Developing a Breeding Program

Hello, I am just beginning my breeding journey and my does have kindled 10 litters since last summer so I have the basics down - my oldest retained does from my first litters are just now kindling their first litters. It is an exciting time and I have high hopes for the future but I'm struggling to know what to do next. I'm trying to find some good information on developing a breeding program to improve my stock and attain the Rex standard of perfection.

My original stock was ok - decent Rex, the best I could find at the time with the knowledge I had but I need to improve on some body width/coat/color issues.

For those of you who have successfully created a breeding program over time:

1. Can you share your breeding philosophy?
2. What are your top 'rules' for determining what kits to keep/cull? At what age(s) do you do so?
3. How do you selectively breed to correct body issues? Fur issues?
4. If you outcross do you use does or bucks?
5. If you linebreed, what is your typical pattern of breeding? How do you know when your stock is ready to start linebreeding vs. outcrossing?

Thank you!

That is one deep question Belle....

I don't breed REX, but I hang with REX breeders a lot..... and recently settled down to breed Magpie Harlequin.

Here is the advice that REX breeders gave me:

A. Build your house first. Work on the TYPE for your rabbits before anything else... the length, depth, width should be almost equal when posed up correctly. Cull for pinched hocks, long shoulders or flat animals- depth is very important for showing this breed.
B. Any genetic issues - cull - you need to be a bit fussy to breed good animals.
C. Learn a bit about colour genetics, so you can select well for your colour.
D. FUR!! rex is a fur breed, so make sure the animals you select for breeding; have fur that is soft, dense and does not have guard hairs.
E. Evaluate all your rabbit's good and bad points. (record this) breed to correct these issues. You should have good and bad points for each breeder in your rabbitry. You may need more bucks with different characteristics to start your breeding program. - if a rabbit isn't throwing better that itself, consider culling and replacing.
F. keep your best and only sell what you would keep.... cull the rest.

After you get through this stage.... then you worry about line breeding or out crossing etc...

Everything that was mentioned above! You've done a great job at recognizing what areas need improvement, the next step is establishing a solid understanding of how genetics work. Animals with nothing but poor qualities are only going to produce mostly poor quality kits. If you can, invest in some top quality animals to introduce to your herd. Believe me, it'll save you a great deal of time and money in the long run.

As far as kit evaluation goes, this is what we work by -

By two weeks of age, you can tell which kits are a recognized color, and a little about the overall quality of the kits. At 3-4 weeks of age, you can start to see color faults and disqualifications such as improper under color. You should keep in mind that some varieties, such as opals and lynx, tend to grow in under color as they mature later on.

It's also a good idea to start posing the kits to see which ones exhibit good type. But remember that type changes as they age. At five to six weeks of age, you should be able to get an idea as to which kits have the best head, ears, coat, type, color, etc.

Sometimes you may want to wait longer for certain kits to mature and molt before you decided whether or not to keep them.
Keep in mind, that baby rabbits, especially rex, will have a different coat until their first molt, so don't cull them if it's based on coat alone until it has changed. In fact, (with mini rex), the longer it takes for their actual coat to come in, the denser the coat is going to be, so keep that in mind. And if that baby coat is soft and kinky in texture, not cotton like, wavy, and thin, then it's almost guaranteed to be of an excellent quality. However, the best time to really start culling is around 6 months. Rabbits hit a fast growth stage between 6 and 12 weeks, so waiting after that time will help you determine whether or not to keep anything after that stage. During that in between stage, those babies will get quite gangly and well, ugly to say the least, but once they mature into their adult figure, it can be an entirely different story.

Try to just keep the best show and brood quality kits. Make a note of any faults, and the good points on the kits you decide to keep. Temptations can be great to keep at least one out of the litter, but if it's honestly not going to improve your herd, you don't need it. It will only take up cage space, time, and money that you really don't need to be wasting.

Around 5-6 months most breeds are mature. At this point you should re-evaluate all of the rabbits you kept to make sure they still fill the need in your herd.

