Rabbits: The hub of the small-scale animal production wheel

As I hit the road at 4:30 a.m. this morning on my way to an 11-12 hour shift (plus an hour drive each way!), I couldn’t help but ponder what it might be like to be a subsistence farmer. The frantic-paced lives we live and the onerous expenses (insurance is my biggest expense) make me wish for a simpler life.

What animal would I build a small-scale food production system around? The domestic rabbit. It really is a true marvel.  My experience with meat rabbits began at an early age.  My family moved to a small acreage when I was 10 and I immediately began to acquire a host of farm animals.  I had bottle calves, goats, sheep, chickens, pigeons, pheasants, and New Zealand white rabbits.  We raised the rabbits for meat.  I still remember my Dad and I butchering them in our backyard on Ballantine Lane in Eagle, Idaho.  When rabbit was served for dinner we would tell my younger brothers that it was chicken we were eating.

Michele-April 1985-Provo, Utah

Michele and I lived in a small house at the BYU Poultry Unit (it no longer exists, nor does the Animal Science Department, what a shame) when we were first married.  I was working on my master’s degree and I managed the rabbit herd.  The title of my master’s thesis was, The effect of synthetic GnRH on the reproductive performance of artificially-inseminated rabbits (Huh? You can ask me for more details if you’re really interested).  Michele learned to eat quite a few different things during our first year of marriage, rabbit was one on them.  She never did drink the milk from the small herd of goats that I milked though.  She had also never eaten wild game. Her introduction to that fare was a rank old mule deer buck I shot a few months after we were married.  The best mule deer isn’t great eating, so you can imagine this critter.  We got through it by marinating and barbequing. 

Back to the topic at hand.  The female rabbit is a reproductive powerhouse.  She has the ability to produce 1000% of her body weight per year in weaned offspring. Think about that for a second.  Compare that to a cow that produces roughly 50% of her weight in offspring or even the sow that can only claim about 80%.  She and her kits do best on a commercial pelleted feed, but if not available or prohibitively expensive they can readily adapt to many different feed ingredients.  There is even some research that suggest they might be able to thrive in a pastured system much like pastured poultry is raised.  The initial investment in breeding stock is very low and rabbits don't require a lot of expensive equipment.  The meat is white, lean, and very tasty.  In a meats products class I was enrolled in I used rabbit meat to produce sausages, jerky, and even Canadian bacon. 

In future posts I will talk about specific breeds and more details on rabbit production.

Animals are not humans!

What a beautiful Mother's Day morning in Missouri. I owe much to the women in my life. I hope that my wonderful mother and wife have a great day. I love them both and am so grateful for their influence on me.

Male wood duck

I moved my cattle to a new pasture last night. As I walked the few hundred yards to check on them early this morning I was bombarded with a melody of bird calls.  The mournful call of the dove, the chatter of the beautiful male cardinal, the mockingbird with his symphony of calls, the hearty gobble of the wild turkey, the honk of the Canada goose and on and on.  As I walked back I spooked a pair of wood ducks, the male wood duck is one of the most beautiful birds to be found. I was reminded of the simple pleasures of living in the country.

Male cardinal

I enjoy all living creatures.  I believe that God created them all for our enjoyment and use.  We are to treat them with respect and dignity, BUT they are not our equals, they do not have our rights.  Animals are an integral part of any small-scale food production system, they are not pets.  In order to raise and utilize them you have to understand that concept.  Most city dwellers are far removed from the cycle of life.  Creatures are born, live for a period of time and then die--that is how it works.

Many years ago I worked in the mink industry in Utah.  Among other duties, I had to deal with the media.  Most of those I spoke with had a liberal, animal-rights mentality and it made for some interesting discussions (those of you who know me well would understand that!).  Many people who are surrounded by concrete and steel all their lives believe that death in any form is cruel.  In reality it is simply a stage in the cycle of life.

If you decide to raise animals in a food production system you have to understand that at some point they will end up on your dinner table.  That means you will have to butcher them.  I realize that for some that would be impossible to do.  Find a neighbor that can partner with you, someone that would be willing to do the butchering for a share of the meat. 

In future posts I will write about the domestic rabbit. I believe it is the principal animal in any small-scale system.

