My attempts are raising registered rabbits did not turn out well. I have raised rabbits for decades so lack of experience was not a factor except for the Checkered Giants. I had never had a purebred Giant before and had no idea how BIG they were. They needed bigger cages and mats to protect their feet and then they proceeded to die, one by one.
Any way, I went back to my meat breeds which are New Zealand and Californian rabbits. A friend gave me a black pet rabbit which crossed very nicely with my New Zealands. I have a little color for the few folks who want a pet and plenty of growth for meat. They are hardy and can handle their 'homesteaders" lifestyle and survive and grow. if you are into 4-H or like to show then you need to raise the purebreds but just of meat and perhaps a pet then the mutts are the best. That is simply my humble opinion on the matter.

 

I've been in the "livestock business" all my life, one way or another, and raised cattle, horses, dogs and rabbits. The reasons for purebreds vs. crossbreds are the same in any animal. If you plan to show and part of your "marketing" plan is to sell to other show people, then you need to select a breed and breed within that breed.

If you do not show and are not looking at that market for sales, then crossbreds can be as useful as purebreds.

I've done both. Our cattle on the ranch were crossbreds, Hereford cows to Angus bulls. The "hybred vigor" we got from breeding two different breeds put a vigorous, faster gaining calf on the ground, which is what we needed, but that happens when you have two purebred strains rather than having two "anything" strains.

The advantage with purebreds (besides the show/sales issue) is that with purebreds you have a long history of that specific breed being bred for a particular purpose. For meat rabbits, Californians and New Zealands have been bred for meat production for many years. The Rex have been bred for their fur qualities. Other breeds for other reasons.

If you are breeding for your own use and occasional outside sales to non-show people, you may want to look at crossbreds rather than purebreds. If you want color for a few pet sales, use one of the commercial meat breeds and a breed with a lot of color options for the outcross.

 

I have both purebreds and mutts. To make money, it's easiest if you market to as many people as possible - so, I have pedigreed stock, show stock, and meat mutts. Of course, pedigreed stock will get butchered just as often as the meat mutts - not all babies from show quality parents will come out breeding/show quality. Also, I expect to sell about the same number of 'breeding quality' mutts as I do breeding quality pedigreed stock. Prices will be different, of course...

I hope to start showing my rabbits more so I can get my 'name' out there as well as advertise at shows.

 

If the purebreds didn't produce well, you wouldn't see large barns full of NZW's and Cals.

It costs just as much to feed a quality animal as a mutt.

 

I started with New Zealands. Then I threw in a Cali buck. I was very pleased with the results from that mix. Lots of colors for tanning, good growth and meat to bone ratio, dress out of 55%. The I had a chance to get a champagne d'agent buck, So I added him and the results were even better. In 3 years I have had 1 rabbit die from heat stroke (purebred Flemish) 1 die from illness/old age, 1 put down for sever mastitis and 1 kit put down for wasting disease. I have lost kits for the usual reasons but you get that no matter the breed. Mutts are stronger and heartier IMO so good to learn with. If you kil your herd the loss is not as much as with purebred stock.

 

The hybrid vigor thing really is amazing. I see it in our cows.

the bottom line is this. Choose what you like. You have to feed it, look at it, and dispose of them. If you dont like white rabbits, dont get a white one.
As far as meat quality goes, A meat breed (and there are many) is bred for production. Getting purebreds will allow you to examine consistancy in the bloodlines, and consistancy in production. This is why people line breed, for consistancy. If you simple breed whatever to whatever, its a roll of the dice.

Meat rabbits are judged on round rears, wide middles, and thick shoulders because that is the basic structure that carries the most meat, the fastest, on the least amount of feed.

So search for your does, regardless of breed, with that in mind.
Also, remember that the buck makes the herd. He will be bred to everything, and will be your primary producer. You can have several so-so does, and get rid of the ones that dont suit you, but one buck makes the game no matter what you are breeding for.

Look for a buck that is correct in meat type..thick, wide, big head, tight skin, and rock solid muscles. Example..I have a white rex buck that is so solid, I cant grab skruff to pick him up. He has a beast of a head, and heavy wide shoulders. He produces excellent babies. that is what you want in a buck, no matter what you have for does.

