Dispatching Breeder Rabbits

[The15thMember]

As many of you know, my family raises meat rabbits, and we are going to be switching from New Zealands to Silver Foxes, so we are going to butcher our breeder rabbits along with our final litter of New Zealands next weekend.  For our young rabbits, we use a kill board to dispatch them, where you put their neck into a groove cut into a piece of wood mounted on the wall, give a quick yank on their legs, and it separates the spinal cord below the skull.  We are concerned however that this method won't work well with the older breeder rabbits, as they are bigger and more difficult to restrain and have more developed bone structure than the 12 week old ones we typically butcher.  Does anyone have experience dispatching older rabbits?  Will the kill board still work for them?  If not, what is the best method? 

[animal]

This video has 2 or 3 methods demonstrated.
My grandad used basically the same as what the video calls a "karate chop". The difference was that he used a tire billy (a short club for checking tires). He would also kill at least 50-100 at a time. I've used the chin push thing, also in the video, but only on wild rabbits which are probably much smaller than your breeders(and they will try to bite).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOnkVbcYXRQ

[The15thMember]

Thanks.  We've been talking about it and honestly, we think we are going to be more comfortable shooting them.  My mom saw a video where someone just set them in a cardboard box or a plastic bin and shot them with a pellet gun or a very high powered BB gun.  We don't have either of those guns, so we'd probably have to use our .22.  It's probably a little much, but as Brandon Sheard from the Homestead Meatsmith says, "On butchering day, there is no such thing as overkill when it comes to the kill."  Any advice along the lines of shooting them instead would be welcome.     

[animal]

In that case, maybe a .22 short out of a revolver, bore contacted to the rear base of the skull aimed at the brainstem / cerebellum.

but ... I'm a gun nut, and I'd still use a 1' - 1' 6" club (piece of axe handle or 3/4" steel pipe or something like that) or do it by hand. Gunshots aren't a magic kill .. unless it's a .50BMG (sick joke and pretty much true)
(rabbit screams kinda get to me and I like the fuzzy little buggers, so I try to err on the side of quick, sure kill. Using a gun in this situation can be a little tricky)

good luck, be safe, and try to not let your dinner suffer. 

[The15thMember]

Using a gun in this situation can be a little tricky

What specifically about it would be tricky?  Everyone except my dad is pretty new to guns, and he's no expert either, but we do butcher our own goats, so we know what it's like with a larger animal, but not a small one. 

[Terri Yaki]

This is definitely the worst part of meat eating. I would have trouble with this.

[gww]

I have not did very many rabbits. The ones I did do. I used a board or bat and hit them real hard at the base of the skull and am sure it did the same as your kill board was doing.  Mine were also mostly smaller wild rabbits caught in box traps.  I have did a big rabbit the same with the same effect.  I don't like it great cause I am not as coordinated as I could be and sometimes it takes two tries to get done what could have been one with a perfect shot.  I would think though that a sharp blow should kill most rabbits regardless of size but don't claim it is the best way.
Good luck

[The15thMember]

This is definitely the worst part of meat eating. I would have trouble with this.

It's hard at first, but when you are raising your own meat, you very quickly realize how little the animals suffer (if everything goes well, they don't suffer at all) compared to meat you purchase in the grocery store.  You have the luxury of not thinking about it at all when you buy meat, but when you raise it yourself, you have the peace of mind knowing that the animal was treated with dignity and compassion, even on butchering day.  Plus the meat is WAY cleaner and tastes WAY better. 

I have actually come to really enjoy butchering day.  It's a little emotional sometimes, and it's a lot of work, but it's interesting to break down an animal and learn what you can from seeing inside it, and it's extremely satisfying to eat that meat after all the hard work you put in, not only on butchering day, but over the course of the animal's life, especially when the animal's life was a good one.   

[The15thMember]

I don't like it great cause I am not as coordinated as I could be and sometimes it takes two tries to get done what could have been one with a perfect shot. 

