A reader asks:
How do you decide which rabbits to harvest for food?
This is a good, functional question with a pretty simple answer.
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Most Meat Rabbits are for Harvest (Food for the Table!)
First off, know this: The vast majority of meat rabbits that are born here are bred with the intention of them being for meat and harvest.
Most litters, most matings, were always destined to be for meat. For almost every rabbit, it is predetermined that they will be harvested.
The reason this is true is that the whole point of my rabbitry is meat production. To date, that production is for private household use and sometimes food for my pets (dogs and cats).
This simply means that almost all of the rabbits that I have born here were always supposed to be for meat. For the most part, the whole litter. There really isn’t a litter that was bred and born here that was ever planned to be anything else.
There are only a few exceptions for promising individual specimens, but overall, the litters are being produced to produce food for the table.
So, for the most part, there isn’t a decision to be made because the use of the rabbits all along was supposed to be for meat.
When and Why I Might Hold a Meat Rabbit Back
That said, there are times when I keep a rabbit back and do not harvest it for meat (or at least not yet).
Some reasons I might keep or hold back on butchering a rabbit include:
- As replacement stock to replace a current doe or buck (breeder)
- To offer for sale to other buyers, usually for breeding stock for the buyer (but occasionally, a buyer will buy a live rabbit for meat)
- To watch the rabbit develop to a fuller maturity before I make a decision about whether to keep it for a breeder
- If the kit comes from one or more parents who are getting older and have, over time, proven to be good producers and I want to keep those genetics in my breeding mix
- If a seriously superior rabbit presents itself (proves to be something seriously impressive, above and beyond the norm for what my breeders usually produce). As in, a once-in-a-lifetime or once-in-a-year rabbit prospect.
These are the major reasons why I might not harvest a grow out and why I might hold it back instead. These are about the only reasons I can think of for why I might not butcher a meat rabbit grow out.
Characteristics that might prompt me to keep a rabbit back for sale or breeding
If I do decide to keep a rabbit for one of the reasons above, I would take care to select from the best stock in the room. These are some of the characteristics I’d be looking for:
- Excellent, consistent rate of weight gain
- Good muscling
- Fast growth to slaughter weight (5 pounds by at least 12 weeks, but preferably by 10 weeks)
- Solid live weight by 16 weeks (7 to 8 pounds live weight, with preference to those over 7 and closer to 8)
- Good body conformation (although for me, I focus mostly on weight, growth rate, and stocky muscling because I focus mostly on meat production)
- No issues with teeth
- Free from health problems
- No sneezing or obvious respiratory issues
- No gastrointestinal issues like bouts of stasis or bloat
Given my goals (growing meat for the table), personally, my top selection criteria are growth rate, weight, and feed efficiency (which is largely reflected in the rate of growth).
While I might use show standards as a guide (such as the American Rabbit Breeders Association or ARBA), this is not my top focus because I do not show my rabbits.
However, the ARBA standards, at least for body conformation, do have some bearing on meat production, too, because they look for good skeletal development, leg and body development without defect, and body type that should indicate successful delivery of kits for does. An example of this would be looking for a well-formed, even, wide hind end that is not narrowed or pinched and could cause kits to get stuck in delivery.
I might also put some effort into determining good standard conformation if I am offering breeders for sale because this may be what buyers are looking for, especially if they are showing. And, if you have an interest in a particular breed, it is always a good idea to propagate the best of the best for that breed that you are capable of producing.
As a meat producer I am less concerned about approved colors or hair type and things of that nature.
So, while ARBA and breed standards are not my primary goal, some effort to maintain them is wise as a part of an overall selection process.
Always an Eye Toward the Breeding Stock and Rotation
I do always keep an eye on my current breeding stock and the age and rotation of my breeders. This doesn’t necessarily have a direct impact on the current grow outs, but it might.
For example, if I know a breeder is getting older and is likely to need replacing within the next six months, I will start looking for grow outs with the potential to replace him or her. These decisions are often made based on the age of the doe or buck and also on performance. If a breeder is starting to have small litters, that is an indication of decline, and I would start thinking about replacing him or her (depending on who I think is likely the problem).
Remember -- There’s Almost Always Another Candidate Coming Up
Though you should keep in mind the need to eventually replace breeding stock, don’t overthink it, and don’t go overboard.
You don’t need to keep back replacement potentials from every litter. While you do want to keep your breeding programs going, and you should look with some foresight so that the replacements can be at or near breeding age when you need them, you should also be producing litters at least 4 times per year. Which is to say…new replacement stock is never too far behind.
Health is Important But Doesn’t Often Come into Play in Harvest and Slaughtering Decisions
It should go without saying that any animal that is showing signs of ill health, which might have an impact on it as a food source, is not one that I would harvest. However, that is not all that likely to be a consideration at harvest time.
If a rabbit were to present with health issues, unless it comes at a time that happens to coincide with harvesting, it would have been dealt with already. Either the rabbit would have passed from natural causes, or it would have been culled as a mercy for its own sake.
So, while this should be taken into consideration, practically speaking, it does not become part of my harvest decisions because I wouldn’t wait until harvest time to decide to deal with an animal in poor health, and I wouldn't harvest one that is not recovered from a period of poor health, either.
In the end, deciding who to harvest is not such a hard decision because harvesting is the fate of most of the animals that are born here anyway. Keeping the rest in mind helps you to make smart management decisions, but the issue isn’t as overwhelming as it first might seem to be.
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