mtwildflower
06-06-2009, 08:24 PM
Welp, I butchered rabbits for the first time on Thursday. I butchered 4 of them. I have 8 to go. I was planning on doing it today, but when I woke up....THERE WAS SNOW ON THE GROUND...no lie. So they will live for a couple more days.
Today, I prepared the very first animal that I have solely raised, fed, watered, handled, dispatched, and processed. (anything else I've ever eaten was somwhere along the way obtained somewhere else and then raised, or purchased in the 4-H ring or someone else had a hand in the dispatching....I've never done all the steps myself on the same animal), It was delicious.
I was a little worried my daughters would be picky and not eat the fluffy bunnies, but I prepared a delectible dish that filled the house with good smells ( in which a cool snowy day helped to facilitate) and they couldn't resist trying some....which they liked very much. My 14 year old who swore she would never eat rabbit, ate some and said she couldn't believe she was actually eating rabbit.
Each rabbit was about 3 1/2 pounds dressed out and four made 14 lbs of meat.
I've kind of been holding off on the breeding, just to see if I could really handle the actual killing and processing of it....willing myself to do it. Now I can breed them, well like rabbits, because I can do the whole process myself, without having to depend on anyone else to do it instead.
It's a victory for me in many ways. Sounds silly perhaps, but it is. Now I KNOW I will never have to depend on anyone else to do THAT ONE THING for me.....it feels good.
Today, I prepared the very first animal that I have solely raised, fed, watered, handled, dispatched, and processed. (anything else I've ever eaten was somwhere along the way obtained somewhere else and then raised, or purchased in the 4-H ring or someone else had a hand in the dispatching....I've never done all the steps myself on the same animal), It was delicious.
I was a little worried my daughters would be picky and not eat the fluffy bunnies, but I prepared a delectible dish that filled the house with good smells ( in which a cool snowy day helped to facilitate) and they couldn't resist trying some....which they liked very much. My 14 year old who swore she would never eat rabbit, ate some and said she couldn't believe she was actually eating rabbit.
Each rabbit was about 3 1/2 pounds dressed out and four made 14 lbs of meat.
I've kind of been holding off on the breeding, just to see if I could really handle the actual killing and processing of it....willing myself to do it. Now I can breed them, well like rabbits, because I can do the whole process myself, without having to depend on anyone else to do it instead.
It's a victory for me in many ways. Sounds silly perhaps, but it is. Now I KNOW I will never have to depend on anyone else to do THAT ONE THING for me.....it feels good.