Saturday, August 20, 2005
Hold On
Yesterday I have visitors to my barn. It was very hot and we roasted for the time we were out there. But they selected several nice bunnies that I think they will be happy with. It was a great time for me, too. Looking at your bunnies on your own is difficult. You can really suffer from barn blindness. But when you are showing bunnies to someone else, you really can do a better job of evaluating them. They ask questions and it causes you to look better at certain parts. You have to change your thoughts into words, which helps you really make up your mind about things.
I wonder, if I started talking to myself out loud when I evaluate my juniors, would I do a better job of evaluating them? Having to articulate to my guests really makes me think hard about my rabbits.
That's probably why, more than once, I've gotten rabbits out to sell and decided that I just couldn't do it.
Yesterday was one of those days. I almost changed my mind about a doe that I sold. Probably if it hadn't been to a youth breeder just getting started, I might have changed my mind! But in another case, I did change my mind.
I have a litter that had three solid bucks and a broken tort doe in it. When they were little, I wasn't in love with any of them, but I thought the broken tort doe might have some potential. And so she did. But the bucks were, well, horrible. I thought, there is just no way these guys are going to be anything but pets.
When am I going to learn?
That was not the first time I've thought that and it was not the first time that I was wrong.
Now two of these bucks were stuck back into the corner of my barn. It's really in a tight spot because I have a temporary cage set up so that it just barely allows me to get them out, but with great trouble. So I've just been peeking in at them.
I noticed a couple of weeks ago that one, or was it the other one? was looking not too bad. So I thought maybe one would be a brood instead of a pet.
But that all changed yesterday. When I put them out on the table, the youth's dad immediately liked one of them. But so did I. In fact, I liked both of them so much, I couldn't sell them. They are now young seniors and are definitely going through their first head growth (I can't wait to see them after a year and again after 18 months!) From pet, to brood, to show!
Although I've had some bunnies that always looked nice (The Nature Trail's Rio and The Nature Trail's May come to mind), other rabbits spent a lot of time in the "pet pile." The Nature Trail's LaForge, Geordi, Boris, Bullwinkle and others come to mind (you can see Bullwinkle on Krys Kolivras' site).
So when will I learn? Everyone will tell you that you need patience to raise Holland lops. I accept that intellectually. But I see that I am still in much too much of a hurry to label a rabbit as a pet or has no potential way too early.
My initial goal was to try to keep any rabbit that wasn't an obvious pet (huge bucks with long ears, for example) until they were four months old. I was so proud of myself when I started doing that. And now I find that a number of my bunnies are blooming at six months or older. So that's my new goal: to allocate more space to growng out bunnies and to be more patient with them. We'll see how well I do!
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry
"Holland Lops of Distinction"
http://www.thenaturetrail.com/
http://www.thenaturetrail.com/blog/BLOG
¶ 8:03 AM
I wonder, if I started talking to myself out loud when I evaluate my juniors, would I do a better job of evaluating them? Having to articulate to my guests really makes me think hard about my rabbits.
That's probably why, more than once, I've gotten rabbits out to sell and decided that I just couldn't do it.
Yesterday was one of those days. I almost changed my mind about a doe that I sold. Probably if it hadn't been to a youth breeder just getting started, I might have changed my mind! But in another case, I did change my mind.
I have a litter that had three solid bucks and a broken tort doe in it. When they were little, I wasn't in love with any of them, but I thought the broken tort doe might have some potential. And so she did. But the bucks were, well, horrible. I thought, there is just no way these guys are going to be anything but pets.
When am I going to learn?
That was not the first time I've thought that and it was not the first time that I was wrong.
Now two of these bucks were stuck back into the corner of my barn. It's really in a tight spot because I have a temporary cage set up so that it just barely allows me to get them out, but with great trouble. So I've just been peeking in at them.
I noticed a couple of weeks ago that one, or was it the other one? was looking not too bad. So I thought maybe one would be a brood instead of a pet.
But that all changed yesterday. When I put them out on the table, the youth's dad immediately liked one of them. But so did I. In fact, I liked both of them so much, I couldn't sell them. They are now young seniors and are definitely going through their first head growth (I can't wait to see them after a year and again after 18 months!) From pet, to brood, to show!
Although I've had some bunnies that always looked nice (The Nature Trail's Rio and The Nature Trail's May come to mind), other rabbits spent a lot of time in the "pet pile." The Nature Trail's LaForge, Geordi, Boris, Bullwinkle and others come to mind (you can see Bullwinkle on Krys Kolivras' site).
So when will I learn? Everyone will tell you that you need patience to raise Holland lops. I accept that intellectually. But I see that I am still in much too much of a hurry to label a rabbit as a pet or has no potential way too early.
My initial goal was to try to keep any rabbit that wasn't an obvious pet (huge bucks with long ears, for example) until they were four months old. I was so proud of myself when I started doing that. And now I find that a number of my bunnies are blooming at six months or older. So that's my new goal: to allocate more space to growng out bunnies and to be more patient with them. We'll see how well I do!
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry
"Holland Lops of Distinction"
http://www.thenaturetrail.com/
http://www.thenaturetrail.com/blog/BLOG
¶ 8:03 AM
