# meat rabbit crosses advice.



## monkeyingaroundfarm (Feb 19, 2010)

Ok.  I have started my little operation.  I have 3 NZ does, 1 NZ buck (not breeding age yet) 1 Flemish buck (fawn--breeding age), one Flemish doe and another buck (steel not breeding age).  For my meat rabbits.  I have breed several times with the Flemish Giant with good litters.   I have breed with a NZ buck (borrowed)  

I kept one buck from that litter and at 8 weeks is a good size. 

I am going to keep one from the cross and compare size.

Has anyone done this cross and compared the two an which is a better meat rabbit the cross or pure?  this infor will help me determine which way to go.

tks


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## currycomb (Feb 21, 2010)

i think, the flemish giant/newzeland cross is calle a m80???? this is actually the premium meat rabbit from what i hear. the size of the giant, the meat of the nzw. straight giants are alot of bone compared to meat.


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## Goatzilla (Feb 21, 2010)

I guess it all depends on your goals. If you want to produce the most efficient, economical, best quality meat rabbits, use the best quality available pure NZ, Californian, or crosses of either, to obtain your goal. Crossing a FG to either a Cal or NZ is a step backward. FG's are heavy boned, slow maturing rabbits with thick hides. Their feed conversion and dress-out ratios are awful compared to the commercial meat breeds that have been developed for decades to produce the most meat at the fastest rate, while consuming the least amount of feed.

People tend to think that because a FG is a "bigger" rabbit that they will make bigger meat rabbits when crossed to a commercial breed. The result of the cross is a heavy boned rabbit that produces better than a pure FG yet less than a pure commercial breed. There are many people who do the FG/NZ cross, I just can't understand why.


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## kelsystar (Feb 24, 2010)

Agreed. NZ x Californian is the best cross.

I've had the misfortune of dressing out Flemish x NZs. They look big, but they are all bone. I will never put Flemish into our gene pool.

One of our does always throws these little kits that don't get as large as some from other does, but have much finer bones. Sooo much easier to dress! With just as much meat as the others.


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