16 Best Meat Rabbit Breeds for your Homestead

Raising rabbits for meat is an easy, economical way to produce your own meat regardless of how much space you have on the homestead. Yet, not all rabbit breeds are created equal, some make great meat rabbits, others not so much. These meat rabbit breeds are the best of the best to provide you with quick-growing rabbits that dress out with a good meat-to-bone ratio.

Is raising rabbits for meat worth it?

A lot of people won’t consider raising rabbits for food. And, I get it, they’re cute. Honestly, it’s not something I ever considered before we really started to try to come up with ideas to increase our self-sufficiency. But, there are a lot of benefits to raising meat rabbits. They are prolific producers that can be fed for free, or nearly free, and take up very little space in the grand scheme of things. They’re also a great source of fertilizer for your vegetable garden.

Rabbits, in most municipalities in the United States, aren’t considered livestock, which makes them excellent for urban and suburban dwellers that have ordinances that prohibit the raising of livestock. All around, they’re just a great way to add a little more self-sufficiency to your homesteading efforts, no matter where you live.

They’re also dual purpose, being able to provide you not only with healthy, lean meat that you can produce right on your own property, but they’re also a great source of nice, warm fur that can be utilized to make things like hats, gloves, and more or sold as pelts for a little extra money.

Rabbit meat is lean and healthy and a great alternative to some other lean meats such as chicken due to rabbits being able to produce quite a few young in a short period of time.

How to Choose the Best Meat Rabbits

A lot of folks think that you can use any rabbit for meat, and while you can, technically, not all breeds are suitable for meat.

Rabbits are small, lean animals, and making sure you have a breed that produces a lot of meat on their very bony frame is important. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with a tiny amount of meat, a lot of bone, and won’t be able to appreciate how productive these animals can be.

Rabbit breeds such as dutch, Rhinelander, lionhead, and more just don’t have enough meat on their bones to raise for meat. These are more exhibition breeds and while they do serve a purpose, their purpose is not meat. Others, such as flemish giants and other giant breeds, which are routinely recommended as a good meat breed, take a very long time to grow out and aren’t really suitable unless they’re crossed with another rabbit to not only help them grow out faster but also increase their meat to bone ratio.

When choosing a rabbit breed, you need to look at the meat-to-bone ratio of that particular breed. An equal 50% of meat to bone is typical of most meat breeds, and what is desirable. Some meat breeds have slightly higher ratios than this, but you want at least equal amounts or you’ll have to raise more rabbits.

Another thing you’ll want to look at is the average litter size of the breed you’re considering and how well mothers of the breed mother. Some rabbit breeds are fantastic mothers and can even foster other rabbits while others aren’t as well-equipped to raise their young. The larger the average litter size, the better, of course since that will provide you with more meat. That being said, if the doe isn’t a good mother, you’ll have a higher loss.

The last thing you should take into consideration is the pelt quality. The pelts can, as I mentioned previously, provide you with warm clothing or, at the very least, another source of income to sell them.

A few other things I took into consideration when we chose our meat rabbit breed were the availability of the rabbits and the demand for the breed. Some breeds are easier to find reputable breeders than others and the demand means you can make a little money back if you choose to sell any of the offspring for shows.

16 of the Best Meat Rabbit Breeds

It should go without saying that you should always purchase from a reputable breeder. Being able to see the conditions your rabbits are being raised in is important. I also recommend that you purchase your rabbit with a pedigree so that you can pedigree any offspring you choose to show yourself or sell for shows, etc.

When choosing a breed, you’ll want to keep the above-mentioned things in mind, but another thing to consider is whether you want to raise a heritage breed. This was important to us, so I chose a heritage breed to raise. We also raise heritage breed chickens and ducks on our homestead.

Raising heritage breeds and growing heirloom varieties of vegetables is important to us, but you have to make your own decision for what works best for you and your situation.

Silver Fox

The silver fox is a heritage breed of rabbit that was developed in the United States and a standard was accepted by the American Rabbit Breeders association in 1925. They are docile, friendly rabbits that love attention. Silver fox is the breed we chose for our breeding program here on our homestead.

This breed is typically found in black or blue, but there is also chocolate, and very rare whites as well. All the colors have silver ticking throughout the pelt. The fur of this rabbit is the only fur that will stand straight on end when brushed in the opposite direction until it’s brushed back down, making their pelts prized by folks who know how to tan.

This breed has an excellent bone to meat ratio and has been known to dress out up to 65% of its live weight. Adult bucks weigh 9 to 11 pounds and adult does reach 10 to 12 pounds.

