So, this should be a relatively short post. I thought that, as it was my first step to starting my rabbitry, I should explain what I was looking for in my meat rabbits.
I did a lot of research and eventually landed on New Zealand white rabbits. Don’t ask me why the color is a thing…I don’t know. I honestly think it’s only a thing for show rabbits. Please comment if I am wrong, because I would love to know. I DO know that they come in all sorts of colors. Seems to be irrelevant, but all of the legitimate breeders seem to have whites, so that’s what I got.
As far as breeds go, I was all geeked and ready for some Flemish Giants until I did some reading. Yes they are huge. No, the turn around is not very fast. They put all of the first bit of time (and your food) into bone structure. This may be ok with you, but along with having home grown meat, I am also looking at it from a cost standpoint. Brass tax dictates that longer time from birth to table=more money. I know a lot of people breed New Zealand/ Californian crosses, but after much research on that, some people who are much smarter than I am were noticing that after only a few generations, the cross did not make any difference in the rabbit quality. That only means that they were having to re-cross their rabbits. Again, this may be fine with you if you have a lot more time than I do and are good at record keeping. At my homestead, I only have to keep track of one breed of rabbits. Obviously cross breeding throws more of a curve your way. If rabbits are your hobby, go for it. If rabbits are purely food, I say pick a breed and stick with it. I honestly did not do much more research than that on breeds because the majority of people eating their rabbits -that I found on the internet- were breeding New Zealands.
After you’re done brand shopping, you need to find a breeder. Gee whiz, I hope it’s easier for you than it was for me. Craigslist ended up being the winner for me. Once you find bunnies in your area, make sure you’re allowed to see where they live and that you get a pick of the rabbits. Anyone who won’t show you living conditions probably isn’t a trustworthy breeder. When you’re looking for breeders, make sure they are healthy. No eye or nasal discharge, no poop stuck to their fur, healthy front teeth (top overlapping the bottom, and straight). So when I got my rabbits all of this was good…but one of my females seems to have a bad case of vertigo. Terrible balance. Oddly enough, she just miscarried 6 kits. So other than the obvious, don’t take a rabbit if something seems off. It’s your money and you’re banking your breeding on it.
Short and sweet. I know that when you start looking for rabbits it may seem overwhelming. You’ll be fine. It’s really all common sense stuff out of the gate. There are sooooooo many people out there with blogs and YouTube channels, and opinions, but sometimes the majority rules. A lot of people are doing this stuff, so if it seems to be working for them, it may be a good start for you. You can always add/change/delete later. Start small, do your research, and I have faith that you will be a rockstar.