So I'm in the process on breeding rex with some new zealands to get hopefully a faster growing rabbit with the rex fur. I have a few questions about breeding for certain things.
So I have some rex bucks I'm breeding to NZ does. I'll then save fastest growing does to breed back to the rex buck. Every generation do I always save a doe to breed back to the buck or do I switch off (like breed the young to the buck then the next generation I save a male and breed back to the NZ?) Hopefully that makes sence... thanks
My daughter is doing the same thing with Rex, using Californians to improve the Rex type and muscle tone. In general, we keep the best/biggest improvement from each litter. All things being equal, we prefer to keep females since we don't want to grow out a bunch of "single-use" bucks, when the does will at least produce numerous meat bunnies.
You're juggling at least two competing demands: growth rate and fur type. Growth rate is a combination of a lot of factors, both genetic and environmental. A rex coat comes from a simple recessive allele, though other genetic modifiers influence the desired density of that coat type. To make the fastest progress, breed the best you have, regardless of sex. If one of the buck bunnies is better than his sire, I'd replace the sire. Otherwise, breeding does back to their Rex sire may help get your rex fur type and density back sooner. But as far as I know, there isn't a particular formula for how many bucks/how many does you need in your program. You just want to use the rabbits that will get you the growth rates and fur type you're after.
If the bunnies are an improvement on both sire and dam, you can also consider breeding them with each other. Since their parents are from completely different breeds, I wouldn't have too much concern about inbreeding, though if one or both of the parents is carrying a harmful recessive, you'll find out about it quickly enough. Some people think sib crosses are verboten, but I've had a lot of success with that approach in carefully considered situations.
