Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Random Thoughts About Line Breeding
Let me say first of all that when it comes to line breeding, I'm for it. I believe that the Holland Lop gene pool is much more scattered than most breeds, exempting some of the newer breeds and varieties. We don't get reliable and predictable results in the nest box. Tex Thomas once told me that he had bred Hollands for a while and had never experienced such unpredictable results.
So, as a group, it would be my hope that each breeder is working to consolidate their gene pools so that breeding Hollands in the future would be more predictable and reliable. And from that predictability, we would be able to produce better and better Hollands across the board.
When I was trying to find an online breeding chart to refer you to, I ran across these words of wisdom: "Generally, an inbred rabbit breeds better than it looks whereas an outcrossed rabbit looks better than it breeds." I couldn't have said it better myself!
By the way, here's the line breeding chart I was looking for. It's a pretty simple one and probably best for folks who are already familiar with the concepts.
I think the line breeding charts are great. But there's one big problem with them: they suppose that you have a great specimen of the breed available that you want to replicate (and hopefully improve upon). How many breeders really have that? An even better question, how many new breeders have that?
Unless you have a lot of money or some really good connections, you are not going to start out with a specimen worth replicating. If you are like most, it's not until your second attempt at populating your rabbitry that you even tried to get rabbits that were related - a step in the right direction.
So, your first step is likely to be producing a lucky outcross. Whereas inbreeding and line breeding increase the chances of bringing out good traits (and bad), outcrossing not only minimizes the chances of expressing something really bad, it minimizes the chances of expressing something really good.
But sometimes you have a lucky outcross. That's what Rio is, for example.
Right after he took his class at Convention, I had numerous people come up and ask me for something out of him. I told them that I hadn't really started breeding him much and I really didn't understand his gene pool yet. It would be better for those folks to wait two or three generations for something out of Rio.
So far, I've gotten two grand champion daughters, one very promising son (Kerry, who has had several near misses with earning legs), and two promising junior daughters. His success rate in production (ratio of really good rabbits to average and/or pet rabbits) is not as high as Merlin's, for example, who is much more tightly bred.
So, now I have some daughters to breed back to Rio. I even have a Rio daughter who is also a Rio granddaughter. Luckily, she appears to also be a physical match for Rio. In the next year or so, I might have something that I feel is much more valuable than Rio, the lucky outcross.
The rabbits with the greatest number of legs in my barn are Rio, 27, Java, 19, Camelot's Merlin, 13, Lex, 10, Padme, 9, Lord, Jamillia, and Francesca, 6 each, and there are 15 other rabbits with at least one leg. But I am most pleased with Padawan, 3 legs, Jamillia, 6 legs, and Jocasta, 3 junior legs. They don't (yet) top the charts in legs and wins, but they are my favorites.
The reason is simply that they are bred better than Rio was. I expect that they will produce some of the most reliable litters in my barn. Of course, only time will tell about that. But I have every reason to expect that.
So, if you can't buy a tightly bred specimen that is worth replicating, try for your lucky outcrosses. But consider those rabbits to be the starting place, not the final product. When you get one, then expect several generations before you have a group of rabbits that is really valuable to your breeding program.
I will be outcrossing again this fall. The last time that I brought in a rabbit that became a real part of my herd was Camelot's Merlin whom I picked up at the Rhode Island Convention. (I did buy out Valerie Harrell's herd, but ultimately, I sold off everything I bought and virtually everything that I produced. They were lovely rabbits, but I decided to consolidate my gene pool in a different direction.)
I'm quite nervous about it, but I do at least have a plan for my new buck. I will breed him to every doe in the herd. Not all in one day, of course. I want him to live more than a week! I will look for the most promising does that are produced. Unless there's a buck that really knocks my socks off, I will probably sell all of the bucks. Then all of those does will become the harem of the new buck. I will go back to my regular breeding program with my current herd, as if he had never arrived. I hope to work the "harem" for a couple of generations. Then I will be ready to try to integrate the new herd with my current one. They will already be partly related, since the original does came from my herd.
That's my plan. I hope I can stick to it and not be tempted to make a physical match. I suppose I might be tempted to use a really good son or grandson with his dam's side of the family. But I still have a lot of plans with my current herd to carry out.
Note that, except for the first breeding with all of my does, after that, everything will be back to line breeding and inbreeding.
