Today I welcome Nick Klein from Hostile Hare as a guest blogger. Nick is passionate about bringing rabbits back to the forefront of healthy, home-raised meat. Through his company he offers cages, rabbits and education to the community. You can also find him on the Hostile Hare Facebook page.
If you’ve ever wanted to control your own food source, it’s easiest to start small.
Rabbits are the smallest way to start. You need acres to raise most livestock but rabbits take very little space. In fact even apartment dwellers can raise a meat supply without the neighbors knowing! This is due to their cleanliness and quiet countenance. Chickens squawk, cows moo, ducks quack but rabbits make virtually no noise at all.
They are the quiet contributor to the natural nutrient cycle… and rabbits produce…well, like rabbits! A healthy doe can produce 320 pounds of live rabbit per year. That’s 215 pounds of the highest protein and lowest cholesterol containing freezer ready meat. With that amount of meat you can drastically decrease your grocery bill AND you’ll know where your meat has been and what it has been fed.
We’ve all seen the reports of diseased and abused animals; it is important to know what we are consuming and feeding our friends and family.
Not only will friends and family be happy, but your dogs and cats will love you for it too. You’ll never see them happier than when you offer them the rabbit innards from your latest processing batch. Studies show that our meat-eating pets live happier and healthier lives on a raw diet.
Now if you’re serious about REALLY taking control of your nutrients, you’ll need a garden, your rabbits can help with that too!! Your garden will never grow better! Rabbit waste is a gardener’s best friend, a nearly perfect fertilizer. Some call it Nature’s time release nitrogen pellet!
So if you’re on the fence about getting livestock into your urban or suburban homestead, I urge you to take a closer look at rabbits! You’ll be HOPPY you did!!