Permsteading.com

I'm now, officially a rancher... well a rabbit rancher at least. We finally brought home a buck and two does on Saturday and they are now settling in the barn. We had a couple of false starts before I got these as two different dealers had promised me rabbits and they both lost litters for some reason. It just told me they weren't necessarily good breeding stock to begin with.
These are New Zealand Whites, with the buck being three weeks older than the does. That again tells me the buck is not from the same litter as the does so we shouldn't get too many problems with inbreeding.
I was a little worried that they weren't eating the pellets, but this morning the does feeders were empty so they have settled in okay. The buck is still not on the pellets but he is eating vegetables and they have all figured out the water bottles. The does are at ten weeks so I have plenty of time to get us all acquainted before they start work.
One of the girls has decided she is going to help me with the rabbits. She is the money wise kid of the three and has already worked out how to sell lucky rabbits feet at school. She's also the one with the strongest stomach and will probably help me at processing time (more to make sure I don't cheat her out of any of the feet).

That's great Graham, time to put those hard won hay bales to use!

Yeah, but I think I will need another couple dozen rabbits to use up all the hay I have in the barn. This year's grass is starting to sprout up already so I think I may have to actually sell some of it this year.
The does are now chomping well on the pellets, but buck is still holding out for vegetables. They can take several days to settle in so I'm not too worried as long as he is eating and drinking something.

Nice one Graham - I like bunnies too (but I give mine names and pat them and then I can't eat them cos they are family members once I've given them names). Maybe that's why I like my veggies so much

My wife hasn't been up to see them since we brought them home, until today. She is scared of getting attached to them. But I promised that if any of these three don't perform, I won't send them to the freezer. As we both work at school, we have a good chance of selling them off as pets. She'll just have to keep her distance from the offspring when they go out to pasture.

I good friend of mine has the same problem with her chickens. Gathering eggs is ok, but once they have names it not OK to eat them, Once they have names its hard to eat them.

Maybe that's why I don't name my veggies

That is funny Boo.
We have unintentionally named them without realizing. The buck has been named 'The Buck' and the does are 'doe one' and 'doe two'.
But I'm beginning to think Sophie (daughter) has psychopathic tendencies. She can't wait for them to start producing litters, but not because she wants cute little bunnies. No, she wants feet and hides. She's really become the little farm girl though. Last week we had two inches of snow one morning. We got to the barn and there were coyote tracks all around the barn. They were really fresh too. She just looked at me and calmly said. "Daddy, get the gun. They're after my rabbits".

That's got to be a bit scary with a coyote hanging around your barn, especially as you have children Graham