12 CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF RABBITS 
rabbit is not in any sense a boom. It is merely 
a growth which has been going on for several 
years. And the fact that it is assuming some 
of the aspects of a boom does not detract from 
the fact that it is a growth, steady and healthy, 
although tremendous when you stop to think 
of the number of rabbits that are being bred 
over the country today. 
One of the most important reasons for this 
growth of rabbit breeding is the high cost of 
living and the fact that the rabbit, intelli- 
gently handled, offers a very potent factor in 
solving a part of that problem. 
The domesticated rabbit as it is bred today 
is essentially a meat animal. Of the three 
most popular breeds, the Belgian Hare, the 
New Zealand Red and the Flemish Giant, all 
are essentially meat animals, and these three 
breeds range in weight at maturity from seven 
to twenty pounds. 
Maturity is generally placed at seven to 
nine months, although the meat animals can 
be marketed as early as eight or nine weeks 
