This was a paper I did for my AP English Language and Composition class a while ago. I haven't checked it for errors, but I think it's pretty accurate. Just skim the basic info on Holland Lops and the hobby, I'm sure a lot of it is pretty basic. :)
“If rabbits bred like rabbits, I’d be a billionaire.” Another breeder of Holland Lop rabbits, shared this wisdom with me when I visited her barn to select a new doe. The rabbit I ultimately choose cost me $300. That may seem expensive, but, in truth, I wasn't buying a rabbit. I was buying nearly seventy years of carefully selected genetic codes that were passed on from one generation to the next as breeders strived to create the perfect Holland Lop rabbit. The Holland Lop is just one of 49 breeds of rabbit recognized by the American Rabbit Breeder’s Association, each varying in size, shape, fur, color, and temperament. For hundreds of years, breeders have selected for rabbits that are superior in conformation, temperament, and health. The healthiest, tamest animals with the best conformation win the most prizes. Methods of breeding such as crossbreeding, out-crossing, line-breeding, and inbreeding have been used to create the ideal Holland Lop. If the average breeder hadn’t paid attention to the advantages and disadvantages of those methods for the past few hundred years, there would be no breeds of rabbit, just a generic brown, medium-sized, prick-eared rabbit that looked no different from any other.
What is a Holland Lop? The Holland Lop is a rabbit breed known for its small size, round head, ‘lop’ ears that hang down, wide array of colors, and playful disposition. The appearance of the head is one of the most iconic features of the Holland Lop. The head should ideally be, “massive in appearance…[with an] extremely short and well filled muzzle." The ears must be lopped, meaning they flop instead of stand up. They should hang, “close to the cheeks from a strongly defined and properly positioned crown.” The ideal body is short, massive, and wide with a broad hindquarter, tall shoulder, and deep chest. The leg bones should be dense and short, and the fur should be, “glossy, dense, fine...1 inch in length.” Another factor to be considered is the rabbit’s condition. An ideal Holland Lop will have a healthy coat, a good weight, bright eyes, no runniness on the nose, clean ears, proper tooth alignment and length, and no signs of disease, infection, or injury.
Hollands come in over 40 unique colors, more than any other breed of rabbit. These colors range from Lilac to Lynx, from Tri-color to Tortoise, and from Steel to Smoke Pearl. Because each color in this diverse rainbow has their own specific genetic sequence, color must be taken into consideration with each breeding, especially when breeding two related rabbits that may carry undesirable or unrecognized color patterns in their genes. All of these are hereditary traits, and thus, Holland Lops should be bred for all of these factors. It is every responsible Holland Lop breeder’s goal to improve these factors with each generation. There are four methods that can be used in the endeavor to produce the ideal Holland Lop: crossbreeding, out-crossing, line-breeding, and inbreeding. The fundamental difference between these methods lies in the relationship between the rabbits that are being bred. This ranges from crossbred rabbits who have no common ancestry, to inbred rabbits who are siblings. Because every breeder and every rabbit is different, there is much disagreement on what is the ‘correct’ way to use these methods.
Crossbreeding refers to mating rabbits of different breeds to create offspring that are drastically different from their parents. This method was used to create the Holland Lop when in 1951 Adrian de Cock crossed a Netherland Dwarf buck (male rabbit) with a French Lop doe (female rabbit). This essentially created a rabbit with the small size of the Netherland Dwarf and the floppy ears of the French Lop. This result could not have been achieved without crossbreeding. Crossbreeding can also help establish a new color gene into a breed. For example, Holland Lops were originally only solid-patterned, with no broken-patterned (solid color with white patches) rabbits available. Some Holland Lop breeders wished to create the Broken variety in the Holland Lop breed, and had to resort to crossbreeding because the gene for broken pattern simply did not exist in the Holland Lop breed. Holland Lops were crossbred with English Spots, and successfully created the Broken Pattern. However, the resultant Holland Lops did not have the rollback fur (fur that rolls back slowly when stroked the wrong way) that is called for in the ARBA breed standard. This resulted in a second crossbreeding between Broken Holland Lops and a breed known as the French Angora in order to regain the rollback coat. Breeders were able to recreate the rollback coat, but unfortunately the French Angora, being a wool breed, passed the recessive wool gene to their Holland Lop offspring. This meant that when two wool carrier Holland Lops were bred, approximately 25% of the resultant offspring had wool coats. These wooly Holland Lops were later developed into a new breed – the American Fuzzy Lop.
