RNRQ, V1 N4 & V2 N1 1998 Spec. Ed. #2
Raising and Showing Meat Pens

This article deals with the breeding, raising, and showing of meat pens. We hope it will prove of assistance to those of you interested in meat animals for show.

In many areas of the US, 4-H rabbit projects concentrate on the raising, judging and selling of meat pens. The ARBA also has meat classes, and the guidelines set forth in the Standard of  Perfection are for the most part universal. A meat pen is a set of three rabbits which are all of one breed and color, as uniform in body as possible, and have a maximum of meat on their frame.

The production of the meat pen begins with the choice of breed and the actual breedings done to produce kits from which one will choose the best three.  The breed must be capable of producing animals which can reach the minimum weight of 3-1/2 lbs within the 70 day (10 week) age limit; however, they may not exceed 5 lbs within that time.

The classic, and most commonly used, meat breeds are New Zealand, Californian, Satin, Rex, and Champagne d’Argent. Unfortunately, most areas and 4-H groups will not allow cross-bred animals.  Unfortunate, since many times the cross-bred animal will outperform the purebred!

In many areas, and especially in 4-H competition, the breeding, raising, selection and showing of the meat pen is instrumental in learning many valuable skills. Recordkeeping, stock evaluation, sportsmanship, and self-reliance are only a few of these. It is a shame that there seems to be a growing trend toward the purchase of meat animals bred and raised by others for this purpose--what is learned by purchasing these animals when they are sold perhaps two weeks later?

Production of one’s own pen of three is an experience never to be forgotten. The process begins when you decide to raise your own animals, and the first choice is soon after. 

How many does should I breed?  As many as possible which can produce the purebred kits needed in the colors and size required.  The more does that are bred, the less the loss of a kit or two, or a doe who does not ‘take’, will affect your plans.

When do I breed? Find out what date the pens will be judged, and count back seventy days plus the average gestation time of your does--and breed them all on that day.  Don’t hesitate to rebreed does that miss two weeks later--if the first batch doesn’t work out, this ‘backup run’ may just save you.

What bucks should I use? Here is a point where good recordkeeping in the past will help.  Use those bucks who have previously produced animals close to, or even over, the top allowed fryer weight at the age of ten weeks.  If you don’t have those records, use your largest, meatiest bucks on your largest, meatiest does....and hope!

Help!  When they kindled, I ended up with four possible meat pens...but there are a lot of other colors I don’t have three of! What can I do? First, determine if you have enough does to drop your litter size on the matching kits as low as three to five per nest.  This will maximize milk intake while still allowing you to raise the rest--although the other does may have nine or ten to deal with, your concern now is with the ones you want to grow best.  If you cannot do this, you may have to cull the odd-colored kits as soon as their non-matching coloration is obvious--do not do this until the third day. Some colors can fool you.

Okay, they all made it to five weeks--when do I wean them? The answer to this one is simple--don’t! (Well, not yet, anyway). If Mommy will tolerate them until eight or nine weeks,  all the better--although weaning at eight weeks is generally used to minimize the stress on the kits during fairtime. When weaning, it is time to split them into trios, based strictly on size, to allow you to keep a closer tab on how they are eating. A particularly large fryer can and will block others from the feeder--which at this point you definitely want to avoid.

What size cage and feeder should I use for each trio?  As large of a cage as possible, with a ‘jump board’, or 2x4 on edge between the food and the water.  A 30x36 inch, 18 inches high, will encourage movement and gain of muscle and tone.  This will have a lot to do with the flesh condition of the animals.  Even when they are still on the doe, this setup will help everyone get in shape. The doe and litter should never ever be without feed!  A 12” J-feeder is a good size for a doe with up to eight kits--but even then, they will likely need it filled at least twice daily.

If you are using crocks, clean the crock every single day, without fail. A dirty crock can spread or increase disease faster than almost anything. Again, they should never be without food.

Water and feed in cold weather:  If the weather is freezing or below, watering will become quite a chore, even for those who don’t go to school or hold a job.  Do your absolute utmost, even to putting an aquarium heater in the outside portion of a fill-from-outside-the-cage style crock, to make sure that the growing animals and their dams get plenty of clean liquid water to drink each and every day!  Without water, they won’t eat--if they don’t eat, they don’t gain--and if they don’t gain, you have no meat pen!

Feed in cold weather may also require some adjustment to allow enough energy for the kits to gain properly.  With caution, a slowly increasing amount of supplement may be given--usually oats, some type of sweet feed, and/or sunflower seeds or calf manna. Be very careful how much of these supplements you give--you want to ensure that the fryers get enough energy to grow, and that momma has enough energy and nutrients to produce plenty of milk, but you do not want to wind up with any diarrhea.  To help avoid diarrhea, give the kits a small amount of good grass or oat hay (about as much as you can get in the ‘OK’ sign of your thumb and first finger) before giving them the supplement.

One possible routine is to give the doe a half & half mix of CalfManna and sweet feed (I use Omolene 200 or one of the horse mixes), mixed by volume, once a day when the kits are in the box and likely to stay there. A firmly-wired cup well above floor level (the doe should have to really stretch) will help ensure that the young kits, should they escape the nestbox, will not get this very concentrated mixture.  For the average doe raising 6-8 kits, I would give a tablespoon and adjust depending on her body condition and milk production.  Get in the habit of giving it to her in the morning, with that small amount of hay on the floor of the cage at the same time.