Silver fox does are excellent mothers and have large litters averaging six to eight kits. Our doe had a litter of nine last time. They also produce adequate amounts of milk to raise large litters without losses. Another wonderful trait of this breed is the does ability to foster.

American Chinchilla

Another heritage breed, the American Chinchilla rabbit is the rarest of the chinchilla breeds (there are three). They were selectively bred from the Standard Chinchilla breed in order to increase size. These rabbits are gentle and friendly. Since they are the rarest of the chinchilla breeds, they can be quite difficult to locate.

The coloring of these rabbits is beautiful and their fur is soft. Their fur is grey at the tip, but typically has bands of white and black along its length. They also have black ticking throughout their coat. The demise of this rabbit to becoming so rare is actually due to the rabbit fur industry decreasing in the 40s.

This breed is large with adult bucks weighing 9 to 11 pounds and adult does reaching 10 to 12 pounds.

American chinchilla does are great mothers and have fairly large litters averaging eight to ten kits.

Champagne d’Argent

Champagne d’argent likely developed in France in the mid-1600s, though its origins aren’t specifically known. It is one of the oldest known rabbit breeds in the world. These rabbits are known to be calm and are excellent for beginners.

Their pelts used to be prized. They are silver in color with black hairs mixed throughout their coat.

This breed is an excellent meat breed with a mid-section that is very wide and meaty. Adults typically weigh between 8 and 12 pounds.

Does have good mothering instincts and can have litters ranging anywhere between 5 and 8 kits.

Harlequin

Sometimes known as “clown rabbits” the harlequin because of their distinctive color and markings. This breed was developed in France in the late 1800s, came to the United States in the 1920s, and fed many families in the United States during the second world war.

Their unique coloring makes their pelts prized. They have two varieties one, the Japanese harlequin has an orange coat with black, blue, chocolate, or lilac. Magpie harlequins are white with black, blue chocolate or lilac.

This breed is a fantastic meat breed that grows quickly, though is a little smaller than the breeds I’ve covered so far. Adults typically weigh an average of 7 to 10 pounds.

Harlequins have good mothering instincts, but can be a bit aggressive around their young. They have litters ranging between 6 and 10 kits.

Silver Marten

This critically endangered, rare heritage breed were originally called “strange little black rabbits” that occasionally popped up in chinchilla litters. These odd rabbits bred true and were eventually called Silver Marten and became their own breed in 1924.

These rabbits have beautiful coats that can come in black, chocolate, blue, and sable. The black is the most popular of the breed.

While many people raise silver martens for pets or exhibition, they do have a commercial type body and grow out fairly quickly. Like the harlequin, these rabbits are on the small side, reaching a mature, maximum weight of 9.5 pounds.

Silver martens are excellent mothers and have a sweet, playful temperament. They have litters between 4 and 6 kits.

Palomino

A heritage breed that was developed in the United States, the palomino rabbit is a hardy large breed. Their docile temperament makes them desirable not only for meat but also as pets.

They have either orange with a white undercoat or grey mixed with orange and a white undercoat.

Palominos make an excellent meat rabbit due to their small bone structure which provides excellent meat to bone ratio. Adults average 8-11 pounds and they are fast-growing.

This breed has good mothering instincts and produces an average of 4 to 12 kits per litter.

Standard Chinchilla

The smallest of the chinchilla breeds, the standard chinchilla is more widely available than the American variety. This breed has much of the same characteristics as all the chinchilla breeds.

The standard chinchilla pelt is prized for its softness and coloring. The breed was actually developed to try to meet the demand for South American Chinchilla pelts which were very small and very expensive, but luxurious and soft.

This breed is quite a bit smaller than the American variety with their mature weight being only 6 to 8 pounds but does have an excellent bone to meat ratio. Its small size makes it a good choice for people with limited space.

Standard chinchilla rabbits make good mothers but have small litters averaging between 5 and 8 kits.

American

First known as the Blue Vienna, then the American Blue the American is unique in its restriction to north America. It is a rare breed, in fact, it’s known as the rarest in America.

This breed was developed for its then desirable and prized blue coat. There are blues as well as white coat colors today.

American rabbits are a large breed with does weighing 10 to 12 pounds and bucks 9 to 11 pounds when mature. They have a good bone-to-meat ratio and grow out fairly quickly but their bone-to-meat ratio isn’t as good as some other breeds, making them prime candidates to cross with other breeds such as the rex or New Zealand to increase that ratio.

They have good mothering instincts with litters averaging 8 to 10 kits.

