United States Department of Agriculture

Commercial Rabbit Raising United States Department of Agriculture

Americans eat 25 to 30 million pounds of domestic rabbit meat each year. The rabbits come from small rabbitries with three or four hutches and from large commercial producers. Rabbit raising lends itself to both types of production. Rabbit meat is pearly white, fine-grained, palatable, and nutritious. It is a convenient source of high-quality protein and is low in fat and caloric content. Rabbitskins also have some commercial value. Better grades of rabbitskins may be dressed, dyed, sheared, and made into fur garments and trimmings. Some skins are used for slipper and glove linings, for toys, and in making felt. Fine shreds of the flesh part of the dried skins, which are often left after separating the fur for making felt, are used for making glue. Because of the relatively low value of skins from meat rabbits, a large volume is necessary to market them satisfactorily. An increasing demand for rabbits for laboratory and biological purposes offers opportunities to breeders living near medical schools, hospitals, and laboratories. Rabbits have made large contributions to research in venereal disease, cardiac surgery, hypertension, and virology, and are important tools in pregnancy diagnosis, infectious disease research, the development of hyperimmune sera, development of toxins and antitoxins, and the teaching of anatomy and physiology. A recent development in the rabbit industry has been the increased use by scientific personnel of various rabbit organs and tissues in specialized research. The availability of these byproducts has greatly facilitated many basic research programs.