Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Rabbit Role Call

So, this morning when I was out feeding the rabbits I decided to take a count. I lost an entire litter of New Zealands a little over a week ago from my best doe. I also picked up some newly weaned does last weekend and planning on getting a few more when I can build something to hold more cages. I need to catch my tracking program up to date and when I realized the rediculousness (is that a word?) of my numbers, I thought I would post. I have 41 rabbits, if you count the kits.

2 NZW does for breeding
3 Cal. does for breeding
1 NZW buck - I need to find a replacement (since I can't do brother/sister inbreeding)
1 Cal. buck
3 Jr. NZW does being raised for breeding stock
8 jr. bucks (holding one for a friend, need to butcher the others)
23 kits still in the nestboxes

My goal is to breed my Californians until all of my NZW's are old enough to breed. Then I will phase them out. Everybody wants the NZW's. In fact, I have a waiting list for my does.

Chris has been so wonderful about it all. I don't know if I mentioned it, but my original plan was 2 does and a buck for personal consumption. Anyone that knows me though, knows that I have an all-or-nothing/go big or go home philosophy. That could be why he didn't want goats??? Could be why I want to move to a farm with at least a quarter section of land!!!

God Bless!

5 comments:

  1. I have a goal of six does and one buck. These will be for meat, hides, and manure... any more than that I would not be able to afford to feed because my ultimate goal is to grow what I feed them... so when I plan, I always keep that in mind even if I actually could afford to purchase the feed now.

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  2. I thought about growing my own feed for rabbits, but when I started looking at what the protein requirements are and how many I wanted, it wasn't worth it to me. The grow out rate slows considerably too, unless you're feeding a pelleted ration. I do free feed good grass hay to supplement and keep their digestive tracts clear.

    I drove to Medford and bought a #1,000 bulk-bag off feed for $184. That is about the best I can do as far as feed prices, even with the two-hour drive. I have to go through that within three months, or it will go stale. With the numbers that I have out there, and the plan to increase even those numbers I should be o.k.

    I do have a buyer for my hides. Since we butcher so young, the skin is much thinner than what you would get out of an adult. She uses them for dream catchers, since those don't get a lot of wear.

    The waste is invaluable! I can put it on the garden as is without burning anything. I have an orchard, an herb garden, and a vegetable garden that need a lot of help. I also have requests from people to buy what we can't use.

    All in all, I figure that if I keep going at the rate I am, I should be able to re-coup my start-up costs and return a small profit by 2036. LOL

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  3. It's great you have an outlet for all the bunnies, that makes it worth buying the feed and keeping so many...

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  4. Email me so I can send you a power point slide show of paintings called The Farmers, I know you'll enjoy it.

    glhyde1@gmail.com

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