Flemish Giant x New Zealand

[Missy's Mom]

Howdy. Anyone ever raise Flemish x New Zealand buns? How big would one be at maturity? Somewhere in between the 2 breeds? If you kept does and rebred to New Zealand or Californian, would you get a good meat bun with good feed conversion? At what age could you breed a F x NZ doe?

 

[olhippityhop]

I bought Flemish/NZ grow outs on craigslist for meat. Their growth rate was terrible and the meat to bone just wasn't worth the cost of feed. I'll never mess with Flemish again for meat. I can't see any pro's to Flemish from my experience.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

You can use the search function to see other posts about crosses with flemish giants. The thing is they are giants. They grow skeleton first. Then fill out.

I had got two flemish does years back. They were out eating my standard saanen milk goats that I was milking. Not exaggerating. Each flemish doe was eating more feed and hay than two and three year old standard goats in full milk production. And the rabbits still acted starved and always wanted more. Thankfully I was able to trade someone for them because they would have eaten me out of farm.

 

[eco2pia]

You can use the search function to see other posts about crosses with flemish giants. The thing is they are giants. They grow skeleton first. Then fill out.

I had got two flemish does years back. They were out eating my standard saanen milk goats that I was milking. Not exaggerating. Each flemish doe was eating more feed and hay than two and three year old standard goats in full milk production. And the rabbits still acted starved and always wanted more. Thankfully I was able to trade someone for them because they would have eaten me out of farm.

This. Exactly this. Flemish are not a good meat breed, counterintuitive, but true. Imagine a teenage boy who will grow into an NBA champ. He is gonna eat you out of house and home and there will be no meat on his lanky bones for years!

 

[TKT]

I have three 1/4 Flemish, 3/4 NZ rabbits. I bred both bucks to full NZ does. My pure NZ kits grew better and faster than my 1/8 Flemish kits.

The 1/4 Flemish doe has been a very hard keeper. The bucks have been fine and weigh about 13 lb, only eat about a half cup more a day than the New Zealands. All are a nice size and bigger than the New Zealands, with good temperaments, but I will be replacing them soon with my full New Zealand kits.

I've read that people who like the cross only cross one generation and eat that one.

 

[Sagebrush]

I breed Flemish for meat. Unfortunately mine seem to be cross breeds. Though I mainly keep them for their fur. I wait till they are 6-8 months old in order to do so. I just recently got some Dutch as a different meat rabbit that I can also sell as pets and working on getting into possibly showing the Dutch. The Flemish are not thrifty when it comes to feed conversion, again like others have said they grow bone before meat. My nursing Dutch doe eats about 1/8th of what my Flemish buck does.

 

[Missy's Mom]

You can use the search function to see other posts about crosses with flemish giants. The thing is they are giants. They grow skeleton first. Then fill out.

I had got two flemish does years back. They were out eating my standard saanen milk goats that I was milking. Not exaggerating. Each flemish doe was eating more feed and hay than two and three year old standard goats in full milk production. And the rabbits still acted starved and always wanted more. Thankfully I was able to trade someone for them because they would have eaten me out of farm.

That's crazy! Thanks for the warning!

 

[Missy's Mom]

I breed Flemish for meat. Unfortunately mine seem to be cross breeds. Though I mainly keep them for their fur. I wait till they are 6-8 months old in order to do so. I just recently got some Dutch as a different meat rabbit that I can also sell as pets and working on getting into possibly showing the Dutch. The Flemish are not thrifty when it comes to feed conversion, again like others have said they grow bone before meat. My nursing Dutch doe eats about 1/8th of what my Flemish buck does.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Missy's Mom]

I bought Flemish/NZ grow outs on craigslist for meat. Their growth rate was terrible and the meat to bone just wasn't worth the cost of feed. I'll never mess with Flemish again for meat. I can't see any pro's to Flemish from my experience.

Thank you for letting me know!

 

[Missy's Mom]

This. Exactly this. Flemish are not a good meat breed, counterintuitive, but true. Imagine a teenage boy who will grow into an NBA champ. He is gonna eat you out of house and home and there will be no meat on his lanky bones for years!

LOL!

 

[Missy's Mom]

I breed Flemish for meat. Unfortunately mine seem to be cross breeds. Though I mainly keep them for their fur. I wait till they are 6-8 months old in order to do so. I just recently got some Dutch as a different meat rabbit that I can also sell as pets and working on getting into possibly showing the Dutch. The Flemish are not thrifty when it comes to feed conversion, again like others have said they grow bone before meat. My nursing Dutch doe eats about 1/8th of what my Flemish buck does.

So they really are little piggies.

 

[Sagebrush]

Yes they are. I supplement with fresh greens when I can, but with 4 breeding does and 2 breeding bucks I was going through a 50# bag of pellets every week. Granted my does would give 12-17 babies each litter but still, that is a ton of feed.