New to Meat Rabbits

[Nurse Tanya]

We are getting read to pruchase some meat rabbits. I am torn on what to do. I am hoping to get some pedigree Californias. The seller wants $75 a piece. I think that is a little steep. He shows his rabbits and they do well. I know someone that has pedigree New Zealand Reds for $25. I am not sure if I should stick to one breed or a couple and cross them. I was hoping if I got too many rabbits to eat, I could sell them for show. Just thinking it cost just as much to feed a purebred vs a cross and hoping the resale would be bigger on the purebreed.

please educate me in laymans terms. I am an RN but have not yet learned all the lingo in the rabbit community!LOL

 

[kotapony]

It varies greatly by area, but around here you never see meat rabbits for $75. I started last spring with a trio. I picked them up at 8 weeks old and paid $25 each. You can find them cheaper, but these were fully pedigreed from lines with multiple grand champions. I don't show, but figured since I knew nothing about choosing good stock I figured that route gave me the best chance of getting nice rabbits to start with. I had planned, like you, to sell a few extras to help cover costs, but so far haven't had any extras. One of the two does died after her first litter.

Have you otherwise been watching you local classified for a while to just see what is typical for your area? I had to travel over an hour to get my cals, and have yet to see any advertised closer than that. I see a lot of Flemish and the occasional NZW. I have no idea if that's because the market isn't there or it's wide open and waiting to be tapped.

Either way crosses won't sell for nearly as much as purebred, pedigreed stock. But for meat purposes I understand you get the best growth rate by crossing a cal with a NZ. That growth rate doesn't continue after the first generation however (or so I've read). I don't have room to keep two bucks for crossing or I'd try it. So far I've stuck with pure cals.

It sounds like you're new to rabbits (forgive me if you're not). In that case I would definitely start small and go with the NZ. No matter how much you read, you are likely to make some mistakes along the way. I just started in the spring after reading like crazy for over a year. One of my initial does died at 6 months. I don't think it was anything I did, but there went my $25 plus all the effort I had in her. It really would have hurt if she'd been a $75 rabbit.

Also, keep in mind you're probably not going to be able to get as much out of your stock as the breeder you buy them from unless you keep actively showing and have the same show record to back up the quality of your herd as the original breeder does. Pedigree doesn't necessarily translate to quality.

Just some thoughts from a fellow newbie to consider.

 

[Legacy]

You can pay $75 for rabbits if you want but there will be a learning curve and you are likely to loose some in the process. Californians are great meat breed. So are NZ. A lot of people breed a Cali to a NZ to get a bigger hybrid rabbit for butchering.

You really have to think about why you are getting into meat rabbits in the first place. For me, it was to save money on the grocery bill for our family of 12. If I had paid $75 each for my rabbits plus the cost that a lot of these people are wanting for cages, it would have been years before I broke even. If your plan is to sell rabbits to recover the costs, don't think that just because you pay $75 each for your rabbits that you will be able to sell your rabbits for that. It won't happen on a regular basis.

I paid anywhere from $5-$20 each for my rabbits. They aren't pedigreed but you can't taste the pedigree of a fried rabbit. I bought my cages from flea markets, craigslist, & my husband made some. We have a 17 hole rabbitry plus a couple of extra "emergency" cages And we spent a grand total of $150 on cages. I sell my babies for $20 each (most are nz, or nz/cali crosses). I can't keep up with the demand for does at that price and the money I get goes right back into the rabbit feed. My rabbitry pays for it's self. The bucks that don't sell get butchered. We have our meat for free that way. When we get more money off selling babies than we need for feed and such, I spend it on meat at the grocery store. That way, one or another, the rabbits are providing all of our meat. With just the cost of our original investments in rabbits and cages.

It wouldn't have done me a lot of good to spend a fortune getting set up for rabbits and then spend as much to feed them as I was spending on meat from the store.

I have 10 working does. At the $75 each, that would have been $750. It cost me $82 for all my does(4 of them were 0 because they were homegrown) and I have 6 bucks and I have spent a total of $65 on bucks(one of them was homegrown).

You can find bargins if you are tuned into them. I have 4 different breeds. Two of the breeds I got because they were show animals and the lady who had show for years and years had decide to get out of showing rabbits. One of the rabbits I bought from her won at every show she had gone to. It was her favorite show rabbit. So even though my rabbits aren't pedigreed doesn't mean they aren't good quality.

I hope some of my rambling helps.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

Tanya,

Check out this site... http://www.chiggerridge.net/chiggerridgerabb.html

They are in middle TN and that site is a wealth of information. They also have quality rabbits for much better prices than you stated. If I was closer, that is where I would get rabbits from.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I am going to offer a different perspective here.

As a novice, you have no idea what constitutes a good rabbit. By buying from an established breeder, many of the problems will (hopefully) have been culled out, and the rabbits selectively bred for consistent meat production, litter size, and health. I bought my original stock from a lady who has been breeding for 25 years, and has been a rabbit judge for 15. My rabbits were $50 each, and I started with 2 does and a buck. I asked her to choose my foundation stock since she had the expertise and knew her herd, and could choose animals with complimentary bloodlines. One of the bucks did die for no apparent reason (before I got to breed him! ) , but other than that, I have had no problems. Two of my home grown maiden does just kindled, and they had their kits in lovely nests, and did everything perfectly. My rabbits are all very clean in their habits- they do not soil their hay, nor have any of my does ever peed in a nest.

