can't believe my eyes!!!

[jollysrabbits]

so with the move coming up, we did on last round of breeding about 2 months ago to sell and have some meat before we left. I can't say for sure (need to weigh them tomorrow) but I was looking at my litters and I think my Americans might be my fastest growing rabbits right now. My cali's are pretty nice I would rate them a 7.5 out of ten but they are noticeably smaller than my Americans. Same feed, same age, same litter size. They are almost 5 weeks old and look awesome. Will post an update tomorrow. Note: this is my first litter of americans, the parents are from 2 seperate breeders and different bloodlines.

 

[Miss M]

Neato!!! Have you kept track of feed consumption between the two litters?

 

[jollysrabbits]

yes, they get fed the same amount everyday, 5 cups total.

 

[Miss M]

That's pretty amazing, then!

It will be interesting when you weigh them!

It would be even more informative if, on butchering day, you took live weight, cleaned weight, and then deboned a representative rabbit of each and got a basic meat:bone ratio for the two. Deboning's a hassle, but it would tell you how much of that feed went to bone and how much went to meat.

 

[Jared77]

Would also be curious to get a weigh the bones and organ meat from both breeds. There could be differences in bone density and other factors which might be part of the weight differences or attributing to rate of muscle development.

 

[Jessykah]

I agree. You have gone this far in doing everything the same between the litters, and comparing them. Why not go the whole way? It would be very informative. And it may help you to determine which of the 2 breeds is the best converter from food to meat for your family. The Americans might be bigger, but if most of the weight and size is bones, then you may prefer the Calis. Deboning one from each would tell you a lot, as well as weighing the meat and all other parts separately, like the others suggested. Let us know what you decide. And maybe you have some pics of the 2 so we can see?? You know we love pics

 

[jollysrabbits]

I will see what I can do as far as posting the info, it will be 3 weeks as they are only 5 weeks old and it would be a waste to butcher right now.

 

[Miss M]

Oh, right! :lol:

It will be very interesting to see what you come up with. If you do the deboning, you'd probably want to do it after the cleaned rabbits rest. So you'd want to have all your other weights on butchering day.