Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits by Bob Bennett

Author:Bob Bennett [Bennett, Bob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC
Published: 2009-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Download a printable pdf of the Tan Rating Sheet.

Methods of Breeding

That brings us to the subject of breeding systems. Should you inbreed, linebreed, outcross, or crossbreed? First of all, we had better define our terms.

Inbreeding is the breeding of close relatives, such as brother and sister, mother and son, cousins, and so on. Linebreeding is a form of inbreeding that follows a line of descent, usually from an outstanding ancestor, and involves the use of relatives such as grandmother and grandson, aunt and nephew, grandsire and granddaughter. Most successful rabbit breeders use a form of linebreeding. In other words, they inbreed on a line of descent from an outstanding rabbit or rabbits they feel will maintain good quality and improve their stock.

Outcrossing is the use of an unrelated animal of the same breed in the breeding program. Most breeders resort to an outcross at one time or another, no matter how much they would like to keep it in the family. Crossbreeding is, of course, the mating of two different breeds. Some successful breeders of meat rabbits have raised pure strains of New Zealand Whites and Californians and then made judicious crosses to produce a hybrid fryer. Some Angora wool producers have crossed different Angora breeds with good results. Generally speaking, however, crossbreeding is better left to the experts or those of an experimental turn of mind. The following experience shows why.

For four years I experimented with a cross between the Tan and the Netherland Dwarf, in an attempt to produce a Tan Dwarf, of which there were none to be found (although there was a standard for them). This effort took me through many generations, and I only got close; I finally gave up. So I can tell you that it is a time- and hutch-consuming process with very little reward. And I was only trying to produce a variety already written into the standards, not a new breed or variety. Today there are Tan Dwarfs in existence, so somebody was successful in a task that really was beyond my will to pursue. New breeds and varieties continue to come along, but improvement of existing breeds is a goal worthy enough for me.

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