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Breeding out long body/shoulders; hard?
Topic Started: Aug 12 2011, 05:36 PM (497 Views)
Little Rascal's Rabbitry
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Way to Be!!!!
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How hard is it to breed out long body and long shoulders? And how hard is it to get more depth? AND How hard it is to get shorter ears? (Dwarf Hotots)
Little Rascal's Rabbitry
Specializing in Black Banded Dwarf Hotots, and Holland Lops in Sable Point and Black Tort
http://rascalsrabbitry.weebly.com
http://www.littlerascalsrabbitry.blogspot.com
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Hanna
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♥ Tink & Habsy ♥
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Ears don't seem to hard to breed out, I have a brood doe with huge ears and if I breed her to a buck with small ears, she throws nice short ears. :) Faults with the body seem to take longer to breed out, but maybe it's just me. Better depth also seems to take a bit longer to get.
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4kr
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Get the Duct Tape, Stat!
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I think it really just depends on what the genetics do. I had a strange outcome to a crossing and after re-breeding I am getting similar results and liking it! Both parents are flat, no depth, pinched hindquarters...I'm getting depthy babies with rock solid hindquarters! Odd!

Buck: long in body, although he looks like he has depth here... :lol:
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Doe: super long in shoulder and body...she can NOT pose up because she's so darn long and flat.
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Babies: I need to take pictures of the sister to the doe below as she is a little more 'cobby' and has that wide butt. Now these babies aren't perfect by any means but they are Definitely shorter in body and more compact than the parents.
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Baby pic-very short in body:
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Edited by 4kr, Aug 13 2011, 08:02 AM.
Lindsey King - Texas
4 Kings Rabbitry - Dwarf Hotots in Texas
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Little Rascal's Rabbitry
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I guess I will have to go look at the breeders bunnies again. I want to see if they all look like they lack all of thee above, and maybe I'll do some test breedings.
Little Rascal's Rabbitry
Specializing in Black Banded Dwarf Hotots, and Holland Lops in Sable Point and Black Tort
http://rascalsrabbitry.weebly.com
http://www.littlerascalsrabbitry.blogspot.com
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SatinsRule
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Anytime you're breeding with rabbits which, as an adult, display a structural flaw, you're asking for alot of litter culls by doing so.

The body structure is the framework for the rest of the rabbit. Everything else is secondary to it, and you'll get the showroom mopped with yourself if you put animals across the table with noticeable structural flaws. Flat shoulders, narrow shoulders, weak loins, pinched hindquarters, weak head, etc., are all things which will require the introduction of a quality specimen, then several generations of litters to effectively breed out, and they will get you beaten on about any given day in any kind of a competitive breed competition at any show.
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sidd-says-gimme
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sidd says stay gold
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I don't breed DH but I have been having problems with shoulders in my Hollands. I haven't been able to find ANY with good shoulders in my area so I have been culling/keeping for shoulders alone. I just keep the ones with the best shoulders and so far I have been seeing improvements. Hopefully I continue to see better shoulders after a while. ^_^ Body length has been a bit harder for me.
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Bumper
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POWITH
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The way to get rid of faults you don't want is to just start breeding. I mean, really. Start breeding as much as as you reasonably can and pick the best offspring. With patience, you'll start to improve. Waiting to find the "just right" starter stock doesn't get you anywhere very fast.
--Ellyn
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Little Rascal's Rabbitry
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So when you say "breed out" is that supposed to mean that if you keepo breeding your best kits, the fault will eventually disappear?
Little Rascal's Rabbitry
Specializing in Black Banded Dwarf Hotots, and Holland Lops in Sable Point and Black Tort
http://rascalsrabbitry.weebly.com
http://www.littlerascalsrabbitry.blogspot.com
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DevonW
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My Reality Cheque Bounced
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Little Rascal's Rabbitry
Aug 14 2011, 10:18 PM
So when you say "breed out" is that supposed to mean that if you keepo breeding your best kits, the fault will eventually disappear?
Essentially yes if you do it right the faults will disappear but somewhere along the way you have to breed in a rabbit with the features you want because if it is just not in the genetics you're not going to get it. You have to remember that each rabbit has two sets of genes the ones you see and the ones they carry, and you could be seeing the best and in the next generation you'll only get throwbacks to the poor typed rabbits.

Every rabbit has their genetic potential which is the best they can be or produce and unless you introduce a rabbit with the traits you need you may never full breed out certain faults that you want.
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Devon Ward - The Whimsy Dog Studio - Ontario Canada
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SatinsRule
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Somebunny is a awfully chatty
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Bumper
Aug 14 2011, 03:42 PM
The way to get rid of faults you don't want is to just start breeding. I mean, really. Start breeding as much as as you reasonably can and pick the best offspring. With patience, you'll start to improve. Waiting to find the "just right" starter stock doesn't get you anywhere very fast.
No, but going outside of your locale will get you off to a decidedly better start much more quickly than spending countless generations of litters trying to eliminate a fault which you will keep breeding back in by sticking with the same bloodlines as what you have.

I had to make two different 1200 mile round trips to get my initial breeders. That probably sounds extreme to most of us, especially given the time of year (November and late December) and the areas I travelled into and out of (Central Illinois and Central Kansas, respectively), but I started exactly the way I wanted to and have never looked back.
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ZRabbits
Love My Lions!
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Aug 14 2011, 03:42 PM
The way to get rid of faults you don't want is to just start breeding. I mean, really. Start breeding as much as as you reasonably can and pick the best offspring. With patience, you'll start to improve. Waiting to find the "just right" starter stock doesn't get you anywhere very fast.
Definitely excellent advise for me. Will keep this in mind and will be patient with my Flemish. The one thing I can not overlook is the half Continental, which is from Germany and is a very strong German line in my doe. Should be interesting. And as always, as the meat breeders, can always eat my mistakes. But definitely with the personalities I have here, can make awesome pets for someone as well. Will work also to get one on the show table.

Patience is the key. Can't start with perfect, you work with it. That's how I will learn. And that's all we ever do, is learn. Some people have their own ideas and I have mine.

Really can't wait to see what my Flemish produce.

KAZ
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