A key disadvantage of crossbreeding is that the rabbits are no longer ‘purebred’. No matter how much they may look like a purebred, the American Rabbit Breeders Association will not register them. Unless the crossbreeding was farther back than the rabbit’s great-grandparents, the rabbit is considered a mixed breed. Another disadvantage is that because the progeny are mixed breed, they are undesirable for other breeders to buy as show or brood animals. In addition, the pet market is far more likely to want a purebred animal than a mixed breed. Because of this, the breeder can often end up with a bunch of unsellable rabbits. Crossbreeding without a clear and specific goal can also get a breeder a very bad reputation, especially when attempting to create a new variety within a breed. Other breeders may consider the cross-breeder to be unprofessional due to tainting perfectly good bloodlines through irresponsible breeding. Unfortunately, this negative stereotype is often correct. Despite a breeder’s best intentions behind their crossbreeding, it is extremely hard to breed out undesirable characteristics that pop up in the following generations, and can often take decades to iron them out from a line in an established breed. Crossbreeding can also cause difficulties in the production of offspring. It is very hard for a very small buck to successfully breed with a very large doe. On the flip side, by breeding a doe of a small breed to a buck of a large breed, the resulting offspring would be too large for the doe to successfully carry to term, often resulting in the death of the doe. Crossbreeding should never be used unless by an experienced and knowledgeable breeder who has very clearly defined goals in mind. A successful crossbreeding within a line is extraordinarily challenging, and the average rabbit breeder will never use this method.
A much safer method of breeding is out-crossing. Out-crossing is the breeding of two rabbits that are of the same breed, but are from unrelated lines. This usually means they share none of the same rabbits in their pedigree. On the positive side, a good outcross can greatly strengthen weak areas in your herd. For example, I recently purchased a new Holland Lop buck. He is unrelated to my current rabbits, so would be considered an outcross. My current rabbits have excellent hindquarters, but lack a wide ear base. In contrast, my new buck has less optimal hindquarters, but a very good ear base. When I outcross him to my rabbits, I can expect that a portion of the offspring could have great hindquarters and great bone density. Being able to produce those more superior rabbits is the true value of an outcross. Therefore, by some degree of random genetic chance, I can get some excellent offspring that have the advantages of both their parents. However, by chance I could also get an equal amount of rabbits with the disadvantages of both their parents. A breeder must keep these benefits and risks in mind when making the decision to out-cross.
Out-crossing can also improve a herd’s vigor, or, its overall thriftiness and health. If a line of rabbits are bred only to other related rabbits for a long period of time, they can lose genetic vigor and become more susceptible to disease and poor condition. Out-crossing can strengthen vigor in a herd by adding in unrelated genes. However, an outcross does not come without its price. When you breed two completely unrelated rabbits, their offspring will have a mix of dominant and recessive genes from both parents. Some of these genes can remain hidden in a line until they are out-crossed. This means that often, when these offspring are bred, some major faults can appear in the next generation because of hybrid properties. Therefore, it is highly recommended that any undesirable offspring that appear as a result of an outcross be sold to a pet home where they will not be able to pass on their inferior genetic code. Because of the risky nature of out-crossing, it is recommended that outcrosses only be made occasionally in a tightly line-bred herd to strengthen vigor and conformation.
