Mini Rex or Netherland Dwarfs?

[MountainViewRabbitry]

Hello all. I’m looking at breeding mini rex and or netherland dwarfs for 4-h and ARBA in Washington State. I have a few questions, I would love if anyone willing would be able to answer these questions for both the mini rex, and netherland dwarf.
1. Do they breed easily?
2. What is a normal litter size?
3. What’s the personality?
4. How hard to sell?
5. Good for what? Pets, meat, fur, show etc
6. Are they good first time moms?
7. Which one has less genetic issues?
8. Which is “easier” to show/breed to SOP?
9. Average weight?
10. Colors, tell me about it.
11. What do the price run for a show quality one?
12. Do they normally do ok being moms?
13. Which breed are breeders more willing to work with ground transport?
14. Can either be used in a meat pen?
15. Can either be used in a meat? Auction?
16. What age can you breed both?

P.S. I will comment or edit as I think of other questions.

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

I only have one Mini Rex but I have been breeding Netherlands for about 8-9 years

1. Eh... I've only had one first time Doe have a living litter, and the Does can be pretty stubborn sometimes
2. About 1-3 Kits
3. Most of the time the Does are more aggressive and the Bucks are really nice
4. Kinda depends on who's around. I'm not able to sell as much as other people and we've mostly sold at shows
5. Show, maybe pets
6. I only have one example since all the others had stillborn or not formed correctly, but she did raise her Kit well
7. Don't know
8. Don't know
9. Netherlands are 1.5-2.8 LBS
10. Netherlands have 5 main color groups with multiple colors in them
11. It ranges, can go from $50 to $200
12. Sometimes depends on the Doe but yes
13. Not sure what you mean by 'ground transport'
14. Don't know
15. I mean I guess you could but it doesn't sound very smart to use Netherlands
16. They can breed at around 3 months but you should wait till 5.5-6+ months

 

[MountainViewRabbitry]

Would love to hear if someone knows about mini Rex

 

[ladysown]

Mini rex

Easy to breed, easy to keep.
Good for a SMALL meat rabbit.
If getting into mini rex check that they have WELL FURRED FEET. Check the upkeep of the herd. They need regular nail trims and you need to be mindful of their tendency toward sore hocks.
Great mommas generally speaking. can be bred at four months if you are so inclined.
As for ground transport.... that depends on what breeders you are using OR what you yourself can set up.
Uses: Fur (for making pelts), Pets, Show, small meat animal.
tend to run 3-5 lbs. you'd need to check the standard for show weight. I had some pet quality ones that hit 6-7 lbs. Had some show quality ones that tended to finish 3.5-4 lbs
Size of litter depended on the size of doe ranged from 3-8 generally speaking.

 

[Alaska Satin]

Hello all. I’m looking at breeding mini rex and or netherland dwarfs for 4-h and ARBA in Washington State. I have a few questions, I would love if anyone willing would be able to answer these questions for both the mini rex, and netherland dwarf.
1. Do they breed easily?
2. What is a normal litter size?
3. What’s the personality?
4. How hard to sell?
5. Good for what? Pets, meat, fur, show etc
6. Are they good first time moms?
7. Which one has less genetic issues?
8. Which is “easier” to show/breed to SOP?
9. Average weight?
10. Colors, tell me about it.
11. What do the price run for a show quality one?
12. Do they normally do ok being moms?
13. Which breed are breeders more willing to work with ground transport?
14. Can either be used in a meat pen?
15. Can either be used in a meat? Auction?
16. What age can you breed both?

P.S. I will comment or edit as I think of other questions.

Mini Rex are great small meat rabbits - nice compact body type, great mothers, good-sized litters. Ours always had sweet temperaments: the does were gentle and mellow, the bucks were funny little characters. Their heads are not big and blocky like NDs so they don't usually have complications during kindling, and they typically have litters of 4-8 (mine had 6 kits most of the time). Young bucks are quite precocious, so I had to separate them by 8 weeks old or they drove all the other bunnies crazy. I usually waited till does were 5 months old to breed them.

Mini Rex are (as are all dwarf rabbits including NDs), heterozygous for the dwarf allele, so you'll get both dwarfs that have one dwarf allele (SOP calls for 3-4.5lb adults) and "false dwarfs" in the litters. False dwarfs are still smaller rabbits (mine were usually around 5lbs, occasionally up to 6.5lbs), but they don't have the dwarf gene or the dwarf characteristics that make their bodies and ears tiny, and they also don't tend to have the gut issues that some dwarfs have. While they are not good for show (usually too big), false dwarfs make awesome breeders - larger does can carry and feed larger litters - and more meat when they're culls. I liked to keep a true dwarf buck and false dwarf does for breeding. Another nice thing about breeding a false dwarf is that you don't get "peanuts," which are kits that have two copies of the dwarf gene and die before or shortly after birth (the dwarf gene is called a "lethal recessive" meaning two copies are fatal). If you breed two true dwarfs, you get true dwarfs, false dwarfs, and peanuts in the litter. (All of this is true, by the way, for NDs as well.)

Mini Rex are recognized in six color Groups with varying number of varieties in each Group: Self (6 varieties), Shaded (5), Agouti (4), Broken (2), Tan (2) and AOV i.e. Any Other Variety (2). Check the Standard of Perfection for more details.

Mini Rex can be quite competitive at shows.


However, Mini Rex are not usually appropriate for meat pens unless you happen to produce a matched set of 3 large false dwarf bunnies. Meat pen rabbits must be 3.5 - 5.5 pounds at 10 weeks of age, uniform in size, type and color. I suppose you could breed false dwarfs for meat pens, but by doing that you'd pretty much lose a lot of what makes a Mini Rex a Mini Rex.

 

[eco2pia]

I live in western washington, I don't show, but I do see a lot of mini rex here, fewer ND. I think getting your hands on mini rex will probably be easier to start with, but ND might be more uncommon, I am not sure how that would work out for showing, or selling here. Could be good (rare bunnies!) or bad (no one to show against?) Depending on where you are regionally it might be different, and maybe there are a whole bunch of ND here and I am just ignorant!