Page:Care and Management of Rabbits.djvu/174

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CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF RABBITS
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doe or buck will bring less than $5 each, you can understand why it pays to keep the best of each litter for breeding purposes, either for your own use, or to sell.

Where you are breeding stock for shows or for breeders and are handling pedigreed or registered stock, some attention may be paid to blood lines, but do not make the mistake so many new breeders do. Blood lines are valuable in giving you an index to the individual's possible performance as a breeder, but unless the individual itself is right, forget all about the blood lines. It will save you grief in the long run.

Of course, where your animal is registered with your breed club or with the National Association you have a pretty good guarantee that the individual is all right, but this is not always certain. Some splendid specimens that command the best prizes in the show room and which are ideals of their breed are very poor when it comes to reproducing their own species. Sometimes a second-rate animal