Sometimes I peruse the rabbitries or classifieds that have 6 week old babies for sale. I look at some of mine at 6 weeks, all still with their mom snuggled up and I instantly feel saddened. Not that I expect everyone to keep every rabbit they've ever bred, but if you are going to breed, you have to do it for some purpose other than just creating babies. Just making money and having fun with babies is such a horrible reason to love animals. But I think of how they must just really enjoy things. Never being held accountable for their lies. Just blissfully raising babies and making money. Never dealing with the ups and downs of the uglies. Or the immense feed bill as you grow out juniors, or the mass amounts of nail clipping and health checks. Or the stress of cage space. They just blissfully play with them while they are sweet and adorable and send them on their way. How easy rabbit raising must be for them.
I on the other hand begin routines from the day the baby is born. We rub paws and handle so that they are very prepared for human relationships. We check teeth on a weekly basis. We continually monitor the health of all of our animals. We get to know and understand each behavior and trait of our animals, so that when we do place them, we hopefully have a good match for them. We recently had a little buck born on Valentines day. He was found on the wire and cold, but warmed up quickly. He was a singleton that had to be fostered to another litter. Within days he was not thriving. I spent much time with him in his first few weeks of life making sure he was getting fed. Even with the extra help the cute guy just didn't grow. Well, while spending so much extra time with a rabbit you get more attached to them. At almost 3 months he is just over 1 pound. Now sure, I could have shipped him off at 6 weeks and wished him luck. Because the odds of me using him in my program are limited. So I could have made that cut early. But I am not in it for the money. I am in it because I care dearly about the Holland lop breed. Not about a specific color, or trait, but the breed itself. This rabbit will require a very special home. And until I encounter someone I see fit, I don't plan on him going anywhere.
I spent some time getting pics of our juniors the other day. Always so funny when their fur is molting across their face. I've grown to love this goofy transition. With our newly discovered dilute I am still working to understand it. Our blue tort buck that we have fallen so in love with has molted into what now appears to be a blue point. His type is however very nice so we struggle with our goal, of keeping what we can show, or keeping something that has good type that could still benefit our breeding program. He still has some growing to do and someone who would really love to have him should we decide to bid him farewell.
Our fuzzy Holland is, well to be honest, a mess! I brush her multiple times a week, which I am assuming you don't have to do as much once they finish a molt. I should have taken pictures of the mass amounts of fur that I brush from her. She is still however adorable and lives up to her name, Glam. Our neighbor has fallen in love with her and will be taking her soon which will be nice so that we can still see her develop.
Belle, the dam who produced the 3 fuzzy hollands, our biggest boned doe, also produced the blue point, a blue tort and a beautiful sable. We have been watching them grow and it is looking like this sable is probably the best we have produced. All three have incredible type and are no doubt show worthy. Now it's just making a decision who we feel will help us in our next round of line breeding. Trouble, produced a litter that at first I was less than thrilled about. As they continue to mature I am really seeing some nice changes. We for sure love the blue tort doe and have no doubts about her staying. We also have two really nice sables and a solid tort doe that we will possibly be looking to place after we grow them a bit longer. At this point all 3 are looking to be show worthy but one doe is very very small, so I prefer to put her into a home that is not interested in breeding. I'm hoping to be listing our sale stock by the end of May.
Honey also produced some incredible stock. In fact she has no doubt out produced herself. Quinne has a little broken doe that she is very excited to show, along with a nice solid buck. Quinnes luck has been known to be bad in our rabbitry, despite the fact she puts the most effort into it. So I am really really crossing my fingers that her little broken doe works out well for her. She is a sassy little thing and although she can pose, she gets very irritated at our desire to have her do so. I think this picture captures her grumpy expression when we put her on the table.
I on the other hand begin routines from the day the baby is born. We rub paws and handle so that they are very prepared for human relationships. We check teeth on a weekly basis. We continually monitor the health of all of our animals. We get to know and understand each behavior and trait of our animals, so that when we do place them, we hopefully have a good match for them. We recently had a little buck born on Valentines day. He was found on the wire and cold, but warmed up quickly. He was a singleton that had to be fostered to another litter. Within days he was not thriving. I spent much time with him in his first few weeks of life making sure he was getting fed. Even with the extra help the cute guy just didn't grow. Well, while spending so much extra time with a rabbit you get more attached to them. At almost 3 months he is just over 1 pound. Now sure, I could have shipped him off at 6 weeks and wished him luck. Because the odds of me using him in my program are limited. So I could have made that cut early. But I am not in it for the money. I am in it because I care dearly about the Holland lop breed. Not about a specific color, or trait, but the breed itself. This rabbit will require a very special home. And until I encounter someone I see fit, I don't plan on him going anywhere.
I spent some time getting pics of our juniors the other day. Always so funny when their fur is molting across their face. I've grown to love this goofy transition. With our newly discovered dilute I am still working to understand it. Our blue tort buck that we have fallen so in love with has molted into what now appears to be a blue point. His type is however very nice so we struggle with our goal, of keeping what we can show, or keeping something that has good type that could still benefit our breeding program. He still has some growing to do and someone who would really love to have him should we decide to bid him farewell.
Our fuzzy Holland is, well to be honest, a mess! I brush her multiple times a week, which I am assuming you don't have to do as much once they finish a molt. I should have taken pictures of the mass amounts of fur that I brush from her. She is still however adorable and lives up to her name, Glam. Our neighbor has fallen in love with her and will be taking her soon which will be nice so that we can still see her develop.
Belle, the dam who produced the 3 fuzzy hollands, our biggest boned doe, also produced the blue point, a blue tort and a beautiful sable. We have been watching them grow and it is looking like this sable is probably the best we have produced. All three have incredible type and are no doubt show worthy. Now it's just making a decision who we feel will help us in our next round of line breeding. Trouble, produced a litter that at first I was less than thrilled about. As they continue to mature I am really seeing some nice changes. We for sure love the blue tort doe and have no doubts about her staying. We also have two really nice sables and a solid tort doe that we will possibly be looking to place after we grow them a bit longer. At this point all 3 are looking to be show worthy but one doe is very very small, so I prefer to put her into a home that is not interested in breeding. I'm hoping to be listing our sale stock by the end of May.
Honey also produced some incredible stock. In fact she has no doubt out produced herself. Quinne has a little broken doe that she is very excited to show, along with a nice solid buck. Quinnes luck has been known to be bad in our rabbitry, despite the fact she puts the most effort into it. So I am really really crossing my fingers that her little broken doe works out well for her. She is a sassy little thing and although she can pose, she gets very irritated at our desire to have her do so. I think this picture captures her grumpy expression when we put her on the table.
RSS Feed
