Anyone raise dutch rabbits for meat?

[dwbonfire]

I am looking into rabbits, I have been doing my homework for a while now and I am ready to get my rabbits. I am wanting to get breeding age does, and I am having a hard time deciding what breed I want to go with. These will be to provide meat to my family, so im not needing pedigree and show quality expensive rabbits. However, I want to choose a breed perfect for what I need. I want to stay with a medium breed, so I was considering new zealand, or californian, but now I am curious about dutch rabbits. I guess because they are very pretty as well as a medium size. Does anyone on here raise dutch for meat? or maybe cross them? Also, if anyone has any leads on any of the breeds I mentioned for sale in NC I would appreciate it!! I find many young, just weaned rabbits, but I am looking for closer to breeding age really.

 

[JakeM]

I do not own dutch, and the people I know that do, as far as I know, only breed for show. No clue if they use them for meat. But I know that you can. People mainly will use their unshowables or less desirables for meat only keeping the best of the litter back for breeding.

I honestly recommend you get hold of a breeder of dutch. They could answer your questions about them with a lot more confidence, plus they could possibly get you in touch with other dutch breeders.

 

[Bunnylady]

Californians weigh approximately 8 to 10 lbs. New Zealands are in the 10 to 12 lb range. Dutch weigh 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 lbs - that's not really the same size range!

Dutch are the same commercial type, so they are solid and meaty for their size. It will take longer to get a rabbit that is large enough to make slaughtering worthwhile, but depending on your family size, that may or may not be an issue. The aggravating thing about "marked" breeds like Dutch is that you get relatively few animals that have the correct markings for show, and a lot of perfectly nice animals that just don't belong on a show table. You may not have a single showable baby in a litter, no matter how good the parents are.

But if you are breeding for meat, that may not be an issue. A long, long time ago, I bred Dutch, and I found them to be reliably productive.

 

[Baymule]

I once raised Satins for show. I butchered the culls and got a nice fryer size. Dutch are pretty, but you won't get much meat as they are a smaller breed. New Zealands and Californians are the premiere meat breeds.

 

[goatgurl]

i have new zealands at the present. mainly because they grow out a bigger rabbit for the table. dutch are cute but a lot smaller.

 

[promiseacres]

I have heard of people using larger dutch for meat, but they are more commonly show bunnies