Slaughtering or having your rabbits slaughtered yourself may require some courage, but believe me you will get a (honest) piece of meat in return.
Here are a few of the advantages and disadvantages of slaughtering yourself or having it slaughtered.

Advantages :

* you know what you eat, because you have provided it yourself.

* The rabbit has had a longer and more beautiful life.

* You are no longer part of the sick factory industry.

* The rabbit does not experience being caught in a wild way from a wire cage get pushed into a crate by a few dozen and travel hundreds of kilometers must be transported to arrive at the slaughterhouse exhausted in the end and then first having to witness hundreds of executions of others of their kind before to be electrocuted himself.





If you want to slaughter animals yourself or have them slaughtered, you should not feed them food with an additive against the disease coccidiosis at least for five days in advance. This is also written on the feed bags.
Feeding herbs such as parsley and celery seems to have a positively influence on the taste of rabbit meat. When slaughtering, ensure extremely hygienic conditions: slaughter in a cool environment with clean hands and clean, sharp knives. Keep a bucket of cold water and a clean towel handy in case you need to wash your hands in between.

You can kill a rabbit in several ways. A quick and painless way is by dislocation of the cervical vertebra. An act that seems easier than it is.



Hold the rabbit with one hand with the hind legs up. Place the thumb of the other hand on the back of the neck behind the ears.
With the fingers of the same hand, hold the bottom of the neck.
Press the thumb down and at the same time pull the rabbit up with a jerk.
Another method is to stun the rabbit with a stick with a stick on the back of its head and then immediately cut the neck artery and let the animal bleed to death. While bleeding to death, the rabbit will struggle vigorously. To prevent the splash of blood, hold the animal briefly in a bucket. 
But the most humane and quick way to kill a rabbit using a shooting mask , it works through the tightening of a strong spring and shoot at high speed in a release pin in the head of the animal. It is immediately slain in a quick and simple way. 






Once the animal has been killed, the first action is to empty the bladder.
Hold the rabbit by the front legs and rub its abdomen vigorously from the rib cage downwards.
You will see that the urine drains. Then, with a sharp knife, make a cut behind the Achilles tendons of both hind legs so that the rabbit can be hung from it.
For hanging a rabbit, it is best to buy stainless steel S-shaped hooks with sharp points. You can also drive two large new nails at eye level into a wooden wall or door before slaughter and hang the rabbit by its Achilles tendons. The animal hangs with the belly towards you and with the head down.



We continue the skinning with a
  sharp knife according to the lines shown in the photos. 



You can strip the skin in one go. Old animals, especially older rams, are sometimes difficult to skin. The skin can be very tight.
With younger animals, skinning is no problem.
Cut off the head after skinning.
Treat the skin carefully if you want to tan it. 





Then the abdominal cavity must be opened. You remove the intestines after you have cut the anus loose on the outside. Now be careful that no faeces come into contact with the meat. Place the liver on a clean dish.
You can bake it and eat it.  





Remove the diaphragm, lungs, and heart.
You can now remove the rabbit from the hooks or nails it has hung on. now remove the rear and front legs. Rinse any hair and blood from the meat with cold water.
Dry the bolt with a clean tea towel. you can then cut it into pieces to use for a meal, or put it in the freezer.
Slaughter waste is best buried deep in the garden immediately. Then rinse anything that has spilled blood. 



Back to slaughter.