# Selling rabbit meat?



## Patt

Does anyone here do direct sales of rabbit meat from your farm? I can't seem to find any laws on it here in AR.


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## Wisconsin Ann

IN GENERAL....rabbits tend to fall under the same laws as chickens. Since there aren't a lot of home butchering rabbit farmers, rabbits often fall through the cracks. Here is Wisconsin it's pretty much "up to 1000 lbs per year" (or might be animals...can't remember). After that you need a license. 

to sell OFF the farm (farmer's market, restaurants, etc.) we need the animals processed by a USDA licensed butcher. 

I found the Wisconsin regs on the Wisconsin government site..then followed links down to our Agricultural laws. You can also contact your local Ag Extension agent to get the appropriate laws for your region.


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## The Bunny Ranch

It's really hard to sell rabbit meat because they aren't seen as livestock by the USDA. However you can sell the meat if you have it processed at a USDA inspected facility, and if you have the option to rent a meat locker (at the facility). It's really hard because, for processors, it requires a special license to process rabbit. I know it's weird. They are only looking at rabbit as a "pet" because people own them in areas as pets that don't allow livestock (i.e cities). They cannot stop you from selling rabbits that are alive as meat if the buyer does the deed themselves. There are ways around it though. I don't do this myself because I don't want to be busted. You could sell them the rabbit and say the butchering is a gift. :/
It's up to you. If any of the information isn't correct please correct me.

Also I might add that if you're busting out enough rabbits that actually make you a profit you can go about butchering yourself. This will only be possible if you have the correct licensing (which might be costly) and a place that is not in your home where you can do the deed. Of course it will be inspected and has to be up to their codes.


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## Patt

Our state doesn't have any laws and like you mentioned the USDA doesn't see them as livestock so no real law there either. Kind of silly really. A lot of people eat rabbit around here and we have sold it to friends. It should fall under poultry laws I think. 

We already sell through a local Farmer's Market and we can sell any kind of poultry that we butcher here with no inspections at all. Not sure how or if we want to add rabbit though since no law doesn't necessarily mean nobody will go after us.....


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## The Bunny Ranch

http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/arcode/Default.asp

Type in "meat" into the search. You can also look up "poultry".

I wish our state had a website like this. Our search engine stinks!


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## SilverFlame819

I've spent the last week looking this stuff up... Interestingly enough, HT is one of the sites that pops up for info on this, along with Pat Lamar's website, and PRMA, both of which have disappeared into the cyberspace landfill...

It seems as though most states aren't sure exactly how to classify rabbits, so if you want to sell to the public, you need to have them butchered as a USDA-inspected processor's, even though they do not fall under USDA regulations... Seems like a lot of people are going about it by selling the rabbit "live", adding on a processing fee (what the butcher charges), and offering "free delivery", meaning you buy the rabbit from them, pay the butcher fee, and they'll deliver the rabbit to the butcher for you and pick it up packaged, and you just have to come pick it up from their house. I think that's easy for most large setups because they take a large group of rabbits in at one time.

Most states seem to allow you to butcher your own (up to a certain # or lb) if you're just killing them for yourself, and some have this same clause if you're selling to the public. But once you "go big" you have to have it done at a USDA facility... Too bad the govt hasn't figured out exactly how to treat rabbits on the books. It would be a lot simpler for people to figure out!

And try looking up actual processors to see what they pay for fryers and what their rules are... *lol* If you find any info on that, let me know! That search seems to be more impossible than the first.


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## The Bunny Ranch

Have you ever considered selling to Pel-Freez? They are located in Arkansas.

http://www.pel-freez.com/


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## Patt

The Bunny Ranch said:


> http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/arcode/Default.asp
> 
> Type in "meat" into the search. You can also look up "poultry".
> 
> I wish our state had a website like this. Our search engine stinks!


It is telling me to sign in.  I have already searched the Health Dept's site and checked in with the U of A ag law center. There just isn't a law on rabbit.


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## Patt

The Bunny Ranch said:


> Have you ever considered selling to Pel-Freez? They are located in Arkansas.
> 
> http://www.pel-freez.com/


I want to sell directly to the public so I can make some actual money on them, I raise mine on pasture and Pelfreeze has all sorts of rules including an air conditioned barn and hutches only.  

I can't find any meat processing places that do rabbits here.


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## Pony

We don't have rabbit laws here in MO, either.

It's not regulated, we don't have to take it to a USDA butcher or anything. 

If we wanted to, I assume we could take it to the Farmer's Markets and such, or keep selling the occasional rabbit off the farm to friends.


