We have been incredibly lucky this summer in having virtually no issues with heat impacting our rabbits. *knocks on wood* As August comes to a close we will be looking at restarting our breeding program through the fall and winter and what an exciting line up we have. 

But why do we stop breeding over the summer? 

For starters, we are working towards a breeding schedule that optimizes our does and keeps them in top condition. This means during the heat of the summer we give them a break so that they are not overly stressed in the heat. Here in our neck of the woods, we saw temperatures in the triple digits with the addition of midwestern humidity. I wouldn’t want to be pregnant in that weather, so I can’t imagine any of my does would like that either. 

How do we determine our breeding schedule?

We aim to maximize our breeding from fall through spring so that summer can be a time to rest. We plan our final litters of spring to be born late May or early June so that they can grow throughout the summer. When temperatures dip in mid-late August that is our queue to dispatch grow outs and restart our breeding. 

Initial fall litters will end up being ready to dispatch around November/December and we will have does alternatively bred so that there is more or less a flow of grow outs ready for regular harvest from winter through spring.

We’ve done the math and figured out that our household consumes 1-2 rabbits per week on average. This means we need to breed 100+ rabbits in order to meet our regular needs. At an average of 6 kits per litter, we need 17 litters in order to meet that need. Taking into account that life will inevitably throw us curveballs (such as a doe not taking when bred, or below average litter size) we air on the side of caution and allot for a couple of extra litters when possible. With the does we currently have, each one is expected to be bred and have 3-4 litters per year. 

This is a pretty reasonable expectation on our does, especially when you consider they are viable to be bred within hours of giving birth. We have the luxury of maintaining such a light schedule for them because we are only breeding for personal consumption and not for any commercial needs. 

So about that special line up that we have… We are very excited to be introducing a couple of new breeders this fall. We have a gorgeous Silver Fox doe, Carina, who is the daughter of Scooby and Rewby [and fully pedigreed]. We also have a new Silver Fox buck, Paxton, and a blue New Zealand doe, Blueberry. I am expecting great things from Carina. Paxton and Blueberry will be getting a test breed (with separate partners) to check their genes before they become permanent additions to the breeding program. 

While we do only breed for our personal meat consumption, I like to keep my genetics straight, especially for my Silver Foxes, for the times that we occasionally sell a breeder to someone else. However, genetics will be a discussion for another time.