This is the other concern I have about any of these methods where you are striking the rabbit.  My father's job on butchering day is the actual killing of the animal, and his hand eye coordination for something like that is rather poor (he had a traumatic brain injury when I was young, so that sort of thing is difficult for him now).  He can easily hold something steady, and shooting a gun is no trouble for him, but for example, when he's hammering, it's difficult for him to hit the nail every time.  I think that sort of "strike a mark with an instrument" thing would be difficult for him.   

[BeeMaster2]

Reagan,
Rabbits are rather easily dispatched. Many years ago, rabbits were eating my in-laws garden. I took a BB gun to dispatch them. I shot three rabbits and each one jumped into the air and fall dead. I had never seen anything like it before.
I recommend that you try using your tried and true method before trying a new method.
Jim Altmiller

[iddee]

I have killed many young and old tame rabbits. I just set them on a table, holding them by the scruff, and using a stick of firewood or similar, give them what we call a rabbit punch. A sharp whack to the back of the head at the neck. Never had a failure.

[gww]

I have just karate chopped them where the neck attaches to the skull and it worked ok too.  You talk about butchering.  I have did quite an lot of it in my life but it is hard work, I don't care what anyone says.  I do not go as far as I used to to save every single scrap any more as I did when younger.  I did pick a bunch of wild grapes and some autumn olives today and the wife is making jelly as I type and so I get it but it is hard.  We made a bunch of acorn flour last year or year before and you can not tell me we didn't come out behind using the ovens and dehydrators for what we got.  I grew tomatoes and made some spaghettis sauce and decided it was impossible to make that cheaper then I could buy it but did it anyway.  I do get it but it is labor intensive and if is something that takes heat, even worse.  I would say apple sauce is ok if you have a big copper kettle and all day and your own wood, at least money wise.  It is good to know you can do it if you need to though.  Keep it up and keep telling us about it.
Cheers
gww

[salvo]

Hi Folks,

Copy and paste here, then see the link for the rest of the story:

I have used two basic processes for slaughtering rabbits. The first method is achieved by holding the rabbit and then hitting the rabbit on the back of the head with a blunt object. I use a short piece of re-bar, which seemed to work very well. Just use good aim and do not hit your hand. The second method also works well and is my method of choice. This method is called the ?broomstick method.? Basically, you lay the rabbit down on the ground, and put a bar across the back of the neck stepping down on either end of the bar, with a swift motion, you pull up on the hind legs, dislocating (breaking) the neck of the rabbit. This is called cervical dislocation. It is an extremely quick method for killing the rabbits, and leaves little room for any mistakes to be made. Others use a high powered pellet gun or a 22cal pistol or rifle. I have seen and used a ?Killing Board? this was a board with a V cut in it. The head of the rabbit was slid into the V and pulling fast and hard downward, it dislocated the neck and was extremely quick. I will be making some of these and will post more information on this.

https://riseandshinerabbitry.com/2012/04/10/slaughter-and-butchering-rabbit/

Sal

[The15thMember]

Thanks, everyone.  So it seems like even with older rabbits, it's still possible to kill them through some method of cervical dislocation, which makes me wonder if the kill board would still work.  To sort of circle back to my question in reply #4, what would be a reason NOT to use the gun?

[gww]

Call me cheap, but using the gun is a more expensive way, and maybe even not as humane to do something that I don't believe is too hard.  This statement does not make using one bad either.  Do what you feel most comfortable doing that gets the job done.
Cheers

[animal]

As someone that has used a gun to euthanize animals from the size of newborn puppies to horses, IMO ... euthanizing a small animal( less than 40lb. or so) with a gun is harder than a larger one.(from the standpoint of making it instantaneous)

By "tricky' I meant They can move or jerk around faster and more unpredictably, increasing the chance of ruining the perfect shot. It's harder to get the perfect angle while immobilizing the animal yourself, unless you're using a pistol (and having an assistant is a HUGE NO-NO for the inexperienced). Pellet rifle wouldn't creep me out because the consequences of the shot going into the wrong animal would be far less.