Beyond Food Storage: Creating your own food production system

Many years ago while studying at Brigham Young University, I worked with the Benson Food and Agriculture Institute (The Institute still exists today and continues their work throughout the world—look them up at www.bensoninstitute.org).  They developed a program whereby a family of 7 could be sustained on one hectare (2.5 acres).  This system was developed at BYU and then put to the test in Ecuador.  Our friends Neils and Gina Tidwell worked tirelessly with the program in Ecuador and Michele and I were slated to replace them but unfortunately the program lost its funding and we never got the opportunity.  My experience with the program instilled in me a real interest in self-sufficiency and the goal to be able to provide for my family and others should that become necessary.

The system included an extensive garden, as well as a small animal component including chickens, goats, and guinea pigs…yep they eat them in Ecuador.  It produced enough food for the family as well as some income from the sale of the surplus vegetables and animals.  This program went beyond food storage, it was in fact, a food production system.

My church encourages its members to store a year’s worth of food and other basic necessities.  I think that is great counsel and although we still don’t have a year’s worth of food on hand, we work on it little by little.  I personally want more than a year’s worth of dry beans, powdered milk, and macaroni. I want the ability to keep my table filled with what we eat now.  I guess you can call us old-fashioned. We still sit down most nights and eat a home-cooked dinner as a family.  Not much in the way of prepared foods in our house. With a milk cow to produce milk, butter, and cheese, pork, rabbits, chickens for meat and eggs, a couple of beehives, and a large garden my actual food storage list becomes quite short.

I realize that most of you don’t have the land base to keep such a menagerie but there are things that you can do. Chickens and rabbits require very little space, don’t eat much, are quiet—assuming you have only hens and no roosters (no, roosters aren’t necessary for a hen to lay eggs!) and both produce very high quality food—especially high in protein. Take out some of your lawn and plant a garden.  I realize that many of you live under the oppression of city ordinances that don’t allow critter raisin’, but I believe that if times get tough, these silly ordinances will be repealed.  I’m glad that us country folks don’t have to put up with the regulations imposed on our city cousins. In my county we have no zoning, no building codes, no building inspectors, etc.. If I want to build a house, I build it and I don’t need anybody’s permission.

Hen house (6 hens) in my backyard--would fit in any city backyard

Think about your own situation and what you can do to be prepared. More detailed ideas to follow.

Buy land young man!

What a great few days! We had all of our children home for a long weekend. We just bid John goodbye as he left for Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi this morning to begin his flight training. Never gets easier to send them off. I wish him godspeed as he goes to serve and protect this chosen land.

In a discussion the other night I shared with my kids my idea for what they ought to do investment-wise as they graduate from college and begin to earn the big bucks! I had earlier thought to suggest that they put as much money as possible into traditional investments, but suddenly I felt to encourage them to do something different--invest money in a tangible asset--BUY LAND. As the old saying goes, "They aren't making anymore of it". It is something you can walk on, build on, garden on...in short, sustain yourself on. It can still be bought for a very reasonable price in our area and it is very productive land. I truly believe that the value of land will increase over time but if not I know that its value cannot go to zero, it has an intrinsic value and can be used to produce increasingly valuable commodities.  The same can't be said for money invested in other retirement or saving vehicles. As the famous Western colonizer and church leader, Brigham Young, said, "The day will come that gold will hold no value in comparison to a bushel of wheat". I believe in hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. I HOPE that life as we know it goes on as normal, but my gut tells me to PREPARE for some big changes in the near future. I think we are seeing some of those changes already.

I'm sure I am not the only one who has noticed the rocketing food prices as of late. I read an article recently that really got my attention. The canneries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, long known for their very high quality, inexpensive basic foodstuffs, have had to raise their prices by 11 to 49%---since January of this year! That floored me. My wife told me the other day that we spend as much money now on food with just the 4 of us at home as we did not too long ago when all three of my boys were at home also. We haven't changed our eating habits or preferences, food is just that much more expensive. Here in the breadbasket of America we are paying over $3.80 for a gallon of 2% milk. I truly believe that food, or more specifically the scarcity of it, will be the greatest problem of the coming hard times.

I'll share some of my specific ideas of the food issue in future posts.