A much less well-known, but perhaps the most valuable method of breeding, is line-breeding. Line-breeding is the breeding of a sire to his daughter, or a dam to her son. It can also sometimes refer to the breeding of cousins to cousins, half-siblings to half-siblings, or grandparents to grandchildren. This method of breeding is very useful because it solidifies good characteristics in a herd. Holland Lops are a relatively new breed, having only been recognized in America since 1979, so there is still a lot of variation in conformational type where other breeds have had decades longer to strengthen consistency in type. Tightly line-breeding a herd can help make traits more consistent where there is still a considerable amount of variation in the breed. In addition, line-breeding will also produce less ‘surprise’ inferior rabbits than an outcross will, because the two rabbits are related and their offspring will be predictably very similar to their parents. Line-breeding also does not cause great loss of vigor in a herd, particularly if occasionally spiced up with an outcross. However, if a line-bred herd is left without an outcross for a long period of time, many breeders do report a loss of vigor in their animals.
Line-breeding is excellent for strengthening consistency, but with that consistency of strengthening good traits, it can also strengthen the consistency of faults. For example, how can you expect to produce rabbits with excellent crown definition by line-breeding two rabbits with poor crown definition? It’s simply not in their genetic code. By out-crossing to a rabbit with excellent crown definition, you are far more likely to produce more desirable offspring. Line-breeding is a fairly safe method to use, provided the breeder has a good working knowledge of color genetics and how they are inherited. If care is not taken to study these genetics, disqualifying colors such as Torted Otters and Silver Martens may be produced. Line-breeding is recommended to the novice breeder, provided it is occasionally strengthened with an outcross to improve faults in the breeder’s line.
Inbreeding. Perhaps the most misunderstood term in the animal kingdom. Inbreeding is the breeding of two full siblings, often but not always littermates. It helps to consider inbreeding to be theoretically the same as line-breeding, only more extreme. Inbreeding is advantageous in that it sets good characteristics in stone. Because siblings are so closely related, by breeding two siblings with excellent skull curvature you can expect all their offspring to have excellent skull curvature. Inbreeding is outstanding in this respect; it creates consistency and predictability of traits. It is also very useful when working with rare colors that are considered difficult to breed I breed my Holland Lops in the otter variety, one of the rarest and most challenging colors in the Holland Lop breed. Many of the genes responsible for otter coloring can disappear if care is not taken to breed rabbits with specific genotypes. If I manage to get a litter of otters with superior coloring and conformation, I would without a doubt inbreed a buck and a doe from the litter to produce more otters of that superior quality. However, as with line-breeding, inbreeding can cause disqualifying color patterns if care is not taken.
Inbreeding does come with its disadvantages. Not only does inbreeding for several generations set excellent characteristics in stone, but it also sets poor characteristics in stone, making it extremely difficult to improve them in future generations. Inbreeding is only dangerous when it is the only method used. Inbreeding itself is not the problem; it’s that over time, the rabbits become very, very similar. This similarity brings two problems: one is that even though there are less poor quality rabbits produced, there are also less rabbits produced that improve from the previous generation. If all of your rabbits are identical in ear carriage, how is it possible to make your herd’s ear carriage better in the next generation without out-crossing? Another factor to consider is that if inbreeding is the only method used for multiple generations, it can cause loss of vigor more quickly than line-breeding. There is also a small chance of hidden genetic disorders popping up as more and more recessive genes line up. This can cause rare genetic disorders such as malocclusion or wall eye. Another unfortunate disadvantage is the negative bias of potential customers who wouldn’t want to buy an inbred rabbit. Breeders will hear all too often from uninformed but well-meaning members of the public, “What?! You inbreed your rabbits?! That’s inhumane and cruel! They’re going to get genetic diseases, and die!” Of course, they fail to understand the many advantages that inbreeding holds, instead seeing only what they were taught their entire lives about the dangers of inbreeding in humans. Inbreeding should be used with care to make more rabbits of rare colors, and to get ‘clones’ of two siblings who are particularly superior in conformation.
