1. Obtain good foundation stock. Purchase what you can afford, preferably colors that work well together or with your existing colors at home and go from there. Don't buy culls and hope you can get good rabbits from them, they are culled from another breeders herd because they have too many faults to fix.
2. Breed true to color!! This is especially true with castors, breed only castor to castor. Don't breed broken or black into them, you'll darken the surface & ring color. We have many different breeding lines in our barn, we have the broken castors, which are bred only to broken castors, our castor to castor line, white to white and finally our black/otter/broken black lines. We do use our whites with our broken blacks.
3. Cull, Cull, Cull. I can't emphasis this more. Have an ideal in your head and cull to that ideal. If you aren't sure exactly what you should be looking for ask an experienced breeder, believe me, they would be more than happy to help you. Culling is very important part of breeding any animal to a standard, find what works best in your barn.
4. Quality feed. Locate a quality feed in your area. Don't switch feeds often, it can really throw rabbits off in both show & breeding condition. In addition to a quality pellet, good quality hay should be offered as well, especially to young stock. We feed hay 3-4 times per week and we give all baby groups, nursing does, molting rabbits, & all show stock a small amount of hay. In addition to hay, we also give our show rabbits a conditioning mix that consists of: rolled oats, rolled barley, whole sunflower seeds & calf manna. They get about a 1/2 teaspoon about 3x per week. We only feed this during heavy show season and during the cold winter months. Finally, provide fresh & clean water at all times.
5. Positive attitude! What I have learned in breeding Mini Rex is that you have good years and you have down years. I believe this happens in all breeds and to all breeders. By having a positive outlook you'll make it during those down years and come back stronger than ever the next. Helping new and youth breeders can be very rewarding part of raising rabbits. Take pride in helping them learn about Mini Rex and offer them good quality foundation stock to start. Those new & youth breeders who have had guidance from experienced breeders seem to be the ones that stick around, which is a great thing for our hobby!!!
I hope this advice is something you can take back and use in your rabbit barn! -Maple