breeding of rabbits

[hedgerow pete]

does anyone have experience with breeding newzealand whites for meat, any info please, just an idea and want to know more about the practicalities

 

[Poly Hive]

I was always given to understand that rabbits bred like err...........

PH

 

[luckydunny]

Do you still need the obligatory matchsticks???

 

[Brosville]

Can't see the point (horrible intensive and unnatural means of producing meat) - the countryside is teeming with wild ones, get yourself a .22 and a few friendly farmers

 

[onriver]

Hi Pete - probably a good idea but took me right back to an experience that I'd forgotten about!
As a teenager I was offered the capital (£10, I think) by my Dad to set up a business - older siblings had done turkeys, calfs etc and I thought New Zealand Whites would be my surefire route to fortune.
A nearby farmer was doing it properly and provided a buck and 3 does to start me off.
The rabbits performed as expected and I started to get overrun, doing the same as I do now with beekeeping when I realise I don't have enough kit to AS and spent every waking moment making up housing!
It took me a while, though, to realise a fundamental about farming, which was that, because I was happily feeding the rabbits fresh grass/carrots/leftovers/dandelions etc, my weight gain to protein input to age ratios were scuppered.
To turn a decent profit I should have not let them touch anything green but purely the expensive high protein pellets, then they would have reached the requisite weight in 12 instead of the 22 weeks it took (I'm making up the figures as I can't remember!).
I think I made a slight profit but was put off commercial rabbit breeding for life! (though I can still gut and skin a rabbit fast )

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Depends whether you just want meat for the family table or want to breed them commercially. Years ago I put the idea into my uncle's head (he was a bit 'careful ' with money so it appealed to him) we kept them in a few large pens in a large hen house from when he and my grandfather kept poultry and fed them on greens/peelings etc kept by the whole family, i think they had a pretty good life being virtually 'free range' and was a good supply of table meat for the family.
But yes, as onriver said feeding them on greens means a slower body mass build up - but it is more natural.
They also weren't all New Zealand whites either - more heinz 57
The book that put it into my head was one of the garden farming series, seemed to cover all the npoints.

 

[peteinwilts]

Can't see the point (horrible intensive and unnatural means of producing meat) - the countryside is teeming with wild ones, get yourself a .22 and a few friendly farmers

not sure about teeming.... not here. they seem to get to a particular density in summer then mixxy kills them off to very few just before flying season.

my goshawk has only had two flights and no kills on rabbits this year.

 

[biglongdarren]

not sure about teeming.... not here. they seem to get to a particular density in summer then mixxy kills them off to very few just before flying season.

my goshawk has only had two flights and no kills on rabbits this year.

i think you need an upgrade pete
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB6O6lbR0bs[/ame]
Darren

 

[countryman]

pete if you got 1buck and 2 does that can give you a meal every 3 days with the off spring i think you get the american one that grows to 4-5 lb in weight but using a 22 you got to find the vermin first and round here you got no chance with the buzzards

 

[hedgerow pete]

firstly biglongdarren, what an amazing bird what is it an eagle owl or just eagle?

the rabbits have always been a large part of my diet up untill a few years ago when i stopped rabbiting at that time it was mostly stafford way, now that i am trying to get back into it i find it very hard as i am an unknown to many people and as i dont own ferrets and nets etc i cant run my own permission, which is nigh on impossible to find for the same reasons and the fact that there are not many farms in smethwick, lol

so i went to see a friend of mine yesterday he had inside his chicken pen some empty rabbit cages, wooden home made jobs, he used to combine rabbit and chickens in the same pen area, chickens on the floor rabbits in the air.

know i know my farming and looking after aminals etc so yes the pelleted food is all they get and dead and skinned by 12 weeks,

i was looking at the numbers with a doe doing three broods a year with a live rate of 7 leveritts each time and a dead weight of 4lb. 2 kg ish
thats 21 rabbits per doe and 20 kg of deboned meat per doe times the number of does you keep, i was thinking of five plus one buck thats anaverage of 100kg of meat per year or 2kg 4lb per week to munch through, working against that is rabbit food so much per week and so much per bag i will have to find out what the costs are but the figures do sound reasonable considering that the staff levels for rabbits and chickens are combined and the wife can multi task, shooooooosh dont tell her i said that she would have me in the pen caged up!!

 

[hedgerow pete]

almost forgot, i know every part of the country is different but in the west midlands going towards wales and south toward glouscester and south warks the rabbit is very scarce, we are either to good hunting or netting it or we are having a bad time of mixi

 

[hedgerow pete]

just been looking for rabbit food, a rabbit eats on average 150gm of food, a 20kg bag cost a tenner so thats about 25 days worth of food for 5 rabbits so thats 15 bags of bunny food per year

four rabbits , 21 offspring per year each 84 dead bunnies in total with a stripped dead meat weight of 84kg and the same again of bone.

that seams to equate to 84kg of meat for £140 or £1.40 per kilo.

ok so all the figures are averages, in theroy you should be able to do four or five litters per does not three and not all bunnies get to 3kg plus before they get knocked off.

i have allowed one third live one third dead and one third stripped of bone ?

that in theroy is fairly good to me, but i would like to know if anyone has ever done it and does it come to those figures or is it nearer some where else ?

 

[Hivemaker.]

HP, why not use Flemish giants if going for maximum weight.

http://mysite.verizon.net/resp9fau/id7.html

I used to keep quite a few New Zealand whites,and Californians many years ago.

 

[hedgerow pete]

according to the little i read last night is new zealand whites only as flemish grow to slow and has a bad meat to bone, a white is 50/50 the flemish is worse.

i do like the idea of keeping a set of live caught wilds as the pelts are of more use, but whites will do,

hivemaker put simply was it worth doing ?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Flemish giants can reach up to 28lb in wieght, and put on wieght fast if fed correctly. Still a lot of work for little return with all of them though.

Extract.
Flemish Giants are the true giants of all rabbits. They can grow to
immense size, reaching four or more pounds in 7 weeks, and maturing
up to 18 pounds in 9 months. Although they are large, they are docile
and not wild or hard to handle. That is why they are called "The Gentle Giant."
Flemish are also called "The Universal Breed," because they are fast
developing rabbits suitable for either meat or fur production. They
thrive on a large percentage of roughage and green feed reducing total
food costs.

 

[hedgerow pete]

does anyone have any experiences of using a tannery , the costs envolved minimum orders , do they except pelts by post or is it self delivery, any suggestions would help,

 

[Black Comb]

They've got mixy around here.

 

[Frisbee]

I had some New Zealand whites for a time.....2 does and a buck. I can't talk figures as it was years ago and really I only did it to raise meat, but I got sick of eating rabbit and never want to have anymore.......we were eating rabbit 4 days a week.

Pelts...tannery? Do it yourself Pete.....google Brain Tanning.

Frisbee

 

[Shabro]

We've just done away with our continentals and new zealands, must of had to destroy 30 of them after an outbreak of mixy and have decided it just isnt worth the hassle now.

 

[hedgerow pete]

We've just done away with our continentals and new zealands, must of had to destroy 30 of them after an outbreak of mixy and have decided it just isnt worth the hassle now.

in which way , time or costs or efforts, i would like to know before even considering making a single hutch let a lone 6 of them