1. Classification by economic use
1. Meat rabbits
Meat rabbit breeds are mostly large and medium-sized breeds, mainly used to produce rabbit meat, followed by rabbit skin. The body shape and physiological characteristics of meat rabbits are: light head, cylindrical body width and depth, wide and long legs, fast growth and development, good reproductive performance, high feed rate of return, and good meat performance. There are California rabbits, New Zealand white rabbits, Zika meat rabbits, Saibei rabbits and so on.
2. Rabbit for skin use
The economic characteristics of rabbit breeds for skin use are mainly the production of high-quality rabbit skin and rabbit meat. Most of this breed of rabbits are medium and small rabbits, with dense and flat coat
s, bright colors, and dense skin tissue. The fur of the fur rabbit is the raw material for making gorgeous and expensive fur coats and is very popular in the international market. Common skin rabbit breeds include Rex Rabbit (Rex Rabbit), Havana Rabbit, Bright Rabbit, etc.
3. Rabbit for fur
Rabbit for fur, also known as long-haired rabbit, mainly produces rabbit fur. There is only one breed of rabbit for fur, and that is the Angora rabbit. The characteristics of long-haired rabbits are: medium-to-small size, dense fluff, good hair quality, and fast hair growth. They can be harvested about 4 to 5 times a year.
4. Rabbit for both skin and meat use
The rabbit breed for both skin and meat is between meat rabbits and skin rabbits, with no prominent production direction, and both meat and skin production capacity. Common rabbits with both skin and meat include Japanese big-eared white rabbits and German flower giant rabbits.
5. Experimental rabbits
The experimental rabbits are mostly white-coated, red-eyed and have clear ear veins, most of which are Japanese white rabbits.
6. Ornamental rabbits
Ornamental rabbits mainly refer to those rabbit breeds with peculiar shapes and appearances, or gorgeous and peculiar coats, or slightly beautiful physiques, which are specially used for ornamental purposes. Common ornamental rabbits are: pocket small rabbit, Dutch dwarf rabbit, Polish rabbit, ram rabbit, flower giant rabbit, Himalayan rabbit, etc.
Second, according to the type of coat
According to the rabbit coat The length and coat structure are different, and they are mainly divided into three types: standard-haired rabbits, long-haired rabbits and short-haired rabbits.
1. Standard fur rabbits
Standard fur rabbits are also common fur rabbits. The coat of this type of rabbit is about 3.5cm long in coarse hair, and about 2.2cm long in down hair. The lengths of the two types of hair are very different. Most common meat rabbits and both skin and meat rabbits belong to this type. Such as New Zealand White Rabbit, California Rabbit, Chinese White Rabbit, Cyan Blue Rabbit, etc.
2. Long-haired rabbits
The outstanding feature of long-haired rabbits is that they have long coats, the longest hair can be up to 17cm, and both shag and fluff are long hair. The common ones are long-haired rabbits and angora rabbits.
3. Short-haired rabbits
There are few varieties of short-haired rabbits. This type of rabbit is characterized by very short hair fibers, generally 1.3 to 2.2 cm, and the coarse hair is the same as the fluff. Long, without protruding gun hair. Rex Rabbit is a typical representative of short-haired rabbits.
3. Classification according to body size
1. Large rabbit: large The adult rabbit weighs more than 5.0kg, and the common breeds are the German giant white rabbit and the flower giant rabbit.
2. Medium-sized rabbits: Medium-sized rabbits usually weigh 3.0 to 4.5 kg in adulthood. The common ones are New Zealand white rabbits and California rabbits.
3. Small rabbits: The weight of small rabbits in adulthood is mostly 1.5-2.8kg, such as Chinese white rabbits.
4. Miniature rabbits: The weight of miniature rabbits in adulthood is only 0.7-1.45kg, such as small Dutch rabbits.
