Monday, March 19, 2007
In Praise Of Tort
When I started in Hollands, I started with colors. Sure, the buck was a tort, but he carried the sable gene and dilute, so he was a color producer. My first doe was a broken seal marten and my second doe was a sable point marten. So I got otters and sable points and, well, you name it.
I loved those colors and loved seeing what each litter produced. I didn't know how to identify the colors, so I drove Mary Justice crazy until I got the hang of it. To this day, she is keenly aware of my being like a dog with a bone when I become interested in something.
And I thought the idea of having just torts would be boring. Breed two torts, get all torts, ho hum.
I could not have been more wrong! Now most of my litters are torts. I get the occasional sable point or REW, but I expect - and get - all torts most of the time. And there's nothing boring about it.
So what changed? Me, of course. Once I began to see and understand what a really good Holland lop is like, I started to see all of my Hollands much differently. It's like studying a painting or an opera before you observe it in person. You can appreciate it so much more.
Or perhaps it's more like me and baseball. For years, I thought there could be nothing more boring on earth. Then, the Braves went from worst to first while I was living in Atlanta. I began to learn about the game and appreciate all of its intricacies. Just like those torts, baseball wasn't boring at all!
So now, I look right past the color most times and see the bone, crown, top line, and much more. There's plenty to get excited about. And when I look at the color, I see all of the variation that tort has: dark Madagascar to light orangey.
I love the dark tort in either solid or broken. But I also love brokens in the very lightest tort.
We all know that tort is the best developed variety of Holland. But did you know that all four varieties of tort are showable in Hollands? Well, if you read my BLOG post from yesterday, you may have had a hint. Tort is actually short for black tortoiseshell (it doesn't mean that the tort is darker than average). Blue tortoiseshell (blue tort) is fairly common while lilac tort and chocolate tort are very rare.
Tort is also an all-purpose color when it comes to breeding. There are some varieties that cause more trouble that they are worth if you breed them together. For example, I would not breed a sable (or sable point, blue point, or smoke pearl) with a chinchilla. You'll probably be okay for the first generation, but you'll be plagued with non-showable colors in the second generation.
But tort causes far fewer problems. You can safely breed tort with any self (black, blue, the torts, the sable varieties). And you won't have many problems breeding tort to any otter or marten variety. You might get a tort/orange otter, but that's about it in terms of non-showable colors. You can breed it with agoutis. You might produce a self-chin or something like that, but you can also be on your way to oranges, fawns, and ermines (frosty or frostpoint).
By the way, if you are using torts to improve the type on your sable points, try to use the lightest torts with the cleanest orange color, not the Madagascars. Those rufus modifiers that make a Madagascar so beautiful will smut up your sable points.
Torts don't seem to be prone to toenail DQs like many dilutes are. Broken torts, especially, hold up well under a less than perfect coat. They can hide the early stages of a molt pretty well.
So now I love torts. I'm not saying that I'll never have a color project. I plan to one day when I get my torts closer to how I like them. And some of my torts hide some color secrets, so I occasionally get to enjoy a color surprise. When the time comes, I may have a lot of what I need already in my barn!
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
¶ 9:06 AM
I loved those colors and loved seeing what each litter produced. I didn't know how to identify the colors, so I drove Mary Justice crazy until I got the hang of it. To this day, she is keenly aware of my being like a dog with a bone when I become interested in something.
And I thought the idea of having just torts would be boring. Breed two torts, get all torts, ho hum.
I could not have been more wrong! Now most of my litters are torts. I get the occasional sable point or REW, but I expect - and get - all torts most of the time. And there's nothing boring about it.
So what changed? Me, of course. Once I began to see and understand what a really good Holland lop is like, I started to see all of my Hollands much differently. It's like studying a painting or an opera before you observe it in person. You can appreciate it so much more.
Or perhaps it's more like me and baseball. For years, I thought there could be nothing more boring on earth. Then, the Braves went from worst to first while I was living in Atlanta. I began to learn about the game and appreciate all of its intricacies. Just like those torts, baseball wasn't boring at all!
So now, I look right past the color most times and see the bone, crown, top line, and much more. There's plenty to get excited about. And when I look at the color, I see all of the variation that tort has: dark Madagascar to light orangey.
I love the dark tort in either solid or broken. But I also love brokens in the very lightest tort.
We all know that tort is the best developed variety of Holland. But did you know that all four varieties of tort are showable in Hollands? Well, if you read my BLOG post from yesterday, you may have had a hint. Tort is actually short for black tortoiseshell (it doesn't mean that the tort is darker than average). Blue tortoiseshell (blue tort) is fairly common while lilac tort and chocolate tort are very rare.
Tort is also an all-purpose color when it comes to breeding. There are some varieties that cause more trouble that they are worth if you breed them together. For example, I would not breed a sable (or sable point, blue point, or smoke pearl) with a chinchilla. You'll probably be okay for the first generation, but you'll be plagued with non-showable colors in the second generation.
But tort causes far fewer problems. You can safely breed tort with any self (black, blue, the torts, the sable varieties). And you won't have many problems breeding tort to any otter or marten variety. You might get a tort/orange otter, but that's about it in terms of non-showable colors. You can breed it with agoutis. You might produce a self-chin or something like that, but you can also be on your way to oranges, fawns, and ermines (frosty or frostpoint).
By the way, if you are using torts to improve the type on your sable points, try to use the lightest torts with the cleanest orange color, not the Madagascars. Those rufus modifiers that make a Madagascar so beautiful will smut up your sable points.
Torts don't seem to be prone to toenail DQs like many dilutes are. Broken torts, especially, hold up well under a less than perfect coat. They can hide the early stages of a molt pretty well.
So now I love torts. I'm not saying that I'll never have a color project. I plan to one day when I get my torts closer to how I like them. And some of my torts hide some color secrets, so I occasionally get to enjoy a color surprise. When the time comes, I may have a lot of what I need already in my barn!
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
¶ 9:06 AM
