ramblingrabbit
Well-known member
Ok. So, I've noticed a few of my litters of fryers recently have had a little bit of extra fat on their carcasses--around the shoulders for example, and inside the body cavity (like along the spine, near the kidneys). I always use my fingers when I rinse off the carcass to peel away the excess--it's not that we don't love fat on our meat (on the contrary) and I realized that rabbit fat is quite healthy, but unfortunately it just has that odd flavor that we don't care for so much. I'd rather cook the rabbit meat with some bacon... :chef:
Anyway, to get to the point, I was wondering what could be causing that extra fat build up. The growouts aren't putting on muscle any quicker than usual, it seems. Could it be because they are getting fed too much calories in relation to the amount of protein? For a while we were feeding alfalfa--could that have caused fat to accumulate. Are we simply feeding too much of everything? Or is there no simple answer?
It's not a big deal, but it makes me curious. If the goal is to produce lean meat, and those fatty deposits are something that we are going to toss anyway, then theoretically we could be wasting feed... I wonder if we should try to cut down on the richer foods for the growouts just a little. Then again, maybe it doesn't work like that...
Or does it just mean their well fed and healthy? Is that pretty normal?
Any thoughts?
They are fed on fresh forage, oats, sunflower seeds, root crops, and sugarcane.
Anyway, to get to the point, I was wondering what could be causing that extra fat build up. The growouts aren't putting on muscle any quicker than usual, it seems. Could it be because they are getting fed too much calories in relation to the amount of protein? For a while we were feeding alfalfa--could that have caused fat to accumulate. Are we simply feeding too much of everything? Or is there no simple answer?
It's not a big deal, but it makes me curious. If the goal is to produce lean meat, and those fatty deposits are something that we are going to toss anyway, then theoretically we could be wasting feed... I wonder if we should try to cut down on the richer foods for the growouts just a little. Then again, maybe it doesn't work like that...
Or does it just mean their well fed and healthy? Is that pretty normal?
Any thoughts?
They are fed on fresh forage, oats, sunflower seeds, root crops, and sugarcane.
