Project "Wool"

Explanation:

Breeding rabbits for fur is as old rabbit raising activity as breeding for meat. Many of our grandmothers and their grandmothers used to keep a longhaired rabbit or two as a good source of wool as an alternative to keeping sheep. Just like that, many people do it today as well. It's done two ways; either raising rabbits for hides (skin with the fur attached for it) or wool (fur harvested from the living rabbit and spun into yarn). Lately I got interested in keeping rabbits that produce wool and the first and only logical thing would be to get an Angora rabbit. However, there are no Angora rabbits in Croatia, where I live, and getting one or a couple from another country would be really complicated and the paperwork would be just too expensive. As my main goal is breeding sweet temperament healthy rabbits that could also be used for meat production and I don't bother with breeding purebreds (not many people here do), I opted for the idea of breeding my own wooly rabbits from scratch. 

The first step toward the goal of breeding a meat type rabbit with pet rabbit temperament and fur of wool rabbits was getting the good foundation rabbits. I decided to start it from my doe Nina (she will do the meat type and good temperament type) and Lav (double-maned Lionhead that will do the wool part). The only reason I am using Lionheads (that carry the mane gene) is because I can't find ANY rabbit that has Angora-type fur. Lav is currently two months old and I will be waiting for another 3-4 months until he's ready to breed.

The genes to understand:

Dwarf gene: D is dominant and creates Dwarfs (Dd), d is recessive and is found in regular size rabbits (dd). However, two copies of D gene causes the lethal condition due which DD kits die in utero.

Mane gene: M is  dominant and gives rabbit a single-mane (Mm) if one copy is present and double-mane (MM) if two copies of mane genes are present. m gene is recessive to M and removes any longer hair around the rabbit's head (mane) or lower back and sides (skirt).

Plans:

1. Breed Nina (dd mm) and Lav (Dd MM) and get single-maned (Mm) kits, half of the litter True dwarves (Dd) and some false dwarves (a.k.a. Big Uglies, dd).

2. Breed the BUD (Big Ugly Doe, a false dwarf doe; Mm dd) back to her father ( MM Dd)/brother (Mm dd) to get double-maned Big Uglies (MM dd) whose wool would be harvestable as well as it would be producing meat-type kits when mated with meat bucks.

3. Enjoy my new rabbits and have fun grooming them and harvesting wool of them.

Make sure to check our YouTube channel to stay updated about this project: RustyPocketRabbitry

UPDATE December 2014:

I'm happy to announce that our first generation of single-maned meat mutt - Lionhead hybrids were delivered on 18th December 2014.

UPDATE June 2015:

Nina and Petunia (doe from generation I) were bred on 1st June 2015 and we expect second generation of little fluffy kits at the beggining of the July. We are expecting following colours:

Nina (Broken Chinchilla) and Monarchy (Black Otter): Agouties in all 4 colours (likely Black or maybe Chocolate), Otters and Martens in all 4 colours, Chinchillas in all 4 colours and possibly Fawns.  All of either Solid or Broken.

Petunia (Broken Chinchilla) and Cosmos (Black PW): Chinchillas, Silver Martens and Frosted Pearls in all 4 colours (most likely Black/Chocolate), Pointed Whites in all 4 colours and hopefully BEW.