Fertility in Flemish and Smaller Types of Rabbit

Abstract

THE Flemish Giant is the largest breed of rabbit, and at first sight it would appear to be the most important breed for meat production. In practice, however, there is a relative scarcity of breeders who persevere with studs of typical Flemish. (It is essential to distinguish between typical Flemish, as described in the standard, and the many crosses which are often loosely described as ‘Flemish’. The reasons appear later.) The standard for the Flemish Giant¹ specifies a large animal of steel-grey colour with white belly fur. No other colour is recognized in Great Britain; but in other countries a wider range is admitted. For show purposes the standard weights of adults are: bucks 11 Ib. or more, and does 12 lb. or more; in ‘intermediate classes’ they must be less than the above weights. Whilst allowing for difficulties in securing great size and weight, together with all the other points required in show stock, the fact that there are not more breeders of a rabbit of this size suggests that there must be some underlying drawbacks.