# Dutch Rabbit for Meat



## OctoberKitty

I just bought a pair of 8 week old mixed does for pets. Their mom is a Lionhead/Dutch mix and the dad is a Harlequin.  The lady I bought them from was going to process the litter for her own family if they didn't sell. That left me wondering if I could breed them (when they're old enough) to a Dutch buck for meat rabbits. I know the breeding can be done, but would it be worth it? Should I stick with my original plan of getting a trio of NZs this spring?


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## TAH

Congrats on the bunnys!
@DutchBunny03


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## OctoberKitty

Thanks! I was going to wait until spring, but these two popped up on a BST page and I couldn't pass them up. I picked them up at the breeder's house this time too.


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## SableSteel

It can be done. Dutch don't have the growth rate or size of NZW, but I've heard that they have a better dress out ratio than most commercial breeds. They are not as productive as NZW, but they aren't worthless for meat.


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## Bunnylady

Any breed of rabbit can be eaten; the smaller ones just take a bit longer to get to a size where it is worthwhile. Dutch have commercial type, after all; like most of the older breeds, they were originally bred for meat.

Unfortunately, while the Harlequin supposedly has commercial type, most people get so hung up on color, they ignore type, and an awful lot of Harlies are bony scarecrows under the fancy fur coats. Still, the Harlequin might give these girls a bit more size, so they might have larger litters and raise them easier.


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## OctoberKitty

The size is where I was worried about their worth as meat rabbits. I figured you could eat a Lionhead or a Holland Lop if you were determined to do so. I'm only feeding two people and not selling so commercial quality isn't as important as space and time.

Their dad didn't appear to be a bony scarecrow and the breeder was very proud of his size. She actually didn't mention his coloring once. The girls themselves have a really solid build to them and they were larger than I was expecting for their age. They are built like the pure Dutch rabbits I've seen, but I've never seen more than one Harlequin so I can't compare them properly. I was actually more worried about the Lionhead part. My Lionheads (and American Fuzzy) would have been perfectly described as bony scarecrows.

They did come from a litter of six so I'm hoping they will have similarly sized litters if bred. I didn't think to ask if that was an average litter size for her or not since I hadn't intended to breed them.


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## Bunnylady

Well, when you put a Harlie on a show table, you get something like 70% of the points for color and pattern, and only about 10% for type and condition; pretty clear where the focus is, huh? 

True story - I once took a junior buck to a show that had barely enough pattern to be showable, but he had excellent type (I had more competitive rabbits, I really only took him to beef up the numbers). The judge for this class was a Californian breeder, and unfortunately, his disdain for the bodies currently under his hands was obvious. He'd set the rabbits up, run his hands over them, sigh, and look for the markings . . . . Then he came to my little guy. He set him up, ran his hands over him . . . . and the shocked look on his face was priceless! He did it a couple times more, as if he couldn't believe what he was feeling. When making his remarks to the writer, he said, "_surprisingly_ good type . . ." He placed the buck last in his class (as I expected, given his markings) but as he handed him across the table to me, he said, "if things were as they ought to be, he'd have won." 

So they aren't_ all_ awful!


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## DutchBunny03

They will be ok small meat rabbits. Dutch are very compact, and dress out well. Getting some NZs is still better, but it would be worth it to breed them. May as well use what you have. One good thing about small meat rabbits is that they eat a lot less than NZs, so you spend less money on feed, even if you dont get quite as much meat. But if you are only feeding two people, it should work out fine. You should get some pretty cool color combinations, too!


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## Bossroo

DutchBunny03 said:


> They will be ok small meat rabbits. Dutch are very compact, and dress out well. Getting some NZs is still better, but it would be worth it to breed them. May as well use what you have. One good thing about small meat rabbits is that they eat a lot less than NZs, so you spend less money on feed, even if you dont get quite as much meat. But if you are only feeding two people, it should work out fine. You should get some pretty cool color combinations, too!


While the Dutch eat a smaller amount per sitting, but when one increases time, which adds to the amount of your labor as well as housing , to get them to slaughter size they have consumed the same or more feed than a meat rabbit such as the NZW or California would have consumed for the same amount of edible meat. The price  of that Dutch edible meat costs more.    T I M E  is   MONEY  !!!


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## OctoberKitty

I seem to still be having back luck with rabbits. For the first time in my life I lost one of my rabbits to a cat. I was hoping she'd be okay after she was attacked on Friday, but I found her dead this morning. They were in a cage I've used for rabbits for years without issue. Her sister is still in good health and safe. I'm going go breed her to try and get another rabbit with her deceased sister's coloring.

