For many people, feeding and caring for furry animals is not difficult, but as soon as the time comes to slaughter rabbits, they fall into a stupor. You can’t call the procedure enjoyable, but without it it’s absolutely pointless to breed feed rabbits. Breeding rabbits is a favorite pastime for most farmers, because thanks to it, through the slaughter of rabbits, there are always delicious dishes from fresh dietary meat on the dining table. In addition, the sale of skins and gastronomic delicacies brings a good profit.
Slaughter of rabbits
What are the signs to determine that it is time to slaughter an animal
The time must be chosen depending on the goals. If you want to get tender rabbit, you can kill on any day after the rabbit reaches the desired parameters. If it is important to get not only meat products, but also high-quality skin, it is necessary to take into account some nuances. Of great importance is the molting stage: if you slaughter the rabbit before the due date, you will get a poor-quality hide, from which half the villi will fall out after a short time.
Useful tips for choosing the most suitable time for slaughter:
- Those born in the winter months are best scored at the age of four months.
- If okrol happened in the summer months, in November all stages of molting will be completed.
- Inoculated individuals should not be killed if less than 30 days have passed since the procedure.
- For most breeds, the time when the average rabbit is 1.6 kg in weight is considered optimal for slaughter.
- The best period for slaughter is from November 1 to March 15.
Process features
The main mistake of many, especially beginners, rabbit breeders, is emotional attachment to animals, because of it it is easy to be horrified at the mere thought that at some age they will have to be killed, skinned and cut into pieces. Therefore, often beginners do not dare to do reprisals with their own hands.
But nowhere to go, sooner or later it will be necessary to collect his thoughts and kill the rabbit. If it’s easier, you can ask your forgiveness before slaughtering the rabbit at home. It is important to remember that the faster life leaves the eared, the less suffering it will experience. Before the procedure, be sure to take the animal to a veterinary examination: patients should not be slaughtered. The doctor will also tell you how to kill a rabbit as quickly as possible.
If you do not have the opportunity to get advice from a professional, first watch a video on how to prepare a rodent for slaughter and how to cut it. Remember that in such a case as slaughtering a fur-bearing beast, a solid hand and speed are important.
What tools will be needed
There are so many ways to quickly slaughter a rabbit, so many inventory options. But there is also universal equipment, for example, a hanger-strut, with its help it is convenient to remove the skin by hanging the carcass by its hind limbs.
Such a spacer can easily be built independently. It consists of hooks (fastenings on a support where the hanger is hung) and a horizontal tube-hanger with sharp hooks (rabbit legs cling to them). To better understand how the device should look, it is better to find its photo on the Internet and consider it in detail.
Bloodless slaughter is most convenient and easiest to carry out with a thick wooden stick, which is popularly called a killer. You can cut carcasses with any large knife. It is imperative to sharpen it well before the procedure, since it is impossible to accurately cut the skin with a blunt blade.
And, of course, not a single slaughter and carcass cutting can do without special utensils, where various internal organs will be folded. So that after the procedure the room remains relatively clean, before cutting it is necessary to substitute a basin under the rabbit carcass into which all the blood will merge.
How best to slaughter an animal
All methods are divided into those that flow with blood and those without it. The latter are much more humane, due to the fact that animals almost do not suffer before death.
- During the bloodless method, the slaughterer's primary task is to shut off the rabbit's central nervous system. Only after killing the animal, it is possible to start bleeding from it.
- During a blood fever, the slaughterer simply makes an incision in the artery and leaves the animal in limbo bleeding until the last red drop leaves the carcass.
The main role in choosing a method is played by the cultural characteristics of the people, which include the rabbit breeder. For example, bloody slaughter is preferable for adherents of Islam, since it is believed that while the heart muscle is contracting, the rate of exit of blood from the carcass is greater. But in Europe in the first place humanism, so they use bloodless methods that save the animal from terrible pain.
How to kill an animal in a bloodless way
First of all, the animal must be immobilized and the central nervous system disabled in order to remove sensitivity. This is done as follows:
- To cause a quick death, the rabbit takes his hind legs in his left hand and drops his head down. After that, with the right hand with the help of a wooden stick, an aimed sharp blow is made to the occipital region. Put maximum effort for this, only in this way it will turn out to kill the animal from the first blow and rid it of further suffering.
- From a good blow to the right place, the spinal cord collapses and instant death occurs. Blood flows through the ears, nose and mouth. Experienced farmers do not need a killing stick, they cope with the edges of their own right palm.
Killing in French
Only an physically strong person, one who has strong arms and a developed shoulder apparatus, can kill an animal in this way at home. Otherwise, after the first time the goal will not be achieved, respectively, the fluffy will suffer for a long time.
It is necessary to put the rabbit on a horizontal plane, with one hand cover both his legs, with the other - ears. You need to grab it as tightly as possible so that at the most important second the animal does not slip out of the palms.
After the rabbit relaxes and stops twitching, you should sharply spread your arms on different sides. From a strong jerk inside the carcass, the vital arteries will rupture and death will occur in a second. Better to watch a video describing a similar technique.
Electric current for quick slaughter
You can quickly kill a rabbit with a strong current discharge, but to implement this method, you need a special device: an electric cord at one end of which has 2 sharp metal pins, and a plug at the other.
The first pin should be carefully inserted into the buttock of the animal, the second - in the neck between the ears or in the temple. The minimum effective current is 5 amperes. After completing the preparatory steps, you need to turn on the stun gun in the network, and as soon as the animal is shocked, it will die immediately.
Fracture slaughter
In order to take the animal’s life at home, you can roll his head with a sharp movement. To do this, you need to cover the back of the body with your right hand and the neck with your left hand (fingers should close under the chin). In order to break the cervical vertebrae, you need to turn the left arm at least 250 ° C.