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## The Bunny Ranch

If you contact you local extension office they could give you great advice. 

http://www.uaex.edu/ouachita/


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## freeb

in texas you can offer rabbit meat live and offer to process for no extra money to get around any usda laws


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## Pat Lamar

First off, you'll find all of my old "Commercial Rabbit Industries" web site information right here as a "sticky" on this forum, but it's titled "Raising Rabbits" or some such silly thing. It will show 0 replies because I won't allow replies to mess it up. It's a LARGE file.

Secondly, MOST (not all) states only require STATE-inspected facilities, and not USDA facilities, but I don't know about Arkansas. Since Pel-Freez is USDA, then it could be that AR requires meats for resale purposes to be processed in USDA plants. "For resale" generally means to stores and restaurants for resale to the general public. USDA processing is a lot more expensive than using a state-inspected facility.

It is not uncommon to have difficulty finding the correct information you need... even with state and/or government contacts. You COULD try a local butcher shop simply to ask if all meats for resale have to be USDA or processed in a state-inspected facility. If a state facility is possible, they may even know where they are!

Pat Lamar


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## Patt

Thanks for the info!


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## rabbithappy

I have wondered about this too & figured that if I had them butchered at a licensed butcher shop that it would be legal. I was too chicken to sell meat that was butchered here at home. I just took 14 in to the butcher shop last week. The butcher himself bought 2 & I already have the others sold. A couple weeks before they were ready to go, I advertised in The Trading Post " Taking orders for dressed fryer rabbits, $10 each. " I already had 8 of them spoken for thru the ad, then my friend & my brother both bought 2. This is the 2nd butcher shop I've used since summer. The first charged $2 each, this one charged $1.50 each, but both of them had me take them home whole. I had to cut & wrap them myself.


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## dlwelch

freeb said:


> in texas you can offer rabbit meat live and offer to process for no extra money to get around any usda laws


USDA regs only apply when shipping rabbit OUTSIDE Texas. Otherwise, we are regulated by State law. The oversight agency is the Texas Dept. of Health. There is no provision for offering free processing to get around Texas regulations. Even if you do not charge for the rabbit in any way, shape, form, or fashion, you are still obligated to follow the state law. The issue is the safety of the processing....not the fee for processing.

With that said, I sell processed rabbit to friends and family without being licensed and inspected. It's certainly not a big time endeavor and I do* NO *advertising!


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## wintrrwolf

rabbithappy said:


> I have wondered about this too & figured that if I had them butchered at a licensed butcher shop that it would be legal. I was too chicken to sell meat that was butchered here at home. I just took 14 in to the butcher shop last week. The butcher himself bought 2 & I already have the others sold. A couple weeks before they were ready to go, I advertised in The Trading Post " Taking orders for dressed fryer rabbits, $10 each. " I already had 8 of them spoken for thru the ad, then my friend & my brother both bought 2. This is the 2nd butcher shop I've used since summer. The first charged $2 each, this one charged $1.50 each, but both of them had me take them home whole. I had to cut & wrap them myself.


Have to ask..so what the butcher did was kill and gut them? Was thinking 1.50 - 2.00 was pretty darn reasonable for butchering and processing.


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## Pat Lamar

The only problem with using butchers is that the meat USUALLY is "custom" butchered and wrapped for "personal" use, only... AND stamped "NOT FOR RESALE." Be careful!

Pat Lamar


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## SaratogaNZW

I do it all myself from a 12 week old fryer in a cage to a vaccume packed frozen (sometimes quartered) meat carcass.
One of the workarounds I have suggested in the past is:
Theoretically, you dont sell $20 of meat for human consumption, you sell live rabbits for $15 and add offer a processing service for $5... Theoretically...

They look at the ones in the cages, and take home one out of the freezer, and they are always ok with that =)

Finished product, with large banana in the pic for reference:


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## Ryan NC

here in NC we are allowed 1000 raised & processed sales within the state lines per calendar year w/o a license, the from 1000 to i think 5000 you need a health inspection and sanitation stamp. over that falls in to usda guidelines. 

It varies by state greatly but there is going to be labeling restrictions pretty much regardless of where you live. Your county health department should be able to get you the regulations or point you in the right direction but understand that they are not in the business of making life easy and most are simply looking for more permit fees from what I've seen. 

Best wishes,
Ryan


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## Patt

The whole problem is that there are actually no rules written about rabbit in the state of AR. That is not unusual for our state sadly. And no rules does not mean go ahead and do it either.


