I wouldn't go any larger than a 4 hole carrier myself. When I first started showing and hadn't ever had to pack them much I thought the larger the better but now I've been to a few shows were their wasn't room for carts and I would much rather have to make multiple trips to bring the rabbits in...
I start posing them around 4-5 weeks and don't really start passing judgment on them until about 8-10 weeks but still don't cull or sell until 14 weeks. If you show culling too early can often let a few of the late bloomer's go. These are the ones that ussually make your best seniors.
8 months and he should be good to go. I've had several breed at six months. I have one now that is only 6 months and 7.75 lbs and my largest does around 11 lbs don't have the energy to deter him.
I don't know much about the rex's but their is little difference in cals and nzs. They both are at prime killing age at 8-10 weeks with a weighout between 4.5-5 lbs. After 10 wks weight gain slows and feed ratio increases. The small difference you may see is in full grown size with the nzs...
Depends on the breeder some think the have gold. Around here a meat rabbit is about 40 -60 for a descent show quality one and the people I have bought from have always been in the top 20 or so breeders in points. I've seen NZWs as high as 300 from some people but I won't pay it nor charge it.
I'll agree at some point you will want to do this but it's better for a begining breeder to start with related blood and learn one blood line of rabbits and their attributes first before then introducing another line. If not it's hard to tell which rabbit is bringing out what traits in the...
I don't quite understand your reasoning there as most breeders at the top of any breed of show quality animal does alot of line breeding within their program. It is the basis of any domestic rabbit breed.
Well I didn't think the question was of getting better stock rather than wanting to have unrelated animals. Most breeders prefer a related animal breeding over unrelated using line breeding. Of course you do prefer the better stock but you also want them to be relatively related as to have...
Description of body type can often be quite similar between certain breeds although their ussuually tend to be small differences that with time you will learn. My Cals and NZ are both commercial breeds and are almost identical in body type with the exception a Cal carries the peak of it's depth...
Often your better off having related animals in my opinion. Afterall any pure bred rabbit is nothing but inbreed to produce the same results over and over.
My best litters are ussually winter babies, might have a little smut on the kits but that fades with time. I have a slower weight gain at warmer times. They tend to have a bigger appetite in the winter with the faster weight gains.