Moustaches.

I'm often fascinated by the different butterflies in the barn.

The half

The handlebar

The adolescent

The horseshoe

The clean shaven

The walrus

The Fu Manchu

The darn

Am I easily amused? Probably.
Melanie

Excitement!

The new babies are all doing good. Saki loves being a mom! Our dwarf baby/junior count is up to 25+. I can't even remember the last time we had such success with our dwarf breedings!

Four more nest boxes were given this morning - Rosita, Dilemma, Tamara and J1. All very exciting litters. Dilemma had a singleton that I fostered last litter so I'm hoping for more viable kits from her this time around. Tamara, well she always gives us something interesting =D Rosita has been one of our best producing does but she's bred to a borrowed buck from JoAnn, L&R Sage. We've never attempted a cross like this so cross your fingers for both us and JoAnn!

We recently acquired 4 new THF Saynora does from a friend in Cali that sold her holland herd. They all 4 are bred and due very soon. I mention this because Mom thinks the dwarfs are 'taking over the barn' lol. I'm anxious to get the pedigrees on them so I can see in theory how I think they'll mesh with our existing lines. THF Saynora's Zayden came with the does. He is a cute buck and full brother to THF Saynora's Zeb. His first litters will be here soon! So much excitement lately!

Looking forward to a warmer weekend!
Melanie

They're Here!

Saki successfully delivered two yesterday! One black and one black otter. YAY!

Melanie

Dilemma's Baby.

So far only two does have kindled, Jeanie x Sub Zero = 4 and LB17 = 1 that was not a kitcicle. It is temporarily residing with Jeanie’s 4 until I can hopefully foster a kit or two to LB17. She had a singleton that was fostered last litter so I really want her to raise them this go around.

THF Saynora’s Jeanie has been an excellent doe for us. Thank you Tracy and Jenna for her! She always settles, is a great mother and produces very nice babies! We’ve used her in both our regular and our otter project. I’m curious to see what colors and types these kits have. This is Sub Zero’s first litter =D

I like daytime litters, it’s warmer and Mom can check them more often. [thanks Mom, you rock] I’m still crossing my fingers for a healthy litter from Saki.

Here’s an updated picture of Dilemma’s baby. He’s finally getting cute! Don’t tell Dilemma I said finally.


Is it Monday already?!
Melanie

Spring Fever.

I am not a fan of winter. The cold always makes even the fun chores seem like a burden. I am so ready for spring.

If the weather was warmer I'd be power washing cages this weekend. I love to power wash =)

There is nothing like a newly scrubbed and clean barn.

Day 28 - I gave Saki a nest box. She's already nesting!! I'm trying not to get too excited in case of a first time mom screw up, but it's hard. We have quite a few other does due, but she's my main focus.

Our empty holes are filling up with juniors. It might be time to go thru them and put a few up for sale.

TGIF!

Melanie

The 'F' Word.

Our line of hollands carries the fuzzy gene. We don't get a ton of them but it never fails that the pick of the litter that you've waited oh so long for sprouts fuzz. It became a bad word in our barn and was not to be said aloud in the attempts of keeping the 'F' at bay. Dang it if it didn't work.

When Dilemma popped up accidentally in a dwarf litter I was perplexed.

I'd heard that some lines of dwarfs could carry the fuzzy gene just like hollands. I should have sold her, I could have sold her - but I didn't. She made me smile =) I decided to keep her for a pet, what's one hole right? After much prodding and urging from Jersey Wooly breeders I decided to show her. She did quite well and even won her class at Convention. It was decided that she needed a boyfriend. The breeder I contacted didn't have a buck so he talked me into getting two does and using my wool carrier ND buck for now. Long story short(er) I bred these two Jersey Woolies to my wool carrier buck. My first litter appears to be two normal coats and one wooly.

So my dwarfs have wool and my woolies don't. Dang it if it didn't work.

