Depth for meat rabbits

[Cattle Cait]

Has anyone noticed any correlation between depth of body and carcass quality or meat production? I know depth is important for show, but my meat rabbits are flat as pancakes and I don't seem to see any difference. Is it just aesthetic?

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

You know...I don't know. :shock: It might be interesting to get two rabbits, one that's flat and another with great depth, the same basic weight...and dress them out to compare.

Hmmmmmm...

 

[Cattle Cait]

You know...I don't know. :shock: It might be interesting to get two rabbits, one that's flat and another with great depth, the same basic weight...and dress them out to compare.

Hmmmmmm...

Vexing, isn't it?

 

[WildWolf]

I'd like to know too. I would think that the rabbit with better depth has more meat on the choice cut areas... but I really don't know. Let us know if you do the experiment Kyle suggested!

 

[Secuono]

I've had varying shaped growers before and they all ended up with darn near the same amount of meat.
Posing them more tucked rather than natural will also change things drastically, visually, but it doesn't seem to change the meat underneath.

 

[Cattle Cait]

Here's a couple of examples of crossbreds in my barn, this is generation two born on the farm (so I bought the grandparents, parents were born here, babies were born here). I mean, they're wide as dually trucks, but depth...meh.

 

[xa.logan]

opcorn:

 

[Dood]

Deep Depth is supposed to be an indicator of a thick loin muscle (the 'eye of the loin')

Ultra sound is now used the measure this in other meat species without killing the breeding stock

The difference might be negligible in 5 pound rabbits but is very noticeable in different pork breeds where the difference in loin diameter can be inches!