This is so true. Sadly and surprisingly in my area it's a few of the older 4-H kids who show rabbits nationally who scoff at the crosses.hoodat said:
My starting point for the line I now have was a NZ cross doe with a Rex cross buck. The NZ doe makes for large litters of healthy rabbits and they are usually good mothers with plenty of milk. This doe certainly fits both categories. The Rex blood in the buck makes him very heavy bodied with a thick saddle of meat on his back and good hind legs. I have to admit I had luck on my side in that the NZ blood made them fast growing and the Rex side gave them very heavy bodies. The mixed bloodlines sometimes produce surprises in the kits. Her last litter contained two chestnut agoutis that are larger than any of the others and growing at a fantastic rate. I'm keeping my eye on them and if one is a doe; or better yet if I lucked out with a buck and a doe I may be able to do something pretty good by developing them as a side line provided their growth rate holds up and they are not large boned. Those surprises are where some great lines come from and you don't get many of those in a pure blood line, which tends to be more uniform. The trick is to develop the line and improve it as you go. Decide what it is you want to develop and keep working toward that ideal. If you don't keep them properly culled and breed willy nilly the line is bound to run down. The tendency of nature is to return them to the natural wild form over the generations and that is not a good meat conformation.Sommrluv said:
She raises some nice litters herself, too. I just bred her back to my NEW NZB buck. 