Air embolism
To kill in this way, it is necessary to let the air through the veins. You need to take a large syringe or a rubber bulb and run into the vein located on the rabbit ear as much air as possible. This method cannot be called the most humane, since death occurs after the minute suffering of the animal.
Firing pin
To slaughter rabbits in this way, you need to purchase a pin-needle. This is a special device that shoots with a needle. The main thing that is required is to correctly determine the zone, relf stab. To do this, mentally draw two lines: the right eye - the left ear and the left eye - the right ear. You need to shoot as accurately as possible at the point of intersection.
The animal expects instant death. In this way, rabbits are usually slaughtered in countries where bloody methods are prohibited by law.
The most suitable time for slaughter
So at what age are rabbits slaughtered, and how to properly prepare them for slaughter? Slaughtering a farm rabbit at home requires a certain amount of time. The time of killing should be determined individually in each case. But one way or another, you should always take into account the date of the inspection:
- Rabbits were born in the first month of summer - you need to slaughter around the beginning of winter at six months of age, provided that they are in normal weight.
- The appearance of rabbits occurred in July - the ideal time for slaughter - the average period of winter (from December 15 to January 15).
- Animals were born at the end of the summer season or in the first autumn days - they are killed at the end of January.
- The birth of rabbits occurred in early January - you can cut them in late March - early April.
These juices are very arbitrary, focusing primarily on the purpose of breeding and the state of health of the animal. Much depends on the intensity of feeding. For example, if a rabbit eats an insufficient amount of food per day, he simply will not have time to gain weight by the prescribed time, for this he needs to be held for several more days in order to have time to feed and make up for weight loss.
How to prepare for slaughter
How to hammer a farm rabbit correctly and not harm the skin? Each rabbit breeder should know the basic rules for preparing for slaughter:
- The rabbit must be hungry before slaughter. Individuals selected for killing are kept separate from their counterparts. During the day before the procedure, animals should not be given food (you can only drink). It is necessary that all feces leave the rabbit body during their lifetime and cannot harm the meat and skin during slaughter.
- A visit to the veterinarian should not be neglected. It is important to make sure that all individuals are completely healthy. The meat of a sick animal is dangerous for a person eating it.
- Pregnant rabbits and newly born cubs that are still actively growing are not subject to slaughter.
- If a large killing rabbit must hold the beast tight so that it does not break.
- If there is a child in the house, care must be taken that he is not present during the procedure, otherwise there is a high probability of causing serious injury to the fragile children's psyche.
Flashing rabbit carcasses
In order to properly refresh a dead rabbit's carcass, you must perform the following steps:
- Hang the carcass by the hind legs on the strut.
- Make a circular incision in the area of each knee. We must try to work with a knife as carefully as possible to damage less skin. Make another cut on the skin along the path of the inner contour of the legs to the tail zone.
- With a minimum of effort, begin to tighten the skin in the direction of the front legs.
- Cut off the tail, both ears. It is important to try to cut as close to the base as possible. Make circular cuts on the wrist of each forelimb. Incise the skin in the area of the eyes and muzzle of the animal.
- Continue to gently pull the skin, as the ears are already cut off, it will very easily separate the palate from the head.
Skinning is mandatory only by killing and releasing blood from the animal to the end. After completing the procedure, you can start dressing the skins.
Skinning and conservation
The skinned skin must be pulled onto a special frame and the remaining muscle and adipose tissue of the animal removed from it. This can only be done with a sharp knife. Movements must be made at right angles so as not to accidentally harm the entire surface of the skin.
The second stage is conservation. It is necessary to stretch the skin on the rule (a special device that visually resembles the letter "A", which consists of 2 rods and a jumper). It is necessary to ensure that adjacent parts of the skin do not touch, and its edges are not bent, otherwise the product will begin to rot and become unusable.
The rule should be stored in a ventilated room, the air temperature in which does not exceed 30 ° C. Do not allow direct sunlight to fall on the skin, otherwise it will dry out and begin to crack. Dampness and cold have a negative effect on the condition of the skin.
To protect rabbit fur from moths, naphthalene or similar preparations should be placed next to it.
Long-term preservation is not the best way to store. It is important to quickly find application for the skins, for example, turn it over to a sewing enterprise or industrial factory for the processing of furs.
Technological scheme of carcass cutting:
- Meat processing should begin with a cut along the abdomen, close to the pelvic area. The next cut should go from the lower abdomen towards the sternum.
- Hand should push the wall of the abdomen and carefully remove the insides. It is important to try not to damage the gall or bladder so that their contents do not get on the meat.
- Cut off the head in the region of the last cervical vertebra.
- Cut out the remaining internal organs, with the exception of the kidneys and their fat.
- On the line of the hock, make incisions along the hind legs.
- Form a carcass. To do this, make a small cut on each side, from 3 to 4 ribs, insert the front paws there, legs - fasten in the area of the hock joints. Alignment of the limbs should be done on the outer edge.
Useful Tips
There are some secrets that will help to understand that the molt has already completed:
- Dark spots are noticeable on the rabbit body (the rule does not apply to white individuals).
- Any molt begins in the area of the head and goes towards the tail, so the readiness test should begin with the tail.
- Rabbits molt 2 times a year.
- The first molt completely stops at four months of age, the second - after another four months.
- The easiest way to find out if an animal sheds is to pull out a piece of fur from it. If you do not make any effort for this, then the rabbit is still molting.
The ideal cutting knife is chosen according to the following principles:
- The sharper the blade, the better.
- The size of the knife should not be small, but not too large. It is permissible to use your favorite kitchen knife, which makes working at home as comfortable as possible.
Now you know what you need to kill the animal and how to properly slaughter a rabbit without damaging the skin.
