Making A Profit
Other than the sale of your rabbits you will want to find other ways to make
a profit in your rabbitry. Below are a few different ways to do so that
Catalaya’s Rabbitry uses.
Worms
Earth worms can be used in a rabbitry as a means of disposing of rabbit
droppings. Extra income can be earned not only in the selling of the extra worms
but also the rich soil filled with worm casings. You can sell the soil with or
without worms as worms work as a natural aerator they are very beneficial to
anyone’s garden. The worms work to break down the soil turning it into a rich
black dirt to be used in flower pots, on gardens, in landscaping, etc. After the
worms have done their job you can make additional profit by selling any extra
you don’t need. As worms will multiply quite efficiently you will have quite a
bit of additional worms to sell or use for fishing to save on bait costs. My
husband loved when I decided to put worms in our rabbitry as bait prices seem to
have gone up over the years.
If earthworms are not going to be used in the rabbitry there is still a
profit to be made on the manure. Rabbit droppings are called cold manure because
it is high in nitrogen. It does not need to sit before being applied to lawns or
gardens. It will not burn plants or lawns and is easy to incorporate into the
soil.
Manure
Rabbit manure is also high in potassium because their main source of food is
alfalfa which is high in potassium. Rabbit droppings are one of the most potent
fertilizers of all animals. If your anything like Catalaya’s Rabbitry you will
end up using the rich soil, worms, and manure yourself but even we have a few
leftovers to sell to the local gardener’s in our area. The best way to find a
buyer is to contact the local garden club in your area they will usually jump on
the opportunity to buy manure or soil.
Lucky Rabbits Foot
Who hasn’t had a lucky rabbits foot at some point? I remember as a child
carrying one around on my keychain hoping to get some good luck. At Catalaya’s
Rabbitry on butchering day the feet are saved and later made into key chains to
sell or give away as gifts to family and friends. You can order key chains on
Amazon or just about anyplace on the internet by just doing a simple search.
These are fairly cheap and simple to use. All that is needed is a good pair of
pliers to crimp the keychain around the foot and that’s it pretty simple and now
you have cut back even further on your butchering waste.
Dog/Cat Food
A lot of people are starting to feed their animals raw food. At Catalaya’s
Rabbitry we have barn cats to cut down on the mice population and also a dog as
a family pet. Both animals are fed the heart, liver, kidneys, etc. from our
Rabbits. When butchering day arrives we have Ziploc bags handy to put these
organs in and just pop them in the freezer for later use. This saves us money
on animal food. For those who don’t have animals to feed these rabbit remains to
there are plenty of people out their looking for raw food for their pets that
would be willing to pay you for these. Check local rates as I know our area gets
a pretty penny for raw food.
You can also feed the skulls and bones to your dog if you have one. The bones
are safe as long as they are not cooked and our dog goes crazy over these.
The rest of the remains can be added to your garden in the winter and worked
into the soil in the spring. We are so excited for next year’s garden after all
the fertilizing we have done to it this winter.
Pelts can be turned into raw hide for dog treats.
Ears can be dehydrated and used as a substitute to pig's ears.
Tanning Hides
Hides can be tanned to earn $3-5 per pelt or you can save the pelts for your own personal use to make coats, blankets, hats, gloves, etc.
Meat
The amount of meat provided to your family will cost you around $1-2 per pound in feed and maintence to the rabbits. If you were to buy this meat in the store you will spend double even triple that and you have no clue where the meat came from. You know how the meat was raised and butchered. You will be saving minimum $2 per pound so the more meat you have the more money is kept in your pocket. So lets crunch the numbers and see just how much meat we are getting in a year.
Optimum butcher weight is between 3-5 pounds so for our purposes we'll use 4 pounds per rabbit. In Catalaya's Rabbitry our does have 6 litters per year and average 8 kits per litter. In a year one doe will have 48 kits. In a year one doe will give us 192 pounds of meat that would be a minimum savings of $384 per doe per year.
It is estimated that 4 does and 1 buck can produce more live meat per year
than one beef cow on less feed and in a much smaller space.
