If you could or do breed year round

[dayna]

Which is what I can do, how many pregnancies times per year do you breed your meat rabbits?

I'm looking at trying to figure out a schedule.

I figure so long as the bun is in good shape and healthy she can be bread as often as I would like? Correct?

So for a meat rabbit program, what would YOU do if you could breed year round.

Do you have a specific age that the babies are that you re breed the mother? Do you give year round breeders a "break". etc. etc.

 

[annie]

Good question, I was wondering this too. I guess it would depend a lot on the individual rabbit and what they could handle.

 

[mystang89]

Pretty much that. I try to breed year round but take into account the health of the doe. If the doe just doesn't look like she can take another then she gets a rest. So thinking out loud - if you have a healthy doe and she takes every time, then you have a 30day ish wait, I wait another 4 weeks after kindle to breed again since that is when I wean, that would mean about a litter every 2 months which would be about 6 litters a year. Of course that is with everything going perfectly...which we all know never happens.

 

[Demamma]

I am debriefing the doe at 5 weeks when I wean kits. I am keeping better records now to watch for condition. Two does is on their third litter in a row. So far they is doing great.

 

[TerriG]

We rebreed at 4 weeks and wean at 5 weeks. That gives me 3 weeks to work on condition and gives her a bit of a break from kits before she kindles again. We are coming up on a year of keeping this schedule. Our does seem to be handling it just fine. We have 4 does that we breed 2 at a time (always having a companion breeder so we can foster as needed).

 

[Secuono]

I would still give them a break or lengthen the time between breed back.

 

[Miss M]

I am debriefing the doe

:rotfl:

Sorry, couldn't help it... picturing a doe surrounded by Secret Service agents and a couple of detectives.

 

[dayna]

LOL Miss M I thought the same thing.

How long would one "rest the doe". I'm really new to this and my doe was a bit thin, when her babies were nursing so I weaned them early (at 4 weeks).

They were eating at 4 weeks anyway so I separated her from them and allowed them two days of 2x a day nursing and they were just weaned.

Lets see, they were 4 weeks on the 23rd of March. I re-bred Honey on the 31st Easter Sunday. She gave birth to her second litter April 2nd I think. So far she is holding her weight much better this time, even though she has 1 more baby than last time.

I am giving her a tablespoon of calf manna a day this time, I did not do that last time.

 

[3mina]

If my herd was indoors (the only way I could breed year round) I'd breed fairly intensely as long as my does could handle it. I have a very small herd but I tend to treat them the same as a commercial operation would.

 

[Demamma]

I hate spell check. Debriefing no rebreeding yes. How it came up with debriefing is a mystery to me.

 

[rawfeeder]

Since I breed for meat I do prefer more of an intense breeding schedule - ideally I would like to aim for about 6-9 litters per year, per doe. However, the happiness and welfare of my does is very important to me.. so I watch their body condition to decide breed back and weaning dates rather than rely on a set schedule. Each passing litter and each doe is usually different in their development, needs and rate of growth.

I have a really nice blue NZ mix doe... she had her first litter of 9 on March 6th - textbook pregnancy and mom maintained a good healthy weight throughout. She was bred back March 18th and had a huge litter of 15 on April 19th. She took a little longer to gain condition after this batch, but by May 1st was given the all clear to be bred back. Due to wanting to use a friends buck across town, my busy schedule and lack of immediate cage space she hasn't yet been rebred. So I guess other things factor into it also such as available cages, goals for pairings, breeding ages of stock and my schedule or preferences.

 

[skysthelimit]

I do an intense breed back schedule, every 14-20 days, and wean at 4-5 weeks. Mine tend to get fat if they are not bred back. They will break themselves if they need. I do treat them like a commercial herd, even though they are my show rabbits, as my original purpose was for meat for my dogs, and with 4 German Shepherds, I need a lot of meat. Anything that can't handle that is culled by natural selection. There is a schedule on the Purina website and several gov docs on commercial management and breeding schedules. http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/ua274.pdf

With the exception of the problem I had this past fall, perhaps due to the heat, my show stock, has had no problems handling the breed back schedule, consistently giving me litters between 7-12 rabbits each, every 5 weeks or so.

 

[coffeenutdesigns]

I would still give them a break or lengthen the time between breed back.

Me, too.

 

[SyP]

I breed my doe's every 2 monthes if they keep there normal wieght. I did have a problem with mastitis this year in one of my doe's so before breeding you might want to check the doe for swollen or blue breasts, doe's with mastitis can produce toxic milk and can be a bad thing for the up and coming litter. :zombiebun:

 

[stone soup farm]

I live on the North Coast. For the most part, my weather is not too hot or too cold. Usually between 50- 80 during the day and nights to 30- 60, year round. So we breed all the year through.

As long as they are in good health then we breed back at 5 weeks and wean sometime between 5 and 6 weeks. I have read that if they get too long of a break they can be harder to breed. And like someone else said, they will take a break with a miss if they need to. We recently have a doe that looked fine, but didn't take because a week or so after breeding she went into molt, and no babies that round but the following time she had 7 kits. We also always breed in pairs to foster. I just fostered 3 from a litter of 13 to the litter of 7 evening each to 10.

My only problem so far is having enough room to grow out my fryers, as they are taking between 10 and 12 weeks (we partial natural feed). We are working on shortening that number to 8 to 10 weeks. So I should be breeding every 3 weeks with 6 does paired off. By my math that is what will work with the number of cages I have.

Thanks for this good question. I find it interesting how others run their rabbitry.

 

[JAA]

I breed back 11 days after kindle. Wean kits at 4 weeks. I haven't been doing this for a very long time but so far things are working out just fine.

 

[stone soup farm]

I breed back 11 days after kindle. Wean kits at 4 weeks. I haven't been doing this for a very long time but so far things are working out just fine.

So that gives them one week for a break. What size litters do you have? How are they handling that schedule?

I have read various dates of 7 days all the way to 8 weeks later, or whenever one gets to it. Very interesting, I guess it ultimately matters to the breeders needs and the condition of the herd. Intense schedules can shorten the length of a does breeding, but that probably varies from one doe to the next.

To all- Best of luck on your litter!

 

[skysthelimit]

Yes it shortens the does lifespan, but longevity is not usually the goal for meat production.