Below is a list of our favorite jerky recipes at Catalaya's Rabbitry. Please feel free to share and print off the printable recipes and if you have a recipe you would like to share with us please do!
rabbit_jerky_recipes.pdf |
Below is a list of our favorite jerky recipes at Catalaya's Rabbitry. Please feel free to share and print off the printable recipes and if you have a recipe you would like to share with us please do!
0 Comments
How To Properly Sex Your
Rabbit Determining the sex of a rabbit can be difficult even for an experienced breeder when the rabbit is young. This is best done by stretching the area between the tail base and just in front of the genital area. The anus will be visible and look like a donut shaped structure just beneath the tail. The second opening will be the vulva (female) or the penis (male). Stretching the second opening will reveal either a slit (female) or a rounded opening concealing the penis (male). The vulva is more closely attached at the anal end than at the front end, whereas the skin (prepuce) over the penis and the penis itself stick straight out. On either side of the penis or vulva are two pouches containing scent or marking glands. In adult male rabbits they will have two obvious, hairless, elongated scrotal pouches containing the testes. Also, males have no nipples whereas does do. Place rabbit in a large pot and cover with water. You can add other liquids or veggies to the pot at this time, my husband's favorite is a good IPA beer or some apple juice for a great taste. Put cover on pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until meat falls of bones. Remove and allow to cool. When cool pull meat from the bones and shred. You can freeze the meat for later use or make all kind off foods with this! I have made
Rabbit Tacos, Rabbit Salad Sandwiches, so much more! I like to do a rabbit a week for my husband to have sandwiches for work all week. One of my favorite uses of a milk jug is keeping kits in it during the winter months. The kits are brought in the house then taken back out to the proper doe every morning to eat. If we have multiple litters we write either the cage # or tattoo of the doe's ear on the milk jug.
Catalaya's Rabbitry uses ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar)with our water therefore we put 2 Tablespoons of ACV in a milk jug then fill with water. This is nice to travel with or if you don't have a watering system and use crocks or water bottles you can fill these up to carry to the barn. Our children always seem to lose our feed scoops so instead of paying to replace them we cut out the milk jugs to make home made scoops with. There are many reasons you may need to foster kits. Something happeds to the doe and she dies, doe isn't producing enough milk, the doe decided to try and cannibalize some of her kits, doe got a case of mastisis, doe had a large litter and can't handle all the kits, etc.
In Catalaya's Rabbitry we like to breed our does in pairs just in case a need arises and kits need to be fostered. To foster kits to another doe some will go to extreme measures ensure the doe accepts the new kit(s) such as rubbing vanilla extract on the kits and on the doe's nose. At Catalaya's Rabbitry we simply just mark the kits so we know which are fostered over and move them into he new nesting box. Rabbits can't count so hey won't realize they're are more kits. We have successfully fostered kits to a new doe as old as 2.5 weeks when we had a doe with a sever case of mastisis. The most important thing we find is marking the kits so you can create an accurate pedigree. If your just raising kits for meat then there really is no reason to mark them since they will be going to freezer camp but for those in need of a pedigree will most definetly need to find a way to mark the fostered kits. Catalaya's Rabbitry puts a dot in the ear of the kit then cover's it when they are old enough for their ear tattoo. You can use a needle and some tattoo ink to accomplish this. Something other breeders have done is to use fingernail polish on the kits toenails. Some also put 2-3 dots in the right ear. Figure out what works best for you run with it! Catalaya's Rabbitry has been getting a lot of questions about raising rabbits for meat and wether
or not it's cost effective so I would like to break it down a bit for everyone. First optimum butcher weight is between 3-5 pound per rabbit so for our purposes we will use 4 pound per rabbit. In our rabbitry we average 8 kits per litter and each doe has 6 litters per year. So if you breed just one doe a year she will produce approx 48 kits with each of those kits giving you 4 pounds of meat that is 192 pounds of meat a year from ONE doe. Two does would give you double that amount (384 pounds). Now consider the fertilizer you get from each of these rabbits come spring people will be knocking down your door to get some if you sell it we personally use it in our own garden and make bricks to burn for heat. Another consideration is tanning the rabbit hides which is a lot easier than you think. These can either be sold or made into hats, mittens, blakets, etc If you have dogs they will love eating the heart, liver kidneys and it will cut back on food cost. Don't forget to consider the expenses though! The biggest expense you will find is going to be cages at startup. If your handy you can make your own pretty cheap or look at other rabbitry's for some good used cages. The second biggest expense will be in feed costs. We buy in bulk but be careful not to buy too much ahead just like any food its quality will decline the older it gets. So far this year we are a few hundred dollars ahead money wise but if we considered the amount of food we've gotten for our family to eat this year we would be around a $1,000 or more ahead. So to us not only is raising rabbits a hobby but also puts good quality food on our table The pdf file below is chart of herbs you can feed your rabbits
Breeding Chart The chart below will help you to plan when to breed your rabbits so they will be ready for your rabbit show. It will also tell you when litters are born. To use the chart take the date of the show you want to attend and work your way back in the chart to determine when to breed your rabbits. Ex. You would like to show Juniors at the state fair held the last week in July. Look down the "Juniors" Column on the chart until you find the last part of July (it will be listed July-Aug. meaning the last half of July and first part of August) Follow this line over to the column labeled "Breed In". It tells you that you are to breed in February.
Line Breeding
What is line breeding? Line breeding is an extensive breeding program that produces animals from a common ancestor; for example within a family, from mother to son or father to daughter. Here, it is mandatory to have a perfect type of rabbit with best characteristics that is willing to follow the ideal offspring. Usually, rabbit line breeding is based on the principle of like-to-like breeding. This method gives an opportunity to rabbit breeders to put forward an easy method in short time. Despite this, it equally intensifies both the good and bad traits present in a particular rabbit family. To achieve high quality line of rabbits, it becomes essential to continue repeated breeding process. Difference between rabbit line breeding and inbreeding: Inbreeding is generally referred to the breeding of two rabbits that are related to one another. On the other hand line breeding is practiced to develop own lines of breed that are consistent in producing a certain type. It is basically a scientific approach introduced by breeders of pure breed live stock. Benefits of line breeding in rabbits:
|