I get a lot of emails and questions at shows from beginners asking what my best advice for them would be for their start to hollands. Because it's exhausting to type this for every single inquiry I get, I figured I'd make a post with my best advice in a nutshell so that it's readily available. With all honesty, I've found that most beginners ignore this advice completely no matter who gives it to them. I'm going to be quite frank here and tell you that there are a select few beginners that listen to the best advice ever given to them. I've found that the ones that don't listen set themselves back about 10-20 years in the Holland breed and often become discouraged and give up. The beginners that do take this advice however, first of all, let me say I pretty much love you and you've gained my friendship. Lol! People like you are few and far between. And second, these beginners are already well on their way to success with their hollands just simply by taking this advice. Without further ado, I give you... my best advice:
1.) Be Generous and Kind!!
Honestly, I can't believe how often this important aspect to the rabbit world is overlooked. This is where the base of a good reputation comes from! You can have fantastic, nationally competitive Hollands, but if you're snobby to beginner and experienced breeders as well, prepare to fail horribly in the Holland Lop rabbit. I know of a few famous breeders who are absolute snobs and are very well known because of their bad reputation. But I know some famous breeders who are adored by the Holland community not because of their stock. It's because of their sweet, kind, encouraging words. Be kind to everyone! Even if you don't agree and your opinions clash! Nothing says "avoid this snotty breeder" like an argument online or in a showroom. Remember even if your argument is private, more people will hear about it and word will spread.
Say thank you even for the smallest things like someone handing you your dropped water bottle, holding the show room door for you, or telling you the date of your next local show. Encourage struggling breeders, give positive feedback, express appreciation, etc. People respond to kindness.
"The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people." ~Theodore Roosevelt
2.) Decide AGAINST Color!!
At least for your first 7-10 years, decide that you will not raise anything other than the common, developed Holland colors. These colors include tort, sable point, blue tort, black and brokens in these colors. The reason behind this strict rule is you will never find a nice Holland for sale in almost every other color. If you don't have years of experience with hollands, you will not know how to develop these colorful hollands properly. Holland Lops are already a complicated breed. Bringing colors and color genetics into the equation further complicates the breed and is the main reason for most 'color breeders' to give up within their first 5 years. Remember that you want the best stock you can get as your starter stock. This is nearly impossible to accomplish in any other color than tort. You want to perfect type in your barn before adding color. Color
will not help you on the show table. Infact, it will likely hurt you. Remember the old saying "Build your barn before you paint it."
3.) Learn Type!!
Probably the single most important part of raising any breed,
learn proper type! I would do this
well before purchasing any animals. How can you know what animals you like if you don't know type? How can you know you're paying a fair price for the animal? Because the breeder is well known and says so? I hate to break it to you but rabbits, just like any species, have dishonest breeders. Many people pay hundreds of dollars for a pair or trio only to find out they were sold a bunch of ugly typed pets. Learn proper type according to the ARBA Standard of Perfection. An experienced breeder like myself or any other good breeder will happily talk to you about type. Most can even show you examples at shows of different typed animals. Don't expect a breed to let you touch their prized animals though! They rarely do.
4.) Befriend a Breeder Mentor!
Find an experienced, knowledgeable breeder whom you'll likely want stock from, to teach you and answer your questions. I'll warn you, many breeders are not interested in being a mentor for anyone. This is simply because as I mentioned before, most of our advice is ignored and many breeders decide after trying to mentor tons of people, that mentoring is a complete waste of time. This is completely understandable because I've experienced many of these. Some do not realize the amount of time their mentor puts into watching out for them and delivering advice. This is where appreciation comes in again! ;-) Find a good breeder whose stock you like the look of to mentor you. Your mentor should be following this advice too. You don't want to see bad typed, colorful hollands all over your mentors website, nor do you want to see them fighting all over facebook or other social media, with other breeders. They will teach you to do exactly as they do. Choose wisely!
5.) Learn about Lines!
This will become very important in your herd. Learn which lines cross well together and learn which lines have the type you desire. Each line looks different which is something to consider. Everyone has a different translation of the standard and a different preference of Holland looks. The Standard is the blue print of the perfect Holland.
6.) Save lots of Money!
Hollands are an expensive breed to raise. Good hollands come with high price tags and experienced breeders are willing to pay the high prices for nice additions to their herd. For example, it's pretty normal to eventually pay about $2,000-$3,000 for a small foundation of about 8 animals. Herd bucks being the most expensive animals ($250-$600) and brood does being your cheapest ($50-$200). Remember that 1 beautiful $200 rabbit will do more for you than 5 $40 rabbits. Quantity doesn't matter, it's the quality of a herd that matters. Save as much money as you can for your start to hollands. You don't have to save all the money and buy all of your herd at once. You can buy a buck and doe, breed them, sell the juniors you don't keep, and purchase more starter stock. It's all a process! Buying everything at once is impossible, for most people at least. ;)
7.) Collect Many Holes!!
Hollands happen to be a very cage demanding breed. You need to grow your juniors out for about 5 months each to see their true potential. Most Holland litters I get are 4-8 babies. Multiply that by 4 or 5 bred does at a time and you've got a lot of juniors! Not only that but it takes a lot of breeding stock to create those pretty, competitive juniors. Many competitive breeders keep 70-150 cages. I prefer to keep no more than 50 for my hollands because I still want to enjoy them. Rabbits are not my job, they're my passion and hobby and my rabbitry reflects that. Hollands cannot be raised in 10 holes. That's not even enough for foundation stock unfortunately.
8.) Purchase The Best Buck You Can!!
Purchase the best herd buck you can get your hands on. Herd bucks are the most important, expensive, and difficult investment you'll ever make in rabbits. Herd bucks often cost $300-$600 each. Make sure you're paying a fair price for your buck. Remember this buck resembles what your herd will produce. If done properly, you'll breed his daughters back to him and produce similar animals to himself or even better! You'll always be breeding back to this buck as long as he lives. Make sure he's a nice one! He will be a difficult purchase because he'll be hard to find. Many breeders wait 1-3 years for their herd buck and will buy and sell many bucks when they realize they aren't quite what they want. Decide what you want before shopping and stick to it!
9.) No Requesting Show Does!!
Please never ever request a show doe from a breeder! While most won't say this, it's actually slightly offensive to ask a breeder for a show animal. If I have an animal worthy of showing, I'm showing it! Lol! Instead, request a breeding doe with nice genetics. The breeder is likely to immediately like you more than the hundreds of people requesting their nice show animals. And also, I've found that with this request, they often will still send you animals that are very nice quality. Breeders are likely to think you're more experienced if you ask for brood does with nice genetics. An experienced breeder knows brood does are unappreciated gold! I'd take a barn full of brood does over a barn full of show does, any day!
10.) Avoid Purchasing Babies!!!
Never purchase a junior under 3.5 months of age. If a breeder is selling weanlings, honestly, I'd question their intentions of breeding their rabbits. You simply cannot predict the future of a young Holland. The weirdest typed babies end up being your best and the nicest typed babies end up being your culls. A breeder selling weanlings is being... I'm trying to think of a good word... optimistic... to be quite straight forward.
Those are my 10 best tips that should get you very far in dealing with breeders and starting hollands! You'll thank yourself for following this advice each time a judge drapes your rabbit's coop with a beautiful ribbon up on the show table and each time you produce some superior animals for yourself and your customers interested in showing and breeding this unique rabbit.
