Well, this was inevitable but since my family and I are in the middle of building our home and moving, I've decided to take a long break from my blog. I seldom have more than 10 minutes a day on an iphone to check and answer emails and facebook messages for rabbits and also keep up with my closest friends.
I'm not sure when I'll pick up my blog again. I'm hoping that we will be settled into our new house before Christmas and I'll have Internet set up so I can use my laptop to begin posting again. I will definitely continue breeding, expanding, and improving my rabbitry and my rabbits, I will just no longer be posting about it on my blog.
I have had many events lately not only in my rabbitry but also outside of rabbits that have caused me a lot of stress. Along with the stress, I've also had many exciting things happen! I have gotten some excellent juniors to grow out lately that I'm very excited about! I see a lot of potential in my young generation of juniors. I also started school two weeks ago which has kept me very busy! My FFA Advisor is practically begging me to show steers alongside my brother because only 2 people in my school show steers right now (which isn't really too big of a deal considering my high school currently has an 'impressive' 803 students. Lol!) . I'm not sure if I will follow through and start showing though. As much as I love the steers, I really want to focus on my rabbits and horses. I think the steers would make me way too busy.
Anyways, I can honestly say for once, I love my new school! Everyone is very friendly and accepting! I've made lots of friends so easily this year and met lots of great people... including a senior that I have the hots for... but we'll leave that part out... ;)
I think it will be better if I can ease the load and take just one more thing off my mind though. I feel very over-loaded with things to do. Almost as if there are too many expectations and not enough time in a day to complete everything people want me to do! Therefore, I am temporarily saying goodbye to my blog! Who knows, maybe I'll decide to never pick it back up ever again... I'll make that decision depending on how my life is looking in the next few months!
I want to thank all of my lovely readers for... well, reading... and all of my amazing friends that have stuck by my side through the years and supported me through thick and thin. I couldn't have gotten to where I am without you! Here's to a great rest of the year for all of you!
If you would like to still follow me and my rabbitry, please 'like' my rabbitry page on facebook or shoot me an email! I'd love to hear from you!
I wish you all the best in these final few months of 2013! Talk to you soon!
Temporarily,
Lanae (Little Rascal's Rabbitry)
Friday, August 30, 2013
Friday, August 16, 2013
Lots of Baby Bunnehs~
Looking around the rabbitry tonight, I've realized I have quite a few nice babies growing out. In this post, I think I'll just ramble on about my horde of beautiful little up and coming juniors! I can't wait for them to hit the show tables and breeding program!
Lots of little cuties!! <3 I wish I could fast forward and see them all as seniors!
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| Thadium- Blue Banded jr buck Gorgeous boy may be headed up to Montana soon to help a youth breeder's hotot program... |
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| Diesel- black sport jr buck Um, can I just say I vowed I would never used a sport buck until this compact, depthy little man came along?! |
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| Beastamous- black banded jr buck He may not be as compact or depthy as his brothers, but boy, does he have width! |
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| Laddie Go- this little doe is from Sweet Cheeks rabbitry. She has a somewhat choppy topline and some length but she has excellent width to shoulder! I figured I'd try her out with my smooth, compact bucks and see what I get! |
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| Something Royal- Broken Sable Point pre-jr doe I LOVE this little doe. What a pretty girl! She can sit up high and has excellent width to her! |
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| Bold Ruler- Broken Sable Point pre-jr buck A cute little buck! Reminds me so much of his daddy! <3 |
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| Oakley- Broken Sable Point pre-jr doe Oakers is a nicely typed little doe! |
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| Raybans- Solid Sable Point pre-jr doe Ray is a cute little wide doe. I hope she keeps her width and can be bred to a buck with a nice headset. |
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| Lovie- Solid Black Tort jr doe Lovie is a nice little doe! She looks very broody to me but has excellent width, straight bone, smooth topline, and a full HQ. The reason I think she looks broody is she has an elongated face and long ears like my nicest brood does had as juniors. |
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| ....just look at her for a second........no, no, keep looking at her... |
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| Yep, this is Manda's adorable little daughter!! |
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| Little chunk <3 |
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| Annie kept darting to the fence so I made a barrier. lol |
Thursday, July 18, 2013
A Year's Improvement
This is something that I've always enjoyed doing with my bunnies. After waiting a while, it's fun to take out old pictures of my stock from about a year ago with recent pictures of my stock as well and set them side by side. I usually do this on my rabbitry's anniversary but may compare them at 6 month intervals. When you set the pictures side by side, the improvements you have made will stand out a lot!
These pictures are from a year ago. They were taken on July 2nd, 2012.