Beveren

While it never became particularly popular, the beveren rabbit is a hardy, fast-growing large rabbit known for its meat as well as its fur. This friendly breed is known for its ability to be reared in all wire cages without any issues.

The breed comes in three colors today blue, black, and blue-eyed white, and their coats are glossy, smooth, and dense.

Beveren’s get large with adult bucks weighing between 8 and 11 pounds and adult does weighing between 10 and 12 pounds.

The does make good mothers and are docile. They have litters averaging 8 to 12 kits.

Blanc de Hotot

This heritage breed was developed by the second woman to be credited with developing a rabbit breed. This breed is fairly new to the United States but is considered a globally endangered breed.

Known for its lustrous coat, the coat is white with a frosty sheen save the thin, black bands of fur surrounding its eyes.

Blanc de Hotot rabbits get large with an adult doe weighing between 9 and 11 pounds and bucks weighing between 8 and 11 pounds.

This breed is active and their temperament may make them less desirable to the novice rabbit owner. They are fairly good mothers, though not excellent, and have litters averaging 6 and 8 kits. All of that to say, it’s definitely a rabbit breed worth saving if you’re able.

Giant Chinchilla

The largest of the three chinchilla breeds, the Giant Chinchilla is the largest breed on this list. Their large size makes them more suitable for people who have more space and the ability to provide the rabbits with cages with platforms to prevent sore hocks.

The coat of the giant chinchilla is very much the same as the other two varieties of chinchilla rabbits. The developer, Edward H. Stahl, wanted a larger breed with the same coat in order to more quickly meet the demand of the fur industry.

Giant chinchillas are one of the larger breeds that quickly grow out with adult bucks weighing 12 and 15 pounds and adult females weighing between 13 and 16 pounds. Kits grow out quite quickly and have been known to produce a 7-pound fryer in only 8 weeks. ‘

Does are good mothers and have litters averaging between 7 and 8 kits.

Standard Rex

The standard rex is a popular meat rabbit breed due to its availability across the country.

Standard rex coats are velvety soft due to a genetic mutation that causes all the hairs to be the same length. Their coats come in a variety of colors, but their fur is incredibly soft.

Rex rabbits weigh between 7 and 11 pounds at maturity but grow a little more slowly than other breeds.

Does are good mothers and have litters averaging anywhere between a half dozen to a full dozen kits.

New Zealand Whites

A very popular meat breed, New Zealand rabbits are a standard breed that comes in a variety of colors, but the white rabbits are the most popular.

As I mentioned, New Zealand rabbits come in a variety of colors and have a dense, luxurious coat. This breed is the common breed raised for meat, but it is also raised for fur.

This breed weighs between 9 and 12 pounds at maturity and grows rather quickly.

Does make good mothers and have litters averaging between 7 and 14 kits.

Californian

Also known as the Californian White, Californian rabbits are another popular meat rabbit, considered to be the second most popular breed for meat.

These rabbits are generally white with spots and don’t typically have any other colors. They have dark brown markings on their tail, nose, feet, and ears. The coat is quite coarse, so its pelt is not as desirable as some of the other breeds, though it can be tanned.

At maturity, this breed weighs between 8 and 12 pounds and grows out quickly.

Having litters averaging between 8 and 12 kits, does make excellent mothers and this breed is very docile, gentle, and friendly overall.

Cinnamon

Named for its russet-colored fur, the cinnamon rabbit is a beautiful breed of rabbit that was actually developed by accident in Missoula, Montana. Considered an all-purpose breed, these rabbits can be raised for meat, fur, show, and make great pets.

They have beautiful, luscious coats that have rust, or ground-cinnamon color with grey ticking across the back.

At maturity, cinnamon rabbits weigh between 8 and 11 pounds.

The litter size for this breed is on the smaller size, averaging between 4 and 6 kits.

Satin

Healthy and hardy, the satin rabbits have a variety of beautiful coat colors and they’re very friendly and docile.

Their coats are dense and soft and prized. The variety of colors makes the pelts desirable for people who tan hides to make money on their homestead.

This is a large breed of rabbit, reaching between 8 and 12 pounds as adults.

Their litter size is quite variable ranging anywhere from a single kit to a dozen and can be a little slow to grow out.

Rabbits are a great animal to raise on any homestead, but especially for those of us that are limited on space. When choosing a rabbit breed, take all things into consideration and choose a breed that you can adequately house and handle. Find a reputable breeder, and use this guide to find some of the best rabbit breeds available for meat.

If you’re looking for ideas on how to reconnect with your food, nature, and the heritage way of life, you’ve come to the right place.

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