So how should these four methods be applied by the average breeder? Any breeder worth their salt should have detailed knowledge about their line of rabbits. They should know what rabbitry each rabbit they bought came from, influential rabbits in each pedigree, what colors their rabbits carry, which other rabbits they are related to, and any issues a line may have. Not having this knowledge can make or break a line of rabbits within as few as one or two generations. A good breeder will also understand the importance of culling. Culling can mean either euthanasia or selling an undesirable rabbit to be somebody’s pet. By culling all undesirable rabbits, a breeder can make vast improvements on the quality of their rabbits over just a few generations. That all being said, there are times a breeder should not cull an ‘undesirable’ rabbit. Some rabbits born from top-quality parents are just…ugly. They are over their weight limit, with long ears and gangly limbs. These rabbits are called false dwarfs. There’s no way of avoiding them. Approximately 1 in 3 Hollands born from show quality parents are false dwarfs. These are often sold to pet homes, but this can be a huge mistake. An ‘ugly’ false dwarf from top quality lines actually has the potential to produce show-stopping offspring. False dwarfs are also far cheaper to buy than show quality ‘true dwarfs’, but are a potential gold-mine that many breeders don’t know exist. The most important thing for a breeder to understand is that buying a rabbit means buying its pedigree, its ancestors, not really buying the rabbit itself.
Breeding rabbits is not a task for the faint of heart. There is no single way to successfully breed show rabbits. Crossbreeding, out-crossing, line-breeding, and inbreeding are all viable options that a breeder can use to create their own unique line of Holland Lops. Crossbreeding is a method used to create new breeds, while out-crossing is a method used to strengthen an established line within one breed. Line-breeding is the tried-and-true method for beginners to create consistent lines of show rabbits, while the risky nature of inbreeding is best left to professionals. If people hadn’t paid attention to the advantages and disadvantages of all these methods over the past few hundred years, we wouldn’t have the diverse and unique rainbow of Holland Lops we are able to admire today.
“If rabbits bred like rabbits, I’d be a billionaire.” Another breeder of Holland Lop rabbits, shared this wisdom with me when I visited her barn to select a new doe. The rabbit I ultimately choose cost me $300. That may seem expensive, but, in truth, I wasn't buying a rabbit. I was buying nearly seventy years of carefully selected genetic codes that were passed on from one generation to the next as breeders strived to create the perfect Holland Lop rabbit. The Holland Lop is just one of 49 breeds of rabbit recognized by the American Rabbit Breeder’s Association, each varying in size, shape, fur, color, and temperament. For hundreds of years, breeders have selected for rabbits that are superior in conformation, temperament, and health. The healthiest, tamest animals with the best conformation win the most prizes. Methods of breeding such as crossbreeding, out-crossing, line-breeding, and inbreeding have been used to create the ideal Holland Lop. If the average breeder hadn’t paid attention to the advantages and disadvantages of those methods for the past few hundred years, there would be no breeds of rabbit, just a generic brown, medium-sized, prick-eared rabbit that looked no different from any other.
What is a Holland Lop? The Holland Lop is a rabbit breed known for its small size, round head, ‘lop’ ears that hang down, wide array of colors, and playful disposition. The appearance of the head is one of the most iconic features of the Holland Lop. The head should ideally be, “massive in appearance…[with an] extremely short and well filled muzzle." The ears must be lopped, meaning they flop instead of stand up. They should hang, “close to the cheeks from a strongly defined and properly positioned crown.” The ideal body is short, massive, and wide with a broad hindquarter, tall shoulder, and deep chest. The leg bones should be dense and short, and the fur should be, “glossy, dense, fine...1 inch in length.” Another factor to be considered is the rabbit’s condition. An ideal Holland Lop will have a healthy coat, a good weight, bright eyes, no runniness on the nose, clean ears, proper tooth alignment and length, and no signs of disease, infection, or injury.