I have never shot a rabbit except hunting so I'm inexperienced in that, but brains work pretty much the same way in different animals.

I'm almost certain that bore contacted to the head and into the braincase with a .22 would do the trick to instantly kill, likewise with a pellet rifle (except to the forebrain perhaps). Rabbit brains aren"t very big, after all, and bore contact would maximize overpressure inside the skull. Most probably, the overpressure without bore contact would be more than enough, so bore contact is in the "overkill" category. Destruction of the hind brain is ideal since it shuts off signals to the body causing instantaneous flaccid parylazation as well as stopping the heart and breathing. The overpressure provides a shock to the rest of the brain to take care of the "consciousness" aspect. However, I've never done this with a rabbit, opting instead for other methods.
 If I had to kill a bunch of captive rabbits, I'd opt for the club, since in theory, it provides both partial internal decapitation and a physical shock to the brain. I also have never seen a kill board much less seen one used and that's the only reason I wouldn't use it. Since your dad's aim with a club may not be good, or if he's not comfortable doing it that's out. Salvo's broomstick method sounds really good, but with the kill board, the weight of the rabbit is working for you.

Your dad's comfort/confidence is what's important in choosing a method.

for those disturbed by mentioning puppies ... mother dog died after birthing them because of heartworms and it was long before there was a cure for them. I used a .22 rifle bore contacted to the head on them, but new puppies don't move around much in a shoebox. The dogs were owned by an idiot down the road. I got the job he supposedly "couldn't do" after he did nothing for her. Same with one of the horses, but a different reason and a different idiot. (I've gotten stuck with sucky jobs for no pay too often.)

[iddee]

Reasons to not use a gun.

Cost

Safety

[The15thMember]

Thank you very much, animal.  I was figuring that the small anatomy of a rabbit was going to be the reason, but thank you for such a detailed explanation.  Our rabbits are very tame, so there is not going to be any issue restraining them or with them moving suddenly, I wouldn't imagine.  We have talked about the broomstick, but I can't see that something like that won't stress the rabbits out, so that's not really to our liking.  I understand that the kill itself is humane, but there is no way the rabbits are going to be calm having a broom pressed down on their necks, it's too much like a predator restraining them.  I'll pass on everything you said to my parents and see what they think.  As gww said, whatever my dad is most comfortable with is going to be best.     

And there is nothing disturbing about the puppies.  Sometimes it's just better to not let an animal suffer any longer.  We've used the BB gun on rabbit kits twice.  Once we had a kit with a physical deformity who wasn't developing properly, and another time we had one get a really nasty sore that just wouldn't get better.     

[The15thMember]

So we talked about it and we're going with the gun.  The biggest concern is that the older rabbits are much stronger than the young ones, and my dad is pretty sure that he won't be able to hold them by the feet like he needs to to use the kill board.  He feels like the stress on the rabbit is going to be much worse if they struggle, and they probably will, since we often have to wrangle them to trim their nails and such.  Whereas if we set them in a cardboard box, they will just quietly sit, and Dad can easily shoot them with minimal stress. 

Where do you think would be best to aim?  We shoot our goats from behind, between the horns, aiming for the bullet to come out the mouth.  (You shouldn't shoot a goat from the front, their skulls are too thick.)  Would something like that be good here as well?     

[animal]

You're welcome, but everyone else on this thread, without exception, has given good advise.

It seems to me, the broomstick method could be extremely quick and safe with 2 people. Your dad handling the rabbit while someone else handles the broom. The time between the clamping and the yanking could easily be reduced to a fraction of a second
The response by a prey animal being grabbed by the neck is often to go into shock/panic. Not necessarily a bad thing.

You guys are most familiar with the kill board.

Shooting a rabbit in a box  sitting on soft ground sounds safe enough, but them moving around is still a concern, and the subsequent rabbits may well react to the smell of blood.

The way a death looks and actual physiological responses in the dying animal are often quite different. "Humane" is a subjective term and often defined by how things look to us.

As with everything in life or death, there is no perfect choice; only the best one according to your abilities.