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First of all, let me say that I am in favor of at least attempting to pay the feed bill.
:) Yeah I know...now quit laughing!
I'm going to talk about breeding whys and wherefores and plans down at the bottom of this all so.
...
What *I* did to come up with a reasonable and logical price was to figure out how much I was
spending on feed per year...that's just pellets, doesn't count hay or supplements I might use.
Then I said Ok, how many does do I have? How many GOOD, top end quality animals are they going
to produce per year? Of those, will I have one per doe, per year, to sell?
I came up with a reasonable goal of selling one really good animal for each doe I keep in the
barn per year, then I divided the feed cost by the average number of working does in all breeds.
My final 'base price' came out at $45. Considering how hard I cull before I will sell an animal
for any purpose other than meat, this is not an unreasonable amount to ask; I try not to sell
animals that will not, in my opinion, either stand a good chance at variety or breed.
Do I charge more on occasion, and why? Yes, I do...but man, those have to be HOT rabbits...the
kind that grand in 3 shows running and have the potential to throw the same kind of quality.
(Of course then there are those, which are just darn nice that get given to youth...on condition
they tell where they got it and how much they paid! Dot those selfish breeders one in the eye and
give away or sell your best...drives them NUTS!)
Do I really manage to pay the feed bill, this way? Nope, so you can start laughing again. But it
does put a substantial dent in the costs, and I'll take what I can get to help out. Ok, so how do
I get animals of this quality?
I breed lots and keep careful track of bloodlines and faults, problems and disease. Diseased
animals are gone, culled. I try to keep my bloodlines a bit more out bred than most, especially
in the Rex. Faults...those are things like narrowness, light bone, poor balance overall, low
shoulders...etc. Problems would be things like disease, malocclusion, tendency to sore hocks, or
attitude...NEVER EVER keep a nasty rabbit; temperament is highly heritable in my experience!
And then, after all that, I cull. I cull HARD. Very hard. Then I cull some more. And then again.
There have been times when I keep none of a litter; there have been times when four of five have
stuck around 6 months and their first progeny, which made the decision...and after that, the ones
I don't keep are sold as breeders–or as BBQ. In general, I will go through litters (Tans in
particular) at 8-10 weeks of age; at this point the obviously faulted/disqualification's are
gone for meat. Yes, meat. Even a Tan has a pretty good dress out, and this keeps the real culls
from winding up on the show table, in a pet home (Tans aren't the best pets, not cuddly...too
smart!), or with a 4H'er that wanted something nice and got something cheap instead.
Of each litter, I will generally keep 2-4 kits depending on quality and what I want out of the
litter in the way of improvement on sire and dam. These stick around until about 4 months of
age, when I pick my best choice...or none! The ones I discard at this point are the 'culls' that
I MIGHT, if they are nice enough, sell for show or breeding. If I don't think they are nice
enough, they also go for meat since I have a good roaster market.
Speaking of markets...as I recall the original breeding post said 'plan OR buyers' for all the
animals you produce...I don't believe in lining up buyers, but I DO believe in plans! Generally
for me, that means to sell lots of meat to those who appreciate it, or use it as a supplement to
the dog and cat foods I use.
WHEN DON'T I BREED...I don't breed when I'm overcrowded; I don't breed when it will hazard the
health of the animals (i.e. 106 degrees F or does out of condition, etc), I don't breed if I
cannot afford to care for them properly, and I don't breed if I have no market at all! Which
takes some doing, since I will sell frozen rabbits for almost ANYTHING, snake food and wildlife
rehab are the most common purposes after meat.
Above all...I DO NOT BELIEVE IN BREEDING FOR EASTER OR CHRISTMAS!!! I don't do the pet market at
all if I can possibly help it; there simply are very few homes in this area which 'deserve' a
really nice pet rabbit.... and they usually get the ones dumped on me after Easter which really are suited to a pet home, or the ones I have bottle-fed (oh hush, I'm a mean nasty breeder, remember? *snicker*).
I am a firm believer in "Spread the good stuff around and make yourself work harder!"...I am
NEVER so tickled, not even when my first homebred Tan took a BIS, as when I, or someone whose
attitude is lousy, is beaten by something I sold!! Especially to a youth or a novice. Just makes
me smile all over for weeks on end.So if you want to breed, get some good solid, healthy,
Standard-conforming stock with a breeder who will stand behind what they sell, and start
learning! We have ALL been there and started out.... just remember one thing.
There is just "One True Way" in raising rabbits; do what works for you.
Ok, two ways. And this one is the most important of all. HAVE FUN!!!!
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