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Rabbitdog

Rabbitdog

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Weighed my NZR X Cal. crosses today. Litter of 7, 12 weeks old. They averaged 3.8 pounds. I know it's summer and the heat doesn't encourage a lot of growth but geez! This is just sad. :evil:
I'll be feeding another 2 or 3 weeks just to get a reasonable size for butchering. I think I need new stock!!!
 
IT'S HOT...........! no question.

That cross should hit 5 pounds between 9 and 10 weeks w/a good
diet.

Otherwise, they didn't have the genetics to begin with.
 
MaggieJ":3q9195s8 said:
Disappointing, for sure. :(

A couple of questions...

What do the parents weigh? And what are you feeding the grow-outs?
Click to expand...

NZR buck weighs 8.6 pounds at age 1.5 years. Calif. doe weighs 8.3 pounds at age 1.2 years.
Feed is rabbit pellets, fresh apples, kale, hay. Bad genes??? This is her second litter. Great mothering skills and quiet gentle. Would hate to cull her but this is totally unacceptable. I can't really remember what happened with her first litter. I didn't track them. I guess I'll give her another try and see how the fall batch weighs out.

__________ Sat Aug 29, 2015 3:17 pm __________

Update:

Butchered these today with the following weights.
5.0
4.2
4.2
4.4
4.8
4.4
4.0
This makes a total of 31 pounds of meat and bones. The bag of guts, hides, feet and heads weighed 15.2 pounds. We'll be boiling 5 of these down and deboning the meat for canning tomorrow. If I can get the weight of meat and the bone weight, I'll post that also. Unfortunately, on butchering day, these rabbits were 14 weeks old. Wish I could have got these results exactly 1 month ago! :(
Maybe I'll just start buying crab meat and lobster ... flown in from Maine .... it would probably save me a fortune.
 
grumpy":1ygjzchy said:
IT'S HOT...........! no question.
Click to expand...



Growth has slowed to a crawl here too .... and I attribute it almost directly to the heat because I know the genetics aren't at issue , the same pair of rabbits in more suitable conditions produce litters that hit 5lbs in ~12 weeks (Rex).

4 litters born in early May , butchered last week , they were all under that magic number .... at 15 weeks.

It's just hot .... been 90+ every day since early June. At least the nights have cooled to a "comfortable" 78. The end is in sight.
 
Switch the diet of your growouts to straight pellets, no hay, no fresh veggies, and they will grow a lot faster.
 
DBA":1o4nqpd9 said:
Switch the diet of your growouts to straight pellets, no hay, no fresh veggies, and they will grow a lot faster.
Click to expand...


My grow outs get straight 18% protein pellets from the get go .... sure wish I had an air conditioned barn for them.
 
DBA":2y0722rh said:
Switch the diet of your growouts to straight pellets, no hay, no fresh veggies, and they will grow a lot faster.
Click to expand...

That may work in some cases, but not all.
Grass hay often improves digestion, which I feel improves growth for me.
 
It's a case of "you pays your money and you take your choice."

Straight pellets = fast growth, some losses to weaning enteritis and high costs per pound of meat . . . but early butchering weight at 10-12 weeks.

Natural feeding (alfalfa hay, grain and lots of forage) = slower growth, no losses to weaning enteritis, low cost per pound of meat . . . but butchering weight at 14-16 weeks. And the flavour of the meat is much better.

My feed costs per pound of meat dropped from $1.50 to 50 cents when I stopped feeding pellets and there was little waste from fat on the carcasses. The fryers had just a little fat around the kidneys. And I liked the flavour of the meat much better.

It might not work for everyone (depending on location and opportunities to get cheap alfalfa hay and free forage) but for me it was worth the wait for the butchering weight.
 

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