Which buck for first breeding?

[dragonladyleanne]

I have the pictured below doe, who is approximately 9 months old, never bred, and weighs just 5 pounds (though she looks bigger). The bucks I have available are: a 10 pound NZW (whose breeder said his lines sometimes throw colors, due to an outcrossing to FG 5 or 6 generations back), an 8 pound Champagne D'Argent, and a 6.5 pound broken black buck of unknown heritage. Since I am breeding for meat AND fur, I sort of want to breed her to the Argent, but am worried he might be too big for her first litter. Would you recommend using the smaller buck first, to get her "stretched out", or is the size difference not that bad? Once she has had a litter, would the NZW buck be ok for her subsequent pregnancies? Besides making her babies larger, would there be more chance of replicating her color with him, or with the Argent?

 

[Dood]

To get her colour you must breed to a buck who is or carries non-extension. None of your bucks are good candidates for the non extension gene.

Have any of them fathered non extension colours like tort, fawn, frosty, sable point?

As for size, the kits usually take the size of the dam since she's the one growing them so i wouldn't worry about breeding her with your New Zealand. I never had a birth size difference between AmChin cross kits fathered by large bucks versus small 4 pound mini lops. The size difference usually shows up around 3-4 weeks.

 

[Mickey328]

I had a similar quandary...acquired a tiny (in comparison to my SF) mutt doe who'd never been bred and was about a year old. The only buck I have is a 10+ lb SF, I took a chance and darned if she didn't throw 7 perfectly healthy little kits. All survived and she's turned out to be an excellent mother despite a rather belligerent and standoffish personality.

 

[dragonladyleanne]

Thanks for both your responses. I can't afford any new bucks right now, and I didn't want to delay her first breeding until I could, so I went with my Argent buck, since his fur is the thickest of the 3 bucks I have.

Ginger is growing on me; she was a bit standoffish, and has NOT been happy being put with D'Artagnan - but that made her seem to want to cuddle ME afterwards :hmm: I gave her the cage that has a bell toy in it though, and she started playing with it (her quarantine cage had no toys), which seems to have also made her friendlier. If I ever get the money, I will find her a nice French Angora buck to make fiber bunnies with.