Back to the New Zealands, I wasn't going to breed white. Is there a difference between white and colored NZs? I know whites are better for commercial use, but like I said before I won't be using them for commercial purposes. There are a handful of sources for Californians, but colored NZs and Dutch x NZs are popular in my area.


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## DutchBunny03

I'm sorry. Its sad when these things happen. 
The only difference between white and colored NZs is the gene that makes them white. They are preferred for commercial use because the white pelt makes it easier to diagnose problems or dye the pelt.


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## DutchBunny03

With small meat rabbits, most breeders slaughter at the same time they would with a larger rabbit. They just get a smaller amount of meat.


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## SableSteel

Since the whites are more extensively used for commercial use and more common, they generally have better meat type and growth rate... Not that there aren't lines of colored NZ with good type and growth rate out there, they're just harder to find than good white lines


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## DutchBunny03

http://www.newzealandrabbitclub.net/


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## OctoberKitty

I'll go about getting a dutch buck to breed to my girl, but I'll get a trio of NZs for my main meat herd.


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## DutchBunny03

Nice choice. Dutch are also useful for pets, showing, and fur, as long as you wait until maturity, so your Dutch won't be useless. Have you decided what NZ variety you are getting?


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## OctoberKitty

I don't have any interest in shows, but I'm sure I could find a use for their fur. A chocolate buck popped up on a sale page, but he was posted by the seller I had issues with. I like the look of the chocolate Dutch so I'll probably try to find one later.

As for the NZ, I pretty much like any color except white. I found the red NZs while looking for a Palomino breeder. Since I couldn't find any Palominos I figured the red NZs were close a close second.


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## DutchBunny03

Are you butchering fryers or roasters? Roasters have a prime coat, but fryers are more economical to raise for meat. 
NZ Reds are really good meat rabbits. They have a great commercial build. There are also broken NZs, which have a bit more of a pattern, and a lot of colors. They are really pretty.


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## OctoberKitty

I want to raise both. I planned to keep a few with desirable pelts for winter harvest. The rest would be fryers.

I see the red and broken NZs advertised most often. A man up north breeds white and a lady down south breeds black and broken black. I saw a lady the other day selling blue NZs. That was a new one I had never heard of or seen before.


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## Bunnylady

Blue isn't a showable color yet, but there are people working on that.


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## DutchBunny03

Sounds like a good plan. NZs have thick pelts, so they are good for fur. Blue are really pretty, and it you arent planning on showing, go ahead and get a couple.


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## OctoberKitty

So probably blue, black and a broken that catches my eye.


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## DutchBunny03

Nice! You'll get some really cool colors when you breed them.


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## OctoberKitty

I'm looking forward to it now and I don't have anywhere to put them yet. XD


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## DutchBunny03

That's a problem. Do you want to build hutches yourself, or buy them? Thankfully, rabbits dont take up very much space, so hutches dont cost an arm and a leg to buy or build.


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## OctoberKitty

We're going to be converting storage sheds on my in-laws' property. We're buying their house this spring. There's a great pole barn I would love to convert instead, but my FIL is holding it hostage for who knows how long. :/ 

Barring that, I have a hutch that's just waiting on a few final touches. The cold season came before we could finish it.


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## DutchBunny03

Converted storage sheds make great rabbit housing.  Are you putting hutches in the shed, or letting the rabbits roam around in it?


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## OctoberKitty

Hutches in the shed.


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## DutchBunny03

Ok. Thats what i have set up right now. Sheds are nice to have to put hutches in, because no wind or rain can get in, depending on what sort of shed you have.


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## OctoberKitty

It's a storage shed. My MIL uses it to store off season clothes and old furniture she doesn't want to give up.


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## DutchBunny03

Yeah. Mine's a woodshed I hijacked from my dad. It doesn't have sides, so it lets some drafts in, but the roof is good.


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## OctoberKitty

We'll have three storage sheds that will be converted for animals. Only on needs some heavy repair thanks to a leak my FIL has allowed to continue for years and a stubborn groundhog that tore up the wooden floor. The other two were built for my MIL so he took more time building them and gave them concrete floors.


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## DutchBunny03

Great! Hope the repairs don't cost too much, or take too much time. That sort of defeats the purpose of re-using a shed.


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## OctoberKitty

My FIL is a bit of a hoarder when it comes to wood, tools and car parts. When we were working on my chicken coop he kept showing up with more plywood and 2x4s. He probably has almost everything we need.


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## DutchBunny03

That's good.


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