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

[sandspoultry]

Quote:
It would be great if you would weigh them at 2 , 4, 6 and 8 weeks like I did and post their weights. Keeping records is great fun.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Good idea! Will do! I'll start my own grow out thread.

Oh, did you start counting feed when they were born or when they started coming out of the nest or eating, or? It seems like that will be hard for me to do.

 

[Hooligan Farm]

I was surprised by a litter of 10 when I got home today. I'm going to get a scale so I can start tracking weights and all that good stuff.

 

[sandspoultry]

All the grow out threads on meat rabbits is going to be great!

 

[Dead Rabbit]

great thread. im not surprised the cal/nz cross out did the SF. hard to beat something at its own game. keep us informed on the actual carcasses. my guess there will be more compact thick meat on the cross than the sf. perhaps even more internal fat in the sf than the cross. that is my experience when using pure AC/NZ vs pure AC and even if you bred heavy to the AC side...anotherwords 3/4 AC/ 1/4 NZ...the carcasses were smaller with more internal fat.....ive seen the the trick is 1/2 and 1/2 or 3/4 to the NZ.

now im expereimenting with the calf./NZ to see how they compare to the AC/NZ.

now id like to see you take the experiement to the next level and cross the SF to a pure NZ...compare that cross.

 

[sandspoultry]

Dead Rabbit,
No I think the SF out did the cross. The SF's ate less feed and in the end were almost the same weight in meat.
I will be breeding the SF buck to the Cal/NZ doe that I have for the Spring litter. I do not have pure Cal or pure NZ. I have the mix rabbits that I have been raising for a few years now. Nice big meat rabbits.
Yes the carcass on the cross was bigger boned the SF. That is one of SF's claim to fame, smaller boned +big size = more meat per rabbit.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

Weights for the Silver Fox are:
3lbs 8oz + 3 lbs 14.4oz + 3lbs 11.4oz + 3lbs 9.4oz + 3lbs 7.4oz + 3lbs 1.2oz + 3lbs 7.2oz = 24lbs 9 oz
In the last 2 weeks the Silver Fox have eaten 32.25 lbs of feed

Weights for the Cal/NZ mix are:
3lbs 7.4oz + 4lbs 1.4oz + 4lbs 5.8oz + 3lbs 14.6oz + 3lbs 13.4oz + 3lbs 5.2oz + 3lbs 11oz = 27lbs
In the last 2 weeks the Cal/NZ have eaten 31lbs of feed

this was the last post. did i miss reading one? was the grand total of feed eaten in favor of the SF?

and im wondering if pure to pure would make a difference.. ive always read that in using "hybrid cross" as brood stock,, the off spring wont produce "like" the original cross. be interesting to see how that would go.

come spring i may conduct my own experiement and compare pure X pure to your results.

 

[Hooligan Farm]

Quote:
There is more. When they processed one from each of equal size, the Silver fox had a better meat to bone ratio and ate less food. It wasn't by much though.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Mine are all pure Cali's so it will be interesting to compare their weights...

 

[sandspoultry]

Yes there was more, sorry I should of posted a link to it. this has all the final information on it.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=428915