Exactly. Even if you have to put up with a slower growth rate, it's still sustainable food! Best to you!!!!

I touched upon that in this article: meatrabbits.org/sourcing-meat-rabbits-where-can-you-buy-meat-rabbits/ That's a great suggestion, though, and I'm sure we can work on a piece with more information on tat topic. Thank you for your feedback.

I completely understand what you’re saying about processing older breeders. Since they’re still producing, if they are producing large litters and are in good condition, there’s no reason you need to stop using them, but since you have replacement stock I’m guessing keeping all of them breeding might just be too much. And it may be time to let new, young blood take over. You could give yourself the permission to keep these as retired breeders and stop breeding them and let them live their lives out as sort of pets. I’m kind of inclined to do that with mine, but then again that’s not very efficient and you are dedicating cage space and feed to them. But I do it with some, and it is okay. Your Rabbitry, your rules!You could also offer them as pets to someone, though it would probably be hard to place old rabbits-everyone wants the young and cute kits. If you have a livestock auction near you, you could send them off there. Their fate will still probably be that they are harvested and I wouldn’t expect to get much money, but if issue is emotional attachment, at least that’s a way to move them along and not have to dispatch a rabbit you’ve spent years with. At the end of the day, though, if you do decide it’s time to dispatch or harvest them and move forward, you may just have to steel yourself to do it. Put yourself in the right frame of mind. Thank them for all they’ve given to you. Remind yourself that a fast, humane dispatch is better for them than a long, drawn out decline and death. It’s definitely one of the harder parts of keeping meat rabbits. I do think that as with all harvesting and processing, it gets easier with more experience dealing with it, but it’s okay for it not to be easy. Respectful, humane meat raising doesn’t mean we have no emotion, just that we can be honest about the realities of the circle of life. I find that an attitude of gratitude helps get through the tougher parts.

One other thing I will add. Going forward, if this is a hard spot for you, you might reconsider how you manage breeders and replacement stock and the timing of it. For example, instead of keeping them producing and breeding for four or five years, what if you only kept your breeders in production for two years, and then you could sell them as still useful and proven breeding stock to someone else? That way, you’re not facing having to make that decision or do that deed with animals you have grown attached to, and they move on to provide for another family or breeder. Something to think about!

@@MeatRabbitsOrg Well my breeders are around four years right now. They are healthy but if you look online they say after four years then they are too old. My doe is currently pregnant and will be due any day now. I did save a doe and buck from their last litter and I brought in two new doe a buck ( unrelated). This breed I have is very hard to find and they are super expensive so it's hard to find more like them that are close. I'm just hoping I can continue to use my older ones, they are much too old to sell at this point but I will do that in the future. We do the same thing with our laying hens. I just sell them at close to two years old. I don't like to kill them when you bond with them for awhile. I keep praying though they will continue to produce so I can prolong their life. If worst comes to worst I know my husband can process them. I just won't be able to do it. Regardless I do appreciate the long detailed response. I will definitely do things differently moving forward.

You could sell them as pets so they don’t become stew, just an option.

@@DavidShannonHamlin-yh4wm They aren't really pet material. They are large rabbits, and they do not like to be held or cuddled.

I’ve done quite a bit of research on this and chatted with breeders in groups and forums and talked to breeders when I’ve bought new stock. Linebreeding is accepted and regularly practiced int eh rabbit world. I grew up on a dairy farm, and for cows linebreeding isn’t often done so I definitely had to make an adjustment, but serious breeders will tell you that with rabbits, it’s not the same. Linebreeding happens in the wild all the time (makes sense if you think about it). For rabbits, they saying is (and I think It came from Bob Bennet’s book Storey’s guide to Breeding Rabbits), “Breed the best to the best and forget the rest.” I don’t breed full siblings, but I will mix at other levels of relation. But I am selective when I do it and don’t breed animals with unfavorable traits, because just as you can enhance good traits, you’ll enhance the bad. So it comes down to good selection and focusing on your breeding goals. And other than that, try to put it out of your mind.

The way I've understood it is you just don't breed siblings, Mom to son or Dad to daughter is supposed to be ok from my understanding. Only have about a year with meat rabbits, though .

@@tskime16 That is the conventional wisdom. I've talked to breeders who bred for ages who said they would even breed siblings if they are great specimens, but that is pretty much the line I draw as well.

I heard the same just today breed the best rabbits for the traits you want doesn't matter. Good to know

@@tskime16 It's a little hard to adjust your thinking to, but yes!

Egg laying chickens do not have much meat on them. Cows used for milk are sometimes retired into meat, but that's not standard, really (though growing up on a dairy farm I've certainly eaten cows that were culled milkers--usually as ground meat since by that age they make tough meat, and still not very efficiently). Cattle feed conversion is typically 6:1, and that may be conservative, especially for an older dairy cow that you've been feeding for many extra years (because why would you be eating her is she's still producing milk for you?). I have to disagree that rabbit meat is a delicacy. It can very well be a staple in a homegrown diet and is highly efficient, sustainable meat. Domestic rabbit flavor does not vary that much with diet. They grow little fat and even if you do have a rabbit with more fat, it is not marbleized so it pulls away easily. Basically, always lean. Saying that rabbit meat is a delicacy or not useful as a protein source is like saying that any other meat that doesn't produce milk or eggs--like pork, for example--isn't worthwhile. And rabbit is far more efficient and manageable than pork.

So be a little generous with the butter, lard, olive or avocado oil when cooking.

I think that these days nobody eats just rabbit, fat is everywhere in most diets, and that you're confusing mountain men from centuries back trying to survive during winter on tree bark and wild hares with modern living, which is rather ignorant, just like everybody else who feels they need to bring up "rabbit starvation". 🤦

obviously !

@@roughroadstudio False, there are no mountains of fat, at least the ones that we need- Yes, there is fat in form of vegetable oils, but that is a very oxididez unusable form of fat, they have to bleach it and deododorize it. Ineed, fat consumption has lowered a lot since the 50's, but carb went up. So we need a lot of fat, because we are designed to consume more fat than other carnivore animals like lions or wolves, and we need to our nervous system and to produce hormones. Vegetable oils are not useful for hormones, even the "healthy ones". That's why there are more and more sex organs diseases like PCOS, infertiity and so on.

@@codniggh1139 Your reading comprehension needs work.

He is chewing on a small piece of a sunflower head with the seeds attached.