Meat Rabbit differances?

[temper13]

Can someone please break down differences between REX, CALIFORNIA, and NZ. As in size, food consumption, meat to bone ratio, and anything else to add and is there a difference in taste between the rabbits or is it all based on what they are fed? I Really like the fur on the REX but also want to start raising rabbit for meat.

 

[A&BRabbitry]

I don't know much about the rex's but their is little difference in cals and nzs. They both are at prime killing age at 8-10 weeks with a weighout between 4.5-5 lbs. After 10 wks weight gain slows and feed ratio increases. The small difference you may see is in full grown size with the nzs having a slight edge. Although I have seen a fewxl caps here and there.

 

[ollitos]

My chef customer swears he can tell a NZ and Cali apart by taste.

My Silver Foxes... wow.. they hardly eat at all but they are good growers. I'm just now starting to breed them so I'll have a better idea on bone structure once we start butchering.

 

[3mina]

Standard Rex are a meat rabbit, they just grow a little slower than the NZ or Cals and that may just be in my barn. So don't discount the Rex as a meat animal there's quite a few people on here that swear by them.
The meat breeds in general are all bigger blocky animals with wide shoulders and hips that look like basketballs when posed. The ARBA breed page is a good place to start.
I've never found any difference in taste between breeds, just the amount of meat on the bones.

 

[skysthelimit]

I hear there is a difference in taste depending on how they are fed. I also here that Cals and NZ are voracious eaters. Don't really know, my Rex seem greedy enough.
Rexes take up to 12-16 weeks to reach the same size Cals and NZ do at 8-12 weeks. If you are not a commercial operation, or aren't trying to sell to others, this may not be a problem. When buying Rex, make sure the breeder appreciates the meat qualities of the breed, or you will get a Rex that grows even slower or has smaller litters. Some show people (which is were you will find the majority of Rex breeders) prefer smaller litters because the kits grow bigger faster for show. My rabbits tend to have 7-12 kits per litter.

Bone to meat ratio is about the same for all, dress out weight too, except the Silver Fox is supposed to have the highest dress out weight of all.

 

[Cindi Davis]

My Silver Foxes... wow.. they hardly eat at all but they are good growers. I'm just now starting to breed them so I'll have a better idea on bone structure once we start butchering.[/quote]


Where did you get your Silver Foxes I would really love to get a trio here in Oregon

 

[skysthelimit]

My chef customer swears he can tell a NZ and Cali apart by taste.

My Silver Foxes... wow.. they hardly eat at all but they are good growers. I'm just now starting to breed them so I'll have a better idea on bone structure once we start butchering.

I always feel like I should give them more food because they are bigger than the Rexes. Maybe not?

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

LEts not forget the american chinchilla. They dont eat as much as the cal does. the nz are big pigs. the calls are next in line. The am,chin dosnt eat as much as they do. All good meat rabbit. Then you have the champagne. Not to sure on how much meat on them yet. Just started with them

 

[A&BRabbitry]

My cals and nzs both consume about the same amount of feed. Not much difference in my barn.

 

[SterlingSatin]

don't forget about satins! they're super fun on the show table and have great meat characteristics

 

[Whipple]

My rexes don't really eat a ton. But I don't have anything to compare to. But their fur should be really nice when they're ready to butcher, so that's a nice extra.

 

[grumpy]

Anyone ever try Palaminos? I've always thought they were an interesting breed. Kind of hard to find in my neck of the woods.

grumpy.

 

[3mina]

I like the smaller guys but I'm not producing for commercial use but my own. The next two breeds I'm looking at very hard are the Silver and the Std Chin. The Chins I've seen pics of make my Rex look anemic

 

[temper13]

Thank you all for replying alot of helpful knowledge. It was mentioned that Rex rabbits won't be same size of NZ till 10 -12 wks. But I have read that NZ needs to get processed from about 8 wks because if you wait longer the meat will be tougher. So basically my question is do I wait 10- 12 weeks on the Rex's or are they processed at a younger age to get the better quality meat?

 

[skysthelimit]

You wanna process as close to 5lbs as possible, no matter what the breed. Unless you've got some super growing Rex, you're not going to have enough meat to snack on at 10 weeks. They just grow slower. I have a 12 week old Rex now, she's probably 3lbs, and would dress out at maybe a little over a pound. The four month olds are not 5lbs yet. More like 12-16 weeks. Since they grow more slowly than NZ, I would assume the meat is comparable to NZ at 8-12 weeks tht grow faster.<br /><br />__________ Sun Sep 23, 2012 8:25 am __________<br /><br />Rex 5/1/12 versus Silver Fox 5/8/12
what would be roaster age for the other meat breeds is fryer age for Rex



Not discouraging Rex as a meat breed, but you are going to wait longer, with the added bonus of the fur, which is why I have Rex and not NZ, but I still added the Silver Fox to get some speedy returns.

 

[3mina]

Sky's, seeing that pic tells me my Rex's are growing faster than I thought. Hmmm..... :?

 

[fuzzy9]

What would the average weight of a 6 week old standard rex meat type buck be?

 

[skysthelimit]

Sky's, seeing that pic tells me my Rex's are growing faster than I thought. Hmmm..... :?

MSD's grow faster than mine too. I have noticed the West Coast breeders have faster growing Rex than we do over here. mine's make senior weight at 6 mos, but no 5lb before 16 weeks.<br /><br />__________ Sun Sep 23, 2012 3:19 pm __________<br /><br />

What would the average weight of a 6 week old standard rex meat type buck be?

not much more than 2lb, and that would be a nice one. My 8 week olds are about 2lbs.

 

[fuzzy9]

Thanks sky! I found a breeder 2 1/2 hours from me that has standard rex, and she has both the chocolate and broken blacks that I want. I'm waiting for her to weigh them, and hoping they are within range, otherwise if they are a smaller line, I may just pass and keep looking.

__________ Sun Sep 23, 2012 2:27 pm __________

One more question. If I end up making the trip, and I want to continue producing broken blacks and chocolate, what would be the best combo to get as far as color? I will probably end up with 2 bucks, and 2 does. One of the bucks she has is a broken black buck.

 

[skysthelimit]

You can just breed black and chocolates together. Chocolate is on the same color locus as black. Just remember black is dominate, so unless the black carries chocolate you might not get it in the first gen, but later on you can breed so that all of your blacks are chocolate carriers.<br /><br />__________ Sun Sep 23, 2012 4:38 pm __________<br /><br />Slower growing does not mean they will be smaller. My does are 8-10lbs and my bucks are8-9lbs. Believe it or not, that not quite five lb Rex pictured above will make senior weight at 6 mos. All mine make senior weight. They just grow too slow for commercial meat production . I assume because most of the energy goes towards growing that fur.