A TAMUK-C resource

Bred with a purpose...

What They Were Bred For

Dr. Lukefahr's goals for the TAMUK Composite, and how breeders can keep them

Compiled and maintained by Southern Paws & Claws Homestead · Last updated September 2026

Every trait in the TAMUK Composite traces back to a purpose. Dr. Lukefahr wasn't breeding for the show table. He was breeding a rabbit that would keep producing, year after year, in the kind of heat that wears most rabbits down. This page lays out what he selected for, in his own words and the university's, and what that means for breeders today.

1. The Purpose

Dr. Lukefahr began crossing breeds to put meat on his own family's table.⁽¹⁾For many years, the Composites were raised only in his backyard, solely for meat production. ⁽²⁾The university described the finished breed as best suited to small-scale backyard production, and stated plainly that it is not a commercial breed. ⁽¹⁾

His goals went beyond meat. He wanted steady production, boosted by the hybrid vigor that comes from crossing breeds, and he chose breeds that carried the major genes for coat color. ⁽¹⁾

2. Mothering and Production

The ability to produce good litters year-round, even in hot-humid climates.
Dr. Lukefahr, on what makes TAMUK rabbits valuable ⁽²⁾

For does, he called the steady production of good litters the most important trait of all, and said it reflects the traits underneath it: nest building, litter size, and milking ability. Bucks should come from dams with that same record. ⁽²⁾

The university later crossed the Composite with its Tamuk New Zealand White line to strengthen exactly these traits: fertility, litter size, milk production, and growth. ⁽¹⁾

3. Built for Heat

The Composite was selected for consistent performance in a hot environment. ⁽²⁾ The university credited its long ears and thin coats as adaptations to heat. ⁽¹⁾ Dr. Lukefahr's own research on ears found the picture more complicated, and that study used other breeds, not the Composite. ⁽³⁾ See Common Claims for the details.

Heat tolerance isn't guaranteed to last. Dr. Lukefahr said it could fade in rabbits no longer raised in the heat, and that the breed will keep adapting to hotter summers only if breeders keep selecting the rabbits that produce best in hot conditions. ⁽²⁾

4. Growth, by the Numbers

Very little growth data has ever been published on the Composite. In the summer of 2011, a growth study at TAMUK compared Composites with Tamuk New Zealand Whites and found no significant difference in growth between the two. The rabbits were weighed at 8 weeks and again at 12 weeks, the typical age for fryers in developing countries, and the study was run in summer to match hot, humid climates.⁽²⁾

Rabbits were fed one of three diets: commercial pellets, sweet potato forage with half the usual pellets, or wilted sweet potato forage alone. Because the two breeds performed alike, the results below combine both. ⁽²⁾

	Pellets	Sweet potato + half pellets	Sweet potato only
Weight at 8 weeks	1,226 g (2.7 lb)	1,203 g (2.7 lb)	1,222 g (2.7 lb)
Daily gain	26.5 g	19.1 g	15.4 g
Weight at 12 weeks	2,146 g (4.7 lb)	1,875 g (4.1 lb)	1,761 g (3.9 lb)
Feed per unit of gain	3.88	3.75	4.26

In general, Dr. Lukefahr noted, the Tamuk New Zealand White line was heavier than the Composite, since smaller breeds like the Dutch and Havana went into the Composite. ⁽²⁾

5. Keeping the Breed Healthy

The university's breeding plan for the Composite was built to conserve genetic variation: keep fewer than three does per buck, mate rabbits at random except for close relatives, and do no further selection. ⁽¹⁾

His advice to breeders follows the same thinking:

Select for production first. Identify your most productive rabbits, then cull those that don't fit other traits. ⁽²⁾
Cull less fertile rabbits, especially bucks whose fertility drops in the heat. ⁽²⁾
Don't select for uniformity in type, color, or weight. Diversity is part of the breed. ⁽²⁾
Avoid inbreeding. Lines developed separately should eventually be crossed to restore variety. ⁽²⁾

His favorite project, in Cameroon, followed the same idea: farmers selected rabbits from their most productive parents and avoided inbreeding by exchanging unrelated bucks each year. ⁽²⁾

6. Color

Color was a goal from the start. Dr. Lukefahr chose breeds carrying the major coat color genes, ⁽¹⁾ and the university listed agouti and black, blue, chocolate, and lilac, creme and opal, seal and siamese, chinchilla, himalayan and albino, steel, harlequin (japanese and magpie), and red among the colors in the population. ⁽¹⁾ He doesn't believe color or pattern affects production, ⁽²⁾ and some producers have tanned and sold the multicolored hides. ⁽²⁾See Common Claims for questions about specific colors and coats.

Sources

(1) TAMUK Rabbit Breeding and Teaching Program page
Dr. Steven D. Lukefahr, Texas A&M University–Kingsville, last updated 2016
— (original page no longer online) · Archived copy

(2) Correspondence with Dr. Steven D. Lukefahr, 2022–2024
Compiled and published by Daniel Moore
— Original · Archived copy

(3) Rabbit growth performance in a subtropical and semi-arid environment: effects of fur clipping, ear length, and body temperature
Lukefahr & Ruiz-Feria, Livestock Research for Rural Development, Volume 15, Issue 2, 2003
— Original · Archived copy

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