# Flemish giants for meat



## KrisD (May 26, 2011)

I have an opportunity to get a pair of Flemish Giants and I want to breed for meat. I know people usually use New Zealands and Californias for meat. Has anyone here used Flemish? I had a Flemish when I was a kid but not recently. Any ideas would be appreciated. It does not get hot here so weather shouldn't be an issue.


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## unregistered168043 (Sep 9, 2011)

I have some flemish giant crosses. They aren't old enough for breeding yet so IDK what I will end up with. I took what was available. I have read that people use flemish genes to add size to other breeds to make a bigger meat rabbit.

The pure flemish is supposed to take too long to mature and they eat too much and have too much bone to meat ratio.


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## Wildfire_Jewel (Nov 5, 2006)

Flemish crossed onto a Cal or NZ make really nice meat rabbits. The problem is the mandolin body leads to more bone and less meat - But it really doesn't matter that much. All rabbits are made of meat - even the polish and ND's (rabbit nuggets) so get what breed fits your needs best.
All of the Flemish we have had have had excellent temperments - I cannot say the same for the Cals, NZ and Satins we have had.


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## jen74145 (Oct 31, 2006)

My Flemish were puppies in personality. For me, bopping one would be akin to drowning a puppy, lol. I would feel beyond terrible.

Housing them was a challenge. They get huge. They like to play. I don't see the point in raising a creature who does not have ample room to enjoy it's life, so I got rid of mine as a colony setup was not safe and cages were going to be too expensive to raise litters.

I have read that f1 crosses grow very well, with a better meat-to-bone ratio and faster maturity. If we do raise rabbits again, I will likely keep a Flemish doe for that purpose, as well as to have the requisite "We won't eat this one" for my son. Such friendly, gentle things.


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## ~Kat (May 13, 2012)

I have a couple, originally a Flemish buck and a NZ/flemish doe. This pair is about at the end of their time, but I have two does from them that are at breeding age right now. I guess around the time that you would want them for fryers the Flemish build more bone mass than actual meat, but as roasters/stewers they aren't bad. I got some Palominos recently, and because those are supposed to have less bone mass I am interested to see how mixing them with my Flemish doe would make better meat rabbits! 

They're more often pet rabbits, but for some reason, mine don't have the temperament for me to see them like that (maybe they just need a while to bond? I dunno...). What I do know is they eat a lot and they get big, so they need a lot of room!


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

They make poor meat rabbits because of their thick bones leading to less meat for their weight, grow slowly, and eat a ton. They are extremely inefficient for meat. People do sometimes cross them with commercial breeds and then keep the biggest rabbits that are the closest to a commercial build to breed for meat.


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## Pat Lamar (Jun 19, 2002)

An F3 buck is the ideal Flemish/NZW cross to use on NZW's for producing meat with good meat-to-bone ratio, growth rates and size for fryers. The F1 cross is still too long, lanky & bony in the fryer stages. All growth during the fryer stages goes into developing the heavier bones and not the meat. If, however, you prefer roasters and stewers, then, a purebred Flemish is considered to be the ideal meat rabbit. Unfortunately, here in the U.S., the prime market is for fryer rabbits, not roasters and stewers. Processors generally do not like to accept Flemish Giants and/or Flemish crosses.

Flemish Giants will require special caging and they will be more expensive to raise... they naturally eat more and rabbit feed is not cheap, anymore. As such, they are not considered to be economic to raise for meat purposes.

Pat Lamar


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## shanzone2001 (Dec 3, 2009)

My flemish doe was the best! She was gentle and an excellent mother. I bred her with Californian buck.


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