Last updated
18 February 2012
Quest for the Good Life 
Rabbits can be kept easily as livestock and they have two real functions. The first is as a source of meat, the second as breeding stock for pets.
The breeds used for meat are the New Zealand Whites and the Californians. Commercially
they are kept in wire cages with little room to move. Food rations are limited and
they cannot exert normal rabbit behaviour.
To raise meat rabbits we would have to supply better conditions and this level of welfare combined with better feeding would make the economics not worthwhile.
However Debi specialises in Continental Giant Rabbits destined for pets, house rabbits and other breeders. She has excellent stock and housed in a roomy rabbit house where they can exhibit natural rabbit behaviour.
These rabbits are big! They eat well and get to be big bunnies.
Debi’s rabbit site is www.fieldview-
Now here comes the interesting bit from the garden point of view.
Big rabbits eat quite a lot. They drink a lot. They live on straw or shavings. This catches the urine and the pooh. With all of the hutches there is a constant supply of lovely nitrogen soaked hay and straw for the compost heap.
With a weekly topping up of the compost heap, we soon build a good pile. Every autumn barrow loads are moved on to the vegetable garden. In spring the same happens and the high straw content acts as a great soil conditioner. It’s not too rich in nutrients so it won’t burn or make root veg fork, but it lifts our clay soil and builds condition.
The composted hutch cleanings also have moulds and bacteria in them which also build the micro fauna and flora in the soil. If kept moist, the red worms go in by the hundreds and help to turn it into a partially broken down matter.
When we put this on the garden, the worms are added to the soil and they continue their good work in aerating and taking down material to lighten our heavy soil.
So the way we look at rabbits as livestock is not as themselves as the food, but the waste products that they produce that benefit our garden and it’s ability to produce better food for us. If a rabbit goes off and makes someone a wonderful pet then that’s another bonus.