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I do sometimes let a person breed to one of my bucks. I have been
doing this for many years with adult breeders, and youth breeders,
alike and it has never caused any problems or hurt any friendships.
In the case of youth breeders, it has sometimes been to my best Grand
Champion bucks. For example, there is one Youth breeder that only has
two does which she got from us. She does not own a buck. She brings
the does here to breed.
I never let anyone I do not know well breed to one of my bucks. Anyone
who is breeding a doe to one of my bucks has to bring it here and I
always check the doe carefully for any health problems before I breed
her.
The terms of the contract are clearly understood before I breed
the doe. In most cases, it is a pick of the litter contract and the
person understands that means I get first pick.
They are to let me
know when the litter is born and keep me informed as to its progress.
They are to bring the whole litter to me at 8 weeks when I will help
them evaluate the litter and take my pick.
I think it is very
important that people realize that this is a binding contract and it
needs to be followed.
This is especially important with a youth to
help them develop responsibility and honesty. While the person does
not know this in advance, I don't take my pick if there is only 1 baby
in the litter unless it is clearly a pet quality baby that they would
just sell anyway. In that case most people have voluntarily offered me
a baby from another litter of
theirs or a fee in appreciation.
With someone who is just getting
started, I don't always take the best baby as my pick if it is clearly
something that would really help him or her with the development of
their herd. I explain to them what I am doing and why.
Again the
person does not know this in advance. There is one person who breeds
to one of my bucks who wants to keep all of the babies and prefers to
pay a stud fee. I only charge the stud fee if babies are born.
They
still bring the babies to me at 8 weeks for me to help evaluate them.
They receive the buck's pedigree and pay me the stud fee at that point.
The stud fee is the price that I can get selling a baby rabbit as a
pet from my home, which is $35 to $40 depending on the breed.
Barbara Gesswein
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