Hollands come in over 40 unique colors, more than any other breed of rabbit. These colors range from Lilac to Lynx, from Tri-color to Tortoise, and from Steel to Smoke Pearl. Because each color in this diverse rainbow has their own specific genetic sequence, color must be taken into consideration with each breeding, especially when breeding two related rabbits that may carry undesirable or unrecognized color patterns in their genes. All of these are hereditary traits, and thus, Holland Lops should be bred for all of these factors. It is every responsible Holland Lop breeder’s goal to improve these factors with each generation. There are four methods that can be used in the endeavor to produce the ideal Holland Lop: crossbreeding, out-crossing, line-breeding, and inbreeding. The fundamental difference between these methods lies in the relationship between the rabbits that are being bred. This ranges from crossbred rabbits who have no common ancestry, to inbred rabbits who are siblings. Because every breeder and every rabbit is different, there is much disagreement on what is the ‘correct’ way to use these methods.
Crossbreeding refers to mating rabbits of different breeds to create offspring that are drastically different from their parents. This method was used to create the Holland Lop when in 1951 Adrian de Cock crossed a Netherland Dwarf buck (male rabbit) with a French Lop doe (female rabbit). This essentially created a rabbit with the small size of the Netherland Dwarf and the floppy ears of the French Lop. This result could not have been achieved without crossbreeding. Crossbreeding can also help establish a new color gene into a breed. For example, Holland Lops were originally only solid-patterned, with no broken-patterned (solid color with white patches) rabbits available. Some Holland Lop breeders wished to create the Broken variety in the Holland Lop breed, and had to resort to crossbreeding because the gene for broken pattern simply did not exist in the Holland Lop breed. Holland Lops were crossbred with English Spots, and successfully created the Broken Pattern. However, the resultant Holland Lops did not have the rollback fur (fur that rolls back slowly when stroked the wrong way) that is called for in the ARBA breed standard. This resulted in a second crossbreeding between Broken Holland Lops and a breed known as the French Angora in order to regain the rollback coat. Breeders were able to recreate the rollback coat, but unfortunately the French Angora, being a wool breed, passed the recessive wool gene to their Holland Lop offspring. This meant that when two wool carrier Holland Lops were bred, approximately 25% of the resultant offspring had wool coats. These wooly Holland Lops were later developed into a new breed – the American Fuzzy Lop.
A key disadvantage of crossbreeding is that the rabbits are no longer ‘purebred’. No matter how much they may look like a purebred, the American Rabbit Breeders Association will not register them. Unless the crossbreeding was farther back than the rabbit’s great-grandparents, the rabbit is considered a mixed breed. Another disadvantage is that because the progeny are mixed breed, they are undesirable for other breeders to buy as show or brood animals. In addition, the pet market is far more likely to want a purebred animal than a mixed breed. Because of this, the breeder can often end up with a bunch of unsellable rabbits. Crossbreeding without a clear and specific goal can also get a breeder a very bad reputation, especially when attempting to create a new variety within a breed. Other breeders may consider the cross-breeder to be unprofessional due to tainting perfectly good bloodlines through irresponsible breeding. Unfortunately, this negative stereotype is often correct. Despite a breeder’s best intentions behind their crossbreeding, it is extremely hard to breed out undesirable characteristics that pop up in the following generations, and can often take decades to iron them out from a line in an established breed. Crossbreeding can also cause difficulties in the production of offspring. It is very hard for a very small buck to successfully breed with a very large doe. On the flip side, by breeding a doe of a small breed to a buck of a large breed, the resulting offspring would be too large for the doe to successfully carry to term, often resulting in the death of the doe. Crossbreeding should never be used unless by an experienced and knowledgeable breeder who has very clearly defined goals in mind. A successful crossbreeding within a line is extraordinarily challenging, and the average rabbit breeder will never use this method.
