What is the best meat rabbit breed for pasturing that has good growth rate & colorful litters?

[RainbowRabbits]

I have been researching rabbits for WEEKS and can't seem to figure out what the best thing to do is.

I'm interested in getting a trio of rabbits to use for meat. They're going to be fed fodder as their primary food source during the colder months and pastured weather permitting. I'd like a breed that has a good growth rate, but also produces colorful/surprise colored litters.

I first thought I wanted to do Rex rabbits so I could have the nice coats and sell some of the offspring as pets, but from what I read, they take longer to grow/are smaller. Then I thought I should do the standard NZW crossed with a Californian doe to get the hybrid vigor, but then the litters would be all white. I've debated on going with a red NZ and a Californian since the litters would be a little mixed, but I'm not sure if I could get a better colored mix elsewhere? Also, I've read that the NZ and Cali don't do the best on pastures, but I'm not sure if that's even true.

And lastly, I've read that Silver Foxes taste differently/better than other breeds because they're an old heritage breed...which just throws everything that I'm thinking in a big loop!

Is my best bet to just buy rabbits from different breeds to produce my own meat rabbit with the qualities I want? Or is there a good breed I can start with that has what I'm looking for?

 

[Poultrybreeder]

You should just create a mix with the qualities you want in my opinion. My personal recomendation is to breed a Rex with a Flemish Giant, then breed that to a Silver Fox. Just make sure the Giant is at female!

 

[balloonflower]

Be realistic in the expected growth rate on pasture. Will be much slower than pellets.

I love my silver foxes. Have been able to sell all kits thus far, so can't give you a comparison on meat. We did just harvest some sf/cali cross meat buns from a 4h friend. Nice amount of meat to them. Two were cali colored, one black SF, and one looked like a choc silver fox. Funny fur characteristics though.

 

[chkncrazy]

I know I'm replying almost a year after a new one has replied on this post..... I hope you have found what you were looking for, but a suggestion I had is maybe New Zealand's because they come in broken colors too like white with orange patches or black patches or both it's called broken colored New Zealand rabbits if you Google it..... just an idea as I was looking to breed for me and color as well instead of just having the same old silver color from my chinchilla rabbits and Silver Fox rabbits either well good luck to you
Aldo