Colony for meat and fur?

I've been doing a fair amount of research lately on raising rabbits for meat and fur. So far, my understanding is that it's best for a rabbit to be about four months old before dispatch if you want a good pelt.

I like the idea of raising rabbits in a colony, but I'm wondering if this would be a problem with babies being kept until they are that old? Does anyone do this? Are there problems with inbreeding (babies with parents or siblings with each other)?

Thanks for your input. 🙂

Kathleen Marshall wrote:I've been doing a fair amount of research lately on raising rabbits for meat and fur. So far, my understanding is that it's best for a rabbit to be about four months old before dispatch if you want a good pelt.

I like the idea of raising rabbits in a colony, but I'm wondering if this would be a problem with babies being kept until they are that old? Does anyone do this? Are there problems with inbreeding (babies with parents or siblings with each other)?

Thanks for your input. 🙂

The biggest problems I had with my now extinct rabbit colony were drownings (they burrow into the ground to and have their babies down there and then a big rain storm comes and they drown), disease (I think some of this was diet related - had trouble keeping them from problem plants. Also introduced some rabbits a friend gave me and I think they had something they spread) and predation (could never quite predator-proof the spacious set-up we had for them).

It's possible some of the disease problems were related to inbreeding but I'm not certain.

Do you have the possibility to keep 3 colonies?
One for breeders, one for males, and one for females which you don't want to breed?
If you have a colony setup where you can mark the individuals, you will know which does produce better offspring, and then select rabbits better suited to your needs. Kind of a landrace. If it is a colony with more than one male, you can go the mob breeding route.

If you need more info on mob breeding, there is a facebook page and a really good video on the topic.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2714426338868354/

Otherwise, if you bring in new breeders regularly and don't want to have your own selection, the inbreeding will managed as well.