Processing rabbit

Well I did do it!

It was really hard for me to actually kill the rabbit.  I've always considered myself an animal lover and I have taken pride in the fact that I do my best to never hurt another living creature.  However I have justified it to myself by the fact that it is a natural thing to do.  Why pay for someone else to do it if you haven't got the guts to do it yourself?  Isn't that just a little bit hypocritical?  If you eat meat, wear leather or use any other animal product then you are responsible for at least a few animals deaths.  This is just a more direct way of taking responsibility for you sustaining yourself and your family. Please don't read on if you are likely to get offended by killing, skinning and eating of a rabbit

Anyway this is what I did:

This was the rabbit, not wanted by previous owner, given to me for free, I considered breeding from her but she wasn't as good as my other rabbits.  

I stunned the rabbit but giving it a whack between the eyes and then putting a broom handle over its neck and holding the handle down with my feet I stretching the back legs up and back to dislocate the neck.  I was shaking badly at this point and my heart was beating so fast I had to take a minute to calm down but it was a quick death for the rabbit, I hope it gets easier.

It was plainly dead at this point so I hang it up by putting a hook through one of the hocks on a back leg. I then cut the head off and let it drain for a few minutes.  Immediately threw the head to my gsd. Yum she says!
I then skinned as best as I could  and took out the guts.  At this point I could see what I'd been doing it for.  The small rabbit had a surprising amount of meat on her. The butchering was just a way to get at this lovely low fat, high protein meat.  It seemed worth it then.
I fed the rest of the bunny to the dog.  This was an older bunny so might be a bit tough for the family to eat as a first rabbit, the dog doesn't mind!  Raw meat is great for dogs and I want the best for my dogs but I'm sure that is another blog.

Echo, 8 month old really enjoyed her raw meat dinner.  She ate half and my other dog ate the other half.

I  stripped off as well as I could fatty tissue and other bits from he skin then coated it in salt. Fur side down and left it for about 48 hours.

I brushed off salt and rinsed it, then put it in a pickling solution of water, borax, citric acid and salt. Left for about 48 hours

I then squeezed it out and put in a neutralizing solution of sodium bicarbonate and water. Left for about 15 minutes.

Squeezed out again and hung up to dry a bit fur side up.

Combed out the fur and spread aqueous cream on to the skin side and hung up again, skin side up.
That's where I'm up to.

I'm hoping it will end up being a lovely soft pelt that I can make into something practical.  Perhaps a blanket when I add some more pelts to it!
Next time I'll tell you what happened next.