Thursday, September 13, 2007
Why Am I Selling?
You may be wondering why I am selling so many rabbits after I've lost so many. In fact, I did go through with most of the sales of my 2 1/2 year old grand champion does just at a time when my rabbitry is at its smallest since I got started. You'd think I'd be holding on to everything. But I'm not.
I did make an exception with my does. I had already decided to keep May and later I decided to keep Roxie partly because her beautiful broken black with Rio died during the summer. I don't want to be totally rigid, but I wanted to stay the course as much as possible and try out my philosophies. Otherwise, I sold every 2 1/2 year old doe late this summer.
As for the other rabbits I'm selling or have sold, I am doing so with crystal clear vision. I think. You see, when you are at risk of losing your rabbits, or feel that way, all of a sudden you are quite clear which rabbits in your barn make the difference and which ones are just nice rabbits. I could feel how much I feared losing each rabbit or how well I'd be able to cope with each loss. There was no equivocation.
So, I decided to shrink my herd down around these core animals - the ones that I feared losing the most. I want to work, at least for a while, only with these rabbits to see if a smaller group of the highest quality rabbits I've produced will actually help me recover faster than if I kept a much larger group of rabbits to work with.
I've noticed that I tend to keep the best rabbits from my best rabbits anyway. Why not just work with them from the beginning?
Yes, I'm eliminating the possibility of happy accidents, unknown combinations, and serendipity. That's the risk I am taking. But I'm guessing that my data will support my decision. I haven't yet looked at it. We'll look at it right now together.
Here are the last 15 rabbits I've decided to admit into my herd proper (rabbits get a space in the barn and proper care just because they are born, but they have to earn a place on my roster of rabbits I consider to be "in my herd"; the rest are waiting to mature for a later decision or waiting to be sold):
Aries - MLK x Sadie
Brewster - MLK x Purdy
Evita - Rio x Padme
Fabrizia - Lord x Hilary
Kazia - Lord x Hilary
Sirius - MLK x Sadie
GC Padawan - Lord x Padme
GC Jamillia - Lord x Padme
GC Jocasta - Lord x Padme
Kerry - Rio x Markie
GC Lex - Java x Lexus
Rizzo - Wizard x Purdy
GC Crazy Horse - Camelot's Merlin x Roxie
GC Arabica - Java x May
GC Francesca - LL Brendan x Nina
There's a short list of rabbits who produced these rabbits: Lord, Java, MLK, Rio, Merlin, Wizard, and LL Brendan (my last baby from him!) on the buck side. Sadie (MLK's littermate), Padme, Markie, Lexus, Purdy, Roxie, May, Nina (Mercedes' sister), and Hilary. I may as well have been working with these 16 rabbits for the last year and a half!
Now I realize that looking to the future won't be as accurate as looking to the past, but it's the best guide any of us has.
Of those sires, I still have Lord, Java, MLK, Rio, and Merlin. In addition, I have Myrddin, Kerry, Crazy Horse, and Padawan who haven't yet had many opportunities (or no opportunities) to show what they can do. On the dam side, I have Padme, Lexus, Roxie, and May. But I am hoping that Francesca (has a promising doe right now), Arabica, Rizzo, Jamillia, Hope, and Jocasta will be able to add to my production possibilities.
Here are the current GC production numbers of the senior members of my herd:
GC Camelot's Merlin - 8 grand champion offspring, 4 bucks and 4 does, of 55 offspring
GC Java - 2 grand champion offspring, 1 buck and 1 doe, of 23 offspring
GC Lexus - 1 grand champion offspring, 1 buck, of 6 offspring
GC Lord - 2 grand champion offspring, 1 buck and 1 doe, of 11 offspring
GC May - 7 grand champion offspring, 5 does and 2 bucks, of 29 offspring
GC MLK - 1 grand champion offspring, 1 buck, of 7 offspring
GC Padme- 2 grand champion offspring, 1 buck and 1 doe, of 8 offspring (a third should join soon)
GC Rio - 2 grand champion offspring, 2 does, of 29 offspring (working on a third)
GC Roxie - 2 grand champion offspring, 2 bucks, of 14 offspring
I think after looking at my data that I'll stay the course, hope that I have truly picked the best rabbits to produce my next generation, and will follow with this plan for enough time to see if it works.
If I find that I've restricted myself too much, it should take only a year to fill the rabbitry back to overflowing. It's like cutting your hair too short. If you don't like it, it only takes a few months before you can try something else.
You may well wonder if I'm nervous about cutting my herd down so small. Yes, I am. But I try not to run my rabbitry too much on emotion, but rather by making my best guess, checking the data to see if my plan is supported, trying out the plan, and then analysing the results. So far, this method has served me just fine.
