Newbie, former lurker!

[Weedchick]

Hi everyone, I recognize a lot of you from BYC & TEG. I'm hoping to get set up in meat rabbits this summer, if the finances allow. I'm in north Idaho and was wondering if you could advise me on a good breed to begin with. I'm also thinking of setting them up in a chain link dog run with a roof and hanging cages. Any suggestions or tips on if that would be workable in my climate? I could windproof it in the winter.
Any comments would be welcome. Oh, and I have the Storey book on raising rabbits which I will be rereading. And of course I read as much as I can on this forum which is very informative!

 

[rabbitlady4433]

Looks like your off to a good start! Welcome, and this forum is awesome!

 

[Mea]

If You are raising rabbits for Your own table... any breed that catches Your fancy and You enjoy would be fine.

If You are planning on selling them to a processor... quite often they prefer white furred rabbits .. like New Zealand, Californians, or Florida Whites.


Good Luck with Your project.

 

[Sama_Lama]

:
If You are planning on selling them to a processor... quite often they prefer white furred rabbits .. like New Zealand, Californians, or Florida Whites.

Why do they prefer "white furred" bunnies? Are you actually speaking of fur color or just that those 3 happen to be the most common meat bunnies?

 

[dbunni]

The white preference is only if they have an outlet for the pelts. Unfortunately, many of the pelts are thrown to the field now days ... so color does not matter. Unlike the past, the meat is the most important part now. Outlets for pelts are few and far between. People don't wear "animal" as much as they use to. With the advent of fakes and anti pelt groups. In our area (OH/PA/MI) most of the processors send the pelts to the field for wildlife to eat!

If you are going to work with the supply chain, contact the processor and ask the question. Then go forward. If you are doing it for yourself/few others ... find the breed/color you like and enjoy. I would recommend staying with the "commercial" breeds... New Zealands (come in black, white, broken, & red), Californias, & Florida Whites.

Good luck ... and enjoy the new adventure.

 

[Lorelai]

We really like our Californians, and so far our young Cali buck has been more up to the task than our New Zealand White buck, if you know what I mean... but our New Zealand Black doe has nice big litters, so we can't complain too much. But we do like our Californians a lot... they are calm, docile, and overall less twitchy than the New Zealands. Both are great meat rabbits, and the cross breeds are very efficient, if you want to start out with two different breeds. It will probably depend on what is available in your area... we live in Western Washington, and I think the man we got our Californians from originally got some of his stock in Idaho. Good luck!

 

[Mea]

:
If You are planning on selling them to a processor... quite often they prefer white furred rabbits .. like New Zealand, Californians, or Florida Whites.

Why do they prefer "white furred" bunnies? Are you actually speaking of fur color or just that those 3 happen to be the most common meat bunnies?

I agree with dbunni that fewer people wear fur nowadays.

It used to be that white rabbits were preferred because the furs could be dyed any color that was wanted and the color would be consistant. A pelt that has visible colors to it... would possibly be uneven in color.

In this day and age... some processors still want the white furred breeds, as there is a better chance that they have been bred specifically for 'meaty' qualities.

Some processors pay a bit more for the 'White' rabbits than they do for 'colors'. When one is trying to make money... every penny can count .

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

Welcome back!

 

[Weedchick]

Thanks everyone! I am expecting to just be breeding for our own table and doing the processing myself. The author of the Storey guide strongly suggested pedigreed rabbits because when you end up with a surplus you can sell them for more and also because you know their history (?? maybe I'm not remembering it right...) What do you guys think?

 

[collector]

Welcome, I think you will be better off sticking with NZs or Calis they take a shorter time to get to butcher size. Color won't matter if you are raising them for personal use. The hanging cages are definatly the way to go, cuts way down on the cleaning and maintenance. The pedigree thing is up to you it does insure that you are getting full blooded animals. Getting good proven meat rabbits is really not any cheaper than papered rabbits IMO, I know cause I am trying to find 2 Cali does right now. When you set up your cages try to keep them protected from the prevailing winds, icy air does not bother them, icy winds will kill them quickly. As a bonus you will get alot of fertilizer for your garden.