Raising Pastured Rabbits for Meat

Nichki Carangelo 215 pp. with full-color illustrations An accessible, practical resource for pasture-based rabbit production—complete with rabbit husbandry basics, enterprise budgets and guidelines for growing, processing and selling rabbits commercially. In recent years, there has been talk in the food world that rabbits make more sense than chickens. In a country with a $41-billion broiler chicken industry, this might seem like a pretty bold statement, but it’s hardly unsubstantiated. And yet, although the media has been abuzz about the "super protein," very few farmers are stepping up to meet the rapidly increasing interest in sustainably raised rabbit meat. This is partly due to the lack of available resources in the field of rabbit husbandry. Raising Pastured Rabbits for Meat is the first book to address the growing trend of ecological rabbit husbandry for the beginning- to market-scale farmer. Inspired by Daniel Salatin, who has long been considered the pioneer of integrated rabbit farming, Nichki Carangelo proves that viable pasture-based rabbitry is not only possible and user-friendly—it’s also profitable. In Carangelo’s approach, happy, healthy rabbits are seasonally raised outside on pasture, using a hybrid pasture/wire system that promotes natural behaviors and a diverse diet while effectively managing risks. Raising Pastured Rabbits for Meat offers valuable information on how farmers can build their own rabbit enterprises from scratch and includes tips on breed selection, breeding techniques, nutrition guidelines, recordkeeping tools, slaughtering and butchering instructions, marketing advice and enterprise guides to help farmers plan for profitability. This is an essential guide for anyone interested in integrating rabbits into a diversified farm or homestead.