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Originally posted by JSutter

Here are two things I'm doing, or getting ready to do that I thought might interest others.

First of all I'm starting to raise rabbits for meat. According to the USDA rabbit meat has the highest protein of all common meat animals as well as the lowest levels of fat and cholesterol. Currently I have 3 bucks and 2 does. Supposed to be picking up more does in the next week or two. Already have all my cages built. Rabbits should be old enough to start breeding in the next 60 days.

From what I've read a good doe can have 5 litters of 6-12 rabbits per year, rabbits can be slaughtered for fryers at 9 weeks and roasters at 12-16 weeks.

I'm using the rabbit dropping along with free starbucks coffee grounds to do some vermicomposting for the garden. The other day I was reading and came across this link to a magazine article from the 70's You must be logged in to see this link.

Basically the guy was raising catfish in barrels in his backyar as a meat source. This got me to thinking. I already have a 1300 gallon rain water storage tank to keep down the garden related water and sewage bills. I called the county extension office and they are going to get me the catfish fingerlings.

My plans are to raise those in a 55 gallon barrel just like in the magazine article until they're about 4-5 inches long then put them into the 1300 gallon tank to grow out. They're supposed to grow to 1.25-1.5 lbs each over the course of a summer. I figure I can raise about 40-60 fingerlings every month so if I can get everything working correctly I should have about 50 1.25lb catfish and 10-20 rabbit fryers per month for home use.

I really like this system because the rabbits help the garden and the worms by providing compost. The worms can be fed to the catfish keeping feed for them to about 1/2 store bought. The rabbits and catfish can feed me and the family.

Has anyone tried anything similar to this?

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Originally posted by darsemnos

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Originally posted by JSutter

Here are two things I'm doing, or getting ready to do that I thought might interest others.

First of all I'm starting to raise rabbits for meat. According to the USDA rabbit meat has the highest protein of all common meat animals as well as the lowest levels of fat and cholesterol. Currently I have 3 bucks and 2 does. Supposed to be picking up more does in the next week or two. Already have all my cages built. Rabbits should be old enough to start breeding in the next 60 days.

From what I've read a good doe can have 5 litters of 6-12 rabbits per year, rabbits can be slaughtered for fryers at 9 weeks and roasters at 12-16 weeks.

I'm using the rabbit dropping along with free starbucks coffee grounds to do some vermicomposting for the garden. The other day I was reading and came across this link to a magazine article from the 70's You must be logged in to see this link.

Basically the guy was raising catfish in barrels in his backyar as a meat source. This got me to thinking. I already have a 1300 gallon rain water storage tank to keep down the garden related water and sewage bills. I called the county extension office and they are going to get me the catfish fingerlings.

My plans are to raise those in a 55 gallon barrel just like in the magazine article until they're about 4-5 inches long then put them into the 1300 gallon tank to grow out. They're supposed to grow to 1.25-1.5 lbs each over the course of a summer. I figure I can raise about 40-60 fingerlings every month so if I can get everything working correctly I should have about 50 1.25lb catfish and 10-20 rabbit fryers per month for home use.

I really like this system because the rabbits help the garden and the worms by providing compost. The worms can be fed to the catfish keeping feed for them to about 1/2 store bought. The rabbits and catfish can feed me and the family.

Has anyone tried anything similar to this?

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Only problem I can think of is that fat and cholesterol are not bad for you. You need fat and cholesterol. There's a reason it's called rabbit starvation.

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Originally posted by Nickelless

Anyone ever raise goats?

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Originally posted by JSutter

Red wriggler worms actually love coffee grounds, they quickly turn them into worm castings for compost.

I'm aware of rabbit starvation and am not relying on rabbits as my only protein source, fats and cholesterols are good for you but only in moderation. Having a nice lean protein source to complement sources high in fat and cholesterol seems like a good idea to me.

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Originally posted by Nickelless

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Originally posted by JSutter

Red wriggler worms actually love coffee grounds, they quickly turn them into worm castings for compost.

I'm aware of rabbit starvation and am not relying on rabbits as my only protein source, fats and cholesterols are good for you but only in moderation. Having a nice lean protein source to complement sources high in fat and cholesterol seems like a good idea to me.

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I got to thinking about this recently after I noticed how much my cats have slimmed down since I started feeding them Science Diet. (No, I'm not about to suggest cats as a sustainable protein source.) The flip side of the coin is that as I've changed my cats' food over time from brands with lots of fillers (especially corn) to a brand with almost no fillers, they've slimmed way down, so I got to wondering, would it be possible to raise rabbits with a higher fat content by feeding them a diet that was full of fillers like what you find in a lot of dog and cat food--corn, rice, etc.?

EDIT: You wouldn't want to eat my cats anyway. They drink out of the toilet.

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