Why We’re Giving Rabbits Another Chance (Even After Failing the First Time)

Rabbits Were Our First Homestead Animal (Yes—Even Before Chickens!)

When people think of starting a homestead, they usually imagine chickens clucking in the yard. But for us, it was rabbits. Soft, quiet, productive little creatures that seemed to check all the boxes: easy to keep, fast to reproduce, and full of potential. We bred them, showed them, registered pedigrees, used their manure in the garden, and yes—we even used them to provide meat for our family.

We intended to sell them too. But like so many beginnings, our first go was full of enthusiasm and not nearly enough experience. Our lack of confidence and knowledge made things hard, and before long, the frustration took over. We stepped away from rabbits with disappointment hanging heavy in the air.

That’s when our focus shifted to something totally different: Mangalitsa pigs.

Fluffy, curly-coated, beautiful pigs that we felt was a great opportunity to feed our family, and be able to provide for others. We were excited about raising them as a niche market product—high-end, heritage pork. And with the pigs, we did everything we hadn’t done with rabbits. We learned marketing, we built a customer base, and we started to gain real confidence as homesteaders and small business owners.

Our daughter even built her soap business around using 100% mangalitsa lard!

But then… something unexpected.

Multiple members of our family began developing pork and lard allergies, and they were only getting worse. What started as a dream began to take a toll on our health—and hearts. We prayed. We wrestled. We cried. Eventually, we made the hard call: we gave our Mangalitsa plans to God and sold our breeders.

It was heartbreaking.

We didn’t just raise pigs—we loved them. We watched them grow, give birth, raise piglets (and grandpiglets!). Many of them became family. Saying goodbye wasn’t just walking away from animals—it was releasing a dream we had poured ourselves into.

So… now what?

Enter: what we like to call our mid-farm crisis. That season where you look around your land and think, “Okay God, now what?”

And then—Kay looked out the window one afternoon and said, “What about giving rabbits another go?”

There it was. Full circle.

Today, we have four does bred, including three purebred New Zealand Reds and one bred to a black buck for a line-breaking cross. The first litter will be black but breeding them back to pure reds will remove the black genetics over time. That pairing will help diversify our genetics, improve size, and increase fertility—ultimately building a stronger, unique rabbit line we can be proud of.

This time, it’s different.

We’ve got the tools. We’ve got the experience. And most importantly, we’ve got a deep trust in God’s timing.

Sometimes the journey back to where you started is really a journey forward.

We’re so excited to bring you along as we give rabbits another go—and this time, we’re doing it the CityFolkGoinCountry way.