny from me real quick. Because, like I said, once you get one, you tend to want more, so. And you'll learn that really quick. (laughing) Pretty funny, huh, Jim? - Yeah. - And then, I just listed some resources and wanted to say thanks to some people that helped me, and gave me some pointers on making sure I was getting you guys the best information that I could get for you. Joseph is asking, for outside cages or pens, what is needed to keep stray cats, dogs, foxes, and other animals from trying to break in or just harassing them? Best thing, if you're talking in a barn, you're gonna wanna make sure your barn is open in effect for ventilation, but you're gonna wanna make sure you can close it. We just built a brand new barn and we left the bottom open with chicken wire around it. Did we use, oh yeah, we used chicken wire around the bottom. And then we have gates on the doors. The, in the winter we then put siding over that so that it's more enclosed for the winter. 'Cause you don't want them to get drafted. As far as outside pens, if you're gonna do hutches, if you make them sturdy enough to where the animals don't get in there, my problem, I don't like stray animals on my property so usually when they make it to my property, they leave. Knock on wood, I have not had problem with wild animals, other than 'coons getting into my poultry. So it's just a matter of if you have them at the right height, and the right protection, like I said, for a cage or in your barn, you should not have problems. It's just gonna be, it's gonna be a personal, unfortunately, trial and error in making sure. I mean, maybe putting a fence up around that the animals can't get into. It's gonna, but it's gonna be a personal trial and error as to what's gonna work best for your area. Does anybody have any other questions that I might be able to try and answer? Overgrown is asking, how long can you leave two young does together? I have actually left does together for longer periods of time, depending on what you're gonna be using them for. One thing I didn't touch base on is some people actually raise their rabbits in colonies. I find that to be, I think it's more because I show, I wanna make sure my animals are up off the ground, clean, not getting fleas, mites, that kind of thing. I have left two young does together. They were probably almost six months old before I had the cage space to separate them. Because, unfortunately, that was a time I bred too many. You can leave them together longer than what you can leave bucks together. Do not leave bucks together for too long. I'd say three months is pushing it. Because bucks will be more cage aggressive and they will castrate each other. So if you wanna use them for breeding, that would not work. If you're just gonna butcher them, you're not gonna eat that part anyway, so that wouldn't matter. But I would suggest, I usually suggest trying to have them separated by the time they're three months old. But does can stay together a little bit longer. I know people that have pets that leave their does together. They may try to be cage aggressive also, but they can't hurt each other as bad as the bucks do. Stevie Schmidt, do you shear wool rabbits or, question mark. I believe they actually pluck them. I'm not real knowledgeable on the wool breeds because I don't raise them. But I believe they actually pluck them when they wanna spin it. And then at the end of the season, they actually shear them. - Katie, I could chime in on that one. My mother was an expert spinner and weaver and my dad kept two Angora rabbits for her and combed them, combed the fiber out of those hairy things. - That's what Petie's over here saying next to me, too, is that you can actually brush them and get that wool out. So, that's one thing I'm not knowledgeable on, so I know a lot of my information I got for you on that, I actually went and talked to some of my rabbit raiser friends that actually raise them. Because I was not knowledgeable in that. Any other questions? - Well, I don't see any at present. So, if there aren't any, well, here's one. - Nope, James is asking, are there any regular maintenance needs? There you go, I was just gonna say, are you talking in cage stuff or rabbit stuff? They do need their nails clipped occasionally. Depending on how you're housing them. Usually if they have some wood, I've noticed they don't grow as bad. But you will do, mine usually get them twice a year. We usually do it at like Christmastime, that's their Christmas present, they all get their nails clipped. And then usually once in the summer. So if you're gonna show them, you wanna make sure they're kept at a manageable level because that's one thing judges don't like is getting scratched up when they're on the show table. Same with that's gonna be used for 4-H kids. You wanna make sure that they keep them back. And I will tell you, the lighter the nail, the easier they are to clip because you can see the quick easier. If you clip them too short, they will bleed. But it is manageable and they won't bleed to death, so. - Katie, have you had rabbits' teeth overgrow? - Yes, usually if you get a rabbit who has teeth that, because when you have, their teeth are supposed to kind of come together like this and that's how they file them down and keep them flat. You get one that gets like an overbite or an underbite, personally, the best thing to do is cull them. Get them out of your herd because usually, once in a while you'll get one that'll pull them 'cause they'll grab a hold of that wire and they'll yank on the wire and pull them. Most of the time it's a hereditary thing and you don't want that in your herd. You'll wanna cull those out. - One of my girls had a pet rabbit and we didn't know why it was not thriving. It was skinny and not very healthy and I finally got looking closer and its teeth were grown way up into its mouth and it was really a mess. - Yeah, I actually got contacted by a young family who bought two from us last year at the fair and the one did that. They were somebody else's rabbits that were given to us just to find homes for them. Those cute little loppy ones, you know, they got the little loppy ears. And she called me, and she goes, Katie, this rabbit's not eating, what do I do? I think its teeth might be bad. And when they got in there, the teeth had actually grown up into the roof of the mouth because they were, the way it was. So there was no way it could eat. You know, 'cause its teeth had actually grown up through the jaw. So you wanna try and keep an eye on their teeth. Easy to do. When you flip them over, make sure you reach around from the front, though. Don't put your hand in front of their mouth because they'll think it's a carrot and they'll bite it. That's how I teach my 4-H kids. You put it in front of them like a little carrot, they will bite you. So always reach around from the back and just pull the lips back a little bit and you can expose those teeth and see them. Joseph said, I thought that rabbits needed wood to gnaw on to help wear down the teeth because they continue to grow. If their teeth are in the right position, they do not need wood. You can give them like cherry branches or apple tree branches and they can chew on that, but mine, not a single one of mine has a piece of wood in their cage. I have one buck who has a toy because he likes to pee on everybody when you walk by and if he has his toy, he's happier. But not a single rabbit in my barn has wood in there to gnaw on. So it's a natural thing, the way they, if they're sitting in the proper position, they will wear down. Overgrown Acres is asking for me to talk more about fertilizer. Pellets or discarded hay, slash, pellet mix? Trying to think of what you're thinking about here. Fertilizer, rabbits poop in pellets. So everything they eat is digested down and comes out in little round pellets. If you have pellets that they shake out of the pen, or extra hay, you can still throw that on your garden, too. Trust me, it does wonders. I dump, after my litters, I remove the nest boxes from my litters, all that straw and hay goes right into the same pile and gets put out on the garden for the fertilizer. If you're gonna sell it, I have a friend who sells it at like the farmer's markets, they actually just do the pellets themselves, the poop pellets. And they actually put them in like little baggie size and they call it, they've got some funny little name for it that they put on it and people snatch it up and they use it for like flower beds and such. So did that answer that question for you? - Worked with a farmer up here who had sheep and they also defecate in pellets and he said, he called it power pellets. (laughing) - Well, I tell you what, our tomato plants last year were over seven feet tall, so rabbit fertilizer is, I call it the best fertilizer out there, so. Stevie Schmidt, I live on a farmstead, lots of wild rabbits, same with pellets for fertilizer? I'm sure rabbit pellets from a wild rabbit's gonna be the same if you're talking for, like their poop pellets for fertilizer. However, if they're wild and they're running around, you're not gonna know the concentration of it in your garden areas or your flower beds. Beause I use mine in my flower beds, my vegetable garden, my fruit gardens, I mean, I use that, my rabbit pellet poop pellets, everywhere. So I'm thinking that's what you're asking for.
Raising rabbits 3.7.18
From James D Isleib March 15th, 2018
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