I sure would want a outlet/(buyer) 70-75 breeders could produce a feed bill real quick. I made money with persistence/luck, but that was years ago. would not apply to today, to relate the how/why.If you want to get into bunnies read and visit some people doing it and get,a better picture of what's involved. Base your operation on what you observered and start small till the figures show a true reflection, of lost/profit. Hate to bring it up. but overall condition of animals, did the market dry up? Don't buy blue sky from him, even if you know him well. some of my mistakes would still apply to today, KEEP very acccurate reccords, feeding a non-produceing animal,NOT properly utalizing ever part of the product/animal,

Hey there -

I am up near Columbus MS and my DH and I have toyed with the notion of raising them for processing, but I haven't had much luck finding a processing plant. I did read that the Cruise ship industry is buying a lot of rabbit, but that doesn't mean they are getting it in this neck of the woods.

I'd be interested to know what you find out.

Jan, just a few things to consider...

How big a "group" of rabbits? I assumed the 70-75 figure referred to the seller's AGE, not the number of rabbits.

Will the seller share his contact info with the meat processor(s) he has been selling to?

Do you have experience with rabbits? Do you like them? Enjoy caring for and handling them? Do you eat rabbit meat yourself?

If this is a small set-up, you might consider it for home use with the possibility of expansion. With a well-ventilated site, wire "self-cleaning" cages, hopper-style feeders and "automatic" watering systems, rabbits can do well with twice-daily tending that would not be very time consuming.

I'm just beginning with meat raabbits, but intend them for home use (and perhaps local sales to neighbours and family members, just to help cover costs), but I am a firm believer in starting with a small manageable project and then expanding it once one has it running smoothly.

Thank you all for the responses. I have talked with a processor and she gave me some good information. My DH and I plan to go tomorrow and talk with the gentleman that has the rabbits he wants to sell and look more closely at his set up. I know he has a self-watering system but don't know about the feeding. I don't know how many rabbits he has at this time but he has enough that he has young does almost ready to start breeding.

He is between 70-75 years old and in ill health. At one time he had a l00 or more laying hens that he sold eggs and he has had to sell them down to 5 hens and two roosters; just enough to furnish eggs for he and his wife.

He has NZW and Califorians which is all that this processor will buy. I do have rabbits and I love working with them, although I would have to sell most of them since they are colored and I would not be able to use them for profit. I do have one lop that would stay with me, as he was the first rabbit I had and he was a gift from my DH.

Lorabelle, the processor I talked with is south of Hattiesburg and that is the only one I know about. She did mention another processor but I don't recall the name.

As to the question whether I eat rabbit or not...I don't because my DH doesn't like rabbit and I have lots of food allergies and am afraid to try a food that I haven't had before in case of a severe reaction.

The processor advised me to start with 20 does and build up from there. And to keep good records. I am seriously thinking about trying this since I am home most of the time and if I have to substitute teach a day we can still take care of them before we leave for school and we (DH and I) will be home in time to care for them in the afternoon.

We will take a closer look at the set up we are considering and talk some more before jumping in with both feet. :0)
Jan

Totally agree with Maggie. We used to raise them in Scotland, but only began AFTER we had a contract to supply a processor. This is absolutely essential. Without a guaranteed outlet for every single rabbit you can rear, plus cast breeding stock, you ar doomed to failure. Apart from the financial loss, the emotional stress of having to kill prime meat and burn or bury it will break your heart. There is usually a small profit, they are very easy to look after, produce prodigious amounts of manure, smell very little, are wonderful to handle, and do not breed "like rabbits". Start by obtaining a copy of Cheeke, Patten, Lukefahr & McNitt's book "Rabbit Production", Oregon State University if my memory is correct. Old McDonald.

I'm in the process of doing the very thing you're speaking of. I'm waiting to breed for the first time come second week in August. I've got 6 does that will be 6 months old and this will be their first time so I'm hoping they all do well. I've got an older fellow about an hour south of me that has a processing plant that he is bring back into production. If I recall correct just off the top of my head, he pays $1.05 per pound live weight. He wants the fryers at 4.5 to 5 pounds each. I've got all wire cages, just got automatic watering system this past weekend and I'm also collecting the manure for the garden and worm bed I've got going. I do have another doe that has produced before but I'm not going to mate her until my only buck reaches the 6 month age (second week of August). I've checked out your "page" on this forum before because I've got family in Picayune and the last time I was down in May I was seriously thinking about picking up some NZWs from someone I saw in the area that raised them. I have a hard time finding them up here. Good luck and keep me posted if you don't mind!

I have already talked with a processor and got the schedule that they go by. They pay .95 cents a pound and want theirs from 4 to 6 pounds and not over 10 weeks old.

tchappetta, I have family living in Picayune also. In fact I have three first cousins that live there.

The man that I am talking with about buying his set-up already deals with the people I talked with and the lady told me they would take every rabbit I could bring them. As long as they have the correct weight, age and were kept clean (which we do anyway with our pet rabbits.) Plus we use the fertilizer for our gardening and flowers. And the manure can be sold around here. So maybe it will work out. I hope so. I will keep you posted, tchappetta. Best wishes with your undertaking too....hope every thing will go well for you.

