Blog Archives

What Does Standard Mean?

10/24/2013

Our Dictionary Meaning is this:
a. An acknowledged measure of comparison for quantitative or qualitative value; a criterion.
b. An object that under specified conditions defines, represents, or records the magnitude of a unit.

You know the old saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover". Well when it comes to our wonderful Holland Lops this rule does not apply. I don't care how sweet and snuggly and wonderful and cute your rabbit is. If it's cover does not match standard then judge it and it's breeder heavily.
ARBA has set a Standard for Hollands. In cats, dogs, birds, there are standards. They are set for a reason, so that you follow them, and breed true to standard. The mainstream thought of anything goes, does not apply. Pedigree does not mean you have a rabbit that is meeting the Standard any more than a birth certificate means you are meeting any sort of standard as a human. If you have a class full of kids, you set rules and standards and guidelines. You expect them to follow them for things to run smooth and correct. Would you ever just take down all the rules and say, do whatever you want, have fun! If you did that, there would be chaos. When you do that with breeding, it is the same, it creates chaos. I get so mad when I see ads for terrible looking animals but are advertised as Pedigreed. Many people sadly perceive this to mean that they are worthy of breeding just because of a pedigree. In a litter of 4 Holland lops, you will be very lucky to have 1 that is true to standard. That means most of the litter is pet or brood quality. When you see people selling entire litters as Pedigreed show stock that is dishonest. Just because something is cute and adorable does not mean that you should breed it. Remember Gremlins!!!
Take the time to look at the stock on some of the top rabbit breeders. If your rabbit does not resemble that stock then odds are it doesn't meet criteria and should not be bred. I like to review this site often. By reading this over and over and over I pose my rabbits and study them carefully. I find this to be a great learning tool as I work on improving my rabbitry.
http://oakridgerabbitry.weebly.com/holland-lop-type.htmll

So please, SET STANDARDS! Not any rabbit will do. You want the best! You want to create the BEST. Just because someone tells you it's good does not make it true. Do your homework and stay true to the Standard and your experience will be so much more rewarding in the long run.
One more thing I would like to clarify is in regards to improving your rabbitry. You must start with good stock. If you have poor quality animals please do not think that you can buy one good rabbit to correct your other ones. This would be a very lengthy process which will create more than enough pet quality rabbits and will rarely get you to your desired goal. If you have poor stock, cut your losses and start fresh.

Babies almost a week old

10/22/2013

Well after a day or two Nixie settled down and has been a great mom ever since. She is very protective of her babies and does not like them to be taken out for daily checks. After a week or so she calms down a lot but she still prefers the checks be done in the cage, she paces when the nestbox is removed. So our little peanut has passed on and our little one eared nubbins is doing fair. I think it's foot was also damaged during deliver which is causing it to have difficulty moving. This difficulty is also causing it, I think, to have difficulty feeding. Some days it seems better than others and I am quite uncertain of it's long term survival. Chubbins however is doing great! Very sweet and beautiful.

2 Legs

10/22/2013

Well we received the paper work from the show and it's official! Zilla has 2 legs! That means she only has to earn one more as a senior and she will be a Grand Champion! This is so exciting for our little rabbitry and our first round of home growns.

The Learning Curve

10/17/2013

I usually have a rule of thumb that most learning curves take 2 weeks. In relationships I think they should require a year at least. In rabbits I am starting to realize it is endless. There are no books, google won't help you. What you think you know, your rabbit will prove otherwise. I conclude you never truly know what to expect, you just become decensitized to the out comes.
My first learning curve I suppose had to be kindling. Trying to revive cold kits born on the wire. The girls being heartbroken that the babies didn't make it. All of us working to warm and revive them. Next having healthy kits and learning about peanuts. My brain refuses to accept this living thing has no chance. I play tricks with myself and try to convince myself it's possibly just a runt. My daughters however quickly see it for what it is and would prefer to put them down.
So just when I think I understand my does one throws me a curve ball. When she is bred, weather she takes or not, she begins scratching usually by day 25 and carrying hay. I give her a nest box and voila, nest galore. Well, this time around, no sign of nesting. In fact she ate most of the straw from her nest box. She never showed a single sign. To make matters worse, I got her out to feel for kits on day 27 and felt nothing. No movement at all. So I truly did not think she would kindle. Then on day 31 she gobbled up her morning food, which again made me think, yep she missed. So later in the afternoon I go out and there she is kindling. She had eaten most of the straw and pulled no fur. So my first goal was to warm the babies up. I added a bunch of cotton balls. I did save some of her fur from her previous nesting. All seemed well. 2 healthy torts and a peanut. So later I go to make sure they are retaining heat and notice right off they are not. I took them inside and notice she had eaten one of the healthy babies ears. This was long after they had been cleaned. I don't know how you could ever prepare for the unpredictable antics of a rabbit. So we finally have a live litter from Nixie. How long they will last in her care is unknown.

Rabbits on the brain!

10/15/2013

When I first starting reading about Hollands I was instantly enamored with them. Now that I own them... I am border line psychotic. Every day I can't resist looking through rabbitries and wishing they had something for sale that I might want and wishing it was conveinent. It dawned on me yesterday while I was reading something that contained the word does. It was in the context of "does anyone have any costume ideas?" I however read does and thought instantly, female rabbit. Sigh. Does anyone have Does?

Clippy clip clip clip clip

10/12/2013

One thing I have come to learn while own rabbits is that nail clippers are really magical things that can relocate to mysterious places at any given time. I don't know how many clippers I have bought over the last couple of months. I finally resorted to just plain human nail clippers, being that they are much cheaper and will be gone before I know it anyhow. No matter how organized we try to be with our bunny things, the clippers are always gone.
On a second note, I liked these pictures because they demonstrate something I enjoy about our small rabbitry. Because we are small (too small) we have plenty of time to hold and give our rabbits lots of one on one. Even the ugly juniors. By doing this, it makes our life easier in the long run. Simple things that need to be checked run smooth because our rabbits are used to us. From the time they are born we make sure to lay them on their backs as we rub their feet and check their teeth. This creates a routine that helps when we need to care for them. Then when we go to clip nails, instead of having a rabbit clawing and flipping all over the place... we have this....

Hooray for Home Growns!

10/5/2013

Our little Zilla took best of class, best of variety and best of breed! What an exciting thing for our rabbitry. As honored as we are to have our beautiful foundation stock, our primary goal was to breed and show our own rabbits. It was very neat to be able to do just that and win! Ava also took a best in Class and Zilla got best of opposite in her second show.

Woodland show on Saturday

10/3/2013

We are looking forward to a fun show on Saturday. Of course I would think most people go to the shows in hopes of winning but this is also fun for a few other reasons. I get to see my kids enjoy their hobby. It's only our second show so we are a bit more prepared this time. And most exciting of all, we get to show a couple of our home growns.