Line breeding: Do's and don'ts

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tnelsonfla

tnelsonfla

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I had suggested to a fellow Havana breeder that who going to try the same breeding she did 6 months ago. I suggested to bred her Jr Buck with the Sr doe she had. She said "but that's his mom!" I explained line breeding, and she seemed to understand. Now a few days later she talked to a few other people and she said they told her never bred a mom to son, but father to daughter was fine. What are some of the do & don'ts you guys follow and had any of you heard this before?
 
My jr buck has Cresthill's Pest as his father and grandfather and he is a REALLY nice buck, he is the one that got Black BOV out of 14 at last show. I understand it to be pretty common practice.
 
Genetically, when calculating the inbreeding %, there is no difference between mother to son or father to daughter. Now brother to sister is a higher inbreeding % than both of those.
 
OneAcreFarm":2um7h1ur said:
tnelsonfla":2um7h1ur said:
they told her never bred a mom to son, but father to daughter was fine.
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That makes no sense.... :roll:
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They probably think it's more wrong morally, because the father never sees the babies, but the mother does raise them. Personally I don't see the difference, lol.
 
So far I haven't heard any bad things about inbreeding. Why don't you guys like it?
 
What if you can not find unrelated stock. I have Creme D'Argents. 2 does and a buck probably siblings. I have not found any of these rabbits so far anywhere in California or close.
 
I breed whoever goes together. Mother-son, Father-daughter, Grandsire-granddaughter, even have some with the same rabbit as their sire, grandsire, and great-grandsire. However, I have yet to do a brother-sister cross. I would if they fit, but so far all my litters have been pretty consistent with the kits all having similar strengths/faults, so a breeding like that would only intensify or possibly "lock-in" those traits, making it harder to breed out those faults down the line.
 
These are from siblings. It will be interesting what the turn out to be. I heard there are over 100 rabbits on this property all started from 2 Flemish Giants. I do not know how close the parents were of mine, but I know this litter of popples come from siblings. Somebody told me that they would be deformed and dead. They look alive to me. I looked it up and said in other animals you can have trouble, but not rabbits. I was worried until I saw them.
 

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My breeder just let me know that the doe I was suppose to get just had a surprise litter (at 6 mos) of kits by her brother. She says they are beautiful no neck wide body babies! Probably one of the best litters she's had.
 
So very, very many of these taboo's are entrenched within our minds due to misguided Victorian morals, principles, and beliefs. Line breeding only enhances what is already "there". Continual out crossing quickly dilutes the good properties within your herd.

Centuries ago when some of the dairy breeds were being developed, people thought it was scandalous of the breeding methods used by the breeds originators. They used line breeding and in some cases inbreeding to achieve the goals they were after.
 
I have two Cals from the same litter, Hermione and Houdini...they throw the most gorgeous kits! Total meat bricks that fly out of my cages so fast, I barely have time to get to know them before they are bought and off to a new home. I have kept a few does from them and they are starting to produce really well too.
 

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