Melanie
- good things come to those that wait

Surprises.

We have a broken chestnut dwarf doe [Tamara] that likes to give us a surprise from time to time. She's given me two fuzzy dwarfs, Dilemma and Riot. Riot's litter brother was a surprise too - a sable marten. Yep, sable marten out of a black otter and a broken chestnut. Um, wow.

I named him Slick.

Slick as a baby

And at 5 months old

We're probably going to try him with a few does and see what he carries/throws. I sure hadn't planned on doing shaded martens, but I do like this guy. I'll probably take him to a few shows and see how he does. I won't mention the word Nationals in the barn until it's too late. Our beautiful smoke doe out of Rockstar is *still* molting from the use of the "C" word >.< Her prime lasted until a week before Convention. Sigh.

Tamara is due again next week. I wonder what surprise we'll get this time around?!

Melanie

Babies!

After several months of dealing with feed issues, namely the quality of feed and if they chose to deliver it, it seems we are back on track. We are having somewhat of a baby boom right now. It feels good. No, it feels great.

We have several exciting litters in the nest box and the week of the 26th we have eleven more does due! Four hollands and seven dwarfs. It's 'bout time!

Here are a few updated pictures of the wooly babies, a REW doe and an otter buck. My batteries died before I could get any pictures of the other REW doe in the litter.

I'm looking forward to the spring show season!

Melanie

Nope, not a fan.

I'll admit it, I browse rabbit websites quite often. I like to check out the competition and drool over friends upcoming juniors *cough CNs Obsession cough*. Some of my favorite sites I visit daily. That's not considered stalking, is it?

One of the things I've noticed a lot of is vase posing, toe touching and in extreme examples front feet literally resting on back feet. I personally don't think it does anything for the normally beautiful topline of the holland/dwarf nor is it fooling me [and hopefully everyone else] into thinking your rabbits are magically short(er).

Good or bad, our virtual rabbitry gives those breeders across the country a chance to peek into our barns. I know taking a good rabbit picture can be a test of patience and endurance, but in the end a few good pictures are IMO better than 20 over posed bad pictures.

Let's all put our best foot forward, just um not quite that far forward.
Melanie

PS - my sincerest apologies to Sub Zero for putting up with me trying to get the above picture. He'd like to be remembered like this:

Texas + Kansas = Fun!

Mom and I attended the Blackland Prairie RBA show Saturday. It was so good to see our friends that we don't see very often - Terry, Amber, Sherry, Robert and Sheila to name a few! We had a blast! Congrats to Amber and Terry who won BOB and BOS with their awesome BEWs in the open show.

Below are the specialty show Best of Breed winners, Lil' Bit Farms Sahara and Lil' Bit Farms Laramie.

This was the Blackland Prairie RBA's first show. The show staff did an awesome job and they had a good turnout! We'll be going to this show again =)

Because we got home at a decent time Saturday night and the Kansas Fun Show didn't start until 10 am we decided to drive to Wichita on Sunday. What a great decision that was. The Kansas club knows how to have a good time! This show was a lot of fun and had a very relaxed atmosphere. Kudos and thank you!

JoAnn won BOB in the hollands with a very nice BSB. BOB in the dwarfs was our Kodiak [pictured below]


Kodiak went on to win Reserve In Show!

It was suggested that the woolies need their own page so maybe it's time to take new pictures and update the website.

Melanie

Honesty.

I'll be honest. I purchased our first pair of hollands as a deterrent for my Mom. She really wanted french lops and I didn't want to clean up after, feed and lug around all that bunny! I had hoped that she would find the holland face irresistible!

It worked.

Mom played with color. Their numbers grew. We decided to get serious and show them. And their numbers grew. Somewhere along the way I fell head over heels for the breed and their numbers grew even more.

I love their fat cheeks and stumpy feet. I love their type. Most of all I love their personality.



In memory of thf SAYNORA's Zinn - my first holland and the best bunny ever
Melanie

Three Generations.

