For those looking to start raising rabbits for profit, this is fantastic news. Most chefs are very happy to have a local source for their ingredients where they can be sure that they’re getting a quality product. And none of us can deny the increase of the phrase “eat local” all around us. In fact, demand is so great for rabbit meat right now, some places like Asheville are changing laws to make it easier for small scale producers to get their foot in the door. You may not be able to service all the restaurants in your city, but even one will give you a significant income which can be used to cover the costs of running your rabbitry.

Quality breeding stock is the key to producing great meat and some breeders will consider options in raising their rabbits organically as well. It’s a more expensive route, and may even require that you grow and harvest your own grains. But with all sorts of bacteria and diseases creeping into the food supply lately, having that extra piece of mind that your food source is clean is invaluable.

At the moment there is an incredibly high demand for rabbit meat and not nearly enough suppliers. More and more restaurants are adding it to their menus in an attempt to be more European, many supermarkets in America carry rabbit meat and Carnival Cruise Lines has been a large buyer of rabbit meat in the past. Hurricane Katrina put a damper on some of Carnival Cruise Lines’ purchasing power which forced many breeders out of business when demand suddenly dropped off, but there is still meat to be sold. Those willing to get a USDA certification will probably find themselves with more business than they can handle.

So with all this demand, why is it so hard to become rich off rabbits? One issue is that rabbit meat sales are often cyclical. And in the summer months, rabbits slow down their production and growth. This causes many breeders to try to increase their meat production by adding more breeding rabbits in the summer. But then they forget to decrease production or plan incorrectly and find themselves with way too much meat later in the year.

If you are hoping to become a millionaire off rabbits, try entering the market for rabbit serum, or blood which has been cleaned. It’s the animal blood closest to humans and therefore highly in demand for cancer research. It can be sold for $15,000-20,000 a gallon. But finding your way onto the list of  biomedical sellers is not easy.

In Alabama, there is a lot of initiative and encouragement being shown for rabbit meat breeders. The state has been allocating money to provide technical and marketing support. This has led to formation of Alabama A+ Marketing; coordination of better prices on rabbit feed; centralized pickup points to ship the product to the Kentucky processor; and even persuading a Birmingham culinary school and fine restaurants to develop more rabbit dishes.