Geesh... I slaughtered my first rabbit today from the pen. What an experience. I ordered two different books on small game processing, read them from cover to cover, and tried to mentally prepare myself for the task at hand. I knew full well the fate of these bunnies when we purchased our first meat rabbits, but to actually follow through was HARD! It didn't go too bad, I wish I had better experience at the neck breaking part though. The hatchet part suprised me though when my 14 year old daughter was sprayed with blood after a clean cut.

Skinning went OK, but I see where SHARP knives need to be available through the whole process. My wife Michelle did the eviseration, and that was the most interesting part of the whole thing. I finally was "one with the rabbit" at that point. :-)

Rabbits in the oven...should be finished in about an hour. That should make it all worth it...:-)

-- Kevin R (kreffitt@dark-star.com), October 20, 2001

Answers

When I raised rabbits, I always took a hammer handle and while holding the bunny in one hand, gave him a swift lick in the back of the head. I found this to be the most humane way to butcher. They don't know what hit them.

-- gary (gsimpson3621@hotmail.com), October 20, 2001.

Kevin I'm glad I'm not the only one who might name and converse with his bunnies. So how long did it take you to get it to the point where it was ready to go in the oven?

-- rick K (rick@notmail.com), October 20, 2001.

after I started raising Angora rabbits for their fiber....well....after I'd had them about a year I went completely vegetarian.....just do what you have to do as humanely as possible.

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), October 20, 2001.

DH "harvests" our rabbits using a .22, cb caps. Although it is instantaneous, he still doesn't care to do it. Not a problem going out after wild critters (deer, turkey, even wild rabbits), but he has a real problem doing in the ones we raise - and no, we don't name or excessively handle the rabbits. Just something about it...

-- Judi (ddecaro@snet.net), October 20, 2001.

I raised rabbits as a project for the children. And to eat. Bad mistake. After raising a litter, we learn how to butcher them, which I found much more difficult emotionally than butchering chickens. But I hung in there and learned how to do it rather quickly and humanely. We also find out we detest rabbit meat. Then I tried moving the rabbits onto pasture, in cages, but they dug out. We then had beautiful New Zealand rabbits loose to eat out garden, and to glow in the dark at us as we drove in the driveway at night. Oh well, the rabbit tale ended when we put an ad in the local bulletin board saying: Free Rabbits; large white; you catch. Me? Rabbits? Never again.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), October 20, 2001.

Hi Kevin; We raise and eat alot of rabbits. Butcher day is never fun but the reason we raise them is to eat them.I prefer to use a 22 caliber derringer to dispatch them. It doesn't make much noise and the ammo is only pennys apiece (you can also by bird/rat shot for it for pest control).It seems to me to be quicker and less grousome than other methods.My wife treats the rabbits like turkeys in the oven (if you stuff them with sage dressing)you will not tell it's not turkey. regards; Tradesman

-- Tradesman (tradesman@noaddr.com), October 20, 2001.

I just keep in mind that we are meat eaters and our intellect and opposabal thumb allow us to be more humane in the act of slaughter than other meat eaters in the food chain.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair67@yahoo.com), October 20, 2001.

Well Kevin...I bought a rabbit carcass at a local meat shop yesterday. Cut it up and fried it just like chicken tonight for dinner. It was the first rabbit I had ever eaten. Very good and I am really wanting to raise my own meat on our homestead...so rabbit may be it.

IF I can bring myself to slaughter them....jury is still out on that one. I guess it's one of those thing you just HAVE to do if you want it bad enough.

DW and kids weren't too pleased about eating Thumper....they may be the biggest problem to overcome. But two kids and DW liked the taste...one wouldn't touch it...and one is too small for meat.

So......we are going to give them a try.....after all we can always go back to chicken....we ALL like that and it doesn't bother me in the least to ring a ornery roosters neck!

-- Jason in S. Tenn (AJAMA5@netscape.net), October 20, 2001.

Dinner went well. All the children that watched the slaughter ate with a vengence. I also enjoyed the results of this labor.

All in all, I guess this is just what I was after. I left the High Tech world of IT/MIS consulting to find a simpler life, and and found it here with my wife and children. We've become a true family, and have learned to care for each other. All the children that could attended the event just to make sure "I" was OK with this, and to see what very few people have the Privilege to witness...the conversion of one life to another. This is why I left the old grind behind, and faced this watershed event today.

Every day brings a new appreciation and closeness... I find it in my garden, in the goat pen when I milk, at the slaughter block. My family shares this with me.

Rick, it took us 45 min. total for two bucks as we took our time and tried to understand all that was going on. The killing went fast and straight to the skinning hook, but the rest of the process we shared and looked, and discussed, and experienced.

