^ What he said. The breeder is going to matter more than the breed. You definitely want one that actively culls for temperament, and I always suggest getting meat buns from a breeder who enjoys the taste of rabbit.
What general region are you in? We might be able to point you in the right direction.
I raise my harlis, and love them dearly. In fact, I never miss a chance to let everyone know just how much!
I think they will make a good example of why the breeder matters so much though.
Keep in mind, the comparisons I'm making are pretty much all "VS commercially bred meat rabbits."
What I love about the lines available here, (all the PA lines seem to be bred pretty close.)
1, Tempers. Sweet little things, more likely to be shy than aggressive, but not neurotic.
2, Iron stomachs. Best forage rabbits I've ever owned.
3, No superlative traits or over-the-top expectations on type. Just a rabbit-looking-rabbit with a neat color.
4, General hardiness and lack of breed specific health issues. (No common ear or leg injuries, no sore hocks, not prone to malocclusion, etc.)
The main cons of the breed for most would be something like:
1. Very difficult to raise for show, you have to breed a lot to get anything show worthy.
2. A rather non competitive breed. You will never see a harli take BIS.
3. Smaller, definitely slower to grow than commercial meat buns. The doe's milk supply can be insufficient to feed quite as many kits. I end up having to cull more newborns to reduce litter sizes than with commercial meat breeds breeds. :
4. They get fat easily on a pellet-only diet.
So for my laid back raising style,
I think the most important part for me is diet. I had to have good forage hardy rabbits, because one of my main reasons for keeping them is to turn lawn and garden scraps into good quality compost.
I think being a little smaller helps with that, but I have no evidence aside from my own life experiences.
I like to breed my does whenever they and I agree that it's a good time to do so (2-3 times a year usually,) and the easiest way I've found to maintain that schedule requires a lower fat, lower energy diet in between litters to keep the does from becoming obese. (A problem I've had with more intense commercial stock.)
So we feed mainly forage, garden and hedge trimmings, and then some pellets, hay, alfalfa cubes, pumpkin seeds, oats, and whatever else I feel like spoiling them with, adjusted for their current needs of course.
The does don't get obese as fast, can't have quite as many litters per year, and the young don't seem to grow any slower on forage than on just pellets.. That's the trick with harlis. The young aren't going to grow like a NZ anyway, so there's no sense wasting too many calories on em.
:lol:
So with all this in mind, I cull towards the things I like, and I'm not too bothered about the show traits, just try to work slowly towards cleaner marks and keep the type decent (more for health than show) and hope I get a good show bun someday.
I'm sure other people have had somewhat different experiences with the same breed though. I know there are breeders out there trying to hammer down on type to make them more competitive at show. I would specifically avoid such a breeder, and consider other options if my area had different stock.
I suspect a lot of the medium weight breeds could also suit my (or your) needs pretty well. You won't find most of them on a list of "meat breeds" but all rabbits are edible.
