whats the rules about slaughter ect for domestic rabbit.
I seem to think that nowadays you'll still need a poultry slaughter licence & various local authority permissions / licences and examinations , a special designed clean & dirty through flow despatching & gutting building . a room for the man from the ministry c/w telephone & his own toilet facility .It is an expensive set up.
Watch out for ALF's , UFAW ( they frequently lurk on sites like this ) and the like , as well as the RSPCA trying their hand at getting access to your premises.
At one time some guys had set up a mobile processing plant that you hired .. I can't seem to recall it being used much past the first two weeks as it was not cost effective.
I strongly caution , don't bother in doing commercial rabbits in the UK.
As far as I know there is now only one processor near Reevesby . Lincolnshire ( Woldsway foods
) .. They would never enter into a supply contract but always wanted your stock on their terms , people were frequently being eaten out of house and home when he suddenly said I don't need any rabbits this week .
Plus there were massive problem of live stock care and cariage to the slaughter house/ processing plant .. the rabbits could easily lose 6 ounces each on their final journey due to stress and dehydration ..you were paid on dress out weight or live weight at the procesing plant not live weight collected at your premises..
One of my associates was finding they were was losing over 40kg per collection .
The renumeration cheques were like lumpy diarrohea ..they arrived in fits and starts
Dont be led into being asked can I use you as a " Multiplier stock breeding unit " either for you'll end up with thousands of rabbits that are supposed to be saleable breeding stock and having to feed them at your own expense or cull them for the cat and dog food processors .
From my own experiences the only people to make long term money out of commercial rabbits in the UK are the equipment suppliers .
getting the rabbit to market at the correct weight with the best food conversion rate is a knife edge balancing act . Once the rabbit reaches the correct stage it needs to be sold PDQ or it starts eating you out of house and home .... now multiply that cost by say 500 or more rabbits every day .
I think our detailed figure for costings were 10 week old NZ hybrids were the target weight & profitable cost after that the feed costs went up in squares every 15 days till it was 18 weeks old .
Topic: Is There A Market For Rabbit Meat? (Read 38588 times)
