Editing Breeding

I want to talk about "hybrid" and crosses to improve type and other qualities. Mainly because I see this over and over and over on meat rabbit groups… well, any of the rabbit groups…even the ARBA groups.
“ The creation of hybrids in our own New Zealand breed is not a new practice. We have introduced breeds to improve fur, type, flesh, color and overall health of our rabbits. If we are to continue to improve the New Zealand Breed, introducing new gene pools by creating hybrids may just quicken our journey in our quest for the perfect New Zealand. Hybrids just may be our next generation! However we need to be disciplined in our breeding programs so as to maintain the integrity of our New Zealand breed set forth in our breed standard.” HYBRIDS –THE NEXT GENERATION “ and article by David A. Mangione Associate Professor The Ohio State University
Frequently, mostly newer breeders and those taught with a pretty black and white mindset on breed purity, will scold or shame, or bad mouth, even newer breeders or older more knowledgeable breeders without realizing it. When a " sport" color is shown, or someone, normally a newbie has produced their first litter and had a non-standard color pop up. Typically, the exchange goes like this (paraphrased actual conversation I have seen multiple times) “Obviously your breeder lied to you and your rabbit can not possibly be " purebred" because your New Zealand white was bred to a New Zealand black and produced a chinchilla kit.” “You should cull your whole line and buy from me because we ONLY produce showable colors, that’s how we know they are pure. “ (looks at persons rabbits, yup they are white, but narrow, long shouldered and lack depth).
This is unfortunate and does 2 things. First, it is gatekeeping teaching new breeders that their stock is “ bad”, without actually addressing the quality of the rabbit.
Secondly, it ignores the fact that rabbits are judged on Phenotype; and with some very basic understanding of genetics, corrections can be made to selectively get your herd back to standard.
To try to illustrate this: You have 2 houses, one is a ramshackle shack with holes in the roof, mold, and a poor foundation, but it is painted pleasing colors. The other is solid, warm, and dry but is painted neon pink and green. Which would you prefer? A pretty house that's falling apart? Or the funny color house that's well built, safe and warm?
What comments like this do, that demonize “sport” colors or cross breeds, is to completely discount the structure or how that animal aside from it’s color may actually benefit a program. It is far easier for a new breeder to correct color than type. If an off-color rabbit or another breed will be beneficial in the long game to mix into the lines it should not be counted out.
Also, the “dirty little secret” that a lot of breeders are afraid to address, is the fact that they are in fact breeding in other breeds, currently many New Zealand breeders ARE adding Californian to their lines to improve depth. Even the New Zealand Club condones out crossing to better the breed. David Mangione himself wrote the article on hybrid crosses and when it is appropriate to use them. I breed every color variety of New Zealand and ours are all from National convention winner lines. Off colors can't be shown, but they still can be very valuable if you understand what traits you are breeding toward. Ie: high rufus wide band chestnuts are sought after in red programs. Cals are frequently being bred into the lines to improve depth. The black was developed by using AM chins, and our BOB/Nationals placing Sr doe throws cal-colored kits. I have no problem adding Californian in measured amounts, but I personally would caution on over exaggerating the type which is becoming a trend. Adding some depth is ok , as long it is not done to the extreme.
There are a few circles of breeders who are trying to turn the New Zealand into Giant Florida whites, adding too much depth, at the fault of twisting the pelvis under to give an illusion of Height while chopping the ass, and tighten the shoulder to an extreme. Keep in mind, commercial type should be balanced. shoulders should be short but not so short to be compact, a healthy 2 finger width is ideal with a steep smooth rise to a peak over the mid-thigh, then a smooth slope to the table where the rabbit should be flat and solid. Too much depth without balance of width, creates a rabbit who’s peak is moved before the knee, and a chopped ass ending in too steep a drop from point to table, and an under cut or rotated pelvis. This is an issue that will affect ability to kindle in does, and can cause back problems and hip issues in bucks. It is a frequent finding in rabbits with arthritis.
Then there are other places, where outcrossing to improve type is very much acceptable, I use New Zealand reds in my Harlequin lines to improve type , and rufus.
This also brings me to my third point, Disclosure. It is Extremely important to Disclose F1 out crosses on Pedigrees and have conversations with buyers so they understand what they are getting!
New people need to understand that they are buying the rabbit in front of them . Just as a judge is judging the rabbit in front of them, against the SOP for THAT class the rabbit is entered in. I have a few rabbits that I would without hesitation enter in a breed class as that mix, but wouldn’t sell kits as that same class breed. I have a phenotypical New Zealand White , that is only going to be bred into my harlequin line. If he produces any REW kits they will be either sold as is with no pedigree, or come with explanation of the out cross so if his kits get bred back to a New Zealand Red there is a note that harlequin color is a distinct possibility. This doesn’t matter at all if his offspring are intended for a meat program, or if the breeder only ever plan to breed white to white. It is just something that needs to be considered so there are no surprises. We have a Convention Purchase BOB Broken Black NZ doe, beautiful type, she throws cal kits every litter. Because somewhere in her pedigree she had a Cal ancestor. Not sure how far back. She was out of a Shumaker doe, she is registrable, but she throws cal colored kits. If that was posted on a lot of the meat groups someone would be in the comments claiming she can’t be purebred. But the fact is, except for the possibility of her throwing off colors, we have a very Well bred, 5+ generation Purebred New Zealand doe. Another interesting history to be noted in our breed, Angora was used when developing new zealand Whites, because of this some white still carry the “ fuzzy gene” , it doesn't mean that rabbit isn’t “pure bred” it is just something that can crop up and in most cases should be noted or culled. 📷
Why is learning basic genetics as a breeder so important? For one, it solves and explains a lot of the mystery of “where did this color come from?” . It also opens up your breeding pool to incorporate sport colors to improve body type.
There are some excellent resources to learn the basics of Rabbit genetics to assist in selecting traits to improve your herd depending on your goals. I highly encourage you to read “ HYBRIDS –THE NEXT GENERATION “ and article by David A. Mangione Associate Professor The Ohio State University , watch: Introduction to Rabbit Coat Color Genetics by Dr. Stephan Roush and Advanced Rabbit Color Genetics by Dr. Stephan Roush , or check out our Wiki genetics Pages over at the BunClub wiki.