Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Joint Breeding Projects
Our friends Lisa and Fayth Young came over today. We looked at bunnies and ate ice cream (our routine), and Lisa picked up rabbit feed. Last time she came over, we did some breeding together. We enjoy our joint breeding projects.
Joint Breeding Projects
Joint breeding projects are a way to have tons of fun with a friend who is also a breeder. You don’t have to make any huge changes—no need to combine rabbitries to have this fun. Just find someone you enjoy spending time with who has a similar philosophy about bunnies—and has the same breed as you.
The benefits are substantial. You have a vested interest in your friend’s bunnies and she or he in yours. You have something to talk about, hope for, and rejoice over together. Anticipating something wonderful together is just, well, fun!
There are risks: miscommunication, hurt feelings, and even loss of friendship. So let’s discuss some ways to do projects together maximizing the benefits and eliminating the pitfalls.
Choose Wisely
Choose your breeding partners wisely. Make sure you have visited your friend’s rabbitry and that his rabbitry management practices are acceptable to you. You do run the risk of introducing disease, especially vent disease, into your herd.
Choose someone who has a similar intensity about our hobby as you. If you are laid back, it may not be wise to partner with someone who is driven. If you are serious about your rabbits, you may be disappointed with a partner who has a casual attitude.
Choose someone you trust. You will rely on your partner to report births and kit development accurately. And you rely on him or her to follow through with their end of the bargain.
Choose someone with a win-win attitude. Only go into a partnership if you believe that each partner has an opportunity to benefit from your arrangement. That’s the only way that you will both be satisfied in the end. Let me stress “opportunity.” You may do ten breedings together and have only one really super kit and only one of you gets it. But each of you should have had a chance with whatever agreement you made.
Agreements
Be clear with each other about your arrangements. It may be better to make your arrangements via email rather than by phone or word. It takes time to have a litter and grow it out and memories fade. Make sure your agreement is in writing. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just something you can both refer back to.
Agreements are flexible and can be made to suit your situation. I think that it’s a good idea to give the breeder with the doe the first pick of the litter because she does more work and takes a bigger risk with her doe. But, if the buck is the more outstanding rabbit of the two, you may decide to have the owner of the buck get first pick.
My friend Alison and I typically agreed to two litters. I would get pick out of the first and she would get the balance of the litter (or vice versa). Then we’d reverse on the second litter. It’s true that one of us may get the better rabbit, but our chances were the same in the beginning.
My friend Dani and I agreed that the owner of the sire would get the best doe. And the owner of the dam would be the best buck. Unfortunately Nina missed, so we’ll have to try that one again sometime. Are you listening, Dani? I can leave Nina open for the Shelby show!
My friend Lisa and I agreed that that the owner of the does gets the pick, but we bred her does to my foundation bucks and vice versa. So we each are getting first picks of some litters and second of others. We have about a half dozen litters between us due in the next few days.
I lent a fabulous, but hard-to-breed grand champion doe to my friend Linda Norris. Our agreement is that she keeps the kits from the litter and then I get my doe back, hopefully ready to breed again (she does well when she first goes to a new barn, so we hope to trick her into thinking my barn is new again). If it all works out, we’ll both get some kits.
So you see, joint projects can take many forms.
The Details
Be sure to discuss who gets the balance of the litter, whether the partner has first choice to buy other kits in the litter, whether the kits are available to sell to the partner’s direct competition, and other details like that. I never limit the showing of rabbits that I sell, but I can understand that a friend might not like to help me breed a bunny that beats her on the table.
Limitations
Just because you engage in joint projects does mean that you should feel that you have to make every rabbit available to your friends. Lisa understands that I won’t let anyone use Bear, Ox, Rio, Boris, or LaForge because I have not yet begun to get bunnies from them for myself. Maybe in a year or two, I will feel differently, but not now.
Also, because you have chosen a few friends to do projects with is no reason to feel that you must extend the offer to others. Personally, I have enough going on right now without engaging in any more joint projects.
Have fun with your joint projects. Keep the win-win attitude going. Remember this is a hobby and should be fun!
