The Big 5!

Happy 5th Birthday to two very special bunnies!

Lil' Bit Farms Zero

Lil' Bit Farms Zalia

Carrots for everyone!
=D

Odds and Ends

I thought I'd write this blog to blow off some steam regarding some of the emails I receive.

Please remember that the rabbit hobby is probably not the only thing a breeder does or has going on. Some people work two or three jobs. Some breeders have spouses, kids, grand kids, nieces/nephews and other various family members that do require attention, grooming and feeding just like rabbits. Some breeders even have other hobbies - gasp! Mom and I have started couponing, not extreme, but every little bit helps. It takes a lot of time to do. Some breeders periodically face other life difficulties. Just this month my Mom was hit with a severe storm that required extensive repair and ongoing cleanup. She has been dealing with contractors on a daily basis. Please keep this in mind; a rabbit related email could be delayed a few days while life happens. I often hear, "so and so hasn't gotten back with me and it's been TWO DAYS". While I myself have had breeders never answer an email request, please be courteous and patient because not all breeders are that way.

Now to the odds:

I want a top show doe - slim to none

• I want that same show doe, both to show and to produce the next generation of Lil' Bit Farms Hollands (TNG of LBF). I figure if I've taken the time and energy to selectively cull and breed to get that doe then I should have first dibs on her.

I wouldn't mind waiting for a proven show doe - medium to high

• After a doe has had her show career, moved into breeding and successfully produced TNG of LBF, then we often sell that doe around 1 1/2 to 2 years old.

I want a show doe - medium

• We may be working on fixing a certain fault in our herd and even though she is show quality she just doesn't fit into our breeding program at that time. I consider a doe 'show' if I would put her onto the table myself. I DO NOT consider a doe 'show' just because she is free of disqualifications.
• I also cannot guarantee how well a Holland will show in any circumstance. Different areas, styles of Hollands and judges make this impossible to determine.

I'm looking for a brood doe - high to very high

• For me to consider a Holland 'brood' it does have to have certain qualities to rate it as such; bone, butt, head, depth etc. and in some combination
• One of our best does, Wynn, has not successfully raised a litter. Her big ugly sister had 7 (SEVEN) babies her first litter, raised them all and half were keepers. Show does are not always the best purchase.

I want a buck with thick bone, short shoulders and a nice head/ear/crown, the whole package - slim to none

• Again, I want that same buck, both to show and produce TNG of LBF. I figure if I've taken the time and energy to selectively cull and breed to get that buck then...you should know the drill by now :-)

I want a buck with a nice butt but I can fix the head if he doesn't have it - medium to high

• We just may have the piece you are looking for, it doesn't hurt to ask
• The above is just an example, feel free to replace the underlined with another flaw/fault

I'm looking for a brood type buck - high to very high

• For me to consider a Holland 'brood' it does have to have certain qualities to rate it as such; bone, butt, head, depth etc, in some combination
• Zeke 2 has never shown well for us but he throws very nice kids, multiple winning BOB/BOS kids. Looks are not everything, even in a buck

The faults I'm currently culling out may be ones that you don't have. My herd strengths could play well into what you need and visa versa. Hollands are the piece-iest rabbit I've ever dealt with. Fix one thing and other fault works its way in. It never ends.

Now to the end.

I DO NOT KEEP A WAITING LIST. I have tried, very unsuccessfully. Life happens, I just couldn't manage it. I placed a 'notification email form' on our sales page. I try and only put sales stock there. If you sign up you get notified when that page is updated. Simple and easy.

I DO KEEP A DO NOT SELL TO LIST.

TGIF

Melanie

PS - a high vased posed-long legged Holland does not = good bone and chest

Road Trip to NC

Mom and I will be taking a mini vacation and attending the Greensboro NC show on September 17th. After weeks of triple degree temps I'm hoping the weather in NC is cool and gorgeous.

We have a few bucks and does for sale so I will be attempting to update the sales page this weekend/Monday. We can deliver to NC :) Because we are taking a few days after the show to vacation, we'd prefer to only take pre-sold rabbits that will be picked up at the show.

I attempted to upload photos to this post, but Blogger is giving me fits - both with just publishing and now pictures.

Melanie

You've probably noticed.

These last six months or so have been really tough for me, for lots of reasons. I have found myself absolutely dreading chores. Morning chores, evening chores, cleaning, feeding, watering, breeding/palpating, I dread them all. I have avoided at all costs what has become the most dreaded of all chores, taking pictures. I have found reasons/excuses to skip or not attend shows. I haven't made hotel reservations for Convention and anytime someone asks it becomes 'if we go'.

How does one go from having rabbits as their 'life' to just doing it because they have to?

I do think every breeder goes thru spells. I am grateful to have my Mom to help with the chores
while I try and figure out what is next for me. Until then, the website is grossly out of date. Juniors have turned to seniors and moved onto litters with no pictures of their progress.

I am giving myself time and hoping one day soon to just 'feel it again'.

I do have to brag now before the standings change. We are currently nationally ranked:

Sweepstakes Standing: 3^rd

Quality Points: 3^rd

Herdsman Points: 3^rd

Top Lop – 3^rd (Lil’ Bit Farms Karma)

Melanie

May Misc.

Nationals has come and gone. Congrats to all the winners! I always end up running rabbits but did manage to watch some of our rabbits place. Levi finally made it to his first National show!

