Buck to Doe ratio

[BrianRme]

How many Does can 1 half decent buck handle? I know it will depend on the buck, but an average so that I can make sure that all does are covered without having to feed to many extra bucks.

If I have 100 Does. How many average Bucks will I need?

 

[michaels4gardens]

IMHO-- 10 working Bucks is about right.

 

[Dood]

I agree, a ratio of 1:10 shoud suffice

 

[BrianRme]

I was hoping for 5. That would leave 20 does per buck. I could breed 5 does every day. and the bucks would still get at least every other day off and I should have all does covered.

 

[michaels4gardens]

If you have a lot of rabbits, the buck to doe ratio can be trimmed a little--- but-- if trimmed too much your litter average will suffer, from low sperm count [over worked bucks] I like to use bucks about 2x/week

 

[grumpy]

In the past, I've ran "short" on bucks. That's not good for production.
At some time...........it WILL happen. You can bet on it.

Consequently, I've always carried more bucks than most. If I want to breed
seven does each week, I want seven fresh bucks. I've doubled a buck on
two does in one day in the past and had no problems. But, sometimes
things don't work the way you want them to.

If you're short on bucks, you start extending the remaining bucks.
Numbers begin to fall when you do this very often.

grumpy.

 

[TwoAcreDream]

Brian, you need to starts thanking people for these posts. There is a little THANKS button you can click on to do that in the uppper right of each post.

You don't need to buy a book now to figure out how to raise rabbits. You can get online and do all kinds of searches. Then when you find a site like this one, you hit a gold mine of information.

I don't think you realize the depth of info that you can find on this site. There is a lot of information in the old threads as well as new fresh threads. Like any other subject that one wants to learn about, one has to do the work themselves. Which in this case is lots of reading and any questions that are still unanswered, then of course ask new questions.

I answered in your other thread about profitability that 1 buck per 10 does would be a minimum. You can't overwork a good buck. It will affect his sperm. And you need to feed a buck good also.

I like to have a few more bucks than needed.
Currently I have 7 cali doe and 2 bucks for that line. I prefer to have a back up buck in case something happens to the # 1 buck. In my herd, 2 doe and 1 buck are litter siblings, and the other 5 doe and buck are all related. I bought them from different herds. This way I can cross unrelated animals.
In my rex line, I only have 1 buck. I will be saving a son of his from a current litter to have a back up buck. The calis and rex will be my main 2 lines.

My current doe numbers are 27. I recently lost 2 adult does to a mink attack. I also sold 3 bred does recently. I am tweaking my numbers now. I have a couple more I would like to sell. I will be raising a few young does from current litters. I am thinking about 25 to 30 does will be plenty for me to work with. They are making me enough to pay for their feed costs. They have already paid me back for their inital purchase price. My cages are already free and clear to me as I bought used and fixed up a bunch of them and sold the extras.
I only got back into them, the end of last July. Previous I had 10 years experience with 25 working does. Maybe I would be called a hobbyist right now. I'm not sure anymore. I know they keep me more busy than I thought they would. I enjoy working with them. I am not chasing the big dollars.
And everytime, I think I got them figured out, one of them will throw me for a loop. So I get back online and go searching again.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

According to this document, using a buck on one doe per day will maximize sperm concentration. The text below is from http://www.fao.org/docrep/t1690E/t1690e05.htm

Sperm production.

The volume of semen ejaculated is about 0.3 to 0.6 ml. Concentration is evaluated at 150 to 500 × 106 spermatozoa per ml, but both volume and concentration are liable to vary. False mountings, one or two minutes before copulation, increase the concentration of the ejaculate. In two successive servicings the first acts as a preparation for the second, which is less voluminous but more concentrated. During subsequent matings the volume of the ejaculate decreases, while concentration increases between the first and the second ejaculate and then diminishes. The total number of spermatozoa per ejaculate follows the same trend.

Maximum spermatozoa production is obtained by using the buck regularly once a day. If the buck is used regularly twice a day, each ejaculate has only one half the concentration of spermatozoa. On the other hand, if bucks service several times a day, one day a week, the three or four ejaculates may be concentrated enough to effect fertilization. Further ejaculates contain very few spermatozoa and cannot effect fertilization often enough to be worth while. Daily spermatozoa production is roughly 150 to 300 million, independent of the rate of ejaculation. The maximum epididymis reserve is only one to two billion spermatozoa, only partially mobilizable for repeated ejaculations.

