4 AGRICULTURE HANDBOOK NO. 309, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



SELECTING FOUNDATION STOCK 



When you use young rabbits for 

 foundation stock, you have an op- 

 portunity to become acquainted 

 with them and with their habits be- 

 fore they reach the production 

 stage. An inexperienced producer 

 should begin on a small scale, with 

 2 or 3 bucks and 20 to 30 does, and 

 expand operations as he gains ex- 

 perience and as market demands 

 justify. 



When buying breeding stock, 

 deal directly with reliable breeders. 

 Brokers handling live rabbits sel- 

 dom are able to vouch for the con- 



ditions under which their animals 

 were produced. Reliable breeders 

 stand behind the stock they offer 

 and will give references. National, 

 State, and local rabbit breeders' 

 organizations can furnish names 

 and addresses of breeders from 

 whom you can buy stock. 



The essential requirements of 

 good foundation stock are health 

 and vigor, longevity, ability to re- 

 produce, and a body type consist- 

 ent with ability to produce market- 

 able offspring of the desired quality 

 and size. 



SYSTEMS OF BREEDING 



In planning a breeding program 

 for rabbits, attention should be 

 given to the concepts winch have 

 been shown by long years of study 

 to be relatively constant in do- 

 mesticated mammals. These con- 

 cepts are described in a number of 

 textbooks of genetics in greater 

 detail than space will permit here. 

 Such books are in college, univer- 

 sity, and most of the large city 

 libraries. A breeder today, who 

 attempts to develop a strain with- 

 out recourse to such material, would 

 be at a distinct disadvantage. It 

 should be understood that this 

 brief article can be only a sum- 

 mary of the sort of information 

 which a breeder needs. 



The first concept is that of the 

 gene pool. Any breed or other 

 foundation stock selected for breed- 

 ing constitutes a pool or group of 

 many, perhaps thousands, of hered- 

 itary units, commonly referred to 

 as genes. The genes are specifi- 

 cally located in the chromosomes, 

 very small thread-like bodies found 

 in every cell of the body. In the 

 rabbit there are 22 pairs, and their 

 segregation (one member of each 

 pair going to each egg or sperm) 



in the production of eggs or sperm, 

 plus the ultimate union of ^gg and 

 sperm at mating and conception, 

 provides the mechanism for trans- 

 mission of hereditary characteris- 

 tics from one generation to the 

 next. It also provides the mecha- 

 nism which in nature insures suffi- 

 cient variability for adaptation of 

 the species to minor changes in the 

 environment and for its perpetua- 

 tion. 



The gene pool of the rabbit has 

 been modified in many ways dur- 

 ing domestication and by selection 

 to establish the different breeds. 

 This pool, in the rabbits at hand, 

 is the breeder's capital stock, and 

 intelligent breeding depends on 

 knowing as much as possible about 

 that iDool. How well does it per- 

 petuate itself? How much varia- 

 tion does it transmit that is either 

 good, bad, or indifferent, particu- 

 larly with respect to reproductive 

 capacity? How much of it is ap- 

 parent to the breeder, and how 

 much can be revealed onl^ by 

 breeding experience? In spite of 

 all man knows about genetics and 

 reproduction, nature is still the 

 most successful breeder. If this 



