The purpose of keeping rabbits - getting meat and skins. You can get them only from a dead animal, and the slaughter is required to be carried out as humanely as possible for the animal and carefully, so as not to degrade the quality of the skin.
For many rabbit fellers, stabbing rabbits is not easy, so the proposed article will help you do this as quickly and bloodlessly as possible, and also tell you about the proper handling of skins at home.
Table of contents
How to select rabbits to slaughter
When breeding rabbits for meat, slaughter time is not of fundamental importance. The main thing is to get a rabbit enough mass. Rabbits are suitable for slaughter from the age of four months. With the right content, the weight of the animal should reach 3-4 kg by this age. With selective slaughter of the largest and healthiest animals, it is better to leave for breeding.
Connoisseurs of skins, it is desirable to select rabbits born in the winter. These animals have the best and high-quality fur. Skins of young animals, as well as rabbits, born in the summer, have a low cost.
A rabbit breeder should be aware that there are molts in eared animals:
- Age - two in the period from 1.5 to 6 months from the moment of birth;
- Seasonal - the first usually occurs in March-April, the second in September-October.
To determine the end of molting in a rabbit is simple. To do this, gently pinch eared by wool. Thick and durable hair keeps tight, but if the hair falls from a blow or a light touch, this is a sure sign of a pet's molt.
The best time to slaughter a fur rabbit is December-January.During this period, rabbits do not shed, and the fur is the most dense and valuable.
Preparing for slaughter: age for slaughter
The process of slaughtering, skinning and cutting a rabbit should not be delayed. It takes about 5 minutes for professionals. Therefore, the availability of everything you need will significantly speed up the process and will not affect the quality of meat and fur.
Preparation for slaughter is as follows:
- Rabbits are deposited and do not feed or drink for 10-12 hours. It is necessary to clean the intestines;
- Immediately before slaughter the rabbit should be washed and wait for the skin to dry.
For slaughter will require:
- Stick strut;
- 2 knives. One should be sharp for cutting, the other slightly blunted - to work with the skin;
- Several enameled bowls (pots or other similar containers);
- A basin of clean water and a few rags for wiping hands;
- A tool for slaughter, which is selected or manufactured, based on the chosen method;
Before slaughter it is worth watching the video of the correct slaughter and cutting of the animal. If there are acquaintances who keep rabbits, then it is advisable to carry out the first procedure under their supervision and guidance.
Rationally made stick-strut greatly facilitate the removal of the skin and cutting of the carcass. It is usually made of metal or wood.
The length of the even plank is about 20 cm, the edges are sharp and preferably the ends are bent around the circumference (at an angle) and upwards. The total length is about 30 cm. In the middle of the bar there should be a hook for its hanging, as well as a groove, which clearly marks the center of the bar.
How to score a rabbit: slaughtering methods
Now consider how to kill a rabbit. In practice, six fast, effective and bloodless methods of killing a rabbit are widespread. The choice of the most convenient of them is determined by the availability of experience and available tools:
- The bloodless method (muffling) is traditional for our country. - that is, a blow to the rabbit on the head with a blunt object. Its advantages are simplicity and the absence of the need to acquire complex devices. Death occurs fairly quickly, within a few seconds.
For the humane killing of a rabbit it is necessary to lift on its hind legs,let calm down and hit the back of the head with a wooden stick. For this, a piece of cuttings from a shovel 40-50 cm long is perfectly suitable. When striking it is important to correctly calculate the force. A strong blow can crush the skull and complicate the process of cutting. Even worse, it is too weak a blow, as the sight of the beating briar is not for the faint of heart. If this still happened, you should deliver another blow.
- The French method is rarely used here, but it is very common in Europe.. Rabbit taken by the hind legs, put horizontally or kept in the air. To kill a crawl it is necessary to lift it up and shake it sharply. For all the seeming simplicity of this method, it has drawbacks: it requires remarkable strength to shake an animal weighing 7–9 kg with one hand, as well as experience.
- With the help of electricity, slaughter of slaughter is carried out by large farms For what the animal's head is placed between two electrodes and killed by a current shock.
The warning does not apply to special electrical silencers that are specifically designed for this purpose. The only negative - such devices are not everyone can afford.
- Another option - perevalyvanie cervical vertebrae. For this, the rabbit is held with one hand on its hind legs, clasping to itself, the other tightly covering the head. With a sharp turn to the side, the cervical vertebrae break and the rabbit dies.
- With the help of a syringe, you can also pump air into the ear vein of an animal. This method is called air embolism. At home it is used extremely rarely. Most often used in medical institutions. A significant disadvantage is that death does not occur immediately, but the process of bleeding does not proceed completely, which impairs the consumer properties of meat and fur.
- Needle shooting - what is a special device like a syringe used for? The needle of the device, penetrating into the brain of the animal, contributes to its rapid and humane killing. The most effective is the piercing of the brain from the eye to the opposite ear.
