I had a fun day playing with babies today. I brought everyone in and put them together. I imagined chaos. Instead they all flopped down for naptime. I couldn't really get any great photos that I loved but it was fun to see them all together. My favorite Doe is still Honey. Ooh La La. Kami is pondering if she wants to go to the Feb show or not being that her sisters have nothing to show. And our cute little bucks are getting nicer by the day. Crossing our fingers they come out of the uglies in a GREAT way.
Perhaps this is common knowledge amongst breeders but I have recently discovered something. This is our first winter with baby bunnies. Our garage protects them from the elements but it by no means protects them from the cold. I have read that winter babies are known for shorter ears. To be honest I have a good mix so not sure that is something I will put a lot of faith in. I have however had 3 litters with extreme ear control. This is coming from bucks and does with no ear control so I was a bit confused and dismayed. Well in the midst of shuffling babies around now that they are weaned, I have brought 2 inside. Now that they have been in for a week their ears have finally dropped. So to test it out I brought in another and sure enough it's ears are also starting to drop. All the ones outside are still full upright. So it may mean nothing but I found it interesting just the same.
I had a fun day playing with babies today. I brought everyone in and put them together. I imagined chaos. Instead they all flopped down for naptime. I couldn't really get any great photos that I loved but it was fun to see them all together. My favorite Doe is still Honey. Ooh La La. Kami is pondering if she wants to go to the Feb show or not being that her sisters have nothing to show. And our cute little bucks are getting nicer by the day. Crossing our fingers they come out of the uglies in a GREAT way. Owning bunnies can be as rewarding as it can be challenging. In the past I have dealt with slightly crusty eyes, to full blown Conjunctivitis. I have found myself without Teramycin which is commonly used to treat eye conditions in rabbits. The online companies have been on back order and me being scatter brained have forgotten to purchase it at the shows. In some ways this was okay because I truly believe in a holistic approach much of the time. So while doing my research I learned that coconut oil is excellent for humans and animals alike for treating eye conditions. For those of you not familiar with it, you buy it in a solid form. Within seconds of taking a small amount out it breaks down into an oil. I have one rabbit who continually gets a wet eye. So I thought, what the heck lets try this out. To my surprise after one treatment with coconut oil he is fine. This is the first time in months! I was so pleased with the outcome that I felt like sharing.
Upon much reading I also came across an interesting fact. Sadly rabbits are used for testing, as their eyes are very close to us humans. So when in a pinch, most over the counter eye meds have already been tested on rabbits and if they are safe on our eyes, they are also safe for rabbits. I am not so willing to try it out, as I am content with coconut oil, but thought it was interesting just the same. Okay I admit. I am a stalker. I often look at Holland Lop websites. Sometimes just our state, sometimes all states. You come to get used to how they are broken down. Bucks, does. Juniors. And of course the delightful nestbox. Hints of sarcasm. So I have chosen to elaborate my definition of these animals and thier titles. This is of course my opinion and probably not found in your average dictionary.