This weekend Kendra, a broken otter holland, is due to kindle. The sire is Jorj Jr, a broken orange.

Kendra's first litter was all peanuts, but she did a beautiful job putting them in the box and pulling a ton of fur. I'm sure this litter will be a successful one, providing it's not all peanuts again.

What's the big deal about his particular litter? Well, the pedigree on these kits will have LBF stretching all the way back 3 generations.

I'm very proud of what my Mom has accomplished with her otter project. She has some nice upcoming juniors, including the doe above. I love how nice and clean her tan pattern is. Hopefully this little gal will help fulfill one of my '09 resolutions - to grand a solid otter.

Melanie

The beginning of a good thing.

I've always admired Rick Smith's motto, "Depth without Daylight".

That is something I've always strived for. Nice full chests, deep and strong shoulders and short thick bone. It's a thing of beauty, the beginning of a good thing.

It has always been my personal preference to not be able to play London Bridges between the front legs and midsection of a holland or dwarf. I think that should be left for another breed, the Belgian perhaps ;-)

I do realize we as breeders all have our different pet peeves. What bothers me might not bother you. We are all at different stages in our breeding program so what is strong in breeder x's herd might not be as developed in another.

I'm still working on putting pieces together. 2009 will be spent trying to reach those seemingly unattainable goals. Trying to fix what we're lacking all the while trying not to loose what I do like.

How's your puzzle coming?

Melanie

The morning race.

I never thought I'd admit to being a morning person, but I think I am. I usually go to Mom's house around 6:30, a full hour before I'm to leave for work. Why? Morning chores, listening to bunnies happily munching on their pellets, me and my camera.

Mornings are my favorite time to take pictures. The key however is to time it so that I still have time to come in and edit them before I leave for work. If my timing is off and I don't have time to view my mornings work it bums me out, lol.

As promised here is our new buck, Sleeptalker. Mom calls him a roan. She mentioned wanting a red roan too. I think she might like these woolies =)




He's a bit cottony in coat right now but I think he's transitioning to his senior coat. I still might show him this weekend. His head is ginormous! I love how easily and naturally he poses.

Pictured above is our first intentional wooly litter. 2 ruby eyed whites and an otter. I am very excited about having a tan pattern [see I'm learning].

What's that? We now have 2 baby steel hollands in the nest box. I have always loved the steel color. I'm not sure what I'm going to do next with them. I guess a lot depends on the quality and genders of this litter. The dam is a doe that was given to me. She's been a blessing! Not only is she raising her 4 but she's raising 3 triple bred Rockstar REWs that the dwarf doe refused to feed. What a good momma!!!

We're going to a show this weekend! It feels like it's been forever. We are only showing one holland doe, everyone else is on a litter or bred! Yikes. The dwarfs on the other hand, we're showing mostly does. Slackers.

Enjoy your Tuesday!
Melanie

Well, here it is.

Some of you are thinking 'it's about time' and others are thinking 'why bother'. For those of you in the latter category, that's OK feel free to hit the back button and go back to where you came from =)

I've decided to try this blogging thing. It's for me, a place to rattle on about the joys and pains of raising rabbits. How long will it last? How often will I update? That my friends is the million dollar quistion.

Now on to the rabbit news!

We have quite a few litters coming up, yay! The Laramie x Rosita litter is looking promising, as always! It looks like all 3 are what I consider show quality - awesome! We've done this cross numerous times and will probably do it quite a few more. I'm always happy with the results - Cheyenne, Shoshoni, Cody and Boulder to name a few!

Saki [BOG '08 Convention] is finally bred! I could not be more excited and relieved. Dilemma finally became a momma too, a chestnut! I already have a few names picked out!

I purchased a wooly buck from Susie of Wooly World Rabbitry. I love him and so does Mom! Pictures in a few days, I promise! Or when I figure out how.

Melanie