Looking for a different breed

[SiegmundFarm]

I currently raise mini lops and english lops and I am looking for a different breed to have. I am interested in a possible meat breed. I would prefer that it be a large rabbit because I am tired of having small rabbits. I would also like a rare breed that I could help to preserve. So what do yall think?

[o&itw]

If you could, be a little more specific. One does not normally consider English Lops, or even Minilops a "small" breed.

[SiegmundFarm]

I used to raise flemish giant so a five pound rabbit seems very small to me. I like the english lops I just wish they were a little bigger.

[Jesse L]

I would recomend Harlequins. They are an interesting breed with colours aways surprising you. They have to be so perfect with markings. They are not huge, but are a commercial breed. They are not popular at all up here.

[vikav]

Creme D'Argent. It is considered a meat rabbit, and is considered a rare breed. Good luck finding breeding stock though, because you are looking for a rare breed, so they ARE rare I think, there are some in this area though. I could look up if I still have the breeder's info.

[KimTN]

You could try American Sables. Very nice personalities and beautiful color. They also have a very good dress out. I switched from New Zealands to American sables and I am very happy with them.

[o&itw]

The reason I asked, is that the minimum for English lops is 9 or 10 pounds, and both the French lops and English lops that I have seen are usually larger, lets say around 12 lbs or more. If you want a rabbit much larger than that, The Flemish are about your best bet. If you are just looking for large meat rabbits, the people above have given you some excellent suggestions.

A good mature English lop doe will often weigh 13lbs or more...are yours that large?
While the above suggested rabbits we be large meat rabbits, they are not usually going to hit that category

About the only thing left then would be Flemish or GiantChinchilla's... I thing the giantchinchilla's are rather rare, I will try to check.

[o&itw]

Looks like they have the size you want and are fairly rare.

"by Jan Hoadley

The Giant Chinchilla rabbit is considered a "watch" status by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, a group dedicated to the preservation of rare livestock, with fewer than 10,000 in the global population"

Now, if you can only find some......

[menollyrj]

We have Creme d'Argents, and they are great meat animals. Their average size is 8-10 lbs, but I've had adults that are a little smaller and a little large than that, so it really is an average. Their hindquarters are like a chicken breast - lots of white meat. I believe there is a breeder in New Hampshire and several in upstate NY. PM me if interested & I'd be happy to help you track some down.

-Joy

[SiegmundFarm]

My English Lops are only nine to ten pounds. I do have one doe who is eleven pounds. Cremed'Argents sound interesting. What about American blues how large are they?

[jkmlad]

I raise Silver Fox and love the breed. They are pretty easy keepers, strong and healthy. They are capable of birthing and raising young in cold weather (I live in MD, and don't have to heat nest boxes, or anything) and my kits are growthy and healthy. I don't recommend Flemish as meat bunnies, because part of your feed will go into building those big bones. Flemish are cool if you like the giant breeds, though. At our County Fair this year, the girl who won the Market Pen class won with Champagne d' Argents. I know this family, and they have had good luck with health and heartiness too. If you are looking for a specific breed of rabbit, and don't know of that breed in your area, I suggest going to Yahoo Groups. I know there are several Silver Fox groups there, and suspect there are other breed groups as well. I think I just heard about there being a American Blue and White Rabbit group. Check in out. Oh yeah, for anyone interested, I have several Silver Fox Jr. Does for sale now. Thanks!

[SiegmundFarm]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I think that I am going to go with American Blues. There is someone in my area that I will work with to bring this rare breed to New England.

[strictlyagamble]

i would swap you a mini rex kit for a english lop kit!lol

[strictlyagamble]

I have 8 or 9 mini rex for sale one is a sr doe that is brood/pet only. and 7or 8 kits( some nice show quality! check out my website http://hunterscountrycritters.webs.com they are all listed i do not have any pics of hem on there yet. but hopefully will soon

[Ryan NC]

American Chinchilla is my 2 cents, critically endangered, super sweet for the most part, good mothers & nice litters, dual purpose for meat and fur, and decent dress out weights & time. Cons: not as fast as a NZ, colored fur can be a detriment in live fryer sales, hard to locate good breeding stock.

[jhuebner]

You might consider French Lops, they're big, lovable, and are a Class 6 Rabbit. Especially if you've got a liking for lops already! They are cute and very nice, so I'm told.

Personally I'd got for a Flemish Giant, but I'm biased!

Good Luck!

JLH