Lets start with my favorite one! The Herd Buck: This animal should be of immense quality. He should have as many strong features as you can possibly cram into your rabbit. Granted some of us can't afford to go out and get the best animal in the country. We can however do our homework. Save up and obtain something that is at least worth working with. You will probably never encounter a herd buck at the age of 7 weeks. Why is that? Because you have no clue how that animal is going to turn out. Believe me, I learned this the financially hard way. I bought a herd buck as baby. I look back now and want to slap myself. I knew better. From my days of raising show animals. It was desperate and stupid of me. What I purchased as a supposed herd buck turned into this horrible giant beast of a rabbit with a terrible slipped crown a huge dip in it's shoulders and to be quite honest doesn't even look like a Holland lop. Luckily I snapped out of my desperation and never used this animal. From there I moved onto a buck who had much better type. He was however, far from perfect. He was only slightly slipped, which sadly is common in Hollands. He was however weak in shoulders and I wasn't pleased with his ears. His length was great but the shape wasn't what I wanted. So despite the fact he is developing quite the amazing head he doesn't offer enough in all the other areas for me to consider him a true Herd Buck. He was great while we were learning though. But as a breeder, when I look at other sights and see what people are using as their herd stock it is very upsetting to me. I wish people would realize the terrible traits that you see are usually going to pass down to your stock. Personally I would never ever use a rabbit with severe slipped crown or terribly long ears. If you have weak shoulders you can hope to find a good doe to improve that. But the terrible head and ears seem to be difficult to eradicate. Does: Your does should consist of quality stock. To be honest, I don't think there should be a huge difference between a brood doe and a show doe. I have been seeing too many people use brood doe to describe a horrible looking doe. This isn't how it works. If a Holland lop has long body, slipped crown, extra long ears and a dipped shoulder, it isn't a brood, it's a pet. This animal should not be used for breeding. I would like to think that my does could all compete at shows. On some occasions your doe may exceed the weight limit. This would of course put her in the brood category. She should still have excellent type besides her weight. Juniors: This one is just a quirky one for me. I like to think the reputable breeder has a spot to show off their juniors. It also demonstrates the fact that you are taking time to grow out and evaluate your stock. I think it is a good way to view what you are producing and if you are improving. Nestbox: All too often I see this on pages with rabbitries who appear to be breeding for mass production instead of selecting quality traits to improve upon. I have noticed often times as well it is the same row of does year after year which only becomes more clear this rabbitry has no intentions of improving only intentions of breeding. Boooo Hisss. So yet again another rant from me. On the bright side I have seen a surge of people working to improve! Hooray for that. The more everyone works to improve their stock and their lines the more it helps all of us in the long run. And most importantly the better it is for this wonderful breed we love so much! So I thought I would address my views on this topic. First off let me start by saying my first lops I brought home I chose to keep them inside in a cage until Spring. So I started out with a litter pan and some form of rabbit litter. I was extremely surprised to learn that they really do use and prefer their litter box. I would leave the cage door open for short supervised periods of time and they would run back to their cage and use the bathroom. Impressive. However, my version of litter trained or potty trained is more like that of a cat. I would never ever find it okay for my cat to occasionally pee or poop on me. And I have found with rabbits, that although they prefer to go in their litter box, they also don't seem to care if they let loose on you when the time comes. That being said I also don't think it is something that they have to learn from an early age. I have taken rabbits that have been in an outdoor pen their entire lives and brought them inside and they were instantly trained. So it is a great option but I don't think it is fool proof. I think you still end up cleaning up after them more than you would a typical potty trained pet. You can sleep with a potty trained pet in your bed. You can not sleep with a rabbit. So as I see more and more ads online for Potty Trained rabbits I do hope people do their homework and that breeders are also explaining it better because in the end, I can see some people feeling very let down and possibly end up not wanting the pet after all. When I explain the training I like to emphasis that it is really nice having the option to easily dump their litter pan every day instead of having to clean the entire cage but not to rely on them never going anywhere else.
Well, a couple of things have happened in just one day! We accomplished one of our goals! We started a Facebook page. This was difficult on many levels. For those of you that don't know, the rabbitry is mainly run by our children. The rabbits are theirs and they decide what they will be growing out and selling. They decide if they want to show. Do I guide them along the way? Most definitely. I set up the website as a way to develop our herd. Our blog became a learning tool for me to teach and express to them. So when Kait decided she wanted to set up and control the facebook page I was a bit hesitant. Letting go of that bit of control is not easy. But at the same time it is as it should be.
Where would any of us be, if it weren't for the goals that brought us here. Before I can just leap into our goals for the new year, lets take a look back.
