I'll start out showing the cute adorable bunny pictures.
I couldn't just pick one of those pictures. They are just so adorable!
The little doe above is a keeper I named Bliss. I love her color, this really wasn't a good picture of her, but its all I have. You can see both a orangey color and a blue color on her. Both colors are layered on each hair, It depends on how the light is hitting her on which color you see. She reminds me of a two tone painted car.
Today I finally butchered a rabbit for the first time. I couldn't be happier. It went really well. I used a pellet gun, and the rabbit had an instant death. I was so relieved. Then I had the project of skinning, gutting, washing, and cutting up. It took me quite a long time, but I know I will get faster, and better with practice. So here is my finished product.
I have been selling as many of the babies as possible to pay for their feed and he was one that didn't sell. I kept putting off butchering him, but I knew I needed to get it done and over with. The weather has turned cooler, so it was just perfect. That was an issue I was worried about, butchering with lots of flies around. He was an adult and the smallest of all the males, so I really didn't think that I would get hardly any meat from him. I was surprised at how much meat he produced. In fact I cut a huge amount of fat off of him. I guess I fed him a tad to much. I have read that rabbit fat is kinda bitter, so I gave it to the cat and dog that were hanging around.
Now I have about 5 more young bucks to do. Anyone want to help? ; )
I should also mention that in my last post I talked about the comfrey starts I bought, and that none had come up. Well as soon as it started raining (over 3 weeks after planting), they started popping up. So far there are 5 or 6, so that's pretty good. If I had to buy them locally they would have cost $5 a plant. I think it turned out to be a good deal. Since it only takes a tiny piece of root to start a comfrey plant, I decided that I am going to dig up my plant that is in a bad place in my garden and divide up its roots to start a bunch of plants from it come Spring. I think anyways, I still have to look up what is the best time of year to do that. I looked in all our garden books and couldn't find anything. Hopefully I will get a nice big patch of it going. Comfrey is supposed to be a very good high protein bunny feed, and they sure do love it.
Kimberly
7 comments:
Awww... Your rabbits are adorable. And way to go on butchering one for meat! Do you have a favorite rabbit recipe, or way that you prepare it? My husband rabbit hunts, and we a few in the freezer, and I am at a loss as to how to cook them. :)
Thanks for sharing all the pics! Have a wonderful day!
Angel
shycountrygal.blogspot.com
Hi Angel~
This is the first rabbit I have butchered, so I haven't cooked any yet. The Facebook group Backyard Meat Rabbits has a lot of recipes on there. Just search "recipe". A lot of people cook the meat, shred it and make tacos or enchiladas. You could probably also find some game meat cook books at the library. But really it sounds to me that rabbit can be used in any recipe that would call for chicken.
I'm glad you are doing better!
Kimberly
How much did the meat weigh from that one buck. It looks lovely. How long did it take to process? Enjoy reading your blog. :-D
Hi Kris~
I didn't weigh the meat, but my mom said it was probably about 3 lbs. He was a small buck, so I was surprised that I got as much as I did from him.
It took me several hours to process from start to finish. Because I have never done this before. I have never processed any animals other than the scolding and plucking (I always volunteer to do that part) of chickens, ducks, and turkeys. I'm not good with a knife, so its a really big learning process. It was the skinning that took me so long.
The people on the Backyard Rabbit group can process many rabbits in an hour. So I know that I should get better in time. They say they are sooooooo much easier and faster to do than chickens.
The guts came out very easy, and they did not smell NEARLY as strong as when the poultry is being butchered.
Kimberly
I'm glad you got as much meat as you did having worked so hard at it. I'm sure it's a learning process and one you'll get better as you go. Look forward to reading how you will prepare it for the table. I'll bet they had rabbit as well as turkey at the original Thanksgiving. :-D
That's a huge accomplishment, well done! You're right about it being a learning process, so you'll become quicker and more skilled with each one. I understand that rabbits are a whole lot easier to do than other small animals.
Leigh~
It certainly is a learning process. I watched a couple Salatin videos on them processing their rabbits. It made it go so much faster. I did 5 in 5 hours, so I am getting faster. Rex rabbits apparently are harder to skin than regular furred breeds though. But they are sooooo much easier than chickens!
We still have as of yet to eat one. We have 6 in the freezer know, but my dad is freaked out at the thought of eating bunny, so we will have to make it into a really tempting dish : )
Kimberly
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