Rabbits in Manchester

[kato13]

Webstral 05-19-2008, 03:43 PM Rabbits played an important part in the survival of many Americans in the years following the nuclear exchange. As a good source of low-fat protein (so low-fat, in fact, that an all-rabbit diet is essentially a starvation diet), rabbits offered American survivors an important means of turning grasses and vegetable wastes into meat, pelts, and excellent fertilizer. Throughout the country, wild and feral rabbits kept many small game hunters and their families alive. Domesticated rabbits often became the principal source of meat for many cantonments. Nowhere was this more true than in the struggling cantonments of New England at the turn of the millennium.


Notably, domesticated rabbits played a crucial role in the semi-isolated State of New Hampshire cantonment at Manchester. Hunger and poor planning had led to the loss of nearly all of the cattle, swine, and horses of southern New Hampshire. By sheer good luck, several small rabbit farms survived until they came under the protection of cantonment forces. When Acting Governor Colby consolidated state assets at Manchester (leaving the rest of the state to its own devices), he made certain to move as many of the surviving rabbit breeding operations as could be found. Those with expertise in rabbit breeding and care found they had a place in the Manchester cantonment.


Young children with minimal manual labor potential played an important part in maintaining the rabbits. Dozens of children were trained in the care of rabbits. By early 2001, a very substantial population of domesticated rabbits formed the foundation of Manchester’s meat diet. Their high feed-to-meat ratio, their ability to subsist on grasses not suited for human consumption, and their volumous manure made them key players in the survival of the cantonment. Their usefulness was further extended when greenhouses began producing green crops throughout most of the winter. Rabbits eating hay on the floors of greenhouses lent their considerable body heat to the greenhouses, enabling the greenhouse operators to grow various sprouts well beyond the end of the growing season.


As a result, PCs finding themselves in Manchester in 2001 will discover that rabbit meat is affordable, if not cheap. Local cuisine is coming to revolve around various rabbit dishes. Rabbit pelts are an important trade item. Rabbit manure is the most common animal fertilizer used in the Manchester cantonment. (Green manures are far more plentiful. During the 2001 planting season, Manchester farmers will mix rabbit-based compost with their own composts.)


Naturally, the presence of a substantial rabbit industry is something that has attracted the attention of the Blood Cross in its winter quarters of northern New England…


Author’s Note: This year, my wife and I adopted two rabbits from the local humane society. We didn’t adopt them together, so we are still in the process of bonding them. We are rabbit people now. I’ve eaten rabbit before, but I don’t think I can eat rabbit again. I’d be thinking of my Stewie and Lucinda. (They are both fixed, so we will not be breeding rabbits.) In fact, while at the grocery store I was unable to purchase some crackers called Cheddar Bunnies because they might as well have been called Cheddar Stewies. All of this said, the potential for rabbits in T2k becomes ever clearer as I discover first-hand just how much manure there is from feed I couldn’t eat anyway. All of this nitrogen going into the soil would go a long way towards offsetting the nitrogen demands of maize. I don’t yet know whether rabbit fertilizers make fresh fruits and vegetables a health issue; however, since the cooking process takes care of microorganisms and parasites, there is no good reason the grains can’t be fertilized with bunny stool. I’ve been adding it to the rosemary and lavender I planted outside the house to ward off pests, and I have seen a far better result this year than last in the very same soil.



Webstral

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copeab 05-19-2008, 04:50 PM I'm having _Night Of The Lepus_ flashbacks now ...


Brandon

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pmulcahy 05-19-2008, 10:57 PM My first experience with capturing and eating an animal in the wild was with a rabbit. It was horrifying.


I like rabbits. I even had some as pets in my pre-teen years. They make cute pets with funny and quirky personalities. So I wasn't really happy when we were told that we would have to snare, kill, prepare and eat a rabbit, or nothing at all.


Nevertheless, my fellow soldier and I were doing well -- until we got the poor rabbit we had thought we killed about halfway skinned. It woke up! It kicked and actually screamed (something rabbits do only when suffering horribly -- which it was). We finally actually did kill it, using a dagger I used to carry in the Army in the field -- but my friend had to do it, stabbing it into the place he figured the rabbit's brain stem was.


We finished skinning, preparing, and eating the rabbit, but we were so miserable we were doing it only to pass the exercise. I was trying to weep as quietly and discretly as possible. It was one of the most horrible experiences I ever had.

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Targan 05-20-2008, 12:10 AM I have elderly relatives who have related to me their catching and killing of feral rabbits in Australia during the Great Depression. Children in those times played a major role in keeping families with low incomes alive by catching rabbits for the pot. I've killed and eaten wild rabbit. I have no problem with it. I do like animals but I've never had much respect for herbivores. Eyes on side of head = food animal. Eyes on front of head = carnivore (respect).

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General Pain 05-20-2008, 01:53 AM I have elderly relatives who have related to me their catching and killing of feral rabbits in Australia during the Great Depression. Children in those times played a major role in keeping families with low incomes alive by catching rabbits for the pot. I've killed and eaten wild rabbit. I have no problem with it. I do like animals but I've never had much resepct for herbivores. Eyes on side of head = food animal. Eyes on front of head = carnivore (respect).


nice one targan

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Headquarters 05-20-2008, 03:09 AM My father told me how many people had little cages in the backyards during the Nazi occupation breeding rabbits for food and fertilizer.Rationing was strict and many relied on bunnies to get a balanced diet .(Something of a priority when you are going to be slowly rationed to death over 5 years..)


The skins can be used as well-although this is taking it up a notch as far as knowledge is involved.Curing and tanning etc .


Other than that anyone can do it .Him and his brother and sister -all kids-took care of a little herd of 4-20 head at any given time .Feed was whatever greens and spoils they could get .


He was kind of traumatized by having to slaughter at such a tender age though..so maybe an adult should be controllingt this end of the operation.Or at least a juvenile.


Skinning and cleaning the rabbit is easy -done it plenty .Just dont pierce the intestines or the stench that erupts will make you retch.Instantly.But only the first half hour or so -then you get used to breathing through clenched teeth and the retching more or less stops..more or less..hehe.


I kind of feel bad for the furry little ones -but I think hunger is a more powerful sensation..



What about pigs ? They eat anything ,their meat is good if its fresh ,the shit is usable for making gas for fuel or manure ,and the hides can be used for leather to some degree.

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thefusilier 05-20-2008, 04:23 AM Well done Webstral. Nice little addition to your ongoing New England project.

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Hangfire7 05-20-2008, 02:46 PM Well rabbit is good.


The same can be done with chickens if you have them to start with, but, you can do the same with most fowl, pigeons, qual, ducks are some that come to mind.


Another one that was used was guenia pig, prehistoric people in the Yucotan used to raise guenea pigs that they let run freely in their hovels. Their remains were found with those of turkey and primative ears of corn.

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