Raising and Breeding Rabbits

Last Revised: March 23, 2010

Spinning Right from a Rabbit
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I, Sheran, raise rabbits for pleasure, meat and wool.
Some years back, I raised Zecca Rex Royals for pelts and meat. That was before the environmentalists started spraying red paint on people's fur coats. We had a rabbitry capable of supporting 1500 animals and had gotten up to 350 rabbits by the time the bottom dropped out of the fur market.

Now I have a new, smaller rabbitry.
It is a new building, has new cages,and new, varied breeding stock. It holds about 50 rabbits.
My current method is to:
-work to constantly improve the breeds I have
-to raise as many Easter Bunnies as I can
-to raise more batches of baby bunnies to sell at reinactments and threshing shows in the summer and early fall
-and to turn any that don't sell into fryers.

I have been raising:
New Zealand Whites
English Angoras
Netherland Dwarfs
Fuzzy Lops
Mini Lops
German Angoras
and Holland Lops
Zecca Rex Royals

Sheri Grooming Rabbit Sheri with an English Angora Rabbit
  Grooming for a show                                                                   An English Angora Rabbit

I usually buy pedigreed rabbits so I have high quality stock to sell.
Sometimes, when things get out of control, we will take 10 to 40 rabbits to a local processor and put them in the freezer.

My granddaughter Tina Spinning at Hastings
This is my granddaughter Tina spinning at the Little Log House Threshing Show in Hastings, Mn.

I had to interupt my rabbit-raising process in 2008 because I broke my shoulder one rainy night on my way back to the house after feeding them. It was pretty ironic, because I was scheduled to have a knee replaced at 7AM the following morning!
So, we contacted the hospital and asked them to get out their "shoulder" tools instead of their "knee" tools, which they did.
Since I was so badly laid up, I had to give all my rabbits away while I convalesced. About 5 months after that, I had both knees replaced. I was without rabbits from June of 2008 until the fall of 2009, but now I'm back at it again!


I love spinning Angora and demonstrating spinning with a bunny on my lap. Check my "Spinning" link, above.

I'd like to hear from rabbit enthusiasts with similar interests, particularly in the east central Minnesota and west central Wisconsin areas.