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## BHFarms

Sorry to revive a dead post, but I figured there might be other people out there who were curious and this thread never seemed to resolve the issue...

I had the same question myself, so I called the USDA local office for my area.

They directed me to Dave Ganzel from FSIS (479-751-8412). He told me that there are no regulations as long as you are selling less than 20K animals per year. He said it falls under poultry rules. He also said to check with the county health department to ensure that they do not have any regulations.

I called my local County Health Department and the guy told me a lot of things that didn't make a lot of sense to me so I called the State Level for clarification. County had given me the rules regarding meat markets, restaurants, etc. Slaughtering rabbits for a customer simply because they are too squeamish to do it themselves isn't the same thing.

The state level guy I spoke to was Will Hastings. He said that - essentially - you sell them a live rabbit and hand it to them. They then hand the rabbit back to you and you slaughter/dress it for them. You can charge for this if you like. This is perfectly legal. Will Hastings can be reached at 501-661-2576

What you CANNOT do is slaughter a bunch of rabbits and then wait around for people to buy them. Anticipatory slaughters fall under meat market rules.

I hope you aren't in my sales area


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## countrytime

In Indiana it is illegal to sell processed animals unless you are USDA inspected. But you can do as BHFarms suggested.


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## redneckswife

I posted a link under the useful rabbit sticky at the top of the rabbit forum which has information on how to find your state laws and regulations. The link also has information on how to find your county laws.

Don't forget your city may also have regualtions.

Okay here's the link, you should be able to find your state.

http://www.rabbitedsociety.webs.com/legislation.htm


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## redneckswife

BTW, Arkansas does have laws.

I checked into it only because I live here.

By the way was this previous member from years ago "banned" as it states under her name..if so that's a trip:nana:


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## Fat Man

freeb said:


> in texas you can offer rabbit meat live and offer to process for no extra money to get around any usda laws


I would do this or put a label on it saying _Not For Human Consumption_ and pretend it'd dog food.

I should start looking at the dates on posts.


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## Nathanaf8388

@countrytime
Under a 2013 Indiana law, rabbits may be slaughtered and processed without inspection and sold at a farmers market under the following conditions**:
1. The product must be frozen at the point of sale.
2. The product includes a label that contains the following information:
&#8226; Name and address of the producer,
&#8226; Common or usual name of the product,
&#8226; Ingredients of the product,
&#8226; Net weight and volume of the product,
&#8226; Date the food was processed, and
&#8226; Statement of exemption (for example, the phrase &#8220;Exempt under IC 16-42-5-29&#8221.
&#8226; Statement, in 10-point type: &#8220;This product is home-produced and processed in a production area not inspected by ISDH.&#8221;

That's our newest legislation.


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## Nathanaf8388

That's straight from BOAH
This is as well. 
It is strongly recommended that persons engaged in these retail sales activities contact the local health department having jurisdiction prior to selling. BOAH / Meat & Poultry Inspection has no direct jurisdiction over retail sales.


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## BHFarms

I was posting specifically about Arkansas, as that was the initial post and my own question that landed me here. The method I suggested for selling meat came straight from the state level Health Department person whose name I listed. He also informed me that he would chat with the local level guy and make sure he understood in the future - what the rules are. This is strictly for selling meat off the farm, and has nothing to do with meat markets and farmer's markets.


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## redneckswife

That's why it's great to have your "friends" there on urmm.. cull day,lol.

Good luck and happy cull..urrmm..breeding everyone.

Rabbit really is healthy:clap:


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## countrytime

Nathanaf8388 said:


> @countrytime
> Under a 2013 Indiana law, rabbits may be slaughtered and processed without inspection and sold at a farmers market under the following conditions**:
> 1. The product must be frozen at the point of sale.
> 2. The product includes a label that contains the following information:
> â¢ Name and address of the producer,
> â¢ Common or usual name of the product,
> â¢ Ingredients of the product,
> â¢ Net weight and volume of the product,
> â¢ Date the food was processed, and
> â¢ Statement of exemption (for example, the phrase âExempt under IC 16-42-5-29â).
> â¢ Statement, in 10-point type: âThis product is home-produced and processed in a production area not inspected by ISDH.â
> 
> That's our newest legislation.


Thanks for the updated info--I didnt know that. I have never pursed the Farmers Market, as I'm too afraid of someone suing me claiming they got sick from my product...I like my home too much...


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## Nathanaf8388

If you have a burea of animal health in your state shoot em an email they have been more than willing to email me back with information. Looks like one government entity that is serving its intended purpose.


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