A much safer method of breeding is out-crossing. Out-crossing is the breeding of two rabbits that are of the same breed, but are from unrelated lines. This usually means they share none of the same rabbits in their pedigree. On the positive side, a good outcross can greatly strengthen weak areas in your herd. For example, I recently purchased a new Holland Lop buck. He is unrelated to my current rabbits, so would be considered an outcross. My current rabbits have excellent hindquarters, but lack a wide ear base. In contrast, my new buck has less optimal hindquarters, but a very good ear base. When I outcross him to my rabbits, I can expect that a portion of the offspring could have great hindquarters and great bone density. Being able to produce those more superior rabbits is the true value of an outcross. Therefore, by some degree of random genetic chance, I can get some excellent offspring that have the advantages of both their parents. However, by chance I could also get an equal amount of rabbits with the disadvantages of both their parents. A breeder must keep these benefits and risks in mind when making the decision to out-cross.
Out-crossing can also improve a herd’s vigor, or, its overall thriftiness and health. If a line of rabbits are bred only to other related rabbits for a long period of time, they can lose genetic vigor and become more susceptible to disease and poor condition. Out-crossing can strengthen vigor in a herd by adding in unrelated genes. However, an outcross does not come without its price. When you breed two completely unrelated rabbits, their offspring will have a mix of dominant and recessive genes from both parents. Some of these genes can remain hidden in a line until they are out-crossed. This means that often, when these offspring are bred, some major faults can appear in the next generation because of hybrid properties. Therefore, it is highly recommended that any undesirable offspring that appear as a result of an outcross be sold to a pet home where they will not be able to pass on their inferior genetic code. Because of the risky nature of out-crossing, it is recommended that outcrosses only be made occasionally in a tightly line-bred herd to strengthen vigor and conformation.
A much less well-known, but perhaps the most valuable method of breeding, is line-breeding. Line-breeding is the breeding of a sire to his daughter, or a dam to her son. It can also sometimes refer to the breeding of cousins to cousins, half-siblings to half-siblings, or grandparents to grandchildren. This method of breeding is very useful because it solidifies good characteristics in a herd. Holland Lops are a relatively new breed, having only been recognized in America since 1979, so there is still a lot of variation in conformational type where other breeds have had decades longer to strengthen consistency in type. Tightly line-breeding a herd can help make traits more consistent where there is still a considerable amount of variation in the breed. In addition, line-breeding will also produce less ‘surprise’ inferior rabbits than an outcross will, because the two rabbits are related and their offspring will be predictably very similar to their parents. Line-breeding also does not cause great loss of vigor in a herd, particularly if occasionally spiced up with an outcross. However, if a line-bred herd is left without an outcross for a long period of time, many breeders do report a loss of vigor in their animals.
Line-breeding is excellent for strengthening consistency, but with that consistency of strengthening good traits, it can also strengthen the consistency of faults. For example, how can you expect to produce rabbits with excellent crown definition by line-breeding two rabbits with poor crown definition? It’s simply not in their genetic code. By out-crossing to a rabbit with excellent crown definition, you are far more likely to produce more desirable offspring. Line-breeding is a fairly safe method to use, provided the breeder has a good working knowledge of color genetics and how they are inherited. If care is not taken to study these genetics, disqualifying colors such as Torted Otters and Silver Martens may be produced. Line-breeding is recommended to the novice breeder, provided it is occasionally strengthened with an outcross to improve faults in the breeder’s line.
