NZR- breed or colour?

[RustyPocket]

Lately I have been doing a small private research on wideband rabbits, and of course came across the New Zealands (or, tho be more precise, New Zealand Red). What puzzles me is the fact some web pages list NZR as a separate species that only come in red colour (separate breeds of NZW, NZR and NZB) and some say red is one of the colours that appear in New Zealand rabbits (basically, only one NZ breed in colours white, red or black). So, is NZR a separate breed OR a colour variation of the common New Zealand breed?

 

[Dood]

I think it depends on the rabbit club.

In North America, red is a colour that New Zealand's come in and not a seperate breed.

 

[Zass]

I was under the impression that you shouldn't mix reds with any other color of NZ, because you could lose...everything that makes a good red.

 

[Dood]

True, but colour crossing rules don't make the NZR a seperate breed, at least not in ARBA

 

[Southbound_SF]

Yes, officially and (mostly) practically the same breed, in several colors. But the reds are rarely bred with the other colors, so they are more distinct genetically than, say, a black and a blue.

SB

 

[SuburbanHomesteader]

The original NZ breed was red. Or maybe I should say that red was the original color of the NZ breed. White came along later. Because all the attention meat-wise went towards the whites, they've developed into bigger, better, meatier rabbits than the reds. Reds are a little smaller and slower growing. I think, these days, as more attention is being paid to the reds, that they're beginning to develop lines that have weights and growth rates more similar to the whites and blacks. Just my thoughts.

 

[akane]

In ARBA a NZ can have red, white, and black (possibly other colors) on it's pedigree and still be considered a purebred so it is a color here. The wideband gene is often lost though when crossed to other colors and then they can be marked on pedigree as red and continued to be used in breeding whites and blacks (with some odd colors popping up) but not be shown or registered a red. It's no different than DQ for a toenail color, improper undercolor, or bad markings on a shaded rabbit (gotta love those nonextension himis from sable point breeding).