Rabbit questions (as food)

[Millymollymandy]

My brother arrived yesterday to stay and he has a farming background.

When he saw me with the hens, he said "You're stroking them!". When I said, surprised, "Well, yes, why not?" he replied, "You'll turn them into pets!!"

Duh, what does he think they are already?

[ina]

Just tell him animals can be pets and still productive! After all, you have no problem taking away all their nice little eggs, which are potential babies, the loss of which could cause them serious stress....

Most farmers I know love their animals and hate to see them suffer. Although they easily take them to the abbattoir at the end of their allocated livespan, they'd still hate to loose them, say to foot and mouth, or a flood or fire. You do have to be careful though if you befriend some larger animal in it's youth - say an orphan calf, that grows up into a massive big cow or bull and then still wants to play with you as it did as a sweet little calf! They don't understand that your strength hasn't grown the same as theirs... That can get dangerous.

Well, not much danger of your hens running you over, though.

Ina

[Wombat]

Tell it like it is, Ina

[floot]

Rabbits [in Australia] used to be sold with heart/lungs/diaphragm & kidneys in as a guage to freshness and quality. It was also done to stop the rib area drying out. Mostly they are left in if you bake them or the heart/lungs removed and given to the dog and something else jammed into the rib cage. Bill Mollison suggests quince, onion would be fine.

The kidneys were always left in and considered a delicacy, something we kids asked for along the lines of the wishbone in a chicken.

Cheers

Floot