06/19/2025
Let’s talk pedigrees. I often see people saying, “I don’t care about pedigrees. They don’t make a good rabbit.” Which is partially correct. A good rabbit is a good rabbit, no matter what the pedigree has in it. A poor quality rabbit is a poor quality rabbit, no matter what the pedigree has in it.
HOWEVER, COMPLETE pedigrees are still vitally important in a good breeding program. Why?
1. Pedigrees tell you if there are any incompatible colors that might pop up. For example, I don’t want any lilac or chocolate in the pedigrees of my Silver Martens because I breed sables. Those colors don’t work with sable. No, it doesn’t show every single possible recessive, but if there’s a recessive visibly in the pedigree (or lines I know interbreed colors I don’t want in my line), that’s information.
2. They tell you weights. I’m going to harp on this for a moment. PLEASE PUT WEIGHTS ON YOUR PEDIGREES. It’s not a fully pedigreed rabbit if you aren’t including weights of the ancestors! You can’t register or grand champion rabbits without a COMPLETE pedigree, including weights! Don’t sеll “pedigreed” rabbits if you’re not including the weights. At least note that they’re not fully pedigreed and why so people can make the decision before they purсhasе. I’m so tired of pаying for rabbits only to get the pedigree and find out it’s incomplete, usually due to missing weights. Even aside from ARBA requirements, weights are important information! If the rabbit comes from a line of underweight ancestors, I’m going to want to be sure I breed to a line that makes weight easily to counter that. Harlequins (one of my breeds) tend to not easily make weight and run undersized. Weights are ESPECIALLY important information that case!
3. Pedigrees tell you a lot about the ancestors which WILL pull through in some ways in what the rabbit produces. Say you know that Joe Glow’s lines tend to produce really strong hindquarters but weaker shoulders. If you have the pedigree and know Glow’s lines are in it, you may want to decide on breeding to very strong shoulder lines even if the rabbit in front of you has shoulders that are just fine. You might also just know that Glow’s lines absolutely do not play well with the lines already in your barn, so you might decide to just not get that rabbit in the first place.
4. Maybe you’re wanting to linebreed a little. Or maybe you’re wanting a complete outcross. You need a pedigree to do either of those.
Remember, you are NOT just breeding to the rabbit in front of you. You ARE breeding to all the ancestors in that pedigree, too. The strengths and weaknesses of those rabbits are likely to pull forward in subsequent generations because they can be carried as recessive traits.
An incredibly nice rabbit can be a fluke. If the rabbit came from a line that’s never been known to do well before, it’s likely to produce like its relatives (poorly), even if it’s a really nice rabbit, itself.
Yes, absolutely do breed the rabbit in front of you. But always keep in mind what is behind it too. Wins are the least important part of a pedigree, in my opinion. I don’t care if the sire was convention best in show. I DO care what lines the sire is from, if they’re compatible with mine, what strengths and weaknesses that sire’s line tends to have, what colors are in it, and what weights are in it.