I kept all of my does, since my goal is meat, and lots of it. However, I am planning on attending several shows so I can learn how to evaluate my stock properly and breed to the SOP. Without that ability, over several generations I can just as easily ruin my herd by breeding inferior stock- and of course, I want to make my good rabbits even better. My does and bucks will be replaced by others I have bred as I learn the qualities to strive for... hopefully that will bring in some income, especially when selling proven does and bucks.

If you are willing to learn the standard for your chosen breed, I would recommend starting with good quality related animals that have been linebred or inbred. Two does and two bucks would be ideal, or one buck and two does, with one of the does already bred to another buck from the breeder's herd. You can then keep a buck out of the bred doe, and will have two "buck lines" to cross with one another.

Good luck! Make sure to post pics when you bring your babies home!

 

[Nurse Tanya]

I am going to offer a different perspective here.

As a novice, you have no idea what constitutes a good rabbit. By buying from an established breeder, many of the problems will (hopefully) have been culled out, and the rabbits selectively bred for consistent meat production, litter size, and health. I bought my original stock from a lady who has been breeding for 25 years, and has been a rabbit judge for 15. My rabbits were $50 each, and I started with 2 does and a buck. I asked her to choose my foundation stock since she had the expertise and knew her herd, and could choose animals with complimentary bloodlines. One of the bucks did die for no apparent reason (before I got to breed him! ) , but other than that, I have had no problems. Two of my home grown maiden does just kindled, and they had their kits in lovely nests, and did everything perfectly. My rabbits are all very clean in their habits- they do not soil their hay, nor have any of my does ever peed in a nest.

I kept all of my does, since my goal is meat, and lots of it. However, I am planning on attending several shows so I can learn how to evaluate my stock properly and breed to the SOP. Without that ability, over several generations I can just as easily ruin my herd by breeding inferior stock- and of course, I want to make my good rabbits even better. My does and bucks will be replaced by others I have bred as I learn the qualities to strive for... hopefully that will bring in some income, especially when selling proven does and bucks.

If you are willing to learn the standard for your chosen breed, I would recommend starting with good quality related animals that have been linebred or inbred. Two does and two bucks would be ideal, or one buck and two does, with one of the does already bred to another buck from the breeder's herd. You can then keep a buck out of the bred doe, and will have two "buck lines" to cross with one another.

Good luck! Make sure to post pics when you bring your babies home!

When you say related animals, what type of relation do you mean? Brother and sister? Mother and son?

__________ Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:42 am __________

I am going to offer a different perspective here.

As a novice, you have no idea what constitutes a good rabbit. By buying from an established breeder, many of the problems will (hopefully) have been culled out, and the rabbits selectively bred for consistent meat production, litter size, and health. I bought my original stock from a lady who has been breeding for 25 years, and has been a rabbit judge for 15. My rabbits were $50 each, and I started with 2 does and a buck. I asked her to choose my foundation stock since she had the expertise and knew her herd, and could choose animals with complimentary bloodlines. One of the bucks did die for no apparent reason (before I got to breed him! ) , but other than that, I have had no problems. Two of my home grown maiden does just kindled, and they had their kits in lovely nests, and did everything perfectly. My rabbits are all very clean in their habits- they do not soil their hay, nor have any of my does ever peed in a nest.

I kept all of my does, since my goal is meat, and lots of it. However, I am planning on attending several shows so I can learn how to evaluate my stock properly and breed to the SOP. Without that ability, over several generations I can just as easily ruin my herd by breeding inferior stock- and of course, I want to make my good rabbits even better. My does and bucks will be replaced by others I have bred as I learn the qualities to strive for... hopefully that will bring in some income, especially when selling proven does and bucks.

If you are willing to learn the standard for your chosen breed, I would recommend starting with good quality related animals that have been linebred or inbred. Two does and two bucks would be ideal, or one buck and two does, with one of the does already bred to another buck from the breeder's herd. You can then keep a buck out of the bred doe, and will have two "buck lines" to cross with one another.

Good luck! Make sure to post pics when you bring your babies home!

When you say related animals, what type of relation do you mean? Brother and sister? Mother and son?<br /><br />__________ Sun Jan 22, 2012 2:02 am __________<br /><br />

Tanya,

Check out this site... http://www.chiggerridge.net/chiggerridgerabb.html

They are in middle TN and that site is a wealth of information. They also have quality rabbits for much better prices than you stated. If I was closer, that is where I would get rabbits from.

They have New Zealand. Are they just as good as Californias?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

When you say related animals, what type of relation do you mean? Brother and sister? Mother and son?

__________ Sun Jan 22, 2012 2:02 am __________

They should have some common ancestors- for instance, the same buck being the father of one and the grand sire of another. Brother/sister matings are okay if you are trying to establish the dominance of a certain trait, such as good shoulders, but it works the other way also- if they both have weak hindquarters, you are doubling your chances of that fault. In an established line, there will be a lot of linebreeding and probably some inbreeding. This gives you a consistent base of genes to work with. Outcrossing is when you breed completely unrelated animals, perhaps to strengthen a weak area in your herd, but then you basically have to start over with linebreeding/inbreeding to set that trait- and you may have introduced other genes that you don't want and will have to work to get rid of.

 

[seagullplayer]

They have New Zealand. Are they just as good as Californias?

Yes they are. Many prefer them as their Doe of choice.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

Tanya,

Check out this site... http://www.chiggerridge.net/chiggerridgerabb.html

They are in middle TN and that site is a wealth of information. They also have quality rabbits for much better prices than you stated. If I was closer, that is where I would get rabbits from.

They have New Zealand. Are they just as good as Californias?[/quote]

NZW and Californian are the top two commercial meat rabbit breeds, so either one is good. Add an Altex buck to the mix, and you will get some fast growing, meaty fryers.