Culling and Selection

Learn About Your Breed...

It is difficult to select for improved traits if you don't know what to look for. The first place to start is to join the American Rabbit Breeders Association. Obtain a Standard of Perfection which is published by the A.R.B.A. In it you will find complete descriptions and ideal standards for each breed of rabbit that is currently recognized by the A.R.B.A. Consider joining the national specialty club for your breed. Each national specialty puts out their own guide book which, in addition to containing the breed standard, also is filled with many helpful articles and tips specific to that particular breed.

General Selection Traits

No matter what breed you raise, you should be concerned with traits such as disposition, fertility, and carcass quality, if applicable. Often these traits are overlooked when breeders are intensely interested in showing. We admit that while these quantitative traits are more difficult to select for, it is possible to gradually improve your herd in these areas, especially if you start with the right stock in the first place.

Qualitative Traits

Qualitative traits refer to those traits such as fur color, density, and type. These traits are most important to the rabbit raiser whose goal is to create winners on the show table.

Selection Example - Mini Satins

Selection often begins in the nest box. The experienced breeder will begin to notice the bunnies that seem to stand out as superior to their littermates. Weaning is the time that the decision process is further honed. We evaluate our bunnies often, but at weaning, you can get a pretty good idea of who is a 'keeper' and who is not. (The 'Nots', by the way are what we refer to as our culls. Culls are destined for our local wildlife rehab center as food. Some breeders sell their culls for pets (and we have too on occasion), but for the most part, our cull bunnies go to feed other animals.

When evaluating our Mini Satins, we look at each rabbit individually. Body type is of paramount importance, so we begin there. Each rabbit must be posed in order to be assessed properly. Mini Satins (as other breeds) are posed so that the front feet are level with the eye and the front of the hind foot is in line with the hips. Each rabbit is viewed from the side, front, top, and rear in order to gain an overall impression of type and balance. Next, we run our hands over the animal. Here you can feel for flesh condition. If the condition is not present now, it probably will always be lacking in this area.

When running our hands over the animal we note whether or not the body feels smooth; or do our hands hang up on protruding hip bones? Do our thumb and forefinger tend to come together at the base of the rump? This would indicate pinched hips - a severe fault. How about shoulders? Viewed from the side, the natural arch to the rabbit's back, should begin at the nape of the neck and rise gradually from there. A rise which starts any farther back would indicate weak shoulders - another fault. Fur quality is better evaluated at a later date, but already you can see differences in sheen and density (thickness of the pelt) - both important to Mini Satins.

This abbreviated article on selection can be added upon, but we hope you get the idea. Always remember that our primary goal is to produce rabbits that equal or better their parents in all those traits which we deem important.