What age to dispatch?

[dizzybumblebee]

I believe that we will start butchering at 10 weeks. Not particularly happy with the texture, toughness of the meat at 12 weeks. Unless we decide to bone out the meat. And then we will probably can it.

well if your canning or making sausage toughness is not a huge issue.
Oldsters can get boned and get ground up for sausage.
I use a mix with garlic and of all things the cheap parmesan cheese in it. YUMM

 

[user 8761]

Do you use a mechanical or a digital scale? There are so many out there it's hard to decide. The prices are all over the place.

Hi there,
I use a digital one for the rabbits, it’s fine for a ballpark weight. We have a larger mechanical scale for weighing our hay and I trust that one more.

 

[Olbunny]

I was just talking to our son about mixing the rabbit entrails, liver heart and kidneys that we have frozen with moose meat and making sausages. He has about 50# of moose meat that still needs to be processed. Probably use a sweet Italian recipe and brats. Mix in ground jalapeño peppers for hot brats.
Good to use all the meat we can. I generally take the kits away from the moms before 8 weeks. They can really abuse the does it seems. That probably effects the growth rate. At 12 weeks our goal has been a 5# live weight. 2-1/2# frier average. Your line breeding program seems to be working well. Good on you ! We are restarting our rabbitry a few years ago. Had to miss a year because we couldn't find a decent Californian buck. We finally found an adoption. Big buck. We also have a cross from our stock that will be ready next spring. Hopefully, he wasn't very interested or successful last year. Maybe too young. But he has filled out nicely and we will hopefully have a good buck from our linebreeding. We are raising a lilock color. So be nice to breed our blue buck and a blue doe. Just enjoy the color.
Thank you for the information

 

[ladysown]

depends on my needs. Bucks get done early... usually before 10 weeks, does... when I have time/desire/need. Bucks are normally turned into critter food, though I might save the loins. I'm more flexible with the girls.

 

[Skai]

I got back into rabbits a couple years ago and am breeding New Zealander's. I have not been happy with their rate of growth. I've had to keep them to at least 14 weeks to get them to a decent size and then not happy with how tough the meat is. The only way we can eat them is by de-boning and using them for ground meat.

I bred Tamuck's years ago and was very happy with them so I bought a trio of 5 week old Tamuck's last August and by 10 weeks of age they were almost as big as my adult New Zealander's. I've never seen growth like that. I'll be breeding them for the first time in February and plan to butcher at ten weeks (or less). I got rid of my NZ's except for one favorite doe and I will be breeding her to the Tamuck buck in February also to see if he can improve her litters. Fingers crossed.

 

[Lil Acorn Acres Farm]

I got back into rabbits a couple years ago and am breeding New Zealander's. I have not been happy with their rate of growth. I've had to keep them to at least 14 weeks to get them to a decent size and then not happy with how tough the meat is. The only way we can eat them is by de-boning and using them for ground meat.

I bred Tamuck's years ago and was very happy with them so I bought a trio of 5 week old Tamuck's last August and by 10 weeks of age they were almost as big as my adult New Zealander's. I've never seen growth like that. I'll be breeding them for the first time in February and plan to butcher at ten weeks (or less). I got rid of my NZ's except for one favorite doe and I will be breeding her to the Tamuck buck in February also to see if he can improve her litters. Fingers crossed.

I butcher when they reach 5 lbs. The Tamuks have consistantly been 5 lbs. At 9 weeks.

 

[Skai]

I butcher when they reach 5 lbs. The Tamuks have consistantly been 5 lbs. At 9 weeks.

Thanks, good to know!