Life span of a meat breeding doe

[skysthelimit]

I know I read somewhere, what the life span of a meat doe was. If I continue to rebreed 14 days after kindling, and she produces 7+ live kits, what is the expected life span of my doe?

 

[schmitty]

is that a normal breeding schedule? seems pretty quick to me. i was thinking of waiting until the litter is weaned. but i am new to this. are there benefits to a faster rebreed other than more buns?

 

[Secuono]

I'd think 2wks is extreme. I wait until the kits are 4-5wks, depending on the does temperament and if the kits are still nursing a lot and how much solids they eat.
From what I've read on the large producer sites and such, does are kept only 3-4 years before they are replaced. So not very long at all. Plus all that stress, can't be good.

 

[Rae]

I have no idea about productive lifetimes of does. When you're having a new litter every 6 weeks, you're asking your doe to produce and care for 8 or 9 litters a year. If she can do that without losing condition or losing too many kits that's really great. I would probably just take advantage of that situation until it changed. However the moment I thought she was losing condition or the kits were looking scraggly, I'd give her an extended break. A year of hard production (or however long it lasts) and you might only need to give her a couple of months to re-coup and be good for another round. Maybe even as little as a few weeks without a nursing litter before rebreeding might be all she'll need. I think if she's willing to breed, healthy and doing a good job raising her litters, there's no reason to wait extended periods between litters. Just my opinion of course.

 

[skysthelimit]

I'd think 2wks is extreme. I wait until the kits are 4-5wks, depending on the does temperament and if the kits are still nursing a lot and how much solids they eat.
From what I've read on the large producer sites and such, does are kept only 3-4 years before they are replaced. So not very long at all. Plus all that stress, can't be good.

If you look at the Purina website, this the schedule they keep for high production meat does. My schedule is actually quite conservative ; some breed back 5 to 10 days after birth. Of corset this wears the does out eventually ; so I am interested in how long do they last

 

[akane]

2 week breed back is pretty standard for commercial meat rabbit production but they probably don't keep their does for as long as they will produce. Only as long as they will produce the best. Kind of like chickens. They only keep them 1 or 2 years because they produce the most eggs before they turn 3 and then the number becomes steadily less. Rabbits probably produce a lot longer than chickens though.

Mine get bred back immediately in colony and none are skinny. My creme d'argent has had a litter of 8-12 near monthly for 2 years now and is 3 1/2 in great condition. She just popped out a record 16 after a 1 month break. She hates taking breaks. I have to force her and she becomes a hormonal pest about it. My champagne d'argent is slightly older and been in colony slightly longer and she's only had a few moments where she lost condition. Mostly during weather extremes and did fine once supplemented.

 

[skysthelimit]

2 week breed back is pretty standard for commercial meat rabbit production but they probably don't keep their does for as long as they will produce. Only as long as they will produce the best. Kind of like chickens. They only keep them 1 or 2 years because they produce the most eggs before they turn 3 and then the number becomes steadily less. Rabbits probably produce a lot longer than chickens though.

Mine get bred back immediately in colony and none are skinny. My creme d'argent has had a litter of 8-12 near monthly for 2 years now and is 3 1/2 in great condition. She just popped out a record 16 after a 1 month break. She hates taking breaks. I have to force her and she becomes a hormonal pest about it. My champagne d'argent is slightly older and been in colony slightly longer and she's only had a few moments where she lost condition. Mostly during weather extremes and did fine once supplemented.

I'm thinking of following a step type breeding, this time she was bred at 14 days, since the litter is 11, she will be bred back at 21 or 28 days, then the next time at 35, 42, then again at 14 days.

 

[ladysown]

one should ALWAYS breed as per the condition of the doe.

REGARDLESS of what type of breedback schedule you want to use. You breed to the condition of your does and no one way is right or wrong. As long as your rabbits are bred to handle the schedule you have them on it's all good.

one man's rose is another person's stinkflower and vice versa. Breedback schedules vary from 1 day to 6 weeks to six months post kindle. Matters not. ALL that matters is the condition of the doe (and well.. the needs of the doe's owner).

 

[AZ Rabbits]

I know I read somewhere, what the life span of a meat doe was. If I continue to rebreed 14 days after kindling, and she produces 7+ live kits, what is the expected life span of my doe?

