Small-acreage ranchette offers rabbit meat
Partners get into the business at just the right time

Patricia R. McCoy
Capital Press Staff Writer

GREENLEAF - The age-old question of "what's for dinner," with the entire family wanting something besides the same old, tried-and-true food, just may have an alternative answer: rabbit.

At least that's what Andrea Scott and Tami Marler, owners of Hare of the Dog Ranch LLC, hope will happen.

The partners are offering naturally raised, hormone- and antibiotic-free rabbit meat.

Marler and Scott raised rabbits for personal use for the past year or so, but the recent opening of Home Grown Poultry, a rabbit and poultry processing plant in New Plymouth, is allowing them to offer their rabbit meat to the public.

Hare of the Dog Ranch pays for a state-licensed veterinarian to inspect their animals. That lets them sell rabbit in a Boise farmers' market. A Boise chef is also ordering it for his restaurant, and the partners are negotiating with a local market to handle it as well.

"Rabbits can have a lot of diseases. The list the veterinarian checks for is a full page long," Scott said. "He has to inspect both before and after slaughter, so it's a long process. But none of our rabbits failed."

Why rabbit?

Both Scott and Marler love the meat, and it's easily managed on a small acreage like their ranch - a 10-acre operation where they also raise Katahdin-Dorper cross sheep, Australian Shepherd herd dogs, chickens and ducks. They sell duck eggs, among other products.

They got into rabbits after Scott happened to pick up a 1940 farm book and read about raising them. She finds them very calming. Marler enjoys them for the same reason but also enjoys poultry, so she handles the chickens and ducks.

"All farmers are struggling to make ends meet. Those who survive have to be flexible so they can respond to societal trends and produce for new markets and needs," Scott said.

Versatile meat

"We love the meat. It's very versatile. You don't need special recipes. You can use it in place of veal, pork, chicken ... you name it," she said.

"The meat has a completely different texture. It's denser than other meats, so it takes less to satisfy you. It is also very mildly flavored. It tastes like however you cook it," Marler said. "If you use it in a chicken recipe, for instance, it will take on that flavor.

"It's also very low in cholesterol. Some doctors are even starting to prescribe it for specialty diets, such as for certain heart diseases," she said.

Both women have city jobs, but enjoy farming. Coming home to chores with their animals is relaxing. Scott grew up on cattle ranches and loved everything about being there. She and Marler started out trying to produce their own food.

"I love to cook," Marler said. "I also like knowing where my food comes from and how it is fed."

She and Scott are taking advantage of a trend. Other consumers also like knowing where their food comes from and how it was raised.

"We did this completely on our own. It was hard to find anybody in Idaho who knew enough about rabbits to give us any help. Yet because of consumer trends, we've been told we lucked out and got into this at just the right time," Scott said.

Humane production

"We stress humane, low-stress, sustainable production. Our rabbit barn is designed to be open, for fresh air and sunlight. Our rabbits are fed alfalfa pellets. Does get an apple or other special treat when they litter," she said. "We keep our operation small. We have 20 breeding does right now, and don't intend to grow past 30. Does can be bred every 28 days. We let the does keep their kits for six weeks, then give them a couple of weeks' break. That holds it down to four litters a year."

Marler and Scott raise New Zealands, which are pure white rabbits, and California rabbits, which have brown ears. Both are meat breeds. Domestic rabbit meat is white, they said. Wild rabbit is mostly dark meat.

A rabbit litter, or more correctly a kindle, can consist of up to 10 kits, which Scott said is the average at Hare of the Dog Ranch. Does may abandon or even kill part of their litter.

"The old adage about breeding like rabbits isn't necessarily true. They have a fairly high mortality rate, and they're very sensitive to heat. That's why we're installing air conditioning in our barn soon. The babies are also very sensitive to cold until they get their fur," she said.

Small town

Greenleaf is a small community west of Caldwell on Highway 19. While very rural, it's within sight of a huge Simplot Co. potato processing plant. Even so, Scott and Marler have had to deal with coyotes, hawks and once even a cougar. Though their rabbits are in cages, they're still vulnerable. A predator doesn't always let that stop them. Having guard dogs around is a definite advantage, they said.

Pat McCoy is based in Boise. Her e-mail address is pmccoy@capitalpress.com.