Rex crossed with a New Zealand doe?

[GBov]

I am still trying to thin down the herd a bit and, as I have SIX bucks at the moment, I suddenly wondered what would happen if I just used my rex bucks on my New Zealand does for meat.

Anybody done this before? What kind of grow out did you get?

If they grew out well enough I could dispense with at least one of my NZ bucks.

 

[Ramjet]

I have a cali/altex doe I recently bred to by rex buck .... her first litter was only 4 (second litter of 8 ) but they were all greater than 5lbs by 9 weeks & the one doe I kept from the litter dwarfs both mom & pop , not quite as large as a pure NZ but plenty plump. I had bred her back to a rex buck & she was due the 9th but it seems she didn't take so no clue on the next generations characteristics. At the very least , its a good terminal cross.



I think its worth experimenting with. Rex are a multi-purpose rabbit. I'd give it a shot before getting rid of your NZ bucks tho.

 

[Zass]

Never tried it, but it sounds tasty...and I bet the pelts are nice and plush.

 

[Ramjet]

Never tried it, but it sounds tasty...and I bet the pelts are nice and plush.

You wont have rex pelts in the first generation of kits , you should in theory get half who show rex in the second generation if the offspring are bred to a rex as it takes two rex genes to show rex fur.

I did this breeding because I wanted to add two colors , black & blue to my herd as the cali / altex doe is black. I've since made a trade for a black rex doe which will give me the colors I want when bred to my chocolate buck , without the hassle of cleaning up the fur over several more generations.
With that black doe , I've considered scrapping the project but the kits grew so quickly & the blue doe has such a rich blue color .... Its tempting to see the results of that next generation. Space being an issue , I'm on the fence ...

 

[Zass]

Never tried it, but it sounds tasty...and I bet the pelts are nice and plush.

You wont have rex pelts in the first generation of kits , you should in theory get half who show rex in the second generation if the offspring are bred to a rex as it takes two rex genes to show rex fur.

Right, but that 1/2 rex rabbits I have butchered did inherit some wonderful coat density.
I could only guess I was density modifiers inherited from the rex parent that made the noticeable difference.

Never tried raising them or calculating weights, but I have done the dirty work of butchering a few for someone else. I can say the fur was much nicer than most of pelts I produce. Kind of a kicker, since I butcher fur types mostly, American, Lilac, SF. :lol:

 

[OneAcreFarm]

Never tried it, but it sounds tasty...and I bet the pelts are nice and plush.

You wont have rex pelts in the first generation of kits , you should in theory get half who show rex in the second generation if the offspring are bred to a rex as it takes two rex genes to show rex fur.

Right, but that 1/2 rex rabbits I have butchered did inherit some wonderful coat density.
I could only guess I was density modifiers inherited from the rex parent that made the noticeable difference.

Never tried raising them or calculating weights, but I have done the dirty work of butchering a few for someone else. I can say the fur was much nicer than most of pelts I produce. Kind of a kicker, since I butcher fur types mostly, American, Lilac, SF. :lol:

Absolutely...the 1/2 Rex kits have normal fur, but the quality is much improved. I do this cross for meat ALL THE TIME...

 

[skysthelimit]

Yes it does seem to add a density to the other coats. Rex have more fur per square inch of skin.

 

[GBov]

Right then! I shall give it a whirl.

Four of the seven does I bred last month didnt produce any kits, despite one being full of milk, so shall do those girls and a few others.

The two pure rex does are due one next week and the other one three weeks from now.

I did cross a rex to the pet mutt that lives with me and got some pretty little buns. Three chestnuts, two broken goodness only knows what color adn one dark brown. Shall look forward to seeing what the rew NZs give me.

Hope the bucks can manage with the big girls, even the NZ bucks have a time of it sometimes. :lol:

 

[akane]

I did several mini rex crosses out to large breeds using mainly a chocolate buck. It does increase coat density. The light bone in the MR also improved meat to bone ratio but of course there was a trade off in size. That's why we brought in some NZ x checkered giant crosses and a very large line of champagnes with a 15lb buck.

 

[gardenbunny]

glad to hear others are doing this, i was given a mini rex from a friend's show rabbitry ( he was too brown to be shown as black) and i'm trying to breed it with a nzw and a nzw/cali. the nzw(8 months old) for 3 days she would not lift to him and he couldn't finish, but then she lifted 3 times and he finished 3 times so we should be all systems go for next week

 

[Ramjet]

Here's an image of my current Rex / Altex / Cali litter born on 4-4-14.

 

[Sagebrush]

Those guys are getting BIG! Love the blue colour too.

 

[Ramjet]

Those guys are getting BIG! Love the blue colour too.

Yeah , 15 days and are pretty much out of the nest box .... the growth rate on this breeding is outstanding , and it doesn't stop at this point. I kept one doe back from the last breeding , she was born 12/08/13 and is over 13lbs. That's NZ territory.

That blue is real nice , that's why I held back that doe. Hoping to add that rich blue to my Rex herd. She was due to kindle on 4/09/13 but missed.
I haven't rebred her yet because I may be forced to be away for about a month and don't care to have anymore rabbits than I have now as I have to arrange for someone to take care of them. 8 rabbits & the two current litters is more than I want to saddle someone with.

I'll rebred the Rex / Cali / Altex doe once this mess is out of the way.


Here's a pic of the older December born doe -

 

[GBov]

Day 29 for my NZ does crossed with my Rex bucks. opcorn: