Franco's FAQ Meat Rabbits

[rabbitgeek]

FAQ Meat Rabbits

Please feel free to make comments or suggestions about this FAQ.

Frequently Asked Questions About Meat Rabbits
by Franco Rios
Orig 2/7/2009, Links updated 12/31/2010

WHAT BREED SHOULD I GET?

All rabbits are made out of meat. So any breed of rabbit can be eaten
for meat. A meat rabbit is a rabbit that was grown to provide meat.
These can be purebreds or crossbreeds.

But some breeds are better for size. Dwarf breeds (up to about 2 1/2
lbs) are generally too small to be efficiently harvested for meat.
Some of the small breeds like Dutch or Florida White are good for
small meat production situations.

The commercial meat rabbit was bred to be a certain size by a certain
age to produce young "fryer" sized rabbits. This commercial goal in
USA is to have rabbits at 5 lbs by 10 weeks of age.

There is a competition for meat pens and fryers at rabbit shows. The
meat pen and fryer competition is a demonstration of the breeders'
ability to produce a market animal of consistent size and quality.

A meat pen is three rabbits, any gender, more than three pounds and
less than five pounds. A single fryer is a rabbit, any gender, more
than three pounds and less than five pounds. They must not be older
than 70 days.

There is an article on raising meat pen rabbits on the rabbitgeek website.
http://www.rabbitgeek.com/meatpennotes.html

Meat Sized Rabbit Breeds

Semi-Arch / Mandolin Body Type Breeds
American * (Blue & White)
Beveren * (Black, Blue, White)

Commercial / Medium Length Body Type Breeds
American Sable *
Californian
Champagne d'Argent
American Chinchilla *
Cinnamon *
Creme d'Argent *
Hotots * (Blanc de Hotot)
New Zealand
Palomino *
Rex
Satin
Silver Fox *
* On Rare Breed Rabbits List

You can read about Rare Breed Rabbits at
http://www.rabbitgeek.com/rarelist.html

Not all meat rabbits are white, so other colored breeds are included
in the chart. Many breeds are raised for unique fur quality as well.

Another issue is bone size. Bones are not eaten, so a hefty rabbit
with heavy bone structure has less meat per pound. So a medium bone
structure is desirable.

For this reason the Giant rabbit breeds (over 14 lbs adult weight) are
usually not used for commercial rabbit meat.

WHAT ABOUT CROSS BREEDS?

Many people have good success with using cross breeding for meat
rabbits. Breeding a buck and a doe from different breeds or bloodlines
will produce a hybrid litter of rabbits that will grow faster and
larger than the parent breeds normally would due to an effect called
hybrid vigor.

All the rabbits in the hybrid litter are used for meat, not for
breeding. Because the hybrid vigor effect disappears after the first
generation litter, leading to disappointing results for the grower.

This means breeding stock from separate breeds is kept for cross
breeding. So there has to be access to more rabbits to use as breeding
stock, since replacements cannot be kept from the crossbreed litters.

WHAT ABOUT LINE BREEDING?

Line breeding is a sustainable plan for breeding within the same
bloodlines.

The breeding plan is to breed dams and sires to the offspring. In
human terms, father to daughter, mother to son. This breeding plan is
sustainable since it uses replacement breeding stock from the litters
of rabbits born. Since the breeding stock is the same "blood" from
generation to generation, this is called a bloodline.

This is not "in-breeding" which would be brother to sister pairings.

Selecting replacement stock in line breeding is critical. The
replacement stock must have the desirable traits of growth rate, bone
size, mothering ability, disposition, color and other traits.

Line breeding can improve a bloodline in a very short time. Rabbits
with undesirable traits are removed from the breeding program
(culled). Rabbits with desirable traits are kept for breeding. Not all
rabbits born have desirable traits and line breeding can remove those
traits in a few generations.

This would leave a grower with a bloodline of rabbits that are
genetically compatible for breeding and have undesirable traits
reduced in the line.