Just over a year ago we set a goal of learning about Holland lop rabbits and showing them. Boy did we do this. First by learning we started out wrong. Then by learning how difficult it really is. We learned to fine tune what it was we really wanted. Our number one goal for 2013 was to show a homegrown rabbit. Mission accomplished and we even earned 2 legs doing so. We were hoping to grand champion our homegrown but I suppose we can just push that goal right into 2014. So we have some simple goals and some larger ones. Anyone who knows me, knows I am a hermit. I truly belong in cave far far away from civilization. No phones, no people. Just nature and my family and a few occasional pre-announced friends. This part of me makes some of these goals very difficult. So we will start with the simple ones. 1. Water Bottles. We have learned crocks become gross very quickly. 2. More toys. Our bunnies are so playful and are continually amused by any toys we happen to give them. 3. More cages. A year ago, even six months ago I didn't think our space would fill up so quickly. 12 holes seemed like plenty. Especially when we had so many misses and lost kits, etc. But here we are almost in a panic needing cages immediately. 4. Assemble our lovely binder that was started for us by Little Rascals Rabbitry. Organizing our pedigrees and rabbitry information. 5. Grand Champion a home grown and continue showing more homegrowns. 6. Build a bunny barn and leave the comforts of our garage. Sigh. I do love just going out the back door into bunny world. But we need more space so hopefully we can save up and make a fun little barn to move into. 7. Obtain a new Herd Buck. 8. Create our facebook page and Sell some of our stock. This is the hard one. This means I have to leave the cave. We have to put our face out there for all to see. We have to part with some of our beloved babies and seniors. 9. Be selective. Our first year was a year of much learning. We bred to learn type and growth. We purchased stock to get us started. We made choices we would not make now. We have learned more what we want and we don't need to settle for just anything. 10. Take our time and have fun. As much as I want to protect and raise wonderful typey Hollands, it is pointless if we aren't having fun along the way. I don't want the competitive shows or the poor quality breeders to take away from all of the love and enjoyment that we put into our rabbits. For as long as I can remember I have loved to color. We all seem to start out with that half hazard phase of coloring this way and that way with no rhyme or reason. Then you eventually learn to color with flow and stay within the lines. You learn to shade and take your time. You outline. You progress.
I am not really trying to give you a lesson in coloring. I was hoping more to use it to answer a question. I have been asked several times now, "Why do you hate color?" So it has had me pondering. And the truth is, I don't hate color at all. In fact if I had it my way, I would have a giant barn full of any color I pleased. The reality is however that in many breeds color is well known for taking away the true qualities of the breed. It's not just in rabbits that the term "Color Breeders" is used. But just like in my analogy of Coloring, you must take your time and outline a plan and progress. All too often I see adds for Chocolates, or lilacs or blues. And if you take time to learn type you quickly develop an eye for the fact these colors seem to lack something. I feel almost as the breeders become so enthralled in creating a pretty color they forget to take their time and outline a plan. Even in the Torts, which are best known for type, you must have a plan. you must aim to progress. When we started out, our main objective was to breed our own homegrowns to show. We accomplished that. So I suppose we could just sit back and keep breeding the same ole rabbits and keep doing what we are doing. But in a way that is kind of like coloring with no rhyme or reason. Instead we have reviewed our stock. Our favorite herd buck that we are so dearly in love with is actually not as good as we would like. We now notice things about our stock that we would like to correct or improve. In many rabbitries I see all too often nestbox after nestbox filled with baby bunnies that looked just as terrible as the previous litter. I don't hate their color. I am bothered that the breeders never evaluate their stock and aim to improve. They know they have extra long ears and terribly slipped crowns but they continue doing the same breedings instead of working hard to find a rabbit to correct their problems. If you look at sights like Luvops, they have Otters, blues, and even Chinchilla and LOOK at them! They are incredible. They don't have those long thin ears. They don't have those slipped crowns. They don't have those dipped shoulders. They have color, but they took the time to learn, they outlined a plan and they progressed. And I love their color! |
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June 2016
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