After reading about others' successes and failures, I'm still trying to figure out how to move ahead in this second season of raising rabbits for meat. I'm disappointed in the does we kept back from last year (from our original NZW does and a SF buck) The first one lost one complete litter and 7 out of 11 from the next. The second had 6 and lost 2 so she also has just four left and is rebred--due early June. The third had 9 and has 7 left after 6 days. But the mother of these does had 8 and lost none each of the 3 times we bred her. I was just reading Zass's post on a thread about SF and she found them to be poor mothers, not enough milk. Mine are not crazy mean like hers but I think the milk supply is a problem. What I wonder is whether milk production is apt to improve next time they kindle (as it does with our goats--first lactation generally lower production)? And whether it is likely that if I keep any of this year's does to breed back to the SF buck, milk production will just get worse as that generation would be 3/4 SF instead of half?
I'm trying to figure out whether to stay with the does we have for another year, whether to keep the best grown buck from the doe that does the best through the season and breed to him next year. The SF buck we have now has never refused to breed and there have been live kits from every encounter that looked remotely like a possible successful breeding. He's got a good disposition, doesn't spray. But he's small for a SF, just under 8 pounds at almost 2 years old. And if the low milk production is either a SF trait generally or one from his line it will only get worse the more generations we breed back to him.
I read posts by people who keep buying new rabbits and sometimes get the traits they were looking for and sometimes don't. Also read the advice (which makes good sense to me) to buy rabbits that have been raised the way you want to raise yours and that complicates buying new rabbits because I don't know of anyone around us who feeds forage and not pellets or even that I have any reason to believe has a good line of meat mutts.
Our goal is to raise meat for home use and to feed as much as possible what we can grow ourselves. I'd welcome advice from those with more experience about where to go from here.
I'm trying to figure out whether to stay with the does we have for another year, whether to keep the best grown buck from the doe that does the best through the season and breed to him next year. The SF buck we have now has never refused to breed and there have been live kits from every encounter that looked remotely like a possible successful breeding. He's got a good disposition, doesn't spray. But he's small for a SF, just under 8 pounds at almost 2 years old. And if the low milk production is either a SF trait generally or one from his line it will only get worse the more generations we breed back to him.
I read posts by people who keep buying new rabbits and sometimes get the traits they were looking for and sometimes don't. Also read the advice (which makes good sense to me) to buy rabbits that have been raised the way you want to raise yours and that complicates buying new rabbits because I don't know of anyone around us who feeds forage and not pellets or even that I have any reason to believe has a good line of meat mutts.
Our goal is to raise meat for home use and to feed as much as possible what we can grow ourselves. I'd welcome advice from those with more experience about where to go from here.
