getreal, the wives tales I read have to do with florida whites. no where I have ever read in any history says they were developed for the florida climate. If you have some documentation proving this, let's see it. Florida whites were developed for laboratory use. Also, California Red is a street name for New Zealand Reds. They are ARBA official, New Zealand Reds. It's important that people know this.
If you re-read my post, you will see that I stated why I mentioned the 3 commercial breeds. This is a thread about meat production after all.
You will also notice that I clearly stated in two separate places that my opinions on breed behavior were based on rabbits that
I had.
I have had plenty of individuals that were aggressive, but in the hundreds of rabbits I have bred, mostly I have noticed its a bloodline thing. I have a tan doe now who consistently produces aggressive daughters.
I did not live in WI when I had Florida Whites. I lived much further south. It was a bad line. All of them were that way. I kacked the whole lot of them.
There are plenty of people up here, where it is cold, that raise FW and Cal's and they do just fine.
The reason I thought it important to point out that lionheads were worthless for meat is because the OP asked about meat rabbits. You felt the need to bring up lionheads, so I addressed them from a meat perspective.
I also need to correct an error I made in my original post. I double checked, and in fact NO variety of lionhead is ARBA sanctioned for show. There are still too many inconsistancies in the genetics and they continue to fail their presentations. But unless people keep breeding them and cull the defactors mercilessly, they never will. Good for you!
Ellen, the D'argents are outstanding meat rabbits, and for the OP worried about not finding diverse bloodlines for the New Zealand Red, if you are only interested in meat production, then cross breed. This will creat hybrid vigor, and you will likely be very happy with the results.
Oh, getreal, I have not attempted to create my own breed. Why? The ARBA recognizes 47 breeds of rabbit and there are dozens that are not recognized. I cycled thru a couple dozen of them over the years until I found what suited me. I show and we eat and sell the meat from the cast offs in our store, and yes, we are legal. I think I have taken what was available to me and done a damn good job of focusing on improving the breeds that already exist.
I enjoy what I do and that is enough for me. My secondary aim is assisting others with the knowledge I have gained over the years in my experience and my life in the show circles. Currently I am experimenting with tan and rex colonies for the decrease in use of commercial feeds. So far, the results are promising. Here is a link to the rabbitry pages of my website. There are no current colony pictures on it, and there are a ton of rabbits not pictured, but I have a busy farm to run. Only so many hours in the day to take photos of rabbits.
http://www.dollyrockfarm.com/Dolly-Rock-Rabbitry.html
One more thing. I forgot to add, I have relatively little trouble with babies and frigid temperatures. If it gets below 10 at night, I bring the boxes into the garage where its about 40 then return them to their mothers after 10am when the sun is the brightest, if the litter is under 2 weeks old. If a doe in my barn doesn't build a proper winter nest, I give her one chance to re-do. If they die from freezing the second time, then I cull the doe. If it going to be below zero, which is common, and I know a doe is imminent, I bring her into the garage for birthing night only, then she goes back out in the morning. For the most part, if a doe builds it right and is 100% protected from the wind, the babies will be fine. Rabbit fur is ultra warm.