The Care of the Doe and Litter

On examination, the breeder must decide whether he will leave the entire litter with the doe (after eliminating any malformed or dead young), whether he will foster some on to another doe, or whether he will destroy any.

The size of the litter may vary between one and fifteen or even more, although between four and nine are more common,and the average will probably be about six in most breeds.The number of young which the breeder will wish to leave on a doe will vary. Some who wish to have a few young of extreme size will leave only one or two on the doe. In the case of meat rabbits, where the breeder has a good milking straits, the largest litter size will usually be the best. The maximum number of young to be left on the doe will again depend to some extent on the age of the doe, as well as the number of her previous litters. A young doe will not be able to rear as many young as will a doe wits her third or fourth litter, and so one or two less should be left with her. Usually the breeder of exhibition stock will leave five or six young with the doe, but the breeder interested in the general improvement of his stock as breeding animals will wish to improve their average capability in milk yield and other maternal character-is tics and will therefore usually leave up to eight on each doe,except possibly for the doe with her first litter.

Fostering is valuable under certain circumstances but may have disadvantages. Foster does are often selected from the popular marked varieties, that is Dutch or English, for apart from their general good qualities as foster does, it is possible to select the potential exhibition stock at ad ay or two old, and thus the disembarked young can be eliminated to make way for fostered young.

There are three basic weaning systems. The first consists of the system in which the doe is required to produce three or four litters per year. The second is a system its which she is re-mated post part um, i.e. two to ten days after giving birth, when the young from the first litter are weaned usually at twenty-one days. The mid system used in the commercial field for the production of six litters per year is the cremating at some twenty-one days with weaning usually either on cremating or at four weeks.