Breeding larger Dutch

[DonnerSurvivor]

Hi everyone, I have always loved the traditional dutch markings associated with the breed but I was always turned off by the breeds small size. My question is what would be the best way to get dutch markings on a NZW sized rabbit that would be similar in production to NZW? From the limited reading I have done Dutch used to be a bigger breed but have been downsized in recent years and none of the local dutch I have seen for sale have been large rabbits so simply finding a large dutch strain seems unlikely. I dont really understand color genetics in rabbits extremely well so please try and keep it somewhat simple.
Thanks

 

[akane]

Anything but a white would be better for breeding. The NZW is a REW-red eyed white which covers up color. First you have no idea what's under that color which could complicate things and second you are going to keep having rew popping up covering your dutch pattern. Black or chestnut would be the best starting colors.

Dutch is simply it's own gene, du. You need 2 du to get a full pattern, one from each parent. The fastest way to create colors like that is to breed the nondutch parent to a dutch and then breed the offspring together. However this is not a very sustainable breeding plan because you have a small closely related gene pool. A better idea is to do multiple dutch to nondutch crosses and then cross those unrelated 2nd generation to each other. The 2nd generation crosses will produce some dutch, some partial dutch, and some regular color. To keep going up in size you can cull all the not full dutch 2nd generation and breed the slightly larger dutch back to the large nondutch rabbits you used and repeat crossing the resulting generation across litters. You should then have a breeding group of larger dutch that you can start working on refining the pattern of so they really look like dutch rabbits.

 

[DonnerSurvivor]

Perfect explanation that helps very much!

 

[ladysown]

what you really need to do is find some OLD dutch. a few of the old farmers around here have some. Dutch rabbits..but they are big rabbits. Nice if caged separately, look raggedy if colonied.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

well from my dutch crosses I decided to ditch the dutch and buy some good meat breeds and good meat mutts. at least from my experience it would take at least ten years to get actual large, meaty, decent growout, with dutch coloring. you will have to start off with lots of crossing to good meat rabbits to get size and THEN work back to the good markings.
originally I had thought four or five years. now I am convinced to get anything at all that is dutch markings and good meat rabbits... will take at least ten years... and even then you will need to work longer than that to perfect the coloring and markings again.

I am in no way tellin you this is a crazy task. by all means I wanted to do it to! just for me and my life right now at least, its just not in the cards. I would THOROUGHLY love to read and see about your outcomes if you choose to try it!

best of luck!

 

[akane]

Was it the coloring you had trouble with? I used mini rex in my meat mutts and had them back to regular meat breed size in 3 generations of using creme and champagne d'argent while keeping the good meat to bone ratio of the mini rex. I wasn't trying to preserve the rex coat or any special markings though.

 

[skysthelimit]

This is why I get on the soapbox about trying to breed up from Mini Rex to Rex. Some things are lost in the translation. Even with Rex, as they get bigger, you get size but you lose the coat. You get the size, but your best markings may appear on the smaller buns, and then you are back down again. You can do it, but may take longer than you think. Not a big concern if you have lots of time and space. It would be good if you could get a hold of some of the larger dutch.

 

[DonnerSurvivor]

Thanks for the added information everyone. I am not expecting immediate results it would just be a fun side project. I should also clarify I am not looking for perfectly marked show styled rabbits just as long as they had the general markings I would be more than satisfied. My fiance gets bored with my REW rabbits and wants color so I figure if I am going to breed for color I may as well have some end goal in sight rather than just be totally and completely random.

__________ Mon Aug 26, 2013 8:00 pm __________
double post.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

Was it the coloring you had trouble with? I used mini rex in my meat mutts and had them back to regular meat breed size in 3 generations of using creme and champagne d'argent while keeping the good meat to bone ratio of the mini rex. I wasn't trying to preserve the rex coat or any special markings though.

for me at least I could never get growouts that were even 3lb at 15wks! and that was cali/dutch!