Legalities of selling rabbit meat?

[Anonymous]

I was wondering if anyone has had success processing their rabbit meat legally? I have the cornell extension write up but it isnt cut and dry. I would like to be able to process the rabbits here in NY and ideally I would be able to sell at farmers markets in VT as well considering I live right on the border. I am not against jumping through a few hoops as long as I can make it work financially.

Jared

[Kevin Cunningham]

I do not process rabbits personally but I have friends who do and here is the scoop. Rabbits are legally considered poultry, I know it sounds weird but, based on size, time till harvest, etc it kinda makes sense. We process poultry, in this case chickens on farm under a federal exemption that was set up some time ago. The federal limit is 20,000 birds (or rabbits) a year. You can’t pay labor to help process and you have to sell directly, ie off farm, or in our case farmers market. Now each state can interpret this law and make stricter standards but as far as I know all the states let you process poultry on farm in this manner. I can’t remember the exemption number off hand but I can get that information later. My advice is to stand your ground process the rabbits your self and sell them directly. Don’t ask for permission from a beuracrat because that usually leeds to more rules and regulations.

[Robert MoonShadow]

I had thought the bird number was only 1,000 per year, but here in Idaho, they just go by USDA regs on poultry, and the only answer I ever got was -rabbits = it’s a chicken, as far as we care, unless you’re selling to restaurants, or stores, etc. I butcher out about 100 a year, sell about half, seldom have any make it out of this small hamlet all the way to the farmer’s market.
Rabbit liver is the most tenderest eating meat I know of…and seldom include it in the rabbits I sale…livers, hearts and kidneys, breaded and into the skillet…lucky rabbits – I’ve only got two to butcher, and I’m saving them for rabbit chili, in case anyone shows up to the field day on the 28th – I’m getting hungry…:eek:

[Kevin Cunningham]

okay here it is

[Kevin Cunningham]

Okay so I have found the USDA pdf on the exemption. Look at the whole thing but the info you need should be around page 10 and 11. The key to not ask permission but rather say what you are going to do and know more about the subject than the regulators. Often the rule are so large and so many that they have never even read what they are supposed to be enforcing. Stick to your guns, I strongly believe that processing poultry on small farms is right that we can’t give up.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Kevin for the PDF. I have a write up done by the extension here in ny and it refers to rabbits as wild game not as a poultry equivalent. I think in VT they are still considered under the poultry exemption? Does anyone have any experience with selling rabbit meat in NY or VT?

thanks for the help so far

Jared

[f3farms]

i do believe they are still concidered poultry in ny.if farm raised.we have been looking into a 200 doe new zealand white rabbit production here too.there is a man on county route 17 in hartford ny who sells his poultry/rabbits he butches.he may have more info for you.i think it is more regulated by the state in vermont though.
Rob

[Anonymous]

Yeh I have heard of the guy in hartford, a friend of mine who trains drafts lives up there and he buys chickens from him. I was hoping to go check it out and see what he had to say about ag and markets regulations. We only want to go up to about 10-12 doe so we are probably ok just selling word of mouth but it would be nice to sell at the farmers market to add to our product list.

jared

[dlskidmore]

I’ve bought rabbit meat in NY slaughtered under the poultry exemption. There is certainly no enforcement stopping the practice.

[dominiquer60]

Many states follow the 1,000 bird exemption for on farm direct sales slaughter, in NY it is the article 5A exemption under the NYS Dept of Ag & Markets. If you contact Cornell extension they had a state wide video conference about this 2-3 years ago with one point in Albany, Gallagher may be the guy to contact in Albany County, anyway there was a DVD and packet available for $10 that they can mail to you if there are any copies left. The one thing that they don’t tell you is that in order to qualify for this exemption you need to file with the USDA for it and have a once annual facility inspection. They are looking for an washable indoor facility and a barrier between the killing/scalding/plucking room and the evisceration room. The exemption part of this deal is supposed to be that once your facility is approved for poultry slaughter and you sell 1,000 or less units (turkey= 4 chickens) directly to customers via farm or farmers’ marker, then you are exempt from requiring any on site USDA meat inspector to be present when slaughtering. In NY you are supposed to also register with the Dept of Ag & Markets that you are an article 5A exemption operation and they assume that you have been in contact with the USDA. I have never never heard of an instance where NY an the USDA have checked on each other about who has signed up to do what, it can stay that way as far as I am concerned.

There is also a 20,000 or less exemption, but in NYS your facility must also be approved by the Dept of Ag & Markets with an annual inspection and blueprints must be approved before building.

I have never known NY to ever check up on small (1,000 or less) scale producers whether they register or not. The only time I have ever dealt with the state inspectors was years ago when the health department came thought making sure that I had a thermometer to check the temp in my egg cooler and that I knew that it was supposed to be no warmer than 45. Since then I suspect that there just is not money in the budget to enforce many regulations in NY. Some of the poultry regulations are subject to interpretations, for instance when I started we were not allowed to fresh or sell parts, only whole frozen birds/rabbits, but the new top dog in the department now interprets the same wording to mean that we can sell fresh and can sell parts, nothing changed accept the guy at the top, go figure.

The way I see it, grow quality animals, familiarize yourself with the regulations (such as birds should be chilled to 40 cavity temp within 6 hours of kill) be clean and sell local. You will not be able to home slaughter and sell at a VT market, but you will be able to sell to Vermonters that come to you and you could get away with delivery. As long as we continue to sell quality clean products we can fly under the radar for sometime until a) gov’t gets more funding or b) someone gets sick and home processed chicken becomes the new FDA scapegoat like raw milk. I hope that this never happens.

Jared, Ben Shaw in Greenwich has a 20,000 exemption facility where he processes poultry and rabbits for others and his both at the GreenMarket in NYC, he could be another good resource to connect with about these matters.

Best of Luck!

[dominiquer60]

The Cornell Small Farms Program is pleased to announce a new ” On-Farm Poultry Slaughter Guide”. Designed to complement a hands-on training in how to properly kill and prepare a poultry carcass for sale, this guide focuses on the critical points for producing a product that is safe to eat.

This 28-page guide contains sections on the 1000-bird limit exemption, where you can legally sell your birds under this exemption, labeling requirements, sanitary operating procedures and more. It includes several appendices, such as a sample flock record log and a questionnaire that your insurance company may use to assess your knowledge of safe poultry processing practices.

The Guide is available either by PDF or viewing online at the Northeast Beginning Farmers Project Website.

Special thanks to Lynn Bliven, Ag & Natural Resources Team Coordinator for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Allegany and Cattaraugus Counties, for her leadership on this project. Thanks also to Clarence Davis, NYS Department of Ag & Markets, for his assistance on interpreting and clarifying the regulations and policies, and to tatiana Stanton, Senior Extension Associate at Cornell University, for her persistence in gaining that clarity.

For more small farm news and information, visit http://www.smallfarms.cornell.edu. For beginning farmer support, visit http://www.nebeginningfarmers.org

Here is a direct link: http://nebeginningfarmers.org/publications/on-farm-poultry-slaughter-guidelines/

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