What breed for meat & show?

HayBabies · #1 03/11/13, 05:24 PM

I would like to buy some meat rabbits, but would also like to show. What is a good rabbit breed for both? Would prefer some color range as I get bored with the same color all the in the litters.

Thanks, Becky

scarlet812 · #2 03/11/13, 06:32 PM

I think there is a judging preference for the NZ/Cali appearance in the meat pen, from what I've read. We like colors, too, so I am not going to bother with trying to show.

mekasmom · #3 03/11/13, 06:34 PM

NZ Whites do the best in shows. You can eat any rabbit.

Zeet_Cranberry · #4 03/11/13, 08:30 PM

Silver Fox are great for both meat and show. And they're not boring white rabbits

scarlet812 · #5 03/11/13, 08:36 PM

Yeah, Silver Fox are gorgeous! I've showed some info on them to my husband, but he's not in the mood to buy anything purebred yet. He'll come around...I have my heart set on having some in the future.

ChuckNora · #6 03/11/13, 08:51 PM

We have New Zealand Reds. Which I plan to show. And a couple of reds came out fawn in a friends litter. So we've got New Zealand Fawns, too. But fawn isn't a recognized color... yet.

akane · #7 03/11/13, 09:11 PM

Standard rex is the only thing I can think of with a very wide color range and works as a meat rabbit. Most meat breeds are restricted to 1-4 colors with 4 usually being the basic self black, blue, chocolate, and lilac. Champagne d'argent are great meat and show rabbits but each argent color is considered it's own breed. Reds are creme d'argent and chestnut and brun(chocolate) are not recognized yet. Not that you couldn't mix them and have showable offspring but they'd each be their own breed no matter the parents and you'd get some surprises like silvered torts.

HayBabies · #8 03/12/13, 10:43 AM

Thanks for the ideas. Been raising Netherland Dwarfs for years now. Though I would like to try a larger breed.

Becky

**mygoat** · #9 03/12/13, 06:49 PM

I raise Silver Foxes and New Zealands. Nothing quite like that rock hard, meat body on a NZ. Some SF's are pretty darn good, but still not quite like the NZ.

I chose NZ blacks because they aren't so downright vicious as those whites. Just my opinion. Whenever I say that, I get 9 people say theirs are as sweet as can be. None of mine ever were, and I cannot count the number of people who come to me to buy SF's because they are sick of their mean white NZ's.

NZ's come in white, black, red, blue, and broken. Only white, black, red, and broken reds/blacks can be shown. Blues have a COD out on them, however.

SF's come in 5 colors, only 1 (blacks) are showable. But they also come in blue, white, chocolate, and lilac. Some people discriminate against the whites, but the blues, chocolates, lilacs are pretty well in demand.

PistolPackinMom · #10 03/12/13, 07:23 PM

SF come in white???

Dead Rabbit · #11 03/12/13, 09:43 PM

im number 1 of 9: my NZW are sweet as can be. ............lol...

seriously though. ive never ever had a mean one. i hear others complain about them, but i cant personally verify it. i knew one man that had a mean one that came from my stock. but thats as close as i can say ive ever had a mean NZW. im of the opinion people help make theirs mean. i think they mess with them too much. they aint pets and you shouldnt mess with their kits or nests either. course i'll get 9 others that will disagree with that statement too.

as for silver fox....saw my first one in real life this wkend. im totally unimpressed. neither beauty or a meat rabbit im my opinion.. and i dont think this one was a poor specimen. he looked like every other picture ive seen. just my opinion of course.

my personal taste in best looking meat rabbit is the californian. a big dome headed blocky built buck is sheer beauty. i dont raise them any longer, but they were top shelf in the looks dept.

scarlet812 · #12 03/13/13, 06:29 AM

My NZ/mix batch are very nice, albeit some are a little skittish, but none have tried to bite me. The Dutch buck I got is super nice, too. The only mean one I have came from a meat rabbit breeder, and my guess is she wasn't very well socialized as a kit. It makes sense if you're just going to be processing at 12-16 weeks that you wouldn't take time out to socialize them, but I bet that has more to do with whether or not they're "mean." Some of the NZ/mix group I have are more outgoing than the others, but none of them have ever offered to bite me; they were raised in the owner's garage, and she said they didn't do too much with them because they didn't want to get attached, but it was a pet situation, rather than production.

If you just want meat, you have lots of choices, but NZ/Cali is your best bet if you want to win at show, because that's what the judges want to see. I'd love to throw some Cali in my mix...I just keep trolling Craig's List. LOL

arnie · #13 03/13/13, 08:31 AM

it is hard to beatthe New zelands whenit comes to meat and they come in several colors with nice fur . plus there calm nature and mothering ability come along with there tough constitution . the meaty Californians contrasting black points and mothering traits keep them on my favorite list as well .

