Any idea's

shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
Rabbit Talk Forum

Help Support Rabbit Talk Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
W

wild1slilfarm

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 5, 2012
Messages
157
Reaction score
0
Location
Baker City, Oregon
ok so i have been doing some thinking wich maybe a bad thing on most days, but this time i think it a good thing...
so i have noticed that many of my New Zealands are smaller that the breed standerd plus they arent growing as fast as i would like, i thought about adding flemish blood in a couple lines to see if it would help, unless some one has a better idea?
 
How about if you are going to bring in more rabbits you just find a couple "Breed Standard" (with pedigrees) rabbits? All too often a larger (white/REW) rabbit may be labeled New Zealand even if it doesn't have a drop of NZ blood in it!! If you can find some faster growers and incorporate them into what you have, eventually you will get there!! :) Flemmish are big but that doesn't mean faster growth!
 
I have gotten a few rabbit from very well know breeders inoregon and idaho, and they still arent as big as they should be...grrrrrrr and all of my new zealands have pedigrees i just dont understand it, they have more thatn enough room, water is avaible all the time, and they are feed daily 18% pellets, pluss they get greens every day....
 
Or... get some NZ's in different colors! :p

Might not solve the problem since the Whites are the largest I believe, but it would be fun! :)

If they are all pedigreed purebreds I wouldn't add Flemish. Just keep selecting the largest and fastest growers as your keepers, and work toward your goal.
 
Too much greens might be diluting your protein ratio causing slower growth.
 
I know what you mean. I have a NZ white I have been waiting on to butcher but he is taking too long to get to the right weight. & my reds are almost his size & they are a month & 1/2 behind him. I am happy to have the new buck (he is huge & his kits are huge!) & hopefully I will get some good stock outta him. I traded 2 Nz white does for 2 flemish mix does so those kits should be huge too!
 
I have a SF from verbally large lines, saw the does and they were huge. But the papers are all 8-9lbs, not the 9.5-11lbs he told me about. My doe is still small, slow growing now. Not on grass anymore, hardly eats any pellets and I don't give them much greens lately. Way too much rain to be able to do so.
Kinda really annoys me.
So I'm wondering what gives, too.
 
Whites are not the biggest in new zealands. ...I wouldnt put flemish in your lines. Because the end results are not good. There is more bone than meat ratio and they eat more and take longer to grow. Sometimes the nz looks smaller ,but weight it first than see. |Some are more compact than others. LIke the californians are a compact meat rabbit. But they are heavy compare to looking at them. You might need a different line too.
 
Find a breeder with larger NZW's for sale and start there. Often enough, adding a different bloodline into your own is what makes all the difference in the world.

Under no circumstances would I even consider using flemish giants in the equation, and for the reasons previously stated. You'll spend generations trying to breed it out, and the meat-to-bone ration will be completely upside down.
 
How much do the smaller NZW's weigh? How far off are they? If its just a little you should be able to find a couple bigger NZW's somewhere and start to linebreed back to them instead of the smaller ones.. eventually with strict culling of the smaller slower growing ones you will see a difference.This will be a much faster way than introducing an entirely different body type to a line of purebreds.. it will take way longer to get back to properly balanced NZW's after that! We have the same problem with the Champagnes, keeping them up to breed standard as well. This is a problem that is present in all breeds actually, including Flemish!
 
ChickiesnBunnies":3jgjkcv6 said:
I have a SF from verbally large lines, saw the does and they were huge. But the papers are all 8-9lbs, not the 9.5-11lbs he told me about. My doe is still small, slow growing now. Not on grass anymore, hardly eats any pellets and I don't give them much greens lately. Way too much rain to be able to do so.
Kinda really annoys me.
So I'm wondering what gives, too.
Click to expand...

I am having the same problem with SOME of my SF . Most of them are up to breed standard but some of them are lagging behind. I have kept 5 does and 2 bucks back from the table recently to see just how good I can get. Eventually I am going to keep 2 of the does and one backup buck to increase the herd size. Mine are blue and I have heard that blues can run smaller. It takes so much time to select and then get to senior weight to find out if you can increase size. I hope it will be worth it. :)
 
My blues were big. I had no problem with the size of rabbit if anything they were to big. I have a red female that is almost 12.5 pounds. The bucks are smaller. It must be your lines. I had a white buck that was 12 pounds. He was to big. But a good breeder and was my main breeder at that time. I no longer do whites. Just remember NZ grow fast at first then they slow down for a while then they go through a growth spurt. Depending on the age that you start breeding them.
 
Get some new NZ from a another breeder , just because they are well known doesn't mean every rabbit they sell you will be their best , or that they will be just like their parents, most breeders keep their best offspring, not sell it. Not trying to put that breeder down, just saying....

If all your other NZ are pedigreed, why dilute you line with another breed? MHO :)
 

Latest posts

Back
Top