Craiglist rabbit breed question

[bryan8]

Im looking to start a small meat rabbit operation to feed me while im at school. My goal is not to have to buy any meat during the fall and spring semester, so im going to raise the rabbits, along with my quail, and my venison.

Found a guy online with San juan / New Zealand crosses at 5months old for $10 a piece and Flemish giant / new Zealand crosses for $20 a piece also at 5 months.


Would these be a good meat breed? which would be better? Im planning on breeding them to my buck, not sure of the sex but he is big and looks like a big wild rabbit. I really want to raise them solely off alpfaha hay with some fresh veggies mixed in to keep the feed costs down. During breeding however I will have them on pellets


Also is the price a good deal? I was planning on getting 3 does

Bryan

 

[PoultryPower]

I personally would go with the New Zealand x Flemish.

From what I've heard about San Juans, they're a dual breed, usually used to train hunting dogs since they resemble cottontails. I also heard they can be feisty, making it hard to work with them. I've even heard they are illegal in some states, not sure if that's true or not...

IMO, 20 and 10 dollars is a pretty good deal. Your obviously not going to find anything significantly cheaper unless the seller pays you to buy the rabbits.

I'm not sure about raising them on mainly alfalfa, to me that's a big "no no" since alfalfa can be bad for adult rabbits. Pellets were originally developed to feed meat rabbits. They provide most of the nutrients a rabbit needs. If your going to be breeding and eating these rabbits, you want them to be healthy, I just don't think alfalfa and some veggies is going to cut it. I understand your trying to save money by going this route, but you still want to be ethical and do what's best for the rabbits.

That's just my 2 cents, I'm interested in seeing what everyone else has to say.

 

[UnlabeledMama]

If you want 3 does anyway I would get both. Then you can see which is the better breeder.

As for the feed - I feed my rabbits a mixture of pellets, forage from my yard (grass, dandelion greens, clover, wild lettuce, rose bush, etc) and fresh hay and they seem to do well.