Help, potential problem in my herd...need your input!

I breed livestock rabbits for fur and meat. I'm looking to get some insight into possible next steps for the HERD.

I typically keep two does and one buck as my main breeding stock. I recently decided to remove a difficult doe from the herd because she refused to lift for buck, she would exhibit normal mating behaviors...just would lift. Otherwise she appeared to be healthy, not overweight. Behaved normally, not lethargic...etc.

She had healthy looking pellets.

I butchered her last week and noticed her liver has a MAJOR issue. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like normal liver issues I have seen (fatty liver, coccidia...etc). Large cysts or abscesses at the bottom of an otherwise healthy looking liver. Here is a link to the image of the liver. https://imgur.com/a/ZO7FObw

The hutches are very sanitary 14ga wire bottom. One rabbit per cage. BUT, during breeding I would switch cages overnight between her and the buck (I also did this with my other doe). To familiarize them with his smell...etc. I mention this because of concerns about pathogens.

To compound this issue, I stupidly placed a new doe in the vacant cage of the butchered doe.

There are NO fleas...etc

Species: New Zealand and American Chinchilla mix

Age: Around 1.5 years old

Body weight: 9 lbs

History: I got her about 6 months ago, healthy eater. Weight appropriate amount of feed pellets.

Clinical signs: None...outside of mating issue.

I simply can't afford necropsy or even testing.

All of my rabbits seem healthy (beautiful coats, bright eyes, smooth clean ears) and active (social seeking behavior and positive interactions to my touch...head scratches...etc). Oh should also mention, I think my original doe is pregnant. I am waiting to breed new doe until I have a better handle on the situation.

Thoughts on my next steps for my herd?

I am not an expert- I keep rabbits but do not breed/butcher them so everything I am going to say is related to what I`ve read, not my own experience.

you may find this helpful https://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Liver_issues/Foie_malade_en.htm
it looks like they may be small abscesses- which from what I understand may be bacteria caused. I don't think it looks like coccidiosis getting started, but either way getting all your cages completely cleaned (hot water/soap kind of cleaning) may be in order.
if your rabbit was in good health it may have just been something weird. But I don't think a good cleanup (and maybe some extra nutrition or supplementation) could hurt.

Not sure how much help this will be, but I'm entirely empathetic about the ability to test & get a necropsy, with livestock. What I can tell you, is that it looks to me like you're doing well - you're paying attention to their behaviors, well enough to recognize a problem. Rabbits,  being prey animals, are masters at hiding illness and minor injuries, until it's too late to save them. It's very important to observe their individual 'norms', so you are more likely to catch on, when something is amiss - and you're doing that.

Those lumps are obviously riddled throughout her liver, and I highly doubt they were benign, regardless of their cellular origin. Without at least a biopsy, I see no way of knowing what they actually are, whether their origin is hereditary or environmental etc. So, all I really have, is commiseration & encouragement to get another doe (from a different source, just in case it is genetic), and not give up.

I put your questions to my husband, who keeps a large herd as a conservation project. He has 7 years experience so I thought he might know.

This is what he said:
It’s probably coccidiosi, which is a parasite. You can eat the meat, but need to toss the liver. Since its a parasite, it can spread. Typically comes if they have ground access, or have eaten contaminated food. In chickens they treat it with Corid but not sure about in rabbits. Anyway you need to sanitize their cages and nesting box if you use them. He added a picture you can compare to the liver you saw. He said that the small white things are eggs.
I had him look at your picture when he got home and he said that it shows it in its late stages. He had seen it when we had an outbreak in our chicken flock.