Questions regarding breeding trios and pairs

[EnglishSpot]

I often see and read about folks getting pairs and trios for breeding purposes. As a seller of those trios and pairs, how are those rabbits related? Are the does siblings and the buck unrelated? Or are they all siblings/cousins? What is the protocol for creating trios and pairs??

 

[akane]

Depends. They are generally the group the breeder thinks will fit the best. Whether related or not. Some might be siblings, some might be half siblings, some might be related in some distant way if they've been breeding that line for awhile, and sometimes at least one is unrelated.

 

[3mina]

Personally, I'll usually pass up completely unrelated animals. I want to know there's at least a few genes in common amongst them so I'm not starting completely from scratch

 

[Rainey]

Personally, I'll usually pass up completely unrelated animals. I want to know there's at least a few genes in common amongst them so I'm not starting completely from scratch

I've read that comment before about the problem of unrelated rabbits and "starting from scratch" but I don't understand it and I'm trying to learn. I would have supposed that diversity meant more possibility and that would be good, but I'm clearly missing something here.

 

[EnglishSpot]

What 3mina meant is that having unrelated rabbits was no different than purchasing from three separate buyers, and who knows what genetics are tucked in there, and trying to get good conformation rabbits from "scratch". If you have three rabbits who are related and they're all of good type and conformation, then you know that those genetics will remain within future generations (such as coat color, or long loins).

 

[Rainey]

What 3mina meant is that having unrelated rabbits was no different than purchasing from three separate buyers, and who knows what genetics are tucked in there, and trying to get good conformation rabbits from "scratch". If you have three rabbits who are related and they're all of good type and conformation, then you know that those genetics will remain within future generations (such as coat color, or long loins).

Sorry to be so dense. I think you're saying that if you have unrelated rabbits with good type and conformation, you can't be as sure of those things being passed to future generations because there are more different genes to combine in various ways. But with related rabbits (with good type and conformation) there is a higher expectation that more of the offspring will show the desirable traits. Your chances would be even better if the trio was not only related and had good traits, but also if you knew that the other individuals in that line showed the positive traits and that the line had been bred long enough and selectively enough to remove undesirable traits?
But you'd have to trust the breeder you got them from or do the generations of breeding yourself? Guess it's like gardening--the weeds always grow better than the crops.
So inbreeding can magnify problems and bringing in unrelated stock to try to improve a herd can also bring in new problems. It would be enough to discourage a beginner if the kits weren't so cute and the meat weren't so tasty.

 

[EnglishSpot]

LOL, right!