Thursday, March 23, 2006
Secrets and Surprises
I bought a couple of new Cranium games last night to play with the kids. One is called The Family Game and it was fun. But the kids really preferred Whoonu. In Whoonu, you are given cards with things on them that people (or at least some people) tend to like. You choose items that you believe a player would like the best. When that player gets all of the cards from the others, he or she lays them out in the order of preference, and then points are awarded for the most-liked items.
The really nice thing about Whoonu (who knew) is that you learn some surprising things about people you think you know very well. My children have secret desires and fondness for things I didn't even know about! Who knew that Anna was very keen on unicorns? I know Lydia is (and anything remotely equine), but I didn't know Anna shared that love. And Anna informed me that Lydia wants to visit Japan. Who knew? Daniel likes thunderstorms. I like them, too, as long as I'm dry and safe. I had absolutely no idea we share that particular enjoyment.
And you know what I'm going to say next, don't you? Yes, it's exactly the same thing with our rabbits. They hide secrets and have surprises in store for us.
Just this last week, May threw a sable point. May is tort and black through her entire pedigree. But I had previously unlocked her sire's secret: he carries the REW gene. So I'm guessing that she got that from him. This sable point will probably be clean in coat with a ruby cast to the eye. Time will tell.
It's very easy to see color secrets when they reveal themselves. Unfortunately, almost all of the other genes we work with are not nearly so clear cut. We make our breeding decisions based on physical compatibilities and our knowledge of line breeding, inbreeding, and outcrossing. But how many secrets are we working with? What surprises will show up?
I generally will breed my does very tightly when I can - at least at first. I don't shy away from littermate breedings, if the brother and sister and physically compatible (no sense in breeding two weak hindquarters together). Even if I hate every rabbit in the litter they produce, I generally find that it is worthwhile because rabbits are more likely to give up their secrets when they are tightly bred.
For good or for bad, I want to know what I'm working with. Does my buck with great width between his eyes have a lot of narrowness in his genetic makeup so that it is a really easy fault to produce? If so, then I can't really breed him to a narrow-faced doe and hope that he can fix that very often - even though he would seem to be a good physical match on the face of it. I can add that piece of secret information to the visible information to help me make even better breeding decisions in the future.
The trial and error it takes to learn the secrets in a genetic line is yet another reason to work with a relatively small number of genetic pools. It is better to have a few lines that you know very well and have learned to use effectively than to have every genetic variable at your fingertips, with most of the information hidden and potentially (or maybe I should say probably) misunderstood.
You want to produce consistent results, not spin the Wheel of Fortune with each breeding and hope for the best.
So, here it is in a nutshell:
The really nice thing about Whoonu (who knew) is that you learn some surprising things about people you think you know very well. My children have secret desires and fondness for things I didn't even know about! Who knew that Anna was very keen on unicorns? I know Lydia is (and anything remotely equine), but I didn't know Anna shared that love. And Anna informed me that Lydia wants to visit Japan. Who knew? Daniel likes thunderstorms. I like them, too, as long as I'm dry and safe. I had absolutely no idea we share that particular enjoyment.
And you know what I'm going to say next, don't you? Yes, it's exactly the same thing with our rabbits. They hide secrets and have surprises in store for us.
Just this last week, May threw a sable point. May is tort and black through her entire pedigree. But I had previously unlocked her sire's secret: he carries the REW gene. So I'm guessing that she got that from him. This sable point will probably be clean in coat with a ruby cast to the eye. Time will tell.
It's very easy to see color secrets when they reveal themselves. Unfortunately, almost all of the other genes we work with are not nearly so clear cut. We make our breeding decisions based on physical compatibilities and our knowledge of line breeding, inbreeding, and outcrossing. But how many secrets are we working with? What surprises will show up?
I generally will breed my does very tightly when I can - at least at first. I don't shy away from littermate breedings, if the brother and sister and physically compatible (no sense in breeding two weak hindquarters together). Even if I hate every rabbit in the litter they produce, I generally find that it is worthwhile because rabbits are more likely to give up their secrets when they are tightly bred.
For good or for bad, I want to know what I'm working with. Does my buck with great width between his eyes have a lot of narrowness in his genetic makeup so that it is a really easy fault to produce? If so, then I can't really breed him to a narrow-faced doe and hope that he can fix that very often - even though he would seem to be a good physical match on the face of it. I can add that piece of secret information to the visible information to help me make even better breeding decisions in the future.
The trial and error it takes to learn the secrets in a genetic line is yet another reason to work with a relatively small number of genetic pools. It is better to have a few lines that you know very well and have learned to use effectively than to have every genetic variable at your fingertips, with most of the information hidden and potentially (or maybe I should say probably) misunderstood.
You want to produce consistent results, not spin the Wheel of Fortune with each breeding and hope for the best.
So, here it is in a nutshell:
- Work with a narrow gene pool
- Learn all of its secrets
- Develop everything you have to it's potential
- Only add the pieces from outside that you really need - because when you add something to your herd, you are back to square one in understanding the genetic make-up of that piece
Of course this advice is given assuming that you are in Hollands for the long haul, that you can wait for the results to come in. And it is definitely possible that my theories on breeding rabbits are totally wrong. But I believe them to be sound and I find that my own percentage of keepers continues to rise. There just might be something to it.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry
Holland Lops Of Distinction
Precious Pet Rabbits
Pet Rabbit Care Information, Quality Pet Rabbit Breeders, and Rabbit Fun
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I have definately noticed that. It is one of the key things when developing your own line. When Im looking at others' websites, and looking at the holland pics, I sometimes play a game with myself by trying to guess the lines it came from before I scroll down to see which breeder it came from or what lines its out of. I noticed this particularly true in the Ormand line, Pitney line, Campo line, and Im noticing a trend in Tracy's and your lines too! Its very interesting.
Your friend
Peter
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Your friend
Peter
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