COMMERCIAL RABBIT RAISING 



55 



the Department of Agriculture 

 (1^, Title 7, Part 54, section 54.- 

 262), "A roaster or mature rabbit 

 is a mature or old domestic rabbit 

 carcass of any weight, but usually 

 over 4 pounds processed from a 

 rabbit usually 8 months of age or 

 older." 



You can fatten culls from the 

 breeding herd for roasters, if they 

 are in good condition. In some 

 areas you may find it profitable to 

 develop young rabbits to heavier 

 weights primarily for the meat 

 market. Such rabbits should yield 

 a carcass that is 55 to 65 percent 

 of the live weio:ht, with 87 to 90 

 percent of it edible. However, the 

 quantity of feed required to pro- 

 duce a pound of gain, live weight, 

 increases with each pound of gain, 

 and may amount to 12 to 14 pounds 

 to increase the live weight from 

 9 to 10 pounds. Therefore, the 



cost of feed required to produce 

 these gains must be assessed against 

 the value of the heavier rabbits. 

 Unless a premium is paid for ma- 

 ture rabbits for their meat or bet- 

 ter fur quality, it is doubtful if 

 such production would be more 

 profitable than that of rabbits of 

 fryer weight. 



Castrated bucks require less 

 time and about 5 percent less feed 

 than normal bucks to attain a 

 given live weight. As indicated 

 previously, one advantage of cas- 

 tration is that a number of animals 

 can be kept together with a saving 

 of equipment, time, and labor. If 

 a buck is castrated when 2 months 

 old, his skin at maturity will grade 

 as a doe skin and sell for a higher 

 price. These factors, however, 

 usually do not justify the extra 

 work and danger involved in 

 castration. 



ANGORA RABBIT WOOL PRODUCTION 



Angora rabbits are raised pri- 

 marily for wool production (fig. 

 27). Wool on Angoras grows to a 

 length of 21^ to 3i/^ inches each 

 3 months, or approximately 1 inch 

 per month. You can shear 14 to 15 

 ounces of wool a year from a ma- 

 ture Angora that is not nursing 

 young. This wool is valued for its 

 softness, warmth, and strength. It 

 is used in blends with other fibers 

 in the manufacture of children's 

 clothing, sport clothes, garment 

 trimmings, and clothes for general 

 wear. Used alone it is usually too 

 light and fluffy, and blends create 

 better tensile strength and dura- 

 bility. 



There are two main types of An- 

 gora rabbits — the English and the 

 French. Present standards of the 

 American Rabbit Breeders Associ- 

 ation, however, make English and 

 French types of wool synonymous. 

 It is difficult to distinguish the 



English Angora rabbits from the 

 French when they are off type, and 

 the choice largely is a matter of 

 personal preference. The typical 

 French Angora usually is larger 

 than the English. The wool fiber 

 of the French is shorter and 

 coarser than that of the English, 

 but wool yield is greater. Owing 

 to competition with other fibers, 

 both natural and synthetic, and 

 competition with imported Angora 

 rabbit wool, the market price is 

 generally low and it is advisable to 

 use the Angora as a dual purpose 

 animal for both meat and wool 

 production. The commercial An- 

 gora weighs at least 8 pounds and 

 is being bred more and more to 

 improve its quality for meat. 



Keep herd bucks and does in in- 

 dividual hutches. Keep woollers— 

 does and castrated bucks main- 

 tained primarily for wool pro- 

 duction — in groups or colonies to 