Thank you to Allan Ormond for sharing with me several years ago how he brings new lines into his herd. He rarely does it, but when he does, he brings in a buck and breeds to all of his does. I tucked away that piece of information for the day when I might need it. It looks like that day is coming soon.
Laurie ¶ 9:58 AM
So, as a group, it would be my hope that each breeder is working to consolidate their gene pools so that breeding Hollands in the future would be more predictable and reliable. And from that predictability, we would be able to produce better and better Hollands across the board.
When I was trying to find an online breeding chart to refer you to, I ran across these words of wisdom: "Generally, an inbred rabbit breeds better than it looks whereas an outcrossed rabbit looks better than it breeds." I couldn't have said it better myself!
By the way, here's the line breeding chart I was looking for. It's a pretty simple one and probably best for folks who are already familiar with the concepts.
I think the line breeding charts are great. But there's one big problem with them: they suppose that you have a great specimen of the breed available that you want to replicate (and hopefully improve upon). How many breeders really have that? An even better question, how many new breeders have that?
Unless you have a lot of money or some really good connections, you are not going to start out with a specimen worth replicating. If you are like most, it's not until your second attempt at populating your rabbitry that you even tried to get rabbits that were related - a step in the right direction.
So, your first step is likely to be producing a lucky outcross. Whereas inbreeding and line breeding increase the chances of bringing out good traits (and bad), outcrossing not only minimizes the chances of expressing something really bad, it minimizes the chances of expressing something really good.
But sometimes you have a lucky outcross. That's what Rio is, for example.
Right after he took his class at Convention, I had numerous people come up and ask me for something out of him. I told them that I hadn't really started breeding him much and I really didn't understand his gene pool yet. It would be better for those folks to wait two or three generations for something out of Rio.
So far, I've gotten two grand champion daughters, one very promising son (Kerry, who has had several near misses with earning legs), and two promising junior daughters. His success rate in production (ratio of really good rabbits to average and/or pet rabbits) is not as high as Merlin's, for example, who is much more tightly bred.
So, now I have some daughters to breed back to Rio. I even have a Rio daughter who is also a Rio granddaughter. Luckily, she appears to also be a physical match for Rio. In the next year or so, I might have something that I feel is much more valuable than Rio, the lucky outcross.
The rabbits with the greatest number of legs in my barn are Rio, 27, Java, 19, Camelot's Merlin, 13, Lex, 10, Padme, 9, Lord, Jamillia, and Francesca, 6 each, and there are 15 other rabbits with at least one leg. But I am most pleased with Padawan, 3 legs, Jamillia, 6 legs, and Jocasta, 3 junior legs. They don't (yet) top the charts in legs and wins, but they are my favorites.
The reason is simply that they are bred better than Rio was. I expect that they will produce some of the most reliable litters in my barn. Of course, only time will tell about that. But I have every reason to expect that.
So, if you can't buy a tightly bred specimen that is worth replicating, try for your lucky outcrosses. But consider those rabbits to be the starting place, not the final product. When you get one, then expect several generations before you have a group of rabbits that is really valuable to your breeding program.
I will be outcrossing again this fall. The last time that I brought in a rabbit that became a real part of my herd was Camelot's Merlin whom I picked up at the Rhode Island Convention. (I did buy out Valerie Harrell's herd, but ultimately, I sold off everything I bought and virtually everything that I produced. They were lovely rabbits, but I decided to consolidate my gene pool in a different direction.)
I'm quite nervous about it, but I do at least have a plan for my new buck. I will breed him to every doe in the herd. Not all in one day, of course. I want him to live more than a week! I will look for the most promising does that are produced. Unless there's a buck that really knocks my socks off, I will probably sell all of the bucks. Then all of those does will become the harem of the new buck. I will go back to my regular breeding program with my current herd, as if he had never arrived. I hope to work the "harem" for a couple of generations. Then I will be ready to try to integrate the new herd with my current one. They will already be partly related, since the original does came from my herd.
That's my plan. I hope I can stick to it and not be tempted to make a physical match. I suppose I might be tempted to use a really good son or grandson with his dam's side of the family. But I still have a lot of plans with my current herd to carry out.
Note that, except for the first breeding with all of my does, after that, everything will be back to line breeding and inbreeding.
Thank you to Allan Ormond for sharing with me several years ago how he brings new lines into his herd. He rarely does it, but when he does, he brings in a buck and breeds to all of his does. I tucked away that piece of information for the day when I might need it. It looks like that day is coming soon.
Laurie ¶ 9:58 AM