Hope I don't sound too much like "a tree hugging hippie". :-)

Well, I have to go reflect some more with my wife...

-- Kevin R (kreffitt@dark-star.com), October 20, 2001.

I raise angoras rabbits for the fiber. I have actually thought about raising meat rabbits..but I just don't see myself being able to butcher them. Chickens yes,but I am just a softy for the rabbits. I do love to eat rabbit..if it was from someone elses place.... but I guess if things got really desperate....who knows. I had alot of meat type rabbits at one time, and that was my plan, and I ended up selling and giving them all away and getting angoras. Made me happier. Heck, I have a pet turkey. How sad is that??? Its good that not everyone is like me though.

-- Jenny (auntjenny6@aol.com), October 21, 2001.

First, don't name them Thumper. Second play mind games and refer to them as anything but bunnies. Locally, the young are referred to as "kits" which isn't cutesy, like "Easter bunny." Third, handle them only enough that they are calm when their time comes. Fourth, have onlookers stand where they won't get splattered with blood or offal. Fifth, let the meat age a day or two to improve its flavor and to let the memory of butchering recede in the minds (and stomachs?) of onlookers. I had a friend who named her first wethers Taco and Burger and another friend who called her steers for their freezer the Danish word for beef as she was Danish descent. Good luck.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), October 21, 2001.

We've got an evil buck currently named Stewpot, littermate to Fricasee who are destined for the barby in three weeks. Angoras are nice, but when you can't groom the psychotic ones- nutso from 6 weeks or so, scratches thru the shirt, leaping over your shoulder and chasing the buggers all over ain't worth it, so barbequed coney it is.

Sara in IN

-- Sara in IN (urthmomma@aol.com), October 21, 2001.

Kevin, I went from paying the neighbor boys to kill my rabbits years ago to doing the dirty deed myself. I am so glad to hear other people using a 22 to kill the rabbits. I figured that one out by myself. I just set them on the ground and shoot them behind the ear. I wish I could find 22 shorts since they were perfect for the job. Then I hang them up by the back feet and starting at the top of their legs and circling the leg, I skin them. Oh my I have a whole set of very sharp knives too. Fried rabbit is a family favorite but now that I am on a lowfat, low cholestrol diet it is in the oven with them. Try putting uncooked rice in the bottom of a baking pan then sliced onions and water and seasoning, then the rabbit whole or cut up then cover with a can or two of mushroom soup and bake for an hour at 350 degrees. Ummm Ummm almost as good as fried rabbit with mashed potatoes and cream gravy. I still raise rabbits and still think their white meat with little fat is not only healthy but delicious.

-- Karen in Kansas (kansasgoats@iwon.com), October 21, 2001.

Karen - we butcher exactly the same way! WOW! Great minds think alike! And thanks for posting the rabbit/rice recipe. Sounds great. We just butchered a doe this morning (absolutely REFUSED to breed - so after 3 months of trying - BANG!) - and that recipe sounds great for her. She's tendering up in the fridge today, so maybe we'll have that for dinner tomorrow.

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), October 21, 2001.

I learned to butcher about a month ago. It was very difficult. The lady that taught me used a hammer. The business end. I found that doing it that way is too hard on my soul. I like better just hitting them with an iron bar and then wacking off their head. Once they have been seperated from their spirits I dont have a problem. But it is very hard. Someone told me to keep telling myself that rabbits are PREY. When you look at it like that its supposed to make it ok. But killing anything is very hard for me. Sue

-- Sue Mckin (tracer108@yahoo.com), November 28, 2001.

It gets easy after you have cleaned 30 or 40. My daughter asked everyone at supper what you call a Easter Bunny on the farm. Her answer was, supper. I hope this helps! I have raised rabbits for years and we make sausage our of the old does and bucks. Get sausage seasoning from a meat market, grind you meat after chilled and you have a fat free and realy good sausage

-- Pastor Jim Raymond (greaternewlifech@terraworld.net), November 29, 2001.

OOhhpp,...you got me.......auckk,......{ok. I've couped up in the house too long}

-- Thumper (slrldr@yahoo.com), November 30, 2001.

Hi Kevin Well about 30 years ago I raised some rabbits. I didn't name them, didn't pet them and thought of them as food. I learned to kill and clean them. Some of them were albino. My mistake was this: I have pet inside cats who are white with blue eyes. I found that when an albino rabbit (white with pink eyes) is blooded, the eyes turn blue. BIG mistake. When I start raising rabbits again, you can be sure they will NOT have pink eyes and will NOT be white!

(Otherwise they are across between pork and chicken and do taste good - - I'm saving the recipe on this post!)

MissJudi

-- MissJudi (jselig@clemson.edu), November 30, 2001.