In this world where we are increasingly concerned with reducing our carbon footprints and the damage we do to the planet we live on, it only makes sense that we start to pay credit to the animals and meat supplies that can do this, too.
Now, before we go any further, I am not one to think that cows and beef or any other of the often misunderstood protein animals out there spell evil. This article isn’t about that, but it is an article to help point out what sets rabbits apart, naturally, as a food source with a much smaller impact than many others.
It’s something worth pointing out, especially because so many people are quick to dismiss meat rabbits as a source of high protein, high-quality food.
So, for those looking for alternatives but who still need a reliable protein source and don’t want to give up meat, rabbits could really be the solution.
Jump to:
- What Makes Meat Rabbits a Good, Green Choice?
- No Need to Buy Stock for Every Batch
- Self-Sustaining Meat Rabbit Breeding Means No Transport for New Batches
- No Utilities Needed, No Dangerous Heat Sources
- Meat Rabbits Can Grow Completely on Homegrown Feed
- Rabbits Produce an Easy to Use Cold Manure
- No Feedlot Type Pollution
- Higher Protein Content Means Less is More
- Low to No Waste Animal
- How Meat is Raised Makes a Big Difference
What Makes Meat Rabbits a Good, Green Choice?
There are probably more reasons than what’s listed here (feel free to leave your respectful thoughts and points in the comments section).
*Note that in most of this discussion, I’m comparing rabbits to the animals that are most commonly grown for commercial, farm, and home meat production, such as hybrid types of meat chickens. It might be a different discussion for heritage-type breeds, but even then, much of what is listed below still applies.
Here are my top thoughts about what makes rabbits a greener and more ecologically friendly choice of meat animal for you to raise.
No Need to Buy Stock for Every Batch
When you keep meat rabbits, you keep a set or two of good breeders, and you breed them for years. A pair or trio of rabbits can literally produce hundreds of pounds of high-protein meat in a single year. And most breeders will last for at least three, and quite often even longer.
Compare this to other animals and chicks and chickens that we have to buy for every set of meat we want to grow. That’s an expense every time, and it ripples into energy and transport factors.
Self-Sustaining Meat Rabbit Breeding Means No Transport for New Batches
All those sets of chicks have to be picked up, delivered, or shipped across county, country, and state lines. And because they need to get there within a day or three (in the case of chicks ordered from hatcheries), they need to be shipped quickly, which means air delivery. That’s a lot of fuel for a few chicks.
There is very little transportation involved in raising rabbits for meat. Buy your breeding pairs every few years (and let’s not forget the breeders can just produce the next generation of breeders!), and you are only transporting animals once in a while.
It is better for the animals and better for the environment.
No Utilities Needed, No Dangerous Heat Sources
This is probably my biggest point when it comes to breeding rabbits sustainably and when it comes down to the discussion of rabbits being eco-friendly.
Chicks are one of the most appropriate comparisons to rabbits (chickens being the most comparable meat to rabbits in terms of feed consumption and yield).
Meat chickens do not raise their own young. Most are not even raised in the same place as the parents. Hybrid meat birds can’t reproduce sustainably on their own.
Chicks require weeks of supplemental heat under heat lamps and in brooders in order to survive to where they can live independently.
Rabbits just need the warmth of their nest and litter. Mom provides the rest.
No electricity. No heat lamps. No danger of fires starting from heat lamps and heaters! No big electricity bills, either!
Protection from wind and wet is all rabbits need to survive even extremely low temperatures. Windbreaks, walls, hay, or straw...this will suffice and will protect your rabbits if you give them what they need when they need it.
In fact, meat rabbits are much better off without heaters or heat lamps. They’re naturally equipped and do better in the cold than in the heat.
Meat Rabbits Can Grow Completely on Homegrown Feed
Feed inputs and harvesting are a big factor in how “green” livestock feeds are. I take nothing away from hard-working farmers, and I will readily admit I do feed pelleted feed (grain). But I wouldn’t have to if I didn’t want to.
With some research and a good plan to meet all your meat rabbits’ nutritional needs, you could grow all the food they’ll need. Meat rabbits can literally turn your garden greens and grass into protein-rich meat. You can grow and dry feed to store for the winter, too.
And all of this is food that doesn’t need to be transported, either.
If this is something you have an interest in doing, a good place to start is with this book: Beyond the Pellet by Boyd Craven, Jr. And Rick Worden
Rabbits Produce an Easy to Use Cold Manure
Waste –manure and urine and soiled bedding— can be a big problem in large farms and feedlots. The biggest problem with it is the sheer volume that large animals in close quarters produce. That gets held in piles and holding areas and can create runoff problems that upset the local ecology. This is, by and large, a matter of handling, but it is a factor, nonetheless.
Rabbits produce relatively little waste. The waste that they produce is considered a “cold” manure, meaning that it has a low volatility and will not burn plants or their roots. Cold manures like rabbit manure can be used straight from the waste tray (or whatever system of cleaning you use).
As the University of California Agricultural and Natural Resources Center explains, rabbit manure is high in nutrients, comparable to chicken, and is a slow-release form of fertilizer that does a better job of delivering long-lasting fertility to the soil.
It does not have the runoff or collection issues that many other types of meat animals’ waste often have. It does not need to be collected and piled to compost before it can be used (setting a stage for potential runoff, etc.)
Rabbit manure is a useful green win for your soil and your garden. In fact, many breeders sell it for a side profit!
No Feedlot Type Pollution
Meat Rabbits, even large commercial meat facilities, do not typically compare to the type or volume of waste that something like a beef feedlot would. (Don’t get me wrong, I love beef, too, and eat it—but I choose humanely raised local pastured beef with limited environmental impacts, too.)
Rabbits can be kept well and cleanly in urban as well as suburban and rural areas, with little to no odor and with complete management of their waste so as to leave no negative trace.
Higher Protein Content Means Less is More
Rabbit is a high-protein meat. It is higher in protein than most other meats (especially when compared to land animals). In addition to its high protein content, rabbit is extremely lean and lower in calories so as an overall content, it beats out meats with comparable protein levels.
Rabbit easily beats out beef and pork in protein content.
Rabbit meat is said to fill you up faster, and you can get your daily protein needs even if you eat less. Rabbit has a much more efficient “protein footprint” than pretty much any other backyard or farmed land animal meat source.
It’s a lower-impact animal with a higher return, which means you can get more protein and buy or use less, to begin with.
Low to No Waste Animal
Besides its waste, almost every part of the rabbit can be put to good use. This means less waste. Waste is a big problem in this world! From its meat to its manure, hides, and even carcasses, most of the meat rabbit is consumable or usable.
We could use more protein sources that also reduce our waste.
How Meat is Raised Makes a Big Difference
The specific type of animal itself is not necessarily what sets it up to have a negative impact on the environment. The hybrids we grow and the way we grow them in factory farms and concentrated feed lots where they build up piles of potentially polluting waste are more the deciding factors.
Animals in their natural state that can continue to grow and produce with little manipulation from humans—such as rabbits can—leave a small and natural footprint without demanding high energy or electricity inputs and without upsetting the ecology of lands and streams.
If everyone incorporated at least some low-impact, “green” protein like rabbit, we might all make a dent in utility use and ecologically sound animal raising. It’s such a delicious and nutritious, easy-to-grow meat that there’s nothing to lose anyway—except maybe some misguided opinions about what animals make “acceptable” meats.
Let’s at least give it some thought. And if you need more reasons to keep meat rabbits, this is one!
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