Mixing breeds & helping local FFA/4H

[tarheel506]

Okay, so I'm working on finishing up my 5-stall hutch and am starting to look for the rabbits I want to buy for my breeding stock. I have found a source for a good NZ buck, but he wants more than I'm willing to pay for his Silver Fox does. There is a local FFA/4H girl who is trying to sell some bunnies whose dam is a NZ/mini rex cross, and the sire is mini rex. I'm afraid the mini rex in the mix is smaller than I would want for meat rabbits. The girl is having a hard time getting anyone to buy her bunnies and as a former FFA'er I'm feeling really bad for her, but I'm trying to get started without a ton of cost...buying a couple of rabbits I can't really use isn't going to help me any.

Can anyone with more experience in meat breeding think of any combination of bucks/does that I could buy from this little girl, along with the non-related NZ buck I found, and be able to breed bigger, better meat producers without overdoing it on inbreeding and over-stressing the smaller does?

Thank you!!

 

[hucklekree]

What breeds does she have?
Mini rex arent necessarily bad for meat production. They can be good producers. I have a lionhead/NZ cross does that I breed to my larger meat mutts of questionable background and she consistently throws eight, hasnt missed once and the dress out on hers is comparable to the others. They tend to be more compact.

__________ Mon Jul 28, 2014 10:29 pm __________

But another consideration is does pedigree matter? If it doesnt for you and you arent looking for sale of extra kits as an end game then mixed breed rabbits are acceptable. If you do think that you might want to sell at some point mixed breeds may not be the way to go no matter the breeds involved.

 

[Ramjet]

^^ What he said ....^^

Mini Rex aren't necessarily a bad cross for meat producers as they can contribute to a good meat to bone ratio as they have delicate bones in comparison to some of the larger breeds. If they were crossed with a heavy bodied rabbit that had a good growth rate they could work out just fine giving you the best of both worlds .... large rabbit , fast growth and small bone structure.

That said , If I were going to get rabbits strictly for meat production today I'd likely go with NZ's from Texas A&M ....

 

[Zass]

NZ/mini rex crosses could do alright for meat, if they don't carry dwarf genes. Some people have done terrible with purebred NZ's. :shrug: I recently bought a "purebred NZ" that I'm convinced has dwarfing genes.


The general advice given is to pick up some less expensive rabbits to start with, learn the ropes, and then switch to pricier stock when you have some experience.

If you keep paying attention and asking around, you will eventually find some larger meat type does for better prices too.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I would continue your search and get meat rabbits. Mini Rex often have smaller litters of four or so, although of course there are exceptions with some does consistently throwing more.

The FFA girl is learning a lesson in marketability- the cross she chose isn't what people are looking for when getting into meat rabbits or even pets. If you feel badly enough for her that you wish to help in some way, I would offer to assist her in butchering them and then she can sell the meat.

overdoing it on inbreeding

It is pretty hard to "overdo it" when it comes to inbreeding rabbits. There was an experiment where brother sister breedings were done for over twenty generations with no issues.

Most serious rabbit breeders have incredibly inbred lines. It makes it much easier to discover if there are any problems in the lines and also sets the good traits if you cull correctly.

 

[skysthelimit]

Same thought. Even if the MR don't have the dwarf gene, they are still bred to be smaller than meat rabbits. I had some Rex, didn't think the dwarf gene was involved, but they and their kits were consistently under breed weight. There was no way to breed back to size, usually it works the other way, as small size (without dwarf gene) is still a persistent trait. If you breed back anything from that doe, you introduce that small gene back into the herd over and over.

You could cull everything and breed the largest doe back to the sire, but small genes are persistent and lurking.
Consistency is key, when you are selling meat buns, getting consistent sizes as far as growth. You can a achieve that with crosses, provided your crosses come from people who breed for that (reminds me of Polyface). Or breed consistence with purebreds also bred for meat production.

Why do the work when it's already done for you?