Making money with rabbits?

I saw a blog off "Three Little Ladies Blog" and skimmed it quickly about a week ago(only because of how rushed we've been lately) and it got me thinking about making money off rabbits. We've tried, and have not succeeded!

I think part of the problem is we use the rabbit sale money for the dog and cat food. And for anyone who has rabbits that also has dogs and cats they know just how expensive it is to feed dogs and cats!

The rabbits, really, aren't too bad. Maybe I'm just saying that because of the amount of dog and cat food we feed and buy.

My thoughts on making money off rabbits is, you have to be right on the ball. You have to have breeds that are in high demand. The high demand on Vancouver Island is still, and I think will always be, Holland lops. We still after not having them for almost 3 years get inquiries and sad e-mails that we sold out! If you don't have breeds that are in high demand, that you also enjoy showing don't count on making money!

Now, this is of course my opinion and what we've found on Vancouver Island. You have to have some kind of a meat breed, to help costs as well. Whether that is a breed you also show, or a breed that is just strictly for meat purposes. Reason? Although you can not sell rabbits under the new "farm gate" law for human consumption unless it is inspected, you can sell rabbits for dog/cat food. There is a huge market in BC for rabbit meat for pet food. This is another way to help make "money" off rabbits.

Years ago, selling the rabbit wool was a big profit, but I have not seen anyone wanting wool for quite a few years now at least here on the Island. And I haven't had anyone e-mail or ask about rabbit wool for years. I had one "Angora" rabbit inquiry a few weeks back, but that is the only angora inquiry we've recieved in the last 7 years.

You of course have your pet sales, show sales, breeding stock sales. But, again Holland lops have the largest price tags on the Island, the most amount of inquiries and new comers start with this breed as well! In my opinion you have to work really, really hard to make money off rabbits. Cristina and I personally don't like the whole "petstore" sales. We do have one petstore that we will occasionally let a rabbit go too if we have quite a few, as they seem to be pretty good at giving out care sheets etc. The one petstore we absolutely loved selling rabbits too because they were so awesome with the animals, will only take holland lops as even the hollands for them will sit for 3-6 months or more at times.

Our dog and cat food bill runs anywhere from $250-300 a month, not including vet bills, advantage, deworming. Rabbit feed bill runs from $250-300. These days it is $300 , we are going through 20 bags of feed a month(about half a ton)

I don't know, from what we've done- from selling pet rabbits, meat stock sales, breeding and show sales, conditioning mix/hay/grain/, rabbit pet sitting, and various other things it is REALLY hard to make money off rabbits. Some months we do break even, but never from the meat, breeding, or pet stock, or conditioning mix or rabbit pet sitting sales. Only from the show/breeding sales, and usually from our small breeds of rabbits. Mini lops aren't a super popular breed as pets, and so many people have mini lops(pet people) confused with holland lops. Thinking mini lops are holland lops. By the time we sort it out with them it is a Holland lop they are wanting! : )

So, personally, I would say no on Vancouver Island you can't make money on rabbits. You can however break even, and have the rabbits pay for themselves if you are careful and have enough pet sales to warrant this!