Production - The Key to Growth of a Rare Breed

by Pam Granderson
Reprinted from CRBA Handbook

There are a few people in this country who are not content to raise the “breed in the lead” with it is boring sameness. They want the challenge of working with a rare breed, the Cinnamon, to add some “spice to their lives.” However, it is not as simple to find breeding stock as Cinnamons are found only in a few states. You must either pay shipping costs or prepare to do some driving. If you cannot visit a breeder’s rabbitry, the National ARBA Convention is a good place to purchase initial stock.  Generally breeders only bring their best, and if you correspond with the breeder prior to convention you can place your order early and save disappointment.

Don’t trust you luck to just one pair in the beginning. Two pairs are much better if you have the choice. What if you are a thousand miles from another breeder and your only buck or doe dies? You should keep all healthy young does from your first litter and a couple of bucks as protection against the loss of older breeding rabbits. Don’t worry that each one isn’t top show material. As each litter is born guaranteeing future breeding rabbits, the previously saved juniors can be culled for type defects.  When you have 7 – 10 breeding age does and three or more bucks, its time to get picky. Select “growthy” youngsters with good wide loins, good depth of body and firm flesh. Inbreeding will be impossible to avoid so watch carefully that you don’t ingrain a fault so deeply in your bloodlines it cannot be removed.

Culll those which fail to breed readily or wean less than seven repeatedly. Remember, the Cinnamon is a commercial breed. The body is most important in the show room, but production is most important at home. The doe which misses twice has no business producing replacement. Mothering is an interesting trait, the rabbit that fails to reproduce is worthless no matter how many BOB’s it wins.

The key to growth of a breed is in exposure and breeding for reproduction. Note, I said reproduction not meat. Too many rabbits are being sold as breeding stock from parents who are hard breeders or one-litter-a-year does. Nothing turns a person away from a breed faster than the inability to get litters from the original stock. If we, as fanciers, pay more attention to the commercial aspects of our rare breeds, they may not remain so rare.