I have found that well-bred rabbits from any of the common meat breeds (NZ, Californian, Satin, Champagne D'Argent, Silver Fox, Rex) are excellent meat producers. This is especially true for the first two breeds (esp. NZ whites), since they have been raised intensively for almost nothing but meat production. Unlike the standard-coated NZs and Cals, the latter five breeds are selected for specific fur mutations as well as production, which can dilute the effort to breed for meat characteristics, at least in the short term. For instance, our Satins are extremely competitive in meat classes, but it's taken about a decade of focus, and the addition of a high-quality Californian outcross six generations ago, to get them to that point. On the downside, I have found that Cals and especially NZs are more prone to temperament problems, which I assume is the result of the same selection issues - commercial rabbitries may be less inclined to cull for temperament than smaller operations.
I had a similar experience to [USER=870]@ohiogoatgirl[/USER] with Flemish x Satin crossbreeds. The adult Flemish, both purebred and crossbred, ate a ton; I think it was nearly 2 cups a day for the Flemish buck and 1-3/4 cups for the crossbreeds. My Satins eat just under 1 cup a day.
The crossbred meat growouts also ate a ton - almost 2x more than purebred Satins. They looked bigger, and weighed a little more, but when dressed out they actually produced less meat than the purebreds. I found that the crossbreeds not only had lots of heavy bone, but they also had lots of hide and ears!
Something I've seen over and over while watching people try to use Flemish to increase the size of their meat rabbits, is what seems to be a natural limit to the weight a medium-boned rabbit body can bear. (At any point in time around here, there are always several people who are busy learning the hard way...like I did.) There is a good reason that all of the commercial meat breeds max out at no more than 12 pounds, and that includes not only commercial-typed rabbits but also less common but still viable meat breeds like Americans and Beverens. Anything more than about 12 pounds results in rabbits that develop either heavier bone, or various health problems (deformed legs, back problems, sore hocks, etc.).
I agree that Dutch would also be excellent as meat rabbits. Dutch have been worked on for so long that the quality (of purebreds, anyway) is exceedingly high. They are basically tight little packages of meat, and they are usually outstanding mothers.
