The Rural Voice, 1979-12, Page 10every doe gives six litters of ten rabbits a year, but there are
many times that a breeding is missed, or that rats play havoc
with the young ones."
The Hunters don't have many does now but they serve other
rabbit farmers, who want to sell a few fryers (41/2 to 6 lbs.), as a
depot. He buys the rabbits from the small farmer and takes them
once a week to "Sargent Farms" Ltd. in Milton, where they
butcher 2,000 to 3,000 rabbits a week. Hunter gets a few cents on
every pound he sells. For that he takes the risk of a rabbit dying
before it gets to Sargent's, and has h.is trucking costs.
At the moment there are three or four processing plants in
Ontario that handle rabbits.
Today the enormous ethnic market in Toronto and Hamilton
can absorb all rabbits that are produced. It is only since the
mid -seventies that the large food chains began to carry rabbit on
their shelves and now most of them carry at (east some. That is
because inspection of the meat became compulsory at that time.
The price of a fryer at the farm, Iiveweight, was 64c a lb. in
mid November. For the heavier ones of six pound or more the
price dropped drastically to 37 cents.
Mr. Hfm[er said that a doe ready to be bred or a buck ready to
breed sells for $15 to $20.
The French name for rabbit is "Lapin". Doesn't the name
"Lapin" sound better than "Rabbit Coat"?
A bird in the hand
Jim Millar is "for the birds"
Originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, he
is the president of the HCPPPSA - Huron
County Poultry, Pigeon and Pet Stock
Association and has been in the "bird
business" himself since 1971.
Jim gets his interest honestly enough,
his grandfather used to have bantams in
Scotland. Presently, Jim has 50 bantams
BY SHEILA GUNBY
that he raises and shows.
"You have to be critical," he says, "you
might raise a dozen but only keep one or
two of the best." .
Jim has quite a variety in his chicken
coop - Golden Sebright, Black Tailed
Japanese and Wyandottes (a miniature of a
standard chicken).
One of his best show records was the
recent Kincardine show. There, out of 21
birds he took to the show, he captured 15
firsts, five seconds and one third prize.
Four of the birds were the best of the
breeds. Also, he won the best female
bantam award at the recent show in Barrie.
"It can he pretty expensive to show
Jim Millar, Kincardine inspects his Golden Sebright rooster.
PG. 8 THE RURAL VOICE/DECEMBER 1979
(Photo by Sheila Gunby)