Many people on the 45 day schedule (breeding 2 weeks after kindling) keep their does for 3 years or less. And they're always replacing their breeding stock with the pick of the litters and continuously improving their breeders. So 3 years or less is about right for optimal production.

 

[SterlingSatin]

as she gets older her litter sizes will start to decrease, most meat breeders i've talked to don't breed much past the 4th or 5th birthday because the does productivity decreases. on an intensive breeding schedule like what your talking about, her life span will probably be a bit shortened, but it depends on how strong the doe is. i would say you could breed her like that up until her 4th birthday, or if her litter sizes are still consistent, her 5th. then take her out of production. but again, it depends on the doe. keep good records of her litter sizes and keep breeding until her litter sizes start to decrease obviously

 

[skysthelimit]

as she gets older her litter sizes will start to decrease, most meat breeders i've talked to don't breed much past the 4th or 5th birthday because the does productivity decreases. on an intensive breeding schedule like what your talking about, her life span will probably be a bit shortened, but it depends on how strong the doe is. i would say you could breed her like that up until her 4th birthday, or if her litter sizes are still consistent, her 5th. then take her out of production. but again, it depends on the doe. keep good records of her litter sizes and keep breeding until her litter sizes start to decrease obviously

Then I can decide whether to cull or pet her out (if possible). I'm trying to think to the end of things, what to do with my does and when to start keeping kits to replace them. I need to keep the rabbitry small, so it would not be good for me to keep too many does now, I'm just keeping the showable ones, but I won't work them as hard as my meat does. I'm just culling the unshowable kits now, but if i want enough meat to feed my dogs reguarly, then I need to get more does (really can't do that yet) or use a frequent breed back system.

 

[AZ Rabbits]

And despite what people are saying on here, the 45 day breeding program is not extreme. Extensive studies have been done with this breeding program which resulted in showing both the mother and kits in great health in this breeding program. However, always watch your does. There have been rare occurrences where I gave a doe an extra week or two before breeding because I felt they needed it. This doesn't happen often and when it does, it's usually once a year. The good, strong, meat producers don't require that. So really, the answer to your question depends on your stock. If you have bad stock, this may be a lot. If you have good stock, it's no problem.

 

[hoodat]

To be more definitive in answer to your question commercial rabbitries normally figure three years as the most productive time. After that it begins to trail off but rabbits are not machines so there is some variation with the individual doe. In a small rabbitry you can be familiar with the individual does where commercial operations almost have to stay on a schedule.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

You might be able to sell the older does to someone just starting up. They would get an experienced doe of good quality and smaller litter sizes might be right for them until they gain experience. I wonder if there are some does that may taper off in litter sizes but still produce a lot of milk? They would be good to keep as fosters... I was thinking of culling mine for meat, but that will be a hard thing to do after having a relationship that spans several years.

 

[skysthelimit]

And despite what people are saying on here, the 45 day breeding program is not extreme. Extensive studies have been done with this breeding program which resulted in showing both the mother and kits in great health in this breeding program. However, always watch your does. There have been rare occurrences where I gave a doe an extra week or two before breeding because I felt they needed it. This doesn't happen often and when it does, it's usually once a year. The good, strong, meat producers don't require that. So really, the answer to your question depends on your stock. If you have bad stock, this may be a lot. If you have good stock, it's no problem.

The doe I have now is great. Her first litter was 9, and she had no problems with losing condition or feeding them (besides the first mom dumping the nest thing). So I decided to try it, and this time whelped a large litter of normal sized kits, one a bit small but still thriving, and she is feeding them all at once now. She was eager to breed. I think she'll be a great doe, hoping that this passes along in her kits.<br /><br />__________ Thu Mar 01, 2012 12:32 pm __________<br /><br />

You might be able to sell the older does to someone just starting up. They would get an experienced doe of good quality and smaller litter sizes might be right for them until they gain experience. I wonder if there are some does that may taper off in litter sizes but still produce a lot of milk? They would be good to keep as fosters... I was thinking of culling mine for meat, but that will be a hard thing to do after having a relationship that spans several years.

Yes, I am trying to get the ones that look promising into breeding/showing homes, I will only cull them as a last resort, just because I have to keep numbers down.