National Show:
Levi - 4th solid senior buck
Zandria - 6th solid junior doe
Karma - 9th broken senior doe
Creme - 2nd broken senior buck (owned by our very good friends, the Ediger family)
(only our top 10 listed)

Day After Show: (to the best of my memory, this was a no comment card show, boo)
Levi - 10th solid senior buck
Zandria - 7th solid junior doe
Bentley - 16th solid senior buck (@ 7 months old)
Karma - 2nd broken senior doe (GAH so close!)
??? - 3rd broken junior doe
??? - 4th broken junior doe
??? - 14th solid junior doe
??? - 12th solid junior doe

Over all I am pleased with our results. Our juniors were molting like crazy and I am SHOCKED that our broken junior does placed at all much less that high considering the amount of fur flying off them.

Colorful May litters in the nest box:
Chestnut, black otter, blue, harlequin, lynx?, brk/orange?, along with sable point and blue torts!

I'm not sure about the colors on the lynx and orange. The orange may end up being a tort otter but the lynx definitely looks like a dilute agouti of sorts. Having the black otters pop really surprised me though. In fact, my apologies to Mom for doubting her when she told me they were. =D

Melanie

2011 Nationals.

Nationals is creeping up on me! We entered more than I think we ever had and I'm really starting to second guess my optimism of last week when entries were due. Spring molts and lack of junior heads is really not helping. We have until the 22nd (I believe) to make substitutions. Maybe by then I'll feel better about our entries, or not.

Mom has been diligently brushing the molty ones and I've been praying over those few who are now PRIMED that it lasts. (thanks Mom!)

I hope to work on a sales list this weekend. Unfortunately it will probably be ALL BUCKS! Does were far and few in between and the ones we did get are too young to evaluate properly.

We took a few weeks off to prevent litters under two weeks while we were in Ohio and I'm missing the babies.

In other news, we have 11 hens and a turkey that have decided to set. 11 hens much to Mom and I's disappointment. I've been earning scratch money selling fresh eggs at work and with so many hens setting it's cut our egg production down drastically. If anyone would be interested in the following please let us know:

Bantam Wyandottes (blue, black or splash) These are beautiful show birds from Garrett Justice
Splash or Blue Marans
Bantam Cochins
Who-Knows-What-Mixed-Variety pack
Blue-Laced Red Wyandottes
Turkeys!!!

We'll probably grow off a few to keep but I'm sure we'll have an abundance of chicks.

Melanie

Bad Rubbish Repost.

I read this on Keep's Rabbitry Blog and asked her permission to repost it.

In the course of reading some of my favorite blogs, I came across a quote on Timothy Chan's website. It was in regards to "love letters" and one particularly nasty one he received from someone. At the end of his blog, he writes

Lastly, if you have heard anything that didn't come from me, those are what we call rumors and 100% of the time is not true. One thing I learned in this hobby, always go directly to the source.

I thought this was particularly interesting. As people, we're bad about carrying rumors. I'll admit I've said to someone "Did you hear that so-and-so is going to sell out of X to get X from X?" We're nosy and we want to share our nosy with other nosy people.

There are, however, a certain set of people. Doesn't matter what age, gender, breed, etc. You know at least 2-3 of these people. They DELIGHT in making up nasty rumors about other people. They want to tear down their victims as people, parents, breeders- it doesn't matter how they do it, as long as they can do it. Fortunately, most experienced breeders know who the troublemakers are and can avoid them. If they hear something from a person like this, they can very easily say "Uh huh" and walk away knowing they were just fed a huge line of junk that is best ignored.

Newbies to rabbits are often the ones that fall the most victim to the gossipers though. "Oh no, you don't want to buy from __________. She kicks puppies and thumps kittens and her rabbits have snuffles and are pet quality and she charges $300 for them and I heard she pushed a kid in a wheel chair in front of a bus!"

Ok, that was a bit of a silly example (in part), but telling a newbie you'll get pet quality for huge prices- that often happens. Later, usually once the newbie has been burned by their new "friend", they realize that the person being talked about is completely different than they were led to believe.

How much trouble would be saved if the junk-talker would just try to be nice? Or if the newbie (or oldie) would not start trouble for the victim to get in good with their new "friend"? How much trouble would be saved if you just walked over to So-and-So and said "Hi! I'm new and I'm browsing- can I look at your sale bunnies? Would you explain type to me? How much do your prices usually run?" Go to the source. Is that person supposedly a horrible person? Try saying hi. Maybe they are just the victims of the rumor mill.

That isn't to say you will never hear true rumors. Sometimes someone will truly warn you to be careful around a person that is out to cheat you. You'll have to be burned a few times in learning who to trust and who not to trust. We all go through the "trial by fire" until we find our real friends and we discover the breeders we respect and trust.

Sometimes, a situation will blow up simply because there was a miscommunication. Maybe you don't think the rabbit you bought was worth $100 and the rabbit's breeder really does. Is that a reason to bash them for it? No. Remember- there is a difference between someone intentionally setting out to mislead you and cheat you, and between you two not seeing eye to eye on the severity of a fault or the quality of an animal. Be sure of the situation before you go telling people one way or the other.

In the meantime, let's all try to be better people. Let's work the rumor mill a little less. If you're a drama queen- STOP IT. And when you meet one of these people who make your life and the lives of other people miserable just because they can, or they get some kind of joy out of it- say "goodbye to bad rubbish" and turn the other way. You'll be better off for it, believe me!

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Well said, thanks Kristen!
Melanie