For many who get into this hobby, it is all too often, about the babies. Understandably so, as I feel Holland Lop babies are not only some of the cutest of all rabbits, but of all animals on the planet! I adore them. They never become boring to me. Perhaps because we have so few litters that we still find so much joy in them. Studying them has become even more enjoyable than the babies. It didn't take long for us to comprehend how much more there was to the hobby than just buying two nice rabbits and putting them together. It is my opinion that I could buy 2 top notch rabbits and still only end up with average stuff. One reason is this, I feel that even though you are buying nice stock from breeders you still need to have the smarts to know what to breed to what. So even if you get a pair from a breeder, it doesn't mean that breeder would ever breed those two together. I think it is so important to pick apart each rabbit and decide what you would like to accomplish out of a breeding,more so than just babies.
We recently kept a doe who was not as typey as we would like. I wrote a blog on her in the past. We chose to keep her because of her very large crown, her very full hind quarters, her very heavy bone and her extra white sable coat. It would be our first line breeding. We knew we were taking a risk that we may end up with nothing but poor quality. The babies are now only 4 weeks old and we still can't fully assess how they will turn out. But so far we think we have one male that we like. Much more growing to do before we will know for certain. As far as babies go, this is the cutest one we have produced, which long term could mean nothing.
The interesting part will be finding out how well this litter turns out. Because a good many breeders would have gotten rid of this doe. Too many breeders it seems, only keep what they think they can show and don't seem to focus on what they could use to improve their herd. We like to find balance between the two and hopefully over time we will have something to show for it.
We recently kept a doe who was not as typey as we would like. I wrote a blog on her in the past. We chose to keep her because of her very large crown, her very full hind quarters, her very heavy bone and her extra white sable coat. It would be our first line breeding. We knew we were taking a risk that we may end up with nothing but poor quality. The babies are now only 4 weeks old and we still can't fully assess how they will turn out. But so far we think we have one male that we like. Much more growing to do before we will know for certain. As far as babies go, this is the cutest one we have produced, which long term could mean nothing.
The interesting part will be finding out how well this litter turns out. Because a good many breeders would have gotten rid of this doe. Too many breeders it seems, only keep what they think they can show and don't seem to focus on what they could use to improve their herd. We like to find balance between the two and hopefully over time we will have something to show for it.
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