Dennis Hillier

Definitely was a sad day for me, my buck Frosty and doe blueberry were two of my favorite rabbits. Old frosty was a Californian and that little dude would stand on his hind legs and clap and rub his front paws together when he would see me coming. He would do anything to get my attention and hang out, I actually tried to nurse him along after his accident but had to put him down eventually as he was not going to survive for the long term.

I have raised meat rabbits since around 2016 and built a colony setup in 2020. My first negative happened within the first week and a half with the breeding rabbits just going nuts and the bucks were in separate areas but also horsing around. Three of my best does and a buck broke their own backs. After that things went well for awhile and then it got to a point with breeding a few does and then the occasional buck from a previous litter slips through the cracks and is in with the does resulting in litters that weren’t planned on .This has resulted in quite a few litter losses when does have had unexpected litters in the dead of winter. We found that they are not as well socialized with people in a colony which makes them difficult to catch especially if its for a customer. We have decided to custom build 12-15 separate housing units and a couple decent sized grow out cages inside the current enclosure for the rabbits this spring. We separated some already into a hutch that I built and that seems to be a safer and better alternative for us.

I was in a similar situation and was with someone that dramatically increased the amount of different animals on the homestead. When things ended I was driving truck 12-13 hours a day for a big orchard operation making deliveries. The solution that worked best for me was to rehome a lot of the critters down to a handful of breeding stock and offer my neighbors free vegetables so there was little waste. I then took a year to regroup and find a better work life balance and slowly rebuilt things as I got into another relationship. It worked for me and still allowed me to keep a few critters that could be utilized to breed when I was in a better situation

We have also grown comfrey from the same source and sell some trees and plants but honestly the shipping, digital payments and everything that you need to be on top of to sell online doesn’t trip my trigger and it definitely hinders us financially. I ran into one issue selling through facebook marketplace where the customer sent a check and we shipped her comfrey out the next day. Like 3-4 weeks later she messaged us and says she never received anything, normally I am fairly organized but we think we misplaced or accidentally threw out the post office shipping information. We were traveling to her state so we arranged to bring some comfrey and meet her about half hour from her home but last minute she couldn’t make it. It’s nice to earn a little money but wish we could just sell locally and earn a living.

Hi, we’re a middle aged couple renovating a farmhouse on a one acre homestead in Vermont. We have had a few experiences with a woman joining us and like your personal experience we to found them to be wearing a mask so back to square one. In an ideal world we are looking to connect with a woman that is open to love, maybe has an alpha personality and wanting a positive long term relationship. Happy to chat if you’re open to unconventional partnerships.

I haven’t tried storing Jerusalem artichoke in sand or compost, my experience is they don’t keep very well and storage space would be difficult for a winter’s worth stored in the above scenario. I do feed them Jerusalem artichokes May through October along with my other animals, supply starts dwindling by the end of the season.

I’m all ears, please continue

The only place I have is the seller in my old farmhouse, but I typically don’t store things down there. It can get a little humid. I have an unheated workshop area that I keep most of my stuff in inside milk crates, and it stays typically in the low 40s there winter.

I did a little research on the suggestions from people in this post and there seems to be a pattern of not recommending certain turnips and other root crops as a steady diet due to high sugar or starch levels. I read an article from the 1940’s that said many meat rabbit farmers fed a regular diet of these French turnips with no issues. It sounds like it’s one of those just try it scenario’s, our rabbits are pretty well versed in eating root vegetables and greens so I am hoping a transition away from
pellets might not be to difficult.

I seem to recall the particular article referencing a turnip variety that was pretty large. I will check out the beet variety that you mentioned as that might be an option as well. Thanks!