# Butchered 1st Rabbits - how old is too old?



## Milk n' Honey (Aug 14, 2005)

Hi all! I just butchered my first group of rabbits. I've never butchered anything in my life. I did 7 of them and tonight, I finished dressing them and put them in the freezer. I waited a bit longer than the 9-11 week suggested age for butchering b/c they weren't very big and because I wasn't sure how to go about it. I think they were about a month older than that. Is that going to make a huge difference in the way the meat will taste? I sure hope not. It took a lot of time to do all that. I had to throw one rabbit away because when I got the carcass out to wash it down and separate the pieces, I realized that I hadn't gotten all the anal tract removed and it still had some feces in it. Rather than taking a risk, I threw the whole thing away. So, I ended up with 6 rabbits in the freezer. The total weight was like 17.4 lbs not including the organ meats. Also, some of the meat was blood stained or tainted. How can I prevent this? I wasn't sure how long the rabbit had to hang to bleed out before I skinned and gutted it. Did I not wait long enough? I'm sure I'm making mistakes but I don't know what else to do. I think I did OK though. Are there any tricks to getting that anal tract removed easily? There is a bone all the way around and the piece of intestine doesn't want to let go and I'm so afraid to contaminate the meat with feces. That was really difficult. Next time, I'll try and remember to withhold food and water the day before. That would really help, I think. Thanks for any help!!


----------



## Jennifer L. (May 10, 2002)

I wouldn't have thrown that rabbit away. Really, all you have to do is wash the meat well and get it cooled down quickly. 

As for the pelvis, you have to break it to get that bit out. You'll have to break it to cut the rabbit up, anyway. I use a pair of garden shears, but good poultry shears would do the same thing and probably better.

I'm not sure what you mean by blood stained meat. On the outside or just the meat had it inside? If you mean inside the meat, this is also something that doesn't bother me, but I believe if it bothers you a soak in vinegar water might help get rid of some of the blood.

What do others think?

Jennifer


----------



## Pat Lamar (Jun 19, 2002)

Soaking the meat overnight in salted water will also remove the blood and resulting in a wonderfully clean carcass.

Breaking that pelvic bone is the only way of getting that bit of anal tract out. Thoroughly washing the carcass with clean water should do just fine instead of having to toss the carcass.... *unless* the feces were very soft and loose (e.g., diahhrea), in which case I would have tossed the carcass, too. Never know what may have caused the diahhrea, so it's best to be safe.

Pat Lamar
President
Professional Rabbit Meat Association
http://www.prma.org/
Chairperson, ARBA Commercial Department Committee


----------



## Pat Lamar (Jun 19, 2002)

Oops... forgot about your original question of "How old is too old?"

Over 12 weeks of age, the rabbits' hormones tend to really kick in hard. This will make the meat tougher. Does are slower to mature during the fryer stages, and can often pass as "fryers" up to 14 weeks of age. Processors, however, like to play it safe and normally will not accept anything over 12 weeks of age or a certain weight for the meat breeds. Anyway, what you have are "roasters" and not fryers. Over six months of age, they become "stewers" and would definitely need to be crock-potted or stewed for several hours. Roasters, however, can be cooked as fryers if parboiled, first. So, it's all in how you want to cook them. Some even claim that the older rabbits taste better.

Pat Lamar


----------



## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

what breed do you have that they were not up to size in the alotted amount of time? some breeds just dont grow to the same size as one would expect or something may be a little off with your genetics or feeding there are alot of variables at play


----------



## Milk n' Honey (Aug 14, 2005)

The reason I threw out the rabbit was because it sat in the fridge for 24 hours with that anal tract still in it and when I spread the back legs and started to cut them away from the carcass, I could smell that stuff. I thought since it sat in there like that for 24 hours, the feces could have leached out into the carcass a bit. None of the rabbits has any loose stool when I butchered them but it looked as though while the carcass sat overnight, the feces absorbed some water from the carcass and became watery. It was enough to make me not want to take any chances. Yuck. I had a tough time getting all the anal tracts out. I was nervous about trying to remove the anal tract and having the poop fall out and touch the meat. Ewww. Next time, I'll be withholding food and water. That will make it easier. The bladders were all full and there was a lot of feces to deal with. Live and learn!! 

So, are you saying that I can't fry the meat because it will be too tough? What is parboiled? I saved the whole front half of the carcass to pressure cook and use for stew meat. I'm not very experienced with rabbit meat. I only cooked it once and I made something up for that. Haha...I slow cooked it in mushroom gravy and threw in some french cut green beans to make it interesting. I had my parents over and everyone loved it so I guess it was OK. The rabbit meat was very tender and tasted mostly like chicken. It was a fryer though...smaller than these. Thanks for all your help!!


----------



## Pat Lamar (Jun 19, 2002)

No, I'm not saying that you "can't" fry the meat... only that you may find it a bit tough if you do. But don't take my word for it... try it. 

"Parboiled" means to boil the meat for 15-20 minutes, then fry it.

Pat Lamar


----------



## APPway (May 27, 2005)

also on older rabbits I remove the meat and grind it into burger you can add fat if you want as it is not real fatty I mix in lard. And when it is ground you can make sausage, Burgers or any other recipe you would use ground meat in.
Seasoned well it taste wonderful

APPway


----------



## Al. Countryboy (Oct 2, 2004)

My wife is home this week so I decided to butcher some of our rabbits today also. I think that they have just turned 10 weeks old. They have not grown as fast as my later winter bunch. I have sixteen that have been in the rabbit tractor for over a month and killed 8 of those today. Will wait a few days before doing the other 8. It seems that I have about 3 that are smaller than the rest so they may get an extra week in the tractor. Things seem to go faster and smoother each time for me when I butcher and I'm sure it will for you also.  We decided to cook the section that hasa the rib cage and front legs in a large pot with a few seasonings and add some BQ suace to be put in the freezer. We really did enjoy the last ones we did this way.


----------



## animalfarmer (Feb 14, 2006)

Hi Milk n' Honey,I sent you a P.M. I it is useful.Regards,John.


----------

