S F Meat Rabbit vs Cal/NZ Meat Rabbit Grow Out

[Kittymomma]

So happy to have found this thread. DH and I both raised meat rabbits when we were kids and have been talking about doing it again. I had NZ and Californians and he raised NZ's. I really liked the Californians and think we'll probably go that route if/when we get back into it. I am interested in what your thoughts are about the differences in meat quality between the two though. We'd just be raising them for our table so a slightly longe grow out period's not a big deal if there's an upside to the final product.

 

[Country Living Farm]

Quote:
Because Flemish are so large and have such big bones to support that, they greatly reduce your dress out percentage. I do know a lot of people up here that will blend in a SMALL percentage of Flemish, but really, if you're working with decent lines of Cals or NZW you're better off with pure breds or crosses between commercial type breeds.

I raise Meat Rabbits as well. I have NZ Whites and Flemish Giants. I have them both does and bucks of both breeds. I have for the the past year or two crossed the Flemish buck on a NZ Doe. Yes the flemish are bigger boned and grow fast but do not put on weight untill the end. The NZ put on weight fast and are small boned. When I cross, I get a rabbit between 3-5 pounds at about 8-10 weeks processed wieght. I have found the offspring grow fast (like the Flemish) with good weight and the smaller bones of the NZ. This year I am actually doing an experiment. I am using the same buck (nz) on a nz doe and a flemish doe) and will be recording the weights and certain ages. I am then going to do a flemish buck on nz doe and record the finding and see what the results of all are. I am not going to do a pure Flemish as I know the results already. All my flemish and NZ are pure so the offspring I guess are 50/50. Flemish are papered as well. The biggest buck is about 23 pounds!! I am getting some Champaige D'argents soon to add into the mix. I have not found a reason not to cross the NZ and Flemish.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
Feed conversion ratios, perhaps? Maybe that should be a factor to add to your experiment. That would be fascinating!

I do have a Flemish Doe that I have no other use for aside from breeding meat mutts, though I haven't bred her yet. The only buck I have right now, though, is a Thrianta! (5 lbs)

 

[malignstar]

My thoughts were to pasture my future rabbits and offer hay and such in winter. I'd rather not feed pellets and that way they could grow out a bit longer if necessary at no additional cost. I'd like to start with a flemish doe and a NZ buck and maybe a CA/NZ doe to compare with.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
Most rabbits get super scrawny on hay and grass alone. Maybe with a very high quality alfalfa hay and if there were some good weeds, but most people that have this idea eventually figure out that containing the little suckers in a way that they can still have access to the best forage is darn near impossible.

Also, I had my two Silver Fox and the Flemish Giant of about the same age that were on the lam for at least two weeks, a little longer for the SF. The Flemish was emaciated when I caught her, the Silver Foxes were a little thin, but ok. This was in late summer when there was LOTS of really high quality forage for them. I do not think Flemish do well on pasture diets alone.

By the way, the escaped because I had them "pastured" with my chickens!

Rabbittalk.com has some really good info about natural feeding for rabbits and colony raising. You should check it out. Most people that want pastured rabbits eventually seem to go back to cages, or indoor colonies and bring the weeds and grains and hay to them.

 

[malignstar]

Thanks for the website! I'll go look at that and read up about it. I was going to feed alfalfa for protein and then go to oat/brome/timothy/orchard grass mix for the adult breeders. Square bales are pretty cheap around here and my dad has a few really good contacts where he buys hay for his horses. My tractors are going to have some type of wire flooring to prevent digging out but to allow the grass to come thru for grazing. I wonder if I should go with a nz/ca cross. Perhaps they will forage and put on weight better?

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

The problem I have had with the wire floor is that it tends to smush the grass down so the rabbits can't get the full benefit of it. I had better luck with the larger wire (1x2 instead of the 1/2x1 that most cage floors are made of,) but it still didn't help with the larger plants like dandelions and fireweed that have the most nutrition.

Joel Salatin used rabbit tractors that have wooden slats spaced about 2 inches apart. The people at Weathertop farms ( http://www.weathertopfarm.com/id69.html ) tried this and decided not only were the rabbits not getting optimum use of the pasture, but it made the pens very heavy. They say they have had so-so luck with a modified version that only reinforces the corners and sides for digging, but it isn't fool proof. Also, for this you would have to have very flat pasture. (Which I do not, personally!) I think even these guys eventually gave up on pasture raised rabbit because it was just too labor-intensive, but if you only have one pen going at any time for your own use, you could probably make it work.

I've researched it all a lot. Pellets are expensive here and so is cage wire. Putting rabbits in individual cages makes my work-load unbearable in the winter due to freezing water issues. I have a lot of incentive to figure it out, but the bottom line is that rabbits in wire cages on pellets always end up in the best condition the soonest. It's fool-proof, proven, and reliable. Still, I keep experimenting because A) watching rabbits on pasture and in a colony is just more fun and B) cost and labor make colony raising much more desirable. I have my larger meat does in a colony setting, but my show rabbits stay in cages. I cut my pellet cost by adding a lot of locally available grains and hay, and in the summer they get all the high quality weeds and garden scraps that they can eat, but I have completely given up on a more traditional "pasture raising" model due to escapees and the difficulty in maintaining condition and grow-out.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Quote:
Who me? No.... I just tried to change it... I don't really know how too.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

im glad i ran across this thread. i too raise meat rabbits. ive had them for a few yrs now. my best cross is the american chin. over the NZ. 1/2 and 1/2 is good. or breed 3/4 to the NZ

right now im expeirmenting with the calif.XNZ. using a calf. buck. the pure Calf. are a waste of time and money. they need crossing to get up to size in a decent amount of time. my crosses were 2 wks ohead of the pure calf. in weight, and the calf. were 5 days older. if this 1/2 and 1/2 dont work out, i'll just fall back to the ACXNZ......make a heavily muscled 6 lb fryer in 11-12 wks

im still wondering about the ALTEC bucks

 

[Dead Rabbit]

Quote:
do you have any pics of your colony? ive often thought about this, but never read much on them. or seen any photos