Part I: Ready Made

Through out my years of showing rabbits, I have found three main types of competitors.  The first type is the buyer, they are the individuals who go to shows with stock they have purchased and take credit just like anyone else if they win.  If they lose they will often try to buy the rabbit that won, this is, after they have ridiculed and run the judge down for doing a poor job.  They will boast that this rabbit owned by them was “Best of Breed” three weeks ago and that the judge does not know a good rabbit when he/she sees one.

Many people will buy a grand champion and a month later it will not resemble the same rabbit.

I don’t mean to ridicule the person who goes out and buys a good rabbit and later shows it and perhaps makes it a grand champion, you note I said makes, for the person does have a great deal to do with making it a grand champion. Lets discuss how they made it a grand champion.  In the first place they purchased it before it was a champion, they feed and groom this rabbit, they pull it from it’s cage many times, posed it, rubbed it, cleaned it and improves its table manners. They put it into top condition and kept it that way, this is a lot of work and if this person was just a buyer, they would not work this hard to get a champion, they would buy it “READY-MADE.

Part II: Patience and Dedication


The second type of person I have met in my years of showing rabbits, is the raiser.  This person is a good guy everyone looks for them at the show and expects to see them there.  This person raises all their rabbits, seldom if ever do they buy one, and if they do, they are always looking for a bargain.  I talked to a fellow breeder, and ask in his opinion why a certain individual seldom came up with a winner, and his reply was, he works hard trying to develop his blood line but falls short due to the lack of basic material to work with.  If a person has three rabbits for sale, and one is outstanding, (they  want $100.00 for this one) and the other two are just average (they want $50.00 each for these or $75.00 for the pair of them), they will jump at the two for $75.00 , forgetting that these rabbits will not help them.  The funny part of it is, they will boast about making such a great deal. As a matter of fact I have given several rabbits to these people in hopes that this will help them, it seldom does.

There are raiser that have been around for years that seem to never make their mark, these people fail for many reasons and a few are:  poor record keeping,  poor feeding habits, or poor housing, a lack of true dedication or maybe they experiment,  always trying to develop something new and different or maybe just a better rabbit.  This seldom is accomplished by these people and it’s a shame they waste their time.  They might just develop into a true breeder if they would change direction just a few degrees. Another failure of these people is impatience. They can’t understand why they are not winning in a big way after all they have been raising this breed for a whole year.  Even with good stock, you must learn your rabbits, you can’t be switching blood lines every chance you get or even worse, switching breeds.  I showed with one person for many years, they averaged a least one new breed each year and this is always a weak breed, as soon as he gets competition he changes to another breed.  There are also those raisers that just have too many different breeds, they can’t do any one of them justice, they are a  “JACK OF ALL TRADES BUT A MASTER OF NONE.”  

I learn something every day about my bloodline and this is what makes it interesting.  Can you imagine what it would be like if you perfected a breed, it would be great for a while but than would you continue to be interested? I doubt it.

Here are some basic rules to go with if you want to raise champions:

1. Stick to your bloodline if it is from a good basic one.  If you must bring in outside blood, bring in a doe.  If you bring in a buck, bring two does from that        same bloodline in with him. Always purchase first class stock.

2.    Learn to breed features such as good depth, full hard bodies, good color and fur, etc. 

3.    Learn to feed properly, go to that successful breeder, ask him how to feed, he will tell you, that is the nature of the successful breeder. 

4.    Don’t be switching breeds all the time, pick out one or maybe two and stick with them, give them a chance to do you proud. 

5.    Don’t experiment, leave that to the expert, or the person that has the room in his rabbit house to do it. 

6.    Don’t raise more rabbits than you can’t afford to feed or house properly, or more then you have time to properly care for. 

7.    Most of all be patient, and if you are, and if you are truly dedicated, you may become a breeder. 

Part III: Makers Of Champions

The breeder is the third individual I want to talk about.  I have met very few of these type of people in comparison.  This is the person we hate to see show up at the shows but we always love to beat them. All in all we all respect this person, are proud to know them and without them we would have no champions ourselves.

What makes this person a breeder?  Do they have secrets?  Do they feed something special? Do they put something on the rabbits fur? What on earth do they do to get so many winners?  If this breeder doesn’t win, one from their bloodline will. This person sells good stock, that many times comes back to haunt him, but when it’s all said and done they are the ones that continues to show up with the top rabbits. What are their secrets?  Lets face it this person has no secrets, they will tell you everything they do to get these beautiful rabbits, but we don’t really listen, we just don’t believe they are telling us everything, why would he tell us anyway?  The person tells us his “secrets” because he is hoping that someone will listen and become a breeder, they want competition, they want to beat somebody too.

Just what do these breeders tell us when we ask them?  Listed below are some of the basic rules all breeders abide by:

1.      They spend a lot of time with their rabbits.

2.      They are very knowledgeable on what they feed, the amounts they feed and when they feed.

3.      They do not jump from one breed to another.  (These individuals will never be true breeders)

4.      They either start with or develop a top bloodline and stick with it. This person knows each and everyone of their breeders, they know they must if they are going to continue to produce top-notch rabbits.

5.      When and if they go outside their bloodline, they will bring in a doe 90% of the time as they can control this side of the breeding program easier. If in the event they bring in a buck, it will be for a specific feature that will match with or compliment a doe or does they already have in their bloodline. You will note that I said doe as most top breeders will put out a lot of cash for a top-notch match up.

6.      They will maintain excellent records, for without them they know they will not produce winners consistently. They must know the background of each rabbit they produce.

7.      They keep the size of the rabbitry down to where they can properly manage and maintain it.  Most top breeder are not large breeders.

8.      They listen to everyone, no matter how much experience the person may have,  and they read nearly everything they can concerning rabbits, after all they may learn something or it may cause them to remember something they had forgot.

9.      Some breeders will have a fellow breeder, one they respects, look over their stock to get their opinion. They know even they can be hutch-blind.

10.   They will never let a doe keep more kits than she can take care of, six to eight are ideal.

11.   They never breed rabbits that are in a heavy molt, or that are not in excellent condition.

12.    They try to correct one fault at a time.

13.    They breed out undesirable traits, such as buck teeth, pinched hindquarters, low shoulders, poor coats, rabbits that molt often, and rabbits that are prone to poor health and other weaknesses in general.

14.    They keep in mind that the start of a champion is prior to it’s kindling and they know it is conditioned form the day it is kindled.

15.    In culling, they look for substance of body, good depth through out, fullness in saddle and loin as well as in the upper and lower hindquarter.

I once read that a truly great baseball player was always good about helping the rookies, they didn’t fear the competition.

ALWAYS REMEMBER, WHAT YOU SEE ON THAT TABLE IS JUST "THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG"

BY:  AL ROLAND