If you want color variety, choose a breed that comes in lots of colors, such as rex or satin. If thats not a big deal, choose something else. There are many meat breeds out there. Just remember correct body type.

 

My website has a chart of meat sized rabbit breeds

http://www.rabbitgeek.com/meatpennotes.html
Scroll down through the article to the chart.

If you don't want red eyed white rabbits, you have a lot of other choices.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios

 

A couple of things I look for when choosing which kits to keep and which to eat are weight and how fast they reach a certain weight. As I breed the ones I chose to keep I then filter out the does that have small litters or babies that don't grow as fast and as heavy as the kits of other does. I don't have purebreds. When I add a rabbit to my little herd, which is rare, I look for a heavy-bodied rabbit. Temperament is so-so. I'm not concerned about them being pets and the ones with attitude when they have kits are just being rabbits. I only had one very nasty rabbit. She was a good mother so I kept her around a few years. Her daughter is an awesome mother that managed to raise 2 litters at the same time successfully and all reached good size in a short time. Since the daughter is friendly mom is in the freezer. Color comes last of all. Since I'm not holding my rabbits up to a breed standard the color only has to be pleasing to me and colored points like ears, nose, tail don't show on the average tanned hide.

 

This is alot of really good information, what I'm getting is this: If I'm not planning to show (and after I read about the costs involved, I'm not) and not planning on strictly following and breeding to a standard (which, right now would be a big bite for me to chew) Then mixing is great. But to look for stocky, heavy buns. I have heard a rabbit being overweight makes them bad breeders, just like any other animal....Is there a way to tell if a bunny is well-built vs just fat? I have seen some pictures of lops that are adorable, and I guess they meet standard very well, but I could see a fat, long rabbit looking as wide.

With dogs you check tto see if you can feel but not see their ribs. With cats, they are supposed to have a waist, is there a "trick" to checking to checking if a rabbit is fat?

I am obviously going to have to pick up some does, as all I currently have are the two bucks. (I think, lol). I just got a baby "new zealand" (not exactly, though) and a free minilop off of craigslist, because I thought it would be nice for me to take them in, but now I am thinking thatI should have been more discriminating. But then, I can always discriminate later. I really does make sense, now that it's mentioned, that the buck makes the herd. Who else is linking all these siblings together? Bad buck = bad babies.

Espesially if I save babies to breed back....that you for that advice on the buck.

And thank you, arachyd, for the list of what you look for. It gives me an example of a priority list for checking out new bunnies.

Tahnks to everyone. This helps out alot.

 

I used to have Champagne D'Argents. Those suckers wouldn't breed for anything. I practically had to wine and dine them to get them to do anything, especially the males. And these weren't what I started out with. I'd been into rabbits for several years before trying purebreds. Since I'm just in it for the meat, I went back to mutts and have to be careful not to run myself out of the property with babies.

After that, though, I must say I had much better breeding luck when I had purebred NZ's. Not as good as my mutts, but MUCH better than with my Champagnes.

 

firmness of muscles will tell you the diff between fat and not. grab the skin. you should be able to tell if it is simply skin or has flabs of fat. an overweight doe wont concieve. I would buy does no older than 6 months old if you are concerned about overweight. then they are only just old enough. get something from a proven doe, ask to see her, and her children. or simply get some female babies from where-ever for cheap and take your chances.

It might benefit you to go to a local rabbit show just to look around. then you can see whats out there, and could even talk to the owners of XYZ meat type rabbits. most people will explain what to look for in a good meat rabbit, and let you touch a rabbit, and actually show you this is this see right here, feel.

also, alot of breeders bring their culls to shows to sell. these are any rabbit that doesnt match their show standard. could be as simple as wrong markings, but nothing else wrong with it.
the standard price for a 3 month old cull animal is 5 bucks or less. and alot of breeders will sell decent young animals for 20-30$. still very
in-expensive considering you are getting something clean and healthy and ready to produce her heart out for you.

just find someone that looks to have brought alot of animals and ask. if they dont have what you want they can probably point you in the right direction. and you never know, you might catch the show bug. I dont know what costs you were refering too, but show fees are only 3$ a head. thats pretty darn cheap. and its fun.

 

the standard price for a 3 month old cull animal is 5 bucks or less.

that is all dependant upon where you live. Here....$15.