After slaughter, the rabbit breeder needs to complete the bleeding of the animal’s carcass. To do this, the carcass by the hind legs is hung on a special stick-strut. The pointed ends of the stick should pierce the hind legs, spreading them the distance of the width of the frame. The puncture site should be below the knee joint. Ideally, if you can get between the bone and tendon.
To drain the blood, special cuts are made in the nose of the animal, or an artery in the neck is cut through the mouth with a thin knife through the mouth. Sometimes blood flow is provided by the removal of the eyeball. It will take 5-7 minutes to drain crocs. Making sure that the blood is drained into a container prepared in advance, you can proceed to skinning and cutting the carcass.
How to remove the skin
For quick and easy skinning with a sharp knife, it is necessary to make cuts as follows:
- Above the knee joint of the hind legs around the circumference;
- From the edge of the incision of the incision, a second incision is made along the inner side of the paw, then along the groin area to the incision on the other paw;
- The front paws (below the knee joint), the tail and ears are cut off;
After the cuts are made, the skin is carefully, slowly separated from the carcass. Reaching the front paws, they are gently released, after which the skin is removed from the head, although this part of the fur is of no special value.For a better understanding of the process, you can use the videos, which are many on the Internet or look at the work of a professional.
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Making rabbit skins at home for beginners
Now consider how to make a rabbit skin at home. For processing you need a special device - the rule. To make it is not difficult. What is necessary to put together three slats in the form of the letter "A". Moreover, the average bar should be movable. Even easier, you can make a rule of the board width of 25-30 cm. One end is narrowed and rounded. For convenience, you must have a board length from 80 to 100 cm.
Making the skin is not difficult. Work with her is carried out in the following order:
- Soaking is done to pre-remove dirt and foreign particles. Soaking occurs in a container with warm water (pelts must float freely) at a temperature of 40 degrees. Experienced furriers add a teaspoon of washing powder to 1 liter of water.For the removal of parasites, you can also add formalin (1 ml per liter of liquid) or sulfidine (2 tablets per liter of liquid).
Soak fresh skins must be within 3-4 hours.
- After removing dirt and foreign objects from the skin that is, removal of fat and muscle layer. For what the skin needs to be straightened on the board (evenly and without folds). Subcutaneous fat is gently removed with a blunt knife. When browsing, first begin to clean the skin of the head, gradually moving to the tail. The edges of the skins are cleaned movements to the right and left of the middle.
- After ripening, the skin must be degreased.. To do this, the skin is washed by hand with the usual washing powder, rinsing is performed. At the same time the skin can not be pressed. The water is allowed to drain, then the core (the inside of the skin is wiped with a dry cloth).
- Treatment of the skin with a solution of salt and acid is called a pickling. Its purpose is to remove adhesives, increase the strength and softness of the product. Pickling is performed using:
- Fermentation - soaking the skins for 3-4 days in solution (for 1 liter of warm water 200 grams of coarse oatmeal and a teaspoon of yeast);
- Neutralization - carried out for 12-16 hours in solution (50-60 ml of concentrated acetic acid plus 2 tablespoons of table salt are added to the entire solution per liter of warm water). After neutralization, the skins are kept for two days in a dry room at room temperature.
- Tanning is carried out by applying special tanning agents.. Its task is to improve the consumer qualities of the skin, increase strength and elasticity. What is necessary several times to treat the core of the warm broth of the bark of oak or pine. The number of times and the duration of treatment is determined by the ability of the core to soak in the decoction.
- After the skin has ceased to absorb moisture, carry out the fat, that is, grease the skin or cream. Zhirovka necessary to protect the skin from drying out.
- This is followed by the final stage - drying. For what the skin leaves in a stretched form for a day.
After performing this sequence of actions, the pelt can be safely stored or used to produce fur items.
How to cut a rabbit into meat
Now let's talk about how to carve a rabbit. Cutting the carcass requires an incision in the lower abdomen.This is usually done by one gentle movement from the bottom up (provided that the carcass is hanging). Then you need to break the inguinal bones, holding with both hands on the hips and turn them towards the back.
After performing this procedure, proceed to the extraction of internal organs. Produced in the following order:
- Separated bladder and ducts;
- For a piece of fur remaining after skinning, the intestines and stomach are pulled out;
- The gallbladder is trimmed along with the ducts;
- Removed the liver.
After removing the insides, the carcass is removed from the strut. Inedible part of the hind legs and head cut off. Next, the rabbit can be cooked, and if necessary, store the carcass should be placed in the freezer. The meat of a properly treated rabbit is reddish-pink in color with no odor.
As can be seen from the presented material - it is not difficult to score a rabbit. However, it requires a large stock of moral strength and practice. And immediately it is necessary to decide which method of slaughter to choose.
Finally, a short educational video on how to slaughter and chop a rabbit at home for beginners:
As stated in the old viral video - “Rabbits are not only valuable fur, but also 3-4 kilograms of dietary, easily digestible meat))”
none of the options for slaughter is not suitable for Muslims.