Meat:bone ratio for New Zealand whites?

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ytrachtenberg

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Greetings,

I've been running an experiment to determine the feed:weight ratios for rabbits raised in a cage vs ones raised in a colony. The rabbits were just slaughtered (at 21 weeks old), and I'm working on analyzing the results. I measured the carcass weights, but since we intend to eat these rabbits as well, they have gone into the freezer, and won't be cooked for a while. Thus I can't measure the actual meat:bone ratio of the carcasses.

I was able to measure the meat:bone ratio of a rabbit carcass (not from the experiment) slaughtered at the same age, but it was a New Zealand/Californian mix. Its carcass weighed 4lb 15oz, and the bones weighed 5oz, for a meat:bone ratio of approximately 15:1. But I'd rather not base my analysis on this one sample.

I've searched online, and haven't found any numbers for the meat:bone ratio of New Zealand whites. Does anyone know what that ratio is (or within what range it usually is), or of a place where I could find reliable numbers on it?

Thanks!
 
I will be de-boning a NZW tomorrow for dinner. If you would like I can give you my results later that evening. <br /><br /> __________ Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:43 pm __________ <br /><br /> Rabbit starting weight: 2.875lbs
Bones' weight after boiling down: 5.75oz
Rabbit meat after boiling down: 2.516lbs


-With that said the bones weight before and after boiling will be slightly different.
-Also some meat is just too difficult to remove and was left. (just between the spinal vertebrae)

But this is just one rabbit from one breeder.

Sorry didn't think to take pictures.
 
wamplercathy":5wqy19yy said:
I will be de-boning a NZW tomorrow for dinner. If you would like I can give you my results later that evening.

__________ Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:43 pm __________

Rabbit starting weight: 2.875lbs
Bones' weight after boiling down: 5.75oz
Rabbit meat after boiling down: 2.516lbs
Click to expand...

Are 2 of these numbers inverted????
 
Nope.
Rabbit starting weight: 2.875lbs (is the weight of the dressed rabbit I got from Grumpy)
Rabbit meat after boiling down: 2.516lbs (after it was cooked and de-boned the weight of the meat for consumption, ruffly speaking)
Bones' weight after boiling down: 5.75oz (just the bones after cooking and separating of meat)

2.875lb--> 46oz
-5.75oz (bone)

40.25oz--> 2.516lbs (meat)
 
http://www.suagcenter.com/Images/Interior/sustainableag/educational%20resources/facts%20about%20rabbits.pdf
Says Skeleton is 8% of body weight. That would be with organs and skin too, right? So this would be a number to use with live weight, I would think? Same as dress-out percentage (so if you have 58% dress-out, 50% would be meat?).
(taken from 1994 The Biology of the Laboratory Rabbit by Manning, P.J., D.H. Ringler and C.E. Newcomer
Don't have the book they reference, so dunno what breed(s) that is really in reference to.)
Dunno if that's helpful to you.
 

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