Monday, July 11, 2005
In the Barn
I have lots of babies in the barn right now. Many were born around July 3 (thankfully before the fireworks scared my poor does). This seems to be a good month for milk. Does seem to go in cycles on their milk production. Some months, almost all of the does have weak milk, except maybe one or two known for good milk production. Other times, all of the does have excellent milk. This is an excellent milk month! I don't know if it's differences in feed at different times of the year, phases of the moon, or some other cycle we cannot detect, but there is an ebb and flow to milk production.
I'm especially happy about this being a good milk time because Katee had 7 live kits (plus 1 stillborn) and she's one who has had late milk in the past. I lost half of her previous two litters and I believe it was due to late milk production. Her babies were born a couple of days ago and were full of milk this morning when I checked on them. She produced such a wonderful litter with LL Brendan last time (7 kits then, too) that I am very excited about this litter. Folks have already started lining up to buy them, but it will be 6 months or more before I let any go and I get first picks! You can see Brook from her last litter with Brendan at www.thenaturetrail.com/Does and LaForge, her brother, at www.thenaturetrail.com/Bucks.
Raqel is gathering up hay early for her next litter, due in a few days (see my Nursery at www.thenaturetrail.com/Nursery for does' due dates and litters). For the third time, I've told myself I would find her a nice retirement home if she misses, and, for the third time, she's come through at the last minute. She's an older doe who produced Saynora's DW Digger, a 45-leg rabbit (legs are wins, not limbs). So I've babied her through this last year. She's had some runts that didn't make it and a brood doe, but only one litter with three viable kits in it. They are about 3 months old now. I'm hoping that I made a good match for her on this, her last litter.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry
"Holland Lops of Distinction"
Ararat, VA
www.thenaturetrail.com ¶ 1:44 PM
I'm especially happy about this being a good milk time because Katee had 7 live kits (plus 1 stillborn) and she's one who has had late milk in the past. I lost half of her previous two litters and I believe it was due to late milk production. Her babies were born a couple of days ago and were full of milk this morning when I checked on them. She produced such a wonderful litter with LL Brendan last time (7 kits then, too) that I am very excited about this litter. Folks have already started lining up to buy them, but it will be 6 months or more before I let any go and I get first picks! You can see Brook from her last litter with Brendan at www.thenaturetrail.com/Does and LaForge, her brother, at www.thenaturetrail.com/Bucks.
Raqel is gathering up hay early for her next litter, due in a few days (see my Nursery at www.thenaturetrail.com/Nursery for does' due dates and litters). For the third time, I've told myself I would find her a nice retirement home if she misses, and, for the third time, she's come through at the last minute. She's an older doe who produced Saynora's DW Digger, a 45-leg rabbit (legs are wins, not limbs). So I've babied her through this last year. She's had some runts that didn't make it and a brood doe, but only one litter with three viable kits in it. They are about 3 months old now. I'm hoping that I made a good match for her on this, her last litter.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry
"Holland Lops of Distinction"
Ararat, VA
www.thenaturetrail.com ¶ 1:44 PM
Comments:
Links to this post:
<< Home
Congratulations on the new litters. Do you have names chosen yet? Maybe they could be patriotic names since they were born the 4th of July weekend. I had three born and their names will be Patriot, Independence and Freedom. Liberty would be a good name too, but I already have a doe with that name. How do you choose names for a litter? Do you choose a theme for a litter or just base it on the rabbits personality?
I usually choose names at around 3 months old when I assign ear numbers. I'll have to remember the patriotic theme. I'm limited to 7-letter names if I want to register the rabbit with my full prefix (hint to new folks--don't choose a long prefix name like I did). I'll have to use that idea for Trista and Yankee Doodle Dandy's litter, born on the Fourth of July. With a father like that and that birthday, how can I select anything else?
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
<< Home
