Raising Rabbits With Hank Will

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Raising rabbits can be an exciting family adventure. iStockphoto.com/tirc83

Hard-guy though I was when it came to “frivolous” undertakings, while my daughters were young, a rabbit project made its way to the Will farm. I don’t remember exactly how it all came to be, but I do recall that one day I was out in the barn building a raised and weatherproof hutch for a pair of rabbits. I also recall chuckling to myself that it wouldn’t be a pair of rabbits for too long if the wall between the two compartments should ever fail. That hutch weighed about 350 pounds and withstood several brutal South Dakota winters, complete with wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour. I like to think that it is still in service.

There was much anticipation when the girls and I jumped into the truck that Saturday morning, heading just a few miles east to another farm. I had no idea what we were in for. It turns out that that farm’s girls (a few years older than my daughters) were selling their rabbits because they were finished with their 4-H projects – and my daughters were eager to raise rabbits for themselves, although no mention of 4-H was made.

After a little hefting and haggling, we loaded two white rabbits into a couple of boxes, headed home, and introduced them to their new quarters. I later learned that the bland-looking bunnies were members of the New Zealand White breed. Though I’m not generally partial to animals with white coats, I have to admit to experiencing a certain delight at their looks.

As is so often the case with daughters’ animal projects, I often found myself feeding these rabbits and carting their marvelous manure off to the garden. I enjoyed watching them munch hay and found the sound of it as relaxing as the murmur of contented chicks resting under a brooder lamp with full bellies. I was fascinated with the rabbits’ seemingly clumsy movements around the hutch and wondered whether they were truly happy in confinement.