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry
“Holland Lops of Distinction”
Ararat, VA
www.thenaturetrail.com
¶ 3:12 PM
Joint Breeding Projects
Joint breeding projects are a way to have tons of fun with a friend who is also a breeder. You don’t have to make any huge changes—no need to combine rabbitries to have this fun. Just find someone you enjoy spending time with who has a similar philosophy about bunnies—and has the same breed as you.
The benefits are substantial. You have a vested interest in your friend’s bunnies and she or he in yours. You have something to talk about, hope for, and rejoice over together. Anticipating something wonderful together is just, well, fun!
There are risks: miscommunication, hurt feelings, and even loss of friendship. So let’s discuss some ways to do projects together maximizing the benefits and eliminating the pitfalls.
Choose Wisely
Choose your breeding partners wisely. Make sure you have visited your friend’s rabbitry and that his rabbitry management practices are acceptable to you. You do run the risk of introducing disease, especially vent disease, into your herd.
Choose someone who has a similar intensity about our hobby as you. If you are laid back, it may not be wise to partner with someone who is driven. If you are serious about your rabbits, you may be disappointed with a partner who has a casual attitude.
Choose someone you trust. You will rely on your partner to report births and kit development accurately. And you rely on him or her to follow through with their end of the bargain.
Choose someone with a win-win attitude. Only go into a partnership if you believe that each partner has an opportunity to benefit from your arrangement. That’s the only way that you will both be satisfied in the end. Let me stress “opportunity.” You may do ten breedings together and have only one really super kit and only one of you gets it. But each of you should have had a chance with whatever agreement you made.
Agreements
Be clear with each other about your arrangements. It may be better to make your arrangements via email rather than by phone or word. It takes time to have a litter and grow it out and memories fade. Make sure your agreement is in writing. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just something you can both refer back to.
Agreements are flexible and can be made to suit your situation. I think that it’s a good idea to give the breeder with the doe the first pick of the litter because she does more work and takes a bigger risk with her doe. But, if the buck is the more outstanding rabbit of the two, you may decide to have the owner of the buck get first pick.
My friend Alison and I typically agreed to two litters. I would get pick out of the first and she would get the balance of the litter (or vice versa). Then we’d reverse on the second litter. It’s true that one of us may get the better rabbit, but our chances were the same in the beginning.
My friend Dani and I agreed that the owner of the sire would get the best doe. And the owner of the dam would be the best buck. Unfortunately Nina missed, so we’ll have to try that one again sometime. Are you listening, Dani? I can leave Nina open for the Shelby show!
My friend Lisa and I agreed that that the owner of the does gets the pick, but we bred her does to my foundation bucks and vice versa. So we each are getting first picks of some litters and second of others. We have about a half dozen litters between us due in the next few days.
I lent a fabulous, but hard-to-breed grand champion doe to my friend Linda Norris. Our agreement is that she keeps the kits from the litter and then I get my doe back, hopefully ready to breed again (she does well when she first goes to a new barn, so we hope to trick her into thinking my barn is new again). If it all works out, we’ll both get some kits.
So you see, joint projects can take many forms.
The Details
Be sure to discuss who gets the balance of the litter, whether the partner has first choice to buy other kits in the litter, whether the kits are available to sell to the partner’s direct competition, and other details like that. I never limit the showing of rabbits that I sell, but I can understand that a friend might not like to help me breed a bunny that beats her on the table.
Limitations
Just because you engage in joint projects does mean that you should feel that you have to make every rabbit available to your friends. Lisa understands that I won’t let anyone use Bear, Ox, Rio, Boris, or LaForge because I have not yet begun to get bunnies from them for myself. Maybe in a year or two, I will feel differently, but not now.
Also, because you have chosen a few friends to do projects with is no reason to feel that you must extend the offer to others. Personally, I have enough going on right now without engaging in any more joint projects.
Have fun with your joint projects. Keep the win-win attitude going. Remember this is a hobby and should be fun!
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry
“Holland Lops of Distinction”
Ararat, VA
www.thenaturetrail.com
¶ 3:12 PM
