Breeding Lifespan

[Rabbits by Accident]

I looked up a number of websites and the lifespan of say, a New Zealand rabbit was said to be 7-10 years, but on another site it said the breeding length was only 3 years.

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I bought a large Tamuk rabbit with no idea of her age. She is healthy, lazy and had 10 kits about 1 week after we got her home. Since Tamuks are a composite breed from Californian, Satins, New Zealands, even Flemish Giants I think, I have no idea how long their productive life would be (nor where my rabbit is in her lifespan LOL)

How long are largish rabbits productive? Any info or suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

I feel like the breeding period would be much longer than that

 

[Preitler]

Well, depends on your expectations.

Perfmance does start to taper off at about 3 years, so in a commercial setting when aiming for high productivity that would be the time to replace a doe with a fresh one. There might be some individual or breed differences, but that's about the time they are most productive with several litters per year.

I only breed them once or twice a year (second always were accidents), retired my oldest girl at age 7 (is now approaching 10). Not so much because of age but I don't need that much breeding does, and her litters got smaller and the occasional dead kits started to pop up. Retired her daughter (same hutch) at 5 for the same reason, but she got accidentially pregnant at 7 - which resulted in a stuck kit and an emergency spay.
The third doe I retired was 6, but the last two litters were two dead kits each - something was wrong there, she died one year later. Didn't take a look, but I highly suspect that some reproductive cancer was the reason.

They are fertile all their lifes, if using that makes sense depends on their constitution, and with age problems will pop up sooner or later, it does take it's toll.

 

[Rabbits by Accident]

Good to know! Thank you! I don't know how to "mention" names, so thanks to both of you.

So, the marker seems to be that there are more pregnancy problems or dead kits. Well, she just raised 9 of 10 really healthy babies. So she's probably not ancient. YAY! (Losing #10 was not her fault - evil chickens!)

Liz

 

[Preitler]

Just to add, if you had a doe with traits you absolutly want in your rabbitry, I would try it anyway to get a doeling out of it. Breeding is what being a rabbit is all about, mostly, so I would have little qualms about risking their life in that situation.