Your commercial meat rabbit producer will want as many offspring per rabbit as is possible. The doe is bred for the first time at 5 months old, and is permanently pregnant thereafter. She will litter at 30 days after being covered, be bred 6 hours later, have the babies weaned between 3 and 4 weeks, and litter 30 days later. This cycle continues till she is about 18 months old or till she starts missing a breeding, and at that point she is culled and replaced. The baby rabbits are fed at lib on a commercially balanced feed and should be slaughter weight at about 10 to 12 weeks old, when they are culled, unless they are selected for breeding. These herds usually consist of a minimum of 1000 adult does, and run to about 3000 animals with the followers. The care is all that needs to be given, as the culling is normally done at a commercial abattoir, so only about three people are needed to feed, and clean the rabbitry.
To a back yard breeder, the offspring are not all slaughtered at once, so you will be removing a certain number as you need them. Feeding is also normally a combination of commercial pellets and home scraps, thereby cutting costs, but losing in time to reach slaughter weight. The rabbits can be an added income if some are sold either for food or breeding stock, and of course are an excellent protein source for the family as it is one of the heart foundation recommended meats, being low in fat.