 

[grumpy]

According to this document, using a buck on one doe per day will maximize sperm concentration. The text below is from http://www.fao.org/docrep/t1690E/t1690e05.htm

Sperm production.

The volume of semen ejaculated is about 0.3 to 0.6 ml. Concentration is evaluated at 150 to 500 × 106 spermatozoa per ml, but both volume and concentration are liable to vary. False mountings, one or two minutes before copulation, increase the concentration of the ejaculate. In two successive servicings the first acts as a preparation for the second, which is less voluminous but more concentrated. During subsequent matings the volume of the ejaculate decreases, while concentration increases between the first and the second ejaculate and then diminishes. The total number of spermatozoa per ejaculate follows the same trend.

Maximum spermatozoa production is obtained by using the buck regularly once a day. If the buck is used regularly twice a day, each ejaculate has only one half the concentration of spermatozoa. On the other hand, if bucks service several times a day, one day a week, the three or four ejaculates may be concentrated enough to effect fertilization. Further ejaculates contain very few spermatozoa and cannot effect fertilization often enough to be worth while. Daily spermatozoa production is roughly 150 to 300 million, independent of the rate of ejaculation. The maximum epididymis reserve is only one to two billion spermatozoa, only partially mobilizable for repeated ejaculations.

WOW!!

That blows the skirts' off of some old wives' tale's doesn't it??

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Lol, Grumpy.

I often use the buck on multiple does on one day, and haven't noticed puny litters in the does that are last in the line up... so it seems to me that there are plenty of little swimmers to get the job done even after multiple covers.

But I must say... a doe a day would likely keep any buck happy! :mrgreen:

 

[michaels4gardens]

According to this document, using a buck on one doe per day will maximize sperm concentration. The text below is from http://www.fao.org/docrep/t1690E/t1690e05.htm

Sperm production.

The volume of semen ejaculated is about 0.3 to 0.6 ml. Concentration is evaluated at 150 to 500 × 106 spermatozoa per ml, but both volume and concentration are liable to vary. False mountings, one or two minutes before copulation, increase the concentration of the ejaculate. In two successive servicings the first acts as a preparation for the second, which is less voluminous but more concentrated. During subsequent matings the volume of the ejaculate decreases, while concentration increases between the first and the second ejaculate and then diminishes. The total number of spermatozoa per ejaculate follows the same trend.

Maximum spermatozoa production is obtained by using the buck regularly once a day. If the buck is used regularly twice a day, each ejaculate has only one half the concentration of spermatozoa. On the other hand, if bucks service several times a day, one day a week, the three or four ejaculates may be concentrated enough to effect fertilization. Further ejaculates contain very few spermatozoa and cannot effect fertilization often enough to be worth while. Daily spermatozoa production is roughly 150 to 300 million, independent of the rate of ejaculation. The maximum epididymis reserve is only one to two billion spermatozoa, only partially mobilizable for repeated ejaculations.

Thanks-- I learned something new today--

 

[grumpy]

Lol, Grumpy.

I must say... a doe a day would likely keep any buck happy! :mrgreen:

I'd bet a dollar he takes loooooooooooooooooooooong naps. :lol:

"""AW--Come on, Mom!!! Not again...........Please.""" :x :x

 

[ckcs]

If you give the buck a doe a day and stop doing that after awhile is a 12 step program necessary for the buck?

 

[grumpy]

If you give the buck a doe a day and stop doing that after awhile is a 12 step program necessary for the buck?

LMAO!!!

More than likely.

grumpy.

 

[michaels4gardens]

with this info-- the amount of bucks kept in a commercial rabbitry could be drasticly reduced, from what I had always thought was needed--and-- 10% bucks ,is a big feed expence--

 

[BrianRme]

I would like to thank everyone that replies. Even those that I do not agree with. A good discussion cannot be had unless there is a little lively debate.

What is the thanks button for? Seems kinds impersonal. Is there a scoring system on this site?