Other than the sale of your rabbits you will want to find other ways to make
a profit in your rabbitry. Below are a few different ways to do so that
Catalaya’s Rabbitry uses.
Worms
Earth worms can be used in a rabbitry as a means of disposing of rabbit
droppings. Extra income can be earned not only in the selling of the extra worms
but also the rich soil filled with worm casings. You can sell the soil with or
without worms as worms work as a natural aerator they are very beneficial to
anyone’s garden. The worms work to break down the soil turning it into a rich
black dirt to be used in flower pots, on gardens, in landscaping, etc. After the
worms have done their job you can make additional profit by selling any extra
you don’t need. As worms will multiply quite efficiently you will have quite a
bit of additional worms to sell or use for fishing to save on bait costs. My
husband loved when I decided to put worms in our rabbitry as bait prices seem to
have gone up over the years.
If earthworms are not going to be used in the rabbitry there is still a
profit to be made on the manure. Rabbit droppings are called cold manure because
it is high in nitrogen. It does not need to sit before being applied to lawns or
gardens. It will not burn plants or lawns and is easy to incorporate into the
soil.
Manure
Rabbit manure is also high in potassium because their main source of food is
alfalfa which is high in potassium. Rabbit droppings are one of the most potent
fertilizers of all animals. If your anything like Catalaya’s Rabbitry you will
end up using the rich soil, worms, and manure yourself but even we have a few
leftovers to sell to the local gardener’s in our area. The best way to find a
buyer is to contact the local garden club in your area they will usually jump on
the opportunity to buy manure or soil.
Lucky Rabbits Foot
Who hasn’t had a lucky rabbits foot at some point? I remember as a child
carrying one around on my keychain hoping to get some good luck. At Catalaya’s
Rabbitry on butchering day the feet are saved and later made into key chains to
sell or give away as gifts to family and friends. You can order key chains on
Amazon or just about anyplace on the internet by just doing a simple search.
These are fairly cheap and simple to use. All that is needed is a good pair of
pliers to crimp the keychain around the foot and that’s it pretty simple and now
you have cut back even further on your butchering waste.
Dog/Cat Food
A lot of people are starting to feed their animals raw food. At Catalaya’s
Rabbitry we have barn cats to cut down on the mice population and also a dog as
a family pet. Both animals are fed the heart, liver, kidneys, etc. from our
Rabbits. When butchering day arrives we have Ziploc bags handy to put these
organs in and just pop them in the freezer for later use. This saves us money
on animal food. For those who don’t have animals to feed these rabbit remains to
there are plenty of people out their looking for raw food for their pets that
would be willing to pay you for these. Check local rates as I know our area gets
a pretty penny for raw food.
You can also feed the skulls and bones to your dog if you have one. The bones
are safe as long as they are not cooked and our dog goes crazy over these.
The rest of the remains can be added to your garden in the winter and worked
into the soil in the spring. We are so excited for next year’s garden after all
the fertilizing we have done to it this winter.
Pelts can be turned into raw hide for dog treats.
Ears can be dehydrated and used as a substitute to pig's ears.
Tanning Hides
Hides can be tanned to earn $3-5 per pelt or you can save the pelts for your own personal use to make coats, blankets, hats, gloves, etc.
Meat
The amount of meat provided to your family will cost you around $1-2 per pound in feed and maintence to the rabbits. If you were to buy this meat in the store you will spend double even triple that and you have no clue where the meat came from. You know how the meat was raised and butchered. You will be saving minimum $2 per pound so the more meat you have the more money is kept in your pocket. So lets crunch the numbers and see just how much meat we are getting in a year.
Optimum butcher weight is between 3-5 pounds so for our purposes we'll use 4 pounds per rabbit. In Catalaya's Rabbitry our does have 6 litters per year and average 8 kits per litter. In a year one doe will have 48 kits. In a year one doe will give us 192 pounds of meat that would be a minimum savings of $384 per doe per year.
It is estimated that 4 does and 1 buck can produce more live meat per year
than one beef cow on less feed and in a much smaller space.