These next pictures were taken just recently:
Do you see what I mean? This little blog post can encourage me so much to keep going! This hobby is so fun but you definitely need something to show yourself that you are truly making improvements. After a while, you can really loose sight of what you have done to better your whole herd.
Strict culling will either make or break your herd which is something I have learned over the years of raising various breeds. This is where the importance of learning type comes in. If you know type and know the traits that are appropriate to keep in a herd, you can breed out the traits that you want to improve on. Someone that doesn't know type will be very disappointed when their expensive bunnies hit the show tables and do less than pleasing against a breeder that knows type like the back of their hand.
After looking at hotots for many years, I can judge a hotot thoroughly in less than 30 seconds. When first starting out, it took me many attempts to judge a rabbit and even after several attempts, I'd still miss things that were very important. The experience comes from seeing many different hotots and lines. Getting your hands on them so you can see the variety in type that is available helps gain a lot of knowledge on the breed as well.
These pictures are from a year ago. They were taken on July 2nd, 2012.
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| ..... O.o ..... |
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| Eek! Shoulders!! :P |
These next pictures were taken just recently:
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| Ooo-La-La! |
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| Pretty nice for a doe who has had 2 litters and pregnant with her 3rd! What a beautiful home bred doe! |
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| ^_^ LOVE! |
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| Home bred junior buck |
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| Home bred senior doe |
Do you see what I mean? This little blog post can encourage me so much to keep going! This hobby is so fun but you definitely need something to show yourself that you are truly making improvements. After a while, you can really loose sight of what you have done to better your whole herd.
Strict culling will either make or break your herd which is something I have learned over the years of raising various breeds. This is where the importance of learning type comes in. If you know type and know the traits that are appropriate to keep in a herd, you can breed out the traits that you want to improve on. Someone that doesn't know type will be very disappointed when their expensive bunnies hit the show tables and do less than pleasing against a breeder that knows type like the back of their hand.
After looking at hotots for many years, I can judge a hotot thoroughly in less than 30 seconds. When first starting out, it took me many attempts to judge a rabbit and even after several attempts, I'd still miss things that were very important. The experience comes from seeing many different hotots and lines. Getting your hands on them so you can see the variety in type that is available helps gain a lot of knowledge on the breed as well.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Bouncing Baby Boys...
Bouncing baby boys... are everywhere. Yes, My barn is filled with many beautiful, young future herd bucks out of Buddy Holly. Our baby count for this round of litters is currently at 7 baby hotots. We had a few faders, unfortunately.
But on the bright side, we have 2 does in the mix! Including my very favorite baby who was previously named Xavier. I actually thought this one was a buck, hence the name. I'll be re-naming her for sure. Lol! That little doe is beautiful though! She was going to be my keeper either way but I'm so glad I get to add another doe to my herd. She is out of Buddy Holly and Adaliene. I'm so glad that she turned out like I was hoping. I had high expectations for that breeding!
Also, more awesome news, Manda is pregnant with a litter from Gilroy! I've confirmed her pregnancy through palpating, test breeding, and attitude because I've had so many false alarms. Manda is an amazing little sweet heart... until she's pregnant. Whew! Feisty doe! I also bred Katara to Girloy but she isn't far enough along to palpate yet.
Addy is due in 5 days, Manda in 8 days, Mia and May in 12 days, and Katara is due in 18 days! Lol I need more cages to hold all of these nice babies!
But on the bright side, we have 2 does in the mix! Including my very favorite baby who was previously named Xavier. I actually thought this one was a buck, hence the name. I'll be re-naming her for sure. Lol! That little doe is beautiful though! She was going to be my keeper either way but I'm so glad I get to add another doe to my herd. She is out of Buddy Holly and Adaliene. I'm so glad that she turned out like I was hoping. I had high expectations for that breeding!
Also, more awesome news, Manda is pregnant with a litter from Gilroy! I've confirmed her pregnancy through palpating, test breeding, and attitude because I've had so many false alarms. Manda is an amazing little sweet heart... until she's pregnant. Whew! Feisty doe! I also bred Katara to Girloy but she isn't far enough along to palpate yet.
Addy is due in 5 days, Manda in 8 days, Mia and May in 12 days, and Katara is due in 18 days! Lol I need more cages to hold all of these nice babies!
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| Mia's litter of 4 bucks- Diesel is the little sport |
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| Addy is due in 6 days! |
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| Miss Grumpy Manda... |
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| Mia is ready to wean these munchkins. Lol! I usually take out the box but she thinks she needs a place to hide... I don't blame her! |
Sunday, May 26, 2013
New Babies and Life Changes
Whew! I've been so busy lately that I've barely had time to do anything involving bunnies. To start off, it's the end of the year and we have 1.5 weeks until the last day of school! So this means I am quickly trying to finish up all of my work and finals for the year! And if this wasn't enough, we're also starting our new house next week! Yes, our new house we've been waiting 6 years to build!! Yay!! We will probably also be building the rabbit barn with the house so as soon as we move, we can put the bunnies out in their new barn instead of tucked away in the garage for a few months. Hehe!
