Meat Rabbit Breeds Suited to Rural Farming in China

1 Meat Breeds for Rural China

New Zealand White: a famous meat breed with a short thick head, wide back, round rump, full loin/ribs and short thick ears. Advantages: tender meat, fast early growth, strong adaptation, disease resistance and fertility, high feed efficiency and dressing rate, gentle and easy to raise.

Californian: a quality mid-size meat breed, white with brown or tan nose, ears, limbs and tail — the ‘eight-point black’. Best trait: excellent fertility, high stable litter size and kit survival, hence ‘nanny rabbit’; good for scale production.

Belgian: fits our rural breeding and level well; good performance, fast growth, strong adaptation and lactation. Weakness: lower feed return, longer summer infertile period, and cage-raised on metal floors it easily gets sore hocks.

Danish White: a fur-and-meat breed, white coat, thick upright ears, balanced build, full muscle, slender limbs. Advantages: high litter size, high kit survival, fast growth, gentle, strong disease resistance and tolerance of rough feed.

Saibei: very fertile; under the same care it beats other meat breeds in disease resistance, adaptation and rough-feed tolerance. Great for rural free-range, but for scale caging choose another mid-size breed.

2 Note

These breeds adapt well and rural settings meet their needs — a good choice for farming.