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

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

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.

Al my purebred Cali's weigh between 8 and 10 pounds... and they are all still under a year... They definitely AREN'T a waste of time.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

Quote:
Al my purebred Cali's weigh between 8 and 10 pounds... and they are all still under a year... They definitely AREN'T a waste of time.

perhaps its the line i have.......im curious..........how many wks did it take to get them up to 6-7 lbs? mine took 14 wks to get to 6 lbs. the crosses were 8lbs. in the same amount of time.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

Quote:
Al my purebred Cali's weigh between 8 and 10 pounds... and they are all still under a year... They definitely AREN'T a waste of time.

cool website, by the way. i just checked it out.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Thank you.

We are expeciting our first litters now so I will keep details and let you know how long it takes them to get to 6 and 8 pounds.


I've often thought of getting a NZ doe for crossing with my big buck... hmmm...

 

[sandspoultry]

Here is the updates at 2 weeks old for each litter.

Silver Fox kits weight is in oz
6.4 + 8.0 + 8.4 + 7.6 + 7.8 + 6.6 + 6.0 = 50.8
(we have a new photo edit program and are still learning - the size in the pictures are misleading)

Cal/NZ mix
8.0 + 7.2 + 10.0 + 9.0 + 8.6 + 9.4 + 6.0 = 58.2

The kits are still only eating their mom's milk and have had no solid food yet. Both does are still being full feed commerical feed and 1/2 a carrot every other day.
As you can see the Cal/NZ mix are bigger overall right now. We will see if they maintain their weight over the SF in 2 weeks.

 

[sandspoultry]

Quote:
I have not found a taste difference between the different breeds of rabbits. I would go with something that you like and fits your needs. The mixed rabbits seem to grow out faster then the pure breeds.
Good luck.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

id say its going to be hard to catch that calif.XNz cross. theyve been bred for to long to be a master at their trade. but i await an update eagerly. i hope you continue with the weighins up to 12 wks of age.

the SF are beautiful. perhaps a lil Nz blood crossed with them and breed toward the Silver color??

ive yet seen a pure anything keep up with a cross and its hybrid vigor.

 

[sandspoultry]

Its not just about the hybid vigor. It is also about preserving the old breeds.
I was going to breed the SF buck to my old mix doe but the day before the mating she had 2 kits. I will post a picture of them tomorrow, needless to say they are huge. They will be 2 weeks old tomorrow.
Yes we are going to continue the project with at least 1 or 2 from each of the litters. Would like to see how they dress out side by side. The SF is suppose to be one of the best rabbits for dressing out. But since they are a very rare breed, most of the litter is already spoken for and will be sold at 8 weeks old.

 

[ssbs]

Quote:
WeatherTop is close to me. They still tractor their rabbits.

I have helped out at a rabbitry over the last few years. The lady raises AC X NZ's. They reach a dressed size of 3 pounds at 2 months old, I'm not sure how much the adults weighed normally but I got a 15lb cull buck and a few 10lb cull does. Litters normally had about 8 kits, and I think we had a couple with 11 and one with 15.

In order to reach maximum profit try selling the heads, feet and organs for a couple dollars a pound as dog food.. And you can sell the hides for a buck or two each if you find someone who tans leathers for crafts. You can also sell the rabbit manure, if the feed you use comes in the woven plastic bags save them. You can sell a bag of manure for $5

And to prevent freezing water keep it moving. We used a water pump on 1" PVC, fitted with 2 nipples per cage. The water pump was sitting in a 55 gallon barrel of well water, we would also add a bit of chlorine to keep the algae out. Of course this will only work on hutches, not tractors.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

some good tips, thanks SSBS