I find it appropriate to start this blog as winter gives way to spring, a new chance, a new start. As roving bands of turkeys strut through my yard in all their gaudy glory, I realize winter truly is over. Our end of winter in rural Eastern Oregon usually ends the same, a torrent of rain melts the snow creating a landscape of mud and dead leaves, grey bark, and bare branches. Not the prettiest time of year, this is the patient waiting time of year, nothing is growing, nothing is happening yet…..
Winter isn’t quite as long as it is at my sister’s home in Alaska, but its long enough. I have several things that keep me occupied until spring blossoms. My greenhouse, where I can wrap myself in pretend spring, plant my flowers and vegetable starts and my favorite, waiting for babies that are born on my homestead. Sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens, and some years, turkeys! I find the rabbits to be the most satisfying and challenging animals to raise. I do love going out to the rabbit barn and finding a perfect nest of fur and hay made in a nest box. I know if I gently move that fluff of hair aside I will find a pile of tiny, hairless and blind kits. This is my springtime, tiny fragile life ready to fill my farm with insanity and joy!
At our homestead, we have raised many varieties of rabbits and after much trial and error, we have settled on raising purebred and pedigreed show quality Rexs. We raise rabbits for our own meat consumption, project animals for 4-H and FFA kids and as a breeding stock to other rabbitries. I have worked very hard to produce a line of rabbits who are versatile and beautiful. This year my daughter Mekenzi, convinced me to mix my rabbit breeds and produce rabbits specifically as pets. This goes against everything I have worked on with this line of rabbits, but a well thought out idea should never be ignored. As my sister April always says, “a farm is for family”, and there is nothing I enjoy more than my children showing genuine interest in our homesteading life.
Mekenzi’s reasoning is fairly sound, while rabbits are undeniably cute and adorable they are not known for friendly outgoing behavior. In fact, most rabbits seem to be on stuck on an instinctual autopilot. I can’t blame them though, everything loves to eat a rabbit. In the wilderness, rabbits are an extremely important food source, predator populations rise and fall with the wild rabbit populations. One of the friendliest rabbits I have come across is an English Lop, friendly, inquisitive and outgoing. They do have some faults that can make them challenging for an inexperienced rabbit owner, lanky bodies with thin hair and long ears are a liability in the cold and they must be very sheltered in the winter. Most rabbits enjoy the cold and survive very well in negative temperatures as long as they have protection from the wind and weather. Rex Rabbits are dual purpose rabbits, which mean they are good for meat and fur. They have very dense velvety fur and a compact meaty body with erect ears. They are friendly animals and usually quite calm as long as they have been held and socialized regularly as kits.
This batch of experimental rabbits are destined to be Easter pets. The mix of English Lop and Rex are exciting and very promising. They should be friendly, curious and beautiful. Part of Mekenzi’s well thought out plan was to address the holiday pet issue, the selling of Easter animals can be a very controversial subject. Every year thousands of animals are given to young children for Easter with good intentions but soon many of these animals die from neglect and ignorance or are abandoned after people realize that the cute Easter bunny is a lot of work and has a life expectancy of about 10 years. Fortunately, we live in a ranching and farming community with a very active 4-H and FFA and have less of a problem with unprepared animal owners. Even with that good fortune we still take steps to ensure customers are prepared. Whether the animals are destined for food consumption or as a pet, prospective customers are screened and educated and sent home with care information and they have the guarantee of a no question asked return policy. Taking the step to purchase any animal is very serious responsibility, animal neglect and abuse are never tolerated. We eat many of our animals on our homestead. They are considered livestock and are very important to my family, we are grateful every time a life is given for us. I take the responsibility for their well-being very seriously while they are on our farm. All animals should be free to enjoy that innate thing that makes them rabbits or chickens or sheep. With rabbits its giving them shelter, proper nutrition, and exercise. As they leave our farm I can only hope that we have performed our duty to these animals and they will enrich the lives of someone else.
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