 

As far as the "mutts vs. purebred" thing goes, when I decided to raise rabbits again here in KY, I'd not had rabbits for years. I raised meat rabbits in Montana 30 years ago, just for the family and had Rex, because that was what I found available there.

I didn't find any Rex breeders to start with here, so tried twice with "backyard meat rabbits" from local farmers market type sales and was not successful in getting any litters at all in two attempts.

Decided to try one more time and with more experience with the Internet, found two Rex breeders within a reasonable driving distance, I bought my first does and a buck and have had no problems at all. I definitely prefer the Rex because of the fur, plus the fact I had them before and had no problems with them then.

I started with pedigreed animals with good type and good fur and although I don't show and have done some crossbreeding, I've always believed that if you start with 'known' bloodlines you have a better idea of what is behind those animals.

Since then, I've added additional animals, kept accurate records and I've selected my replacements from the litters coming from the does that have produced the best for what I want: no reproductive problems, good sized litters, good weaning weight, fast gains after weaning and good dispositions.

Selecting for these qualities, family table use rather than show table qualities, I can see a difference in production even in just one generation. This is the kind of thing you can do with any meat breed however ... you simply select for the qualities you want.

 

First off regardless of what you plan to do you must start with quality animals, taking a rabbit you got off Craigslist and one you bought from a pet shop is not going to get you the results you want. Purebreds are bred towards a goal, so getting purebreds is stacking the deck in your favor, some one esle has already done the hard work. Inbreeding is done to set traits, a certain look, body type, growth pattern, flesh quality. I inbreed my Florida Whites and their almost carbon copies of each other. Outcrossing is done for hybrid vigor, which is a beautiful thing, but it only applies to the first generation, although some say they have decent results with the 2nd generation as well. In such a situation you'd have a number of different purebreds you'd cross together. NZW and Californians are the usual breeds, and you'd get big fast growing fryers for your table. Mutts are a mixed bag, you don't know what they are, and your growth rates, flesh quality, fertility, etc is all over the map and unpredictable. As posted above me it does cost just as much to feed a quality animal as its does to feed an unknown mutt, and it doesn't make a lot of sense either. Now you can get purebred lemons too, but at least you have a backround on a purebred and can expect certain things based on their breed. If I was producing just for the table I'd do crossbreds and cash in on that hybrid vigor. If I wanted to sell to others (I do) I'd do purebreds. I don't do mutts, I breed with a goal in mind, I won't feed a rabbit that can't be used to further that goal.

 

I used to have Champagne D'Argents. Those suckers wouldn't breed for anything. I practically had to wine and dine them to get them to do anything, especially the males. And these weren't what I started out with. I'd been into rabbits for several years before trying purebreds. Since I'm just in it for the meat, I went back to mutts and have to be careful not to run myself out of the property with babies.

After that, though, I must say I had much better breeding luck when I had purebred NZ's. Not as good as my mutts, but MUCH better than with my Champagnes.

My Champagne's have been great. I have only had one that did not take (and that was during the winter). I have not lot a single kit either. They are great mothers.

But this brings up an important point, it is not just the breed you need to look at, you also need to look at the line. If a pure bred rabbit has a crappy line you will have the problems that thermopkt had with his rabbits. Mutts from a good line will do really good, (an may end up being their own breed some day).

 

Well, they would be useless in the meat department, but I've had fuzzies for like 2 1/2 years now and no issues - I get an average of 4 per litter. I show though so my goal is to make better fuzzies.

If you are breeding just for meat then mix breeding is fine. Pet Market is fickle - here if it's not tiny or huge there is none (so Holland Lop or smaller, French Lop or bigger - lops seem to sell MUCH better on the pet market).

 

Mine were excellent mothers! Some of the best I've ever had, but I'd get about three breedings from the males and then they would just stop. It was very weird. They had no interest, let alone ability. And I tried males from two different lines. I finally just bred my does to the mutt males.

Glad you have great luck with them. I LOVE the color and coat on those rabbits!

My Champagne's have been great. I have only had one that did not take (and that was during the winter). I have not lot a single kit either. They are great mothers.

But this brings up an important point, it is not just the breed you need to look at, you also need to look at the line. If a pure bred rabbit has a crappy line you will have the problems that thermopkt had with his rabbits. Mutts from a good line will do really good, (an may end up being their own breed some day).