Not far past the feed store on the Mountain Road in Tamworth is a herd of Simmentals that any beef producer would swear should be in the show ring. And they’d be right. The Hagerman farm is home to, amoung other ribbon holders, the 1999 Royal Winter Fair Grand Champion female. But managing such a herd hasn’t stopped Agnes Hagerman from succeeding at another less common form of farming in these parts - rabbits.
It is in the rabbitry, in fact, that Hagerman, a hard-working wife, mother, farmer, and bus driver, finds her relaxation.
"It’s kind of a getaway. I go up there and work with the rabbits. It’s not really laborious work and it’s the one place you’re completely by yourself. Nobody bothers you - you can kind of unwind."
Three sizeable areas on the barn’s second level make up the rabbitry, a series of shelves lined with wire mesh cages. Hagerman says she has between 30 and 35 does at any given time. "I’ve had as many as 40," she says, "but that’s too many for my set-up."
It’s a sideline that has been part of the farm she operates with her husband, Ernie, for the past 15 years. The rabbits are raised to a weight of between 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 lbs., or between eight and 10 weeks old, and are then shipped out. "You can pretty well count on getting a minimum of five dollars apiece," says Hagerman, adding that the market for rabbits is currently in good shape.
She says there are a handful of people in the area who meet up with a rabbit producer from Cornwall. He in turn takes them to an abbatoir in Cobourg where Hagerman says they’re "government inspected" like any other meat.
Part of the business also involves selling at the farm. She says a lot of sausage and patties are sold to neighbours and friends who enjoy rabbit meat, a taste most often compared to chicken. And while Hagerman also sets aside some of the animals to sell as pets, she says it’s not something she actively promotes.
"I don’t advertise them as pets because they’re not always treated well. The novelty wears off and they’re left to fend for themselves."
If there is a universal problem that producers like Hagerman routinely face it is that Canadians aren’t raised to think of rabbits as food. She says childhood figures like Peter Rabbit and the Easter Bunny often can often make for a difficult sell.
"When I talk to people about butchering them, some have a tendency to turn their noses up. You get people who won’t even try the meat because it’s rabbit. If you hadn’t told them they probably would have eaten it and enjoyed it."
Over the years Hagerman has learned that raising rabbits can be a delicate business. The animals are highly sensitive to new sounds and to anything or anyone unfamiliar. Taking visitors through the rabbitry, she points out that a "serious breeder" likely wouldn’t allow strangers near the area.
"They have a high mortality rate ... the mothers could kill their offspring if they get scared enough. They usually end up thumping and they can kill their young that way."
She says she’s found different ways of making the animals feel comfortable and secure. "I always speak to them when I walk in and then there’s no jumping around." She’s also discovered that by leaving a radio on the rabbits become accustomed to other voices and are less likely to be frightened by strangers.
As a beef farmer Hagerman might have once thought rabbits would be similar to cattle when it comes to raising breeding stock. But she says that in her experience, there’s no consistency and no natural system separating good producers from mediocre. "With cattle you go on bloodlines but with rabbits you don’t go on parentage. Either you get good ones or you don’t."
Hagerman admits she’d have a keener understanding of the breeding process if she kept better records. But, she says, that would require spending more hours in the rabbitry.
"It’s time consuming. To do it properly you need to spend a fair bit of time with them so you always know what’s happening. That means keeping good records about when you breed, when you have your babies."
Although time is in short supply right now, Hagerman is hoping one day to make more of a business out of the rabbits. She says a well-run rabbitry can generate a reasonable income without requiring the physical labour or time commitment common to more mainstream forms of farming.
"When you retire, if you had 25, 35 or 40 does, it would be ideal. Something to keep you occupied and keep money coming in without a lot of hard work."
From the Archives:
News, July 2000
