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When buying stock, we recommend picking a purebred breed and buying pedigreed stock from a reputable breeder. A purebred, show quality rabbit costs the same amount to house and feed as a mixed breed rabbit, and your stock is more marketable as breeding stock or show rabbits if you start with quality rabbits. We chose to go with a breed that had as many uses as possible, to maximize what we can do with our rabbits. We chose to get Silver Foxes and they are great meat, fur, show, and pet rabbits which gives us a lot of options for the rabbits we produce.
Depending on what breed you go with, research the breed standards and have some idea of what to look for in good stock. This is also a good time to come up with questions you may have for a breeder such as how they select which rabbits to sell as breeding stock, how to know which offspring to save back for your breeding program, how they care for and house their rabbits, and anything else you may havea question about. In our experience, rabbit breeders are happy to share what they have learned and they are excited to help others get started in rabbit breeding and showing. After all, they all had to start somewhere and it's likely someone else showed them the ropes so they are happy to pass along what they have learned.
For us, we knew we wanted rabbits that met the following qualities:
1) Good as meat rabbits. We cull all of the rabbits that aren't breeding stock quality or who don't have a place in our breeding program so we want even the lower quality rabbits to have a lot of meat on them. This is also important for anyone breeding foxes solely for meat, regardless of whether you show rabbits or not.
Since the SOP (Standard of Perfection) for the Silver Fox includes body type that produces lots of meat, we made sure to understand what that meant. You want rabbits that are wide in their back legs (when viewed from above with the rabbit on their back, the back legs will be perpendicular and as far apart as possible. You want a wide rectangle "box" for the back legs, with the toes the same distance apart as the heels. This means the rabbit has large thighs, which is where the vast majority of meat is on a rabbit. The rabbit's ribcage should have a nice, round shape to it like a soup can (straight, slab-sided rabbits do not fill out well in the midsection). Deep over the hindquarters when viewed from behind, carrying their width all the way down. You also want a gradual sloping from the shoulders to midsection and into the hips. When you run your hand along, it should slide all the way up and over the hindquarters of the rabbit without catching on the hips. The other things you look for are a late peak over the hindquarters, a flat, wide breast when you run your hand under the rabbit's front legs, and a ball shape when viewed from above.
2) Good temperaments. While Silver Foxes are known for their teddy-bear like personalities, we wanted to make sure and buy friendly stock and to select for temperament in our breeding program. Many meat rabbits are skittish and shy, or even aggressive, and we wanted to enjoy caring for and handling our rabbits. We also believe it makes for better meat for the rabbit to be calm when you handle them for butchering since the meat doesn't get a big rush of stress hormones. Having good temperaments also means the rabbits are easier to show and can also be sold as pets, so docile, gentle rabbits are what we aim for when selecting breeding stock.
3) Good fur. We use the pelts from our cull rabbits and we wanted to have fur that was warm, soft, and visually appealing. This is another aspect that meat breeders should consider, as the high-quality pelts are more luxurious for crafting with and selling. One of the best qualities of the Silver Fox is the long, dense stand-up fur. We have found it to be much warmer for lining mittens and hats than the fur from other rabbit breeds, so focusing on fur quality is important for producing quality pelts.You should always breed to the standards even if all the rabbits you produce are cull rabbits. With each breeding, you should be improving upon your breeding stock.
The SOP for Silver Foxes includes lots of points for fur type considering it is judged as a commercial rabbit breed, so selecting stock with the proper "fox" fur is also important. Silver Fox fur should stand on end when stroked from tail-to-head. This is the hallmark of the breed, along with the silvering, and should not be overlooked. The fur should be at least 1 1/2 inches long, which is about double the width of your fingers as you slide them through the rabbit's fur. The rabbits fur color should run deep into the fur, eventually turning into a slate blue color for the black Silver Foxes. For blues, you want a strong and rich base color running deep towards the skin as well. As of this posting, blacks are the only fully recognized color, with blues being shown for comments on body and fur type only. There are certificates of development for both blues and chocolates, so we hope those will be showable soon as well. As far as silvering, the silver hairs should be evenly dispersed through the coat, highlighting the base color and not overpowering it.
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