# Franco's FAQ Meat Rabbits



## rabbitgeek (Mar 22, 2008)

FAQ Meat Rabbits

I've been working on this FAQ and I wanted comments
on it. Any thing I should add? Change?

Frequently Asked Questions About Meat Rabbits
by Franco Rios
Orig 2/7/2009, Links updated 12/31/2010

WHAT BREED SHOULD I GET?

All rabbits are made out of meat. So any breed of rabbit can be eaten
for meat. A meat rabbit is a rabbit that was grown to provide meat.
These can be purebreds or crossbreeds.

But some breeds are better for size. Dwarf breeds (up to about 2 1/2
lbs) are generally too small to be efficiently harvested for meat.
Some of the small breeds like Dutch or Florida White are good for
small meat production situations.

The commercial meat rabbit was bred to be a certain size by a certain
age to produce young "fryer" sized rabbits. This commercial goal in
USA is to have rabbits at 5 lbs by 10 weeks of age.

There is a competition for meat pens and fryers at rabbit shows. The
meat pen and fryer competition is a demonstration of the breeders'
ability to produce a market animal of consistent size and quality.

A meat pen is three rabbits, any gender, more than three pounds and
less than five pounds. A single fryer is a rabbit, any gender, more
than three pounds and less than five pounds. They must not be older
than 70 days.

There is an article on raising meat pen rabbits on the rabbitgeek website.
http://www.rabbitgeek.com/meatpennotes.html

Meat Sized Rabbit Breeds

Semi-Arch / Mandolin Body Type Breeds
American * (Blue & White)
Beveren * (Black, Blue, White)

Commercial / Medium Length Body Type Breeds
American Sable *
Californian
Champagne d'Argent
American Chinchilla *
Cinnamon *
Creme d'Argent *
Hotots * (Blanc de Hotot)
New Zealand
Palomino *
Rex
Satin
Silver Fox *
* On Rare Breed Rabbits List

You can read about Rare Breed Rabbits at
http://www.rabbitgeek.com/rarelist.html

Not all meat rabbits are white, so other colored breeds are included
in the chart. Many breeds are raised for unique fur quality as well.

Another issue is bone size. Bones are not eaten, so a hefty rabbit
with heavy bone structure has less meat per pound. So a medium bone
structure is desirable.

For this reason the Giant rabbit breeds (over 14 lbs adult weight) are
usually not used for commercial rabbit meat.

WHAT ABOUT CROSS BREEDS?

Many people have good success with using cross breeding for meat
rabbits. Breeding a buck and a doe from different breeds or bloodlines
will produce a hybrid litter of rabbits that will grow faster and
larger than the parent breeds normally would due a an effect called
hybrid vigor.

All the rabbits in the hybrid litter are used for meat, not for
breeding. Because the hybrid vigor effect disappears after the first
generation litter, leading to disappointing results for the grower.

This means breeding stock from separate breeds is kept for cross
breeding. So there has to be access to more rabbits to use as breeding
stock, since replacements cannot be kept from the crossbreed litters.

WHAT ABOUT LINE BREEDING?

Line breeding is a sustainable plan for breeding within the same
bloodlines.

The breeding plan is to breed dams and sires to the offspring. In
human terms, father to daughter, mother to son. This breeding plan is
sustainable since it uses replacement breeding stock from the litters
of rabbits born. Since the breeding stock is the same "blood" from
generation to generation, this is called a bloodline.

This is not "in-breeding" which would be brother to sister pairings.

Selecting replacement stock in line breeding is critical. The
replacement stock must have the desirable traits of growth rate, bone
size, mothering ability, disposition, color and other traits.

Line breeding can improve a bloodline in a very short time. Rabbits
with undesirable traits are removed from the breeding program
(culled). Rabbits with desirable traits are kept for breeding. Not all
rabbits born have desirable traits and line breeding can remove those
traits in a few generations.

This would leave a grower with a bloodline of rabbits that are
genetically compatible for breeding and have undesirable traits
reduced in the line.

For more info on line breeding, try these websites

The Nature Trail
http://www.thenaturetrail.com/linebreeding-outcrossing.htm

Jubilee Acres
http://jubileeacres.fateback.com/rabbitbreeding.html

Debmark Rabbit Education Resource
http://www.debmark.com/rabbits/breeding.htm

Line Breeding Chart and Coat Color info on Pam Nock's website
http://nockrabbits.com/

General Meat Rabbit Info:

Pat Lamar's "Commercial Rabbit Industries" info file for download
is located at Homesteading Today forum
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=343961

Have a good day!
Franco Rios
http://www.rabbitgeek.com


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## Pat Lamar (Jun 19, 2002)

"This commercial goal in USA is to have rabbits at 5 lbs by 10 weeks of age."

Actually, the commercial "goal" is to have rabbits at 5 lbs. by 8 weeks of age! However... the "cut-off" age for processors is 12 weeks of age. Some will even take does up to 14 weeks of age, but not bucks. The cut-off age for SHOWING meat pens and single fryers in an ARBA sponsored show is 10 weeks of age and thereby permitting the exhibitor the ability to still sell them to a processor after the show (most processors operate on a two-week schedule).

"A meat pen is three rabbits, any gender, more than three pounds and less than five pounds."

Need to be a bit more specific by stating "of the same breed and color." Also... they CAN be 5 lbs., but not an ounce over (although I have known judges to allow it in certain situations). Would be better stated as "not over 5 lbs."

"Meat Sized Rabbit Breeds

Semi-Arch / Mandolin Body Type Breeds
American * (Blue & White)
Beveren * (Black, Blue, White)"

These breeds MAY be "meat-SIZED," but they are NOT recognized as authentic meat rabbits by the ARBA OR by the processors. The "commercial" body type is called "commercial" for a purpose... for their MEAT bearing qualities. It's that semi-arch frame and slow growth rate that killed the Flemish Giant as a meat breed. The semi-arch frame produces a long, lanky carcass during the fryer stages, which processors despise. Unless you make some clarification, you could wind up getting somebody into a heap of trouble when a processor refuses to accept their rabbits because of the semi-arch frame... and could even earn you a law suit!

A matter of opinion, of course, but I do disagree with your statement that "line breeding is not inbreeding"... I simply call it "CONTROLLED inbreeding." Even with humans, mating first cousins is considered to be "inbreeding" along with mother-son & father-daughter. Is it different just because they're a different kind of mammal? Something to think about, Franco. 

Pat Lamar


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## rabbitgeek (Mar 22, 2008)

Thank you Pat,

That's the kind of comments I was looking for. I can rewrite to address the issues you bring up and I know the FAQ will be better for it.

Have a Happy New Year!
Franco Rios


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## Pat Lamar (Jun 19, 2002)

You are welcome and Happy New Year to you, too! You're doing a great job, Franco.  Thank you for taking my comments as "constructive" instead of just "criticism." 

Pat Lamar


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