Ok so this is one of the topics that pops up all the time on social media, so I figured I'd share how I evaluate my babies!
The most important thing to know is that everyone's herd is different. Different lines develop at different rates. It's your job to not only know the breed standard back to front, but also to have a really solid understanding of how your line develops. With outcrosses, you'll probably get a lot of variation in the litter. If you've outcrossed correctly with rabbits that have complementary type and are from complementary lines, you will probably get a huge array of mediocre rabbits, a few ugly ones, and a small number of very nice kits. This means you will most likely have to grow the kits out longer to see how they develop. With linebred litters, if you understand how your line develops you can cull a lot younger, especially if you have done that same breeding in the past. They are a lot more predictable and consistent in terms of both type and development. This means it is easier to learn what to look for at certain ages.
In my herd, typically if it's a cute baby, it ends up as a cute Sr. This isn't the case for everyone's herd. The trick is to learn your lines and how they develop so you can predict ????
And you will absolutely make mistakes! Tons of them! The reason I know this is because literally everyone does. We do our best to make the right choices every time, but I promise you every good breeder out there has kept or gotten rid of rabbits that they shouldn't have. For what it's worth, I've made tons of mistakes.
The most important thing to know is that everyone's herd is different. Different lines develop at different rates. It's your job to not only know the breed standard back to front, but also to have a really solid understanding of how your line develops. With outcrosses, you'll probably get a lot of variation in the litter. If you've outcrossed correctly with rabbits that have complementary type and are from complementary lines, you will probably get a huge array of mediocre rabbits, a few ugly ones, and a small number of very nice kits. This means you will most likely have to grow the kits out longer to see how they develop. With linebred litters, if you understand how your line develops you can cull a lot younger, especially if you have done that same breeding in the past. They are a lot more predictable and consistent in terms of both type and development. This means it is easier to learn what to look for at certain ages.
In my herd, typically if it's a cute baby, it ends up as a cute Sr. This isn't the case for everyone's herd. The trick is to learn your lines and how they develop so you can predict ????
And you will absolutely make mistakes! Tons of them! The reason I know this is because literally everyone does. We do our best to make the right choices every time, but I promise you every good breeder out there has kept or gotten rid of rabbits that they shouldn't have. For what it's worth, I've made tons of mistakes.
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