Laurie ¶ 7:31 AM
I did make an exception with my does. I had already decided to keep May and later I decided to keep Roxie partly because her beautiful broken black with Rio died during the summer. I don't want to be totally rigid, but I wanted to stay the course as much as possible and try out my philosophies. Otherwise, I sold every 2 1/2 year old doe late this summer.
As for the other rabbits I'm selling or have sold, I am doing so with crystal clear vision. I think. You see, when you are at risk of losing your rabbits, or feel that way, all of a sudden you are quite clear which rabbits in your barn make the difference and which ones are just nice rabbits. I could feel how much I feared losing each rabbit or how well I'd be able to cope with each loss. There was no equivocation.
So, I decided to shrink my herd down around these core animals - the ones that I feared losing the most. I want to work, at least for a while, only with these rabbits to see if a smaller group of the highest quality rabbits I've produced will actually help me recover faster than if I kept a much larger group of rabbits to work with.
I've noticed that I tend to keep the best rabbits from my best rabbits anyway. Why not just work with them from the beginning?
Yes, I'm eliminating the possibility of happy accidents, unknown combinations, and serendipity. That's the risk I am taking. But I'm guessing that my data will support my decision. I haven't yet looked at it. We'll look at it right now together.
Here are the last 15 rabbits I've decided to admit into my herd proper (rabbits get a space in the barn and proper care just because they are born, but they have to earn a place on my roster of rabbits I consider to be "in my herd"; the rest are waiting to mature for a later decision or waiting to be sold):
Aries - MLK x Sadie
Brewster - MLK x Purdy
Evita - Rio x Padme
Fabrizia - Lord x Hilary
Kazia - Lord x Hilary
Sirius - MLK x Sadie
GC Padawan - Lord x Padme
GC Jamillia - Lord x Padme
GC Jocasta - Lord x Padme
Kerry - Rio x Markie
GC Lex - Java x Lexus
Rizzo - Wizard x Purdy
GC Crazy Horse - Camelot's Merlin x Roxie
GC Arabica - Java x May
GC Francesca - LL Brendan x Nina
There's a short list of rabbits who produced these rabbits: Lord, Java, MLK, Rio, Merlin, Wizard, and LL Brendan (my last baby from him!) on the buck side. Sadie (MLK's littermate), Padme, Markie, Lexus, Purdy, Roxie, May, Nina (Mercedes' sister), and Hilary. I may as well have been working with these 16 rabbits for the last year and a half!
Now I realize that looking to the future won't be as accurate as looking to the past, but it's the best guide any of us has.
Of those sires, I still have Lord, Java, MLK, Rio, and Merlin. In addition, I have Myrddin, Kerry, Crazy Horse, and Padawan who haven't yet had many opportunities (or no opportunities) to show what they can do. On the dam side, I have Padme, Lexus, Roxie, and May. But I am hoping that Francesca (has a promising doe right now), Arabica, Rizzo, Jamillia, Hope, and Jocasta will be able to add to my production possibilities.
Here are the current GC production numbers of the senior members of my herd:
GC Camelot's Merlin - 8 grand champion offspring, 4 bucks and 4 does, of 55 offspring
GC Java - 2 grand champion offspring, 1 buck and 1 doe, of 23 offspring
GC Lexus - 1 grand champion offspring, 1 buck, of 6 offspring
GC Lord - 2 grand champion offspring, 1 buck and 1 doe, of 11 offspring
GC May - 7 grand champion offspring, 5 does and 2 bucks, of 29 offspring
GC MLK - 1 grand champion offspring, 1 buck, of 7 offspring
GC Padme- 2 grand champion offspring, 1 buck and 1 doe, of 8 offspring (a third should join soon)
GC Rio - 2 grand champion offspring, 2 does, of 29 offspring (working on a third)
GC Roxie - 2 grand champion offspring, 2 bucks, of 14 offspring
I think after looking at my data that I'll stay the course, hope that I have truly picked the best rabbits to produce my next generation, and will follow with this plan for enough time to see if it works.
If I find that I've restricted myself too much, it should take only a year to fill the rabbitry back to overflowing. It's like cutting your hair too short. If you don't like it, it only takes a few months before you can try something else.
You may well wonder if I'm nervous about cutting my herd down so small. Yes, I am. But I try not to run my rabbitry too much on emotion, but rather by making my best guess, checking the data to see if my plan is supported, trying out the plan, and then analysing the results. So far, this method has served me just fine.
Laurie ¶ 7:31 AM