Inbreeding. Perhaps the most misunderstood term in the animal kingdom. Inbreeding is the breeding of two full siblings, often but not always littermates. It helps to consider inbreeding to be theoretically the same as line-breeding, only more extreme. Inbreeding is advantageous in that it sets good characteristics in stone. Because siblings are so closely related, by breeding two siblings with excellent skull curvature you can expect all their offspring to have excellent skull curvature. Inbreeding is outstanding in this respect; it creates consistency and predictability of traits. It is also very useful when working with rare colors that are considered difficult to breed I breed my Holland Lops in the otter variety, one of the rarest and most challenging colors in the Holland Lop breed. Many of the genes responsible for otter coloring can disappear if care is not taken to breed rabbits with specific genotypes. If I manage to get a litter of otters with superior coloring and conformation, I would without a doubt inbreed a buck and a doe from the litter to produce more otters of that superior quality. However, as with line-breeding, inbreeding can cause disqualifying color patterns if care is not taken.
Inbreeding does come with its disadvantages. Not only does inbreeding for several generations set excellent characteristics in stone, but it also sets poor characteristics in stone, making it extremely difficult to improve them in future generations. Inbreeding is only dangerous when it is the only method used. Inbreeding itself is not the problem; it’s that over time, the rabbits become very, very similar. This similarity brings two problems: one is that even though there are less poor quality rabbits produced, there are also less rabbits produced that improve from the previous generation. If all of your rabbits are identical in ear carriage, how is it possible to make your herd’s ear carriage better in the next generation without out-crossing? Another factor to consider is that if inbreeding is the only method used for multiple generations, it can cause loss of vigor more quickly than line-breeding. There is also a small chance of hidden genetic disorders popping up as more and more recessive genes line up. This can cause rare genetic disorders such as malocclusion or wall eye. Another unfortunate disadvantage is the negative bias of potential customers who wouldn’t want to buy an inbred rabbit. Breeders will hear all too often from uninformed but well-meaning members of the public, “What?! You inbreed your rabbits?! That’s inhumane and cruel! They’re going to get genetic diseases, and die!” Of course, they fail to understand the many advantages that inbreeding holds, instead seeing only what they were taught their entire lives about the dangers of inbreeding in humans. Inbreeding should be used with care to make more rabbits of rare colors, and to get ‘clones’ of two siblings who are particularly superior in conformation.
So how should these four methods be applied by the average breeder? Any breeder worth their salt should have detailed knowledge about their line of rabbits. They should know what rabbitry each rabbit they bought came from, influential rabbits in each pedigree, what colors their rabbits carry, which other rabbits they are related to, and any issues a line may have. Not having this knowledge can make or break a line of rabbits within as few as one or two generations. A good breeder will also understand the importance of culling. Culling can mean either euthanasia or selling an undesirable rabbit to be somebody’s pet. By culling all undesirable rabbits, a breeder can make vast improvements on the quality of their rabbits over just a few generations. That all being said, there are times a breeder should not cull an ‘undesirable’ rabbit. Some rabbits born from top-quality parents are just…ugly. They are over their weight limit, with long ears and gangly limbs. These rabbits are called false dwarfs. There’s no way of avoiding them. Approximately 1 in 3 Hollands born from show quality parents are false dwarfs. These are often sold to pet homes, but this can be a huge mistake. An ‘ugly’ false dwarf from top quality lines actually has the potential to produce show-stopping offspring. False dwarfs are also far cheaper to buy than show quality ‘true dwarfs’, but are a potential gold-mine that many breeders don’t know exist. The most important thing for a breeder to understand is that buying a rabbit means buying its pedigree, its ancestors, not really buying the rabbit itself.
Breeding rabbits is not a task for the faint of heart. There is no single way to successfully breed show rabbits. Crossbreeding, out-crossing, line-breeding, and inbreeding are all viable options that a breeder can use to create their own unique line of Holland Lops. Crossbreeding is a method used to create new breeds, while out-crossing is a method used to strengthen an established line within one breed. Line-breeding is the tried-and-true method for beginners to create consistent lines of show rabbits, while the risky nature of inbreeding is best left to professionals. If people hadn’t paid attention to the advantages and disadvantages of all these methods over the past few hundred years, we wouldn’t have the diverse and unique rainbow of Holland Lops we are able to admire today.