Once the kits are out and eating the hay well, and eating pellets with enthusiasm (about four to four-1/2 weeks), you can start them, very slowly, on a creep-type supplement.  To start, this should be an extremely small amount of rolled and whole oats (about a teaspoon per kit), mixed with about a cup of pellets and placed on the hutch floor in the evenings. Remove the dish in the morning when the hay and doe treat is given. Very gradually bring this mixture up (again, provided that they are showing no signs of diarrhea and eat their hay well) to where at six weeks, they are each getting about a tablespoon of supplement only, no pellets mixed in. And when they finish that, it’s gone...they don’t get any more ‘til the next night.

Supplement:  Measure by volume (scoop).... 18 parts whole/crimped oats; 2 parts whole/crimped barley; 3 parts whole safflower seed; 3 parts whole black oil sunflower seed; 2 parts CalfManna; 1 part sweet feed.  If the youngsters show any sign of discomfort or digestive disturbance, pull the supplement immediately and increase the amount of hay.

This is just what works for my rabbits---if you are happy with what you do, stick with it with my blessings--every herd is different. If you want to just ‘touch up’ their body condition--add only oats and make sure the furballs get exercised!   It’s an excellent idea to try supplementing other litters before your meat pen litters--find what works for you.

Okay...It’s the day before...which ones do I choose? First, assemble all the youngsters of one color on a table, weigh them, and mark the weight in the right ear.  Send back the ones that are underweight--but keep the ones that are no more than four ounces over.  Above all, at this time you need the best and most accurate scale you can get!!!

 This is where you get to play judge.  Arrange them by size, first...look at them....is there a set of three that are pretty close?  Those are the ones you start with. Set them up in trios...if you have four, or five, start with the closest three.  They should be set up as their breed demands...but closely and side by side, to allow looking at them as a whole. The three you pick on visual exam should be very close in appearance, and identical if possible.

Run your hands over them.  Do they feel the same?  The judge in most meat classes is going to be using his eyes less than his hands to tell him how meaty and well-developed, and well conditioned, those animals are. You want the widest, smoothest, hardest, meatiest animals possible. 

Starting at the shoulders, width should be very obvious on the entire animal, with heavy muscling that extends from the spine, where there should be bulges on either side of the backbone, down over the ribs and as you run your hands back over the animals’ hindquarters, the transition to an even fuller and meater hindquarter, with a loin as wide as possible. The animal should be as smooth and firm as possible, with tight-fitting skin and a minimum of gut, or potbelly.

Smoothness and hardness are the two main factors of flesh condition. You can breed for a well-conditioned rabbit--but in most cases it is feed and exercise that tells the tale. To achieve a well-matched pen of animals may take hours of handling--but if you have kept good records on their growth, you will have a pretty good idea which ones will be good candidates, and which won’t.

Shuffling and setting up, feeling, looking....go in for lunch, come back out and start all over again...Patience and determination to match them up will do a lot.  It is hard to not get ‘stuck’ on the biggest, or the smoothest...but trust me here--a well-matched pen will usually win over size, or meat, or condition on a poorly-matched pen.

Groom your pen just like any other show animals...use only your hands, perhaps a light mist of plain water, and when you have done all you can in that fashion, use a small piece of chamois leather, slightly larger than one hand, to smooth the coat and give it a final polish. Again, using the grooming method before the meat pen shows (a well-used chamois is best), will help you learn how to present your rabbits in their finest shape, as well as help teach them to pose well.

When you travel to the show, do not withdraw water or feed! This period of time is crucial to their staying in good condition through check in and weighing. This is when you learn just how accurate your scales really are. A hint for before the pen is even born is to go get a brick of metal, or a standard cement brick, which on a sealed, certified scale, weighs precisely five pounds.  Use this to balance your scale at home. Wrapping it in plastic will help keep its weight exactly the same...make sure you weigh it in the plastic at both places.  Coop your pen with plenty of water, feed, and stick to your normal routine of feeding.

Don’t handle your pen to death at the show! Aside from a good grooming early in the morning, leave them alone. The show will be creating a lot of stress, and you don’t need to add to that. Make sure they stay cool!  A hot animal loses weight and flesh condition. Ice bottles or blocks of ice placed in the cage may be of great help.  Do not let a show committee demand anything against the best interests of the animals.  There have been instances where failure of showmanship was threatened if ice bottles were used. The kids persisted that they were necessary--and did quite well in showmanship!

Do, once your pen is on the table, stand back and watch...honestly evaluate to yourself how your pen stands against the competition. It’s a good chance to see just how you did in your own mind, before the judge begins ranking the class.  Of course, you don’t have hands-on...but even visually, a well matched and conditioned pen will stand out.

Do ask the judge, after the competition, to explain to you why he placed the pens as he did...perhaps the top three.  Most judges will gladly give a quick lesson on what to look for--and more importantly, what the preferred pen feels like in your hands.

Don’t be a sore loser or winner.  Nothing is worse than a gloater or sourpuss at the table, especially if more showing is to occur later in the day!  If you win, hey wow, that is just fantastic.  If you lose, well...what did you learn today? I count myself ahead if I had a good time.

Do have fun! Talk to other exhibitors, compare notes about what you did to get your pen ready, talk rabbits or clothes or whatever....but if you set out to have a good time, you will very rarely come home truly disappointed.