For more info on line breeding, try these websites

The Nature Trail
http://www.thenaturetrail.com/linebreed ... ossing.htm

Jubilee Acres
http://jubileeacres.fateback.com/rabbitbreeding.html

Debmark Rabbit Education Resource
http://www.debmark.com/rabbits/breeding.htm

Line Breeding Chart and Coat Color info on Pam Nock's website
http://nockrabbits.com/

General Meat Rabbit Info:

Pat Lamar's "Commercial Rabbit Industries" info file for download
is located at Homesteading Today forum
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showth ... p?t=343961

Have a good day!
Franco Rios
http://www.rabbitgeek.com

 

[guinnessguy]

Thanks for posting this. Very informative and concise.

 

[Anntann]

Again, excellent information. I tell ya...I've got rabbitgeek.com on my toolbar.

I've always liked your explanation of linebreeding. With an animal like rabbits the concept makes a lot of sense because you can see the differences in a single litter, unlike say..HORSES where linebreeding is also used, but can bring about some disasters which are still sold for big $$ because they're from a <some big money winner> stud.

My only comment is an editorial one:

WHAT ABOUT CROSS BREEDS?

Many people have good success with using cross breeding for meat
rabbits. Breeding a buck and a doe from different breeds or bloodlines
will produce a hybrid litter of rabbits that will grow faster and
larger than the parent breeds normally would due a an effect called
hybrid vigor.

due to an effect....

 

[MaggieJ]

Nice job, Franco, as always! :goodjob:

 

[ShadedNightRabbitry]

Hey now! I hear angora is one of the tastier meats. ;D Guess I can't prove that for another few months however.

I'm interested in anyone who raises the commercial angora breeds on here. Do you find that they make the minimum standard for a meat pen by 70 days? I'm hoping so, since I'm using SA's for my meat pen for fair, lol. I figured it would be fun to pick up a rarer breed and one that actually takes a ton of work rather than just feeding every night and some posing training like the netherlands, lol.

 

[rabbitgeek]

Ann, got it, thanks! I'm going to work on a rewrite of the linebreeding section because of some observations from a couple other forums. It will help pull together some loose ends and make the FAQ better.

SNR, you're entering the Satin Angora in meat pen just for fun right? A lot of judges would disqualify them on sight. So don't be surprised if it happens. The thought might be that angoras are not commercial because processors don't want to mess with wool getting all over the meat.

Satin Angoras should reach the minimum weight for meat pens. Is this a fair? Some fairs will send rabbits to the butcher after the meat pen, so try to find out if you get your rabbits back or not.

When you select for breeding, remember to select for body type as well as wool.

Have a good day!

 

[Pickles]

Im not into rabbits for meat, but I love to learn all I can about Rabbits, etc... Must say, this is a Wonderful FAQ! Very Informative with excellent links.

 

[ShadedNightRabbitry]

Ann, got it, thanks! I'm going to work on a rewrite of the linebreeding section because of some observations from a couple other forums. It will help pull together some loose ends and make the FAQ better.

SNR, you're entering the Satin Angora in meat pen just for fun right? A lot of judges would disqualify them on sight. So don't be surprised if it happens. The thought might be that angoras are not commercial because processors don't want to mess with wool getting all over the meat.

Satin Angoras should reach the minimum weight for meat pens. Is this a fair? Some fairs will send rabbits to the butcher after the meat pen, so try to find out if you get your rabbits back or not.

When you select for breeding, remember to select for body type as well as wool.

Have a good day!

Yes, it's just for my fairs. I wanted something a little more flashy than even a creme or champagne or new zealands or rexes, the usual choices for our fair's kids. The rule in the rulebook is any of the 13 commercial breeds, or any cross inbetween. There are two classes, one just to show off what you have, and another for market sale. If I do well, the market sale could pay for my feed for a couple months. ;D Even if it would be less than I would get for them as woolers, lol.

My main focus has been body currently. My doe's first breeding was a week ago. I kind of hope she losses her first litter, as horrible as that sounds. (And unlikely. =/) I didn't realize that the breeding for a spring meat pen would be late February for a 9 or 10 week group.

 

[Anntann]

The French Angoras can easily make the weight, and they were originally a meat breed that got developed for the fiber as well.(and still ARE in France). I've got a FA doe on the porch who is HUGE and passes the size on to her kits. BUT, the "meat pen" at the 4-H here is specifically for the commercial "ready for the processor" rabbit. hmmm. I wonder what they'd do here with a batch of angoras? :razz:

 

[Miss M]

Thanks, Franko, great info as always!