Just an extra piece of info...

Prices tend to be higher in late winter because it extremely easy to get rabbits to breed in the spring, but rather difficult from October through to January. As with hens, the does respond to light (fool them into thinking it is springtime) so put electric lights on from the end of August (or thereabouts depending on your latitude) to maintain a minimum 14 hours light, and build it up through the second half of September/early October (again according to latitude) to 16 hours. The does should then be ready to breed to hit the high price market with your fryers. Old McDonald.

DH and I went and looked at the set up that the man has for sale. He gave us a wonderful price for 4 hutches, feeders, watering system (we would have to get a barrel for water storage) and almost a hundred rabbits (some bred) for $450.00....BUT he has some that are 5 months old that he hasn't sold yet and they are too old for selling to the processor that I talked with last week. She wanted them around 10-12 weeks. Most of the rabbits he has are too old to sell. I felt quite overwhelmed looking at all those rabbits. So I asked him if he would sell me some breeder does and bucks. The price he gave me on these was $300.00 which included three hutches, feeders and watering system in the hutches. I am standing there thinking now if I want to give $300.00 for around 30 rabbits, I would give the $450.00 for the whole set up. I would love to have about ten or fifteen of the does and three bucks so I am going to ask him about selling them like that and then he could sell the cages and rest of the rabbits to some else. He made the statement that this offer was a killer deal which I agree to a certain extent but it isn't a deal if I can't sell all those older rabbits. That is going into the hole before you even start digging...LOL.

I also talked to my sister who lives near the processor, and she told me I could buy breeder rabbits in that area because there are several rabbit farmers there. Am going to check out them and then will get back to the gentleman with the rabbits running out of his ears...Hee Hee...

Just thought I would give an up-date on what is going on with Ms. McGregor's farm...LOL

Jan, this worries me a bit.

First of all the cages... When you say a hutch, do you mean many individual cages ranged in tiers for easy tending? Or are they large communal cages housing many rabbits together? Most rabbit breeders use individual cages for a number of good reasons -- disease control and fighting are two obvious ones that come to mind.

Second, all those somewhat-too-old rabbits... Why didn't he sell them when they were prime? I can see keeping a few that might shape into superb breeders, but it sounds to me as though his market dried up and he is trying to salvage the situation at your expense. In Europe they might find a market as "roasters" but in North America they are just furry hopping appetites. Especially since you don't eat rabbit yourselves.

Third, the eagerness with which the gentleman assures you it is a "killer deal." Run, Jan, run for your life! By all means get rabbits but unless this gentleman is willing to sell you ONLY what you need, at a fair price, I wouldn't touch it. Sounds too much like the old "if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is."

Mind you, I could well be dead wrong... LOL. So weigh the evidence carefully and then go with what your gut tells you. Head decisions and heart decisions can be misleading, but the gut doesn't lie!

I have decided not to buy this set up. I talked with a breeder today that my sister knows because he gets his feed from the mill where she is secretary. We had a good long talk and he gave me good advice. He told me not to in breed the rabbits (something I don't know about the set-up as to whether the rabbits are in bred or not). If I decide to go visit his farm I will have to drive about two hundred miles but I would rather drive and get good breeder does than take a "KILLER DEAL" and not have good stock to sell. This man I talked with today also told me he guarnateed that his bucks would breed or he would replace them. He gave me a price and maybe he won't go up on it....LOL

DH and I are going to try to go visit his farm in a couple of weeks. That will give me time to get more hutches built.

Maggie, I have three young bunnies in one hutch but all the rest are one rabbit per hutch. These are cages hanging on an outside wall of a large storage building. They have roofs on each cage plus we have a covering on top of the hutch that can be let down if we get hard rains. The cages are twenty four inches deep and 30 inches wide. Some of the cages are four feet long because I have a huge lop in one of them and I wanted him to have room to move around. My lop probably weighs between twenty and twenty five pounds. And he isn't over fed. Just a big guy!!! He is my pet...A mother's day gift from my DH. My first rabbit.

Jan, my apologies... my brain slipped a cog and I momentarily forgot how much experience with rabbits you already have. Sounds like a good set up for your cages. I think you are wise to buy elsewhere and get exactly what you want with some assurance that the breeding stock is all that it should be.

Hope to hear more about your venture as it progresses... and I wish you all the best with it. Your maxi-lop sounds super... you should post a picture of him.

Maggie, no apology necessary. I appreciate any advice that I get especially when it helps me make decisions concerning money and work. LOL..... I have had rabbits for almost three years but believe me there still is a lot I don't know. The breeder that I talked with yesterday told me that he is still learning everyday and he has been raising rabbits around ten years.

I will try to get a picture of my "Teddy" to post when I get a chance.

Thank you for the advice. And thank all the rest of you too. I appreciate your help.
Jan