If any of the rabbits are not what you are looking for to fit a need in your herd, don't keep them. You don't need them. Cull them and find other homes for them if possible. Most breeders use the 3 strikes rule-If you can find at least 3 faults (whether they be physical, temperamental, or conception related) in any one of your rabbits, get rid of it. Do not breed your rabbits if you know the litter is not going to turn out the way you want it to. Breed for only what you need and what will contribute to the betterment of the breed itself, nothing more. Keeping 'junk' stock will not help. They will not improve and they will only nickel and dime you to death.

Hope some of that helps and best of luck

And stick to your guns.

Not all things can be corrected. Many things you just need to cull. Don't bother trying to breed in good shoulders, go find them. Long and low shoulders are hard to correct, and I learned that the hard way. If it's hollow over the loin, or narrow, cull it. Things like that are persistent traits. Fur is variable, and good fur does not always produce good fur, there's a lot of modifiers for Rex fur. Unless it's super crappy, fur is secondary to type for me, because it will always be a battle, but type is something you can fix and hold in. At a show Saturday I saw some great Rex who had gorgeous fur, but because of lack of conditioning, they placed low. Gotta have that type, and that seems to be a breed issue, getting that commercial body on this breed.


When I started culling, instead of trying to breed up, the herd improved dramtically.

I never truly outcross. It's like adding someone else's faults and putting you back to square one. All the bad comes with all the good. Once I had what I wanted, I culled all the rest, and the close inbreeding sped up the process. I felt the need to reach for something closely related, outside of my barn, when I could not find that trait in my own herd. I went back to the original lines I started with. I benefited from the years of improvement of that breeder, whose goals and philosophy are similar to mine, without bringing in any unknowns. For me it doesn't matter if it's doe or buck, it depends on what my goals are.

Totally agree with all of this.

It's HUGE to sell older does that were your top girls, but now their daughters are better then them and outshine them...no matter how special they were When I finally started doing that, my rabbitry drastically improved. It was amazing!

skysthelimit hit it on the head with that post. Everyone did actually

Thank you all for your excellent advice I really appreciate it.

What age do you usually start culling? I've read about some people culling certain things right out of the nest box, and waiting on other things.

Are there certain things you cull immediately? At what age can you determine body structure enough to make a decision? At what age can you tell fur quality? I don't want to waste a lot of money on feed for animals that won't turn out -- but I'm not sure when a rabbit has had a fair shot at developing...have you ever had any you thought would be a cull turn out nicer than you expected as it matured?

Belle
You are asking EXCELLENT questions!!!

Each breeder is different.... so you are likely to get a different answer from each.
A. some nest box cull, if they are looking for specific patterns or colours that can be assessed at 2-3 days old. (the babies go to a snake guy, for food) - you still want to leave enough kits to keep each other warm. You might want to cull again in a large litter, looking for long shoulders or pinched hocks at the 2 week old mark.
B. bunnies go through an awkward growth stage (slightly different age depending on your rabbits) but if the rest of the qualities are there, 6 months is the rough full development age.
C. try not to cull too hard in the pre-6month stage, unless it is obvious issues: teeth, hocks, flat type, too narrow, wrong colour etc. - if you are on the fence, chances are they could use growing out. (You can always eat them if they aren't making the grade)
D. REX have a softer finer baby coat, this coat will moult out around 6 months, again this could happen at a slightly different age depending on the rabbit. This is were an experienced hand will help you in feeling the difference. (you really need to put your hands on quality, mature prime fur to really understand what you are looking for... judges, other breeders are really the only ones that can help with this)
E. Get together with other REX breeders in your area to get an experienced hand on your rabbits, that can really help you assess your "keepers" (shows are great for that...)

PLEASE, Remember to only sell rabbits you would have kept yourself.... (you maybe have a sibling you like a bit better) This will keep your reputation good and keep quality animals in your area!

I would only add that at jr prime I expect a Rex to have a proper coat if I want to be show competitive, so I'd cull baby fine coats past 4 mos. As a breed they have such a short show life, and show season is too narrow for me to wait till 6 mos.