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Breeding Question

My old vet said for a doe 3 years and no more than 2-3 litters a year and for males around 4-5 years old! He wasnt as experienced as my vet now so he could be wrong :)
 
Shouldn't have thought there were any health issues just that fertility would drop off.
 
It does seem like the buck naturally looses interest and fertility but looking at a few breeding pages if the buck is still up for it there is no reason to retire him at any particular age :)
 
I don't think there is one. We tried once to breed a 4-year old buck to two different females with no results though:roll: There was nothing wrong with him psychically, he knew what to do, but no babies resulted of it.
Both females got pregnant later with a younger buck.
 
my little nethie buck produced at 9yrs sadly he passed away this year he was my first ever bunny i had:cry: theres no health issues to the buck or litter if the buck is still fertile you can breed from them its the does that should be retired at 4yrs depending on the breed they may last alittle long but not alot
 
My old boy Jojo did the dirty deed at 9 years old,It did take him nearly a year.So I had four new additions to the familly
 
i dont know if it applies specifically to rabbits, but there is some decline in fertility in most mammals with age. there is also an increase in genetic and structural abnormalities in the sperm. mostly this will just lead to subfertility/infertility but could lead to the production of abnormal offspring, depending on the severity fo the abnormality (i.e. significant but not enough to cause failure to implant etc so offspring still develop). So there would be some potential to produce disabled offspring. but i dont know at what age that would occur with rabbits, if at all. I think generally if the buck is a bit of an "old man" in himself he probably needs retiring!
 
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