Dead Rabbit · #14 03/13/13, 09:54 AM

if you want to mix the meat rabbit breeds, then i recommend the NZ X American Chin. this cross gives you very meaty fryers, better than a pure NZ or pure Calif. (and i did better with this cross than even the traditional nz X calif) their personality is much better than pure NZ, plus the litters will come at least 3 sometimes 4 colors. you get blacks, greys, solid whites, and sometimes californian looking fryers. white with sooty ear and noses. you breed the mentioned cross back to the nz side. (3/4 nz 1/4 chin) and you get more whites but still plenty of color. if you grow them out, they become huge rabbits and retain the mothering abilities of the NZ.
personally when i was doing this, i liked a 1/2 and 1/2 doe bred back to a pure NZ buck.

**mygoat** · #15 03/13/13, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PistolPackinMom

SF come in white???

Sure do. I'm hoping to get my hands on some in the near future. I've got some chocolates coming that have a good chance of carrying white. Some people frown upon the white color (because you can't see the silvering), but I think SF can't come in a bad color.

**mygoat** · #16 03/13/13, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dead Rabbit

im number 1 of 9: my NZW are sweet as can be. ............lol...

seriously though. ive never ever had a mean one. i hear others complain about them, but i cant personally verify it. i knew one man that had a mean one that came from my stock. but thats as close as i can say ive ever had a mean NZW. im of the opinion people help make theirs mean. i think they mess with them too much. they aint pets and you shouldnt mess with their kits or nests either. course i'll get 9 others that will disagree with that statement too.

as for silver fox....saw my first one in real life this wkend. im totally unimpressed. neither beauty or a meat rabbit im my opinion.. and i dont think this one was a poor specimen. he looked like every other picture ive seen. just my opinion of course.

my personal taste in best looking meat rabbit is the californian. a big dome headed blocky built buck is sheer beauty. i dont raise them any longer, but they were top shelf in the looks dept.

I wouldn't MIND some white NZ's that were nice, because MAN - that body on 'em! And I don't 'mess' with them or make them pets... I get does out to breed, that's about it. Hard to do that when they prefer hanging off of your hand by their teeth. Reminds me of the monster bunny from Monty Python, haha. Had a buck around for a while because he was so good, but decided to dangle like a pitbull from my dad's hand... so to freezer he went.

Never had a black NZ that wanted to maul you. Still nervous and prefer being left alone, and may spazz while you're carrying them - but not mean.

As for SF - some areas have less quality ones than others. Here in MI, we get TONS of great remarks from judges. One of the does I bred and sold to a friend of mine went on to be in the top 3 breeds for best 6 class at the MSU show recently. Even judges who raise NZ's have given nice comments.

We have a lot of people raising them and a lot of competition on the show tables.

My SF grow out just as fast as my NZ's, and are exceedingly easy to handle. One of my last batches had a huge blue SF buck - 10 weeks old, 6lb 3oz. Everybody was at least 5lbs by 10 weeks, most close to 6lbs. When I got my starter stock, they weren't that way. A couple years later of HARD selection, and they're just as good as my NZ's. Where NZ's can freak while being carried/handled, SF rarely do this - makes them SUPERB for kids to handle, in familes that want to show and have meat. They are superior mothers, and my problem always lies with too BIG of litters (10-12 normal).

lonelyfarmgirl · #17 03/13/13, 05:47 PM

Standard Satins also come in quite a few colors. Rex is an excellent choice as well.

There are 19 breeds with commercial body types and 8 of the compact breeds would fall into the larger category. Maybe dutch would be a good choice for you? They are medium sized, supposedly have the best bone to meat ratio of all the breeds and come in 6 colors.

I do have to disagree and say NZ whites do not do the best in shows. That is a statement based on what? I've been to many many shows and NZW do not do any better or worse than any other breed. They do have less that you can get wrong and competition is stiff, but other breeds compete at equal levels.

Heck an English Angora won Convention this year.

scarlet812 · #18 03/13/13, 06:34 PM

Maybe I misunderstood the question...I took it to mean winning the meat pen.

Zeet_Cranberry · #19 03/13/13, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PistolPackinMom

SF come in white???

Only as a rare mutation. Blacks are standard, Blues should be approved next year (one more presentation at ARBA), Chocolates are at least two years out (2 more presentations at ARBA), Lilac is a dilute of Chocolate so will come some day but there is no active COD. Whites will never become an approved variety.

AprilW · #20 03/14/13, 07:58 AM

I have red and broken red New Zealands and am very happy with them. Like mygoat's blacks, some of my reds can be nervous but I have some that love attention. I won't tolerate aggression or even extremely nervous rabbits that will slice your arm open every time you have to pick them up. I took a couple of Reds to a show recently and received great comments, even had the best red doe in one show, but the reds couldn't beat the whites for Best of Breed. I'm just not a personal fan of having a bunch of all white rabbits.

As others have said, Rex and Satins would be good options as they have several recognized colors. I raised Dutch for about 3 years and can say that for such a small rabbit they have a lot of meat. Some breeders select for more petite Dutch so if meat is your goal, avoid those rabbits. I moved away from Dutch after going 6 months without getting a litter last year, before that I was getting large litters all the time so I'm not sure what caused the problem (feed maybe).