Along with the new house, I've also been cleaning all of the houses my dad has been building. They have all sold along with a few families interested in having homes built. What a huge blessing! After years of not having any work with the bad economy, my dad is finally building many beautiful homes! We have families from Idaho, Wyoming, Texas, and Kansas moving to Utah within the next few months along with many families currently in Utah moving into homes my dad has built. So exciting!
We are also planting hay, raising calves, raising 30 chickens, and planting our 3 acre pasture behind our house which will have a small herd of Black Angus and Jersey cows on it. Maybe someday if I'm lucky, also a Quarter Horse or two.
Speaking of Quarter Horses, we are driving out to Aurora next weekend to look at a beautiful palomino mare. Her price is pretty high but from what I can see, I like her a lot! Who knows, maybe she'll be the one for me? We'll have to see next weekend!
Well, enough about life and my random, busy happenings. Let's talk BuNnIeS! I haven't talked about bunnies with anyone much in the past weeks. I miss talking about them! Lol!
Maybelle had a litter of 3 but the sport passed away leaving 2 banded. Mia had a litter of 4, she had 3 banded and 1 sport. What a perfect first time momma! I officially love that doe! And to top it off, the litter I was dying waiting for, Adaliene had 3 banded babies!!! Unfortunately, she almost trampled them and so I ended up fostering her first litter to her momma, Maybelliene. I expected Addy to act like this for her first litter though. I've rebred Adaliene and she is due on June 23rd.
I'm absolutely loving these babies!! We have 8 Hotot babies right now with 7 banded and 1 sport. They are all so small and compact like their dad, Buddy. So exciting! I will likely grow these babies out for a while as I'm so excited to see how they mature.
Unfortunately for the hollands, Katara didn't take when she was bred to the buck in Oregon with her previous owner. That leaves me with once again, no holland babies. :(
I've bred Manda for June 26th. I tried to rebreed Katara but she refused to lift so I will be supplementing her until the 29th and then trying again. Fingers crossed for some babies out of Gilroy and these two does. This is likely the last straw before I will be making some serious changes with the hollands. I've had almost a year dry spell with hollands so it is time for a serious change after this attempt. Only time will tell!
My camera broke a few weeks ago so I haven't had anything to take decent pictures with! I apologize for these poor quality pictures taken from my phone. Lol They will have do for now... ;-)
Along with the new house, I've also been cleaning all of the houses my dad has been building. They have all sold along with a few families interested in having homes built. What a huge blessing! After years of not having any work with the bad economy, my dad is finally building many beautiful homes! We have families from Idaho, Wyoming, Texas, and Kansas moving to Utah within the next few months along with many families currently in Utah moving into homes my dad has built. So exciting!
We are also planting hay, raising calves, raising 30 chickens, and planting our 3 acre pasture behind our house which will have a small herd of Black Angus and Jersey cows on it. Maybe someday if I'm lucky, also a Quarter Horse or two.
Speaking of Quarter Horses, we are driving out to Aurora next weekend to look at a beautiful palomino mare. Her price is pretty high but from what I can see, I like her a lot! Who knows, maybe she'll be the one for me? We'll have to see next weekend!
Well, enough about life and my random, busy happenings. Let's talk BuNnIeS! I haven't talked about bunnies with anyone much in the past weeks. I miss talking about them! Lol!
Maybelle had a litter of 3 but the sport passed away leaving 2 banded. Mia had a litter of 4, she had 3 banded and 1 sport. What a perfect first time momma! I officially love that doe! And to top it off, the litter I was dying waiting for, Adaliene had 3 banded babies!!! Unfortunately, she almost trampled them and so I ended up fostering her first litter to her momma, Maybelliene. I expected Addy to act like this for her first litter though. I've rebred Adaliene and she is due on June 23rd.
I'm absolutely loving these babies!! We have 8 Hotot babies right now with 7 banded and 1 sport. They are all so small and compact like their dad, Buddy. So exciting! I will likely grow these babies out for a while as I'm so excited to see how they mature.
Unfortunately for the hollands, Katara didn't take when she was bred to the buck in Oregon with her previous owner. That leaves me with once again, no holland babies. :(
I've bred Manda for June 26th. I tried to rebreed Katara but she refused to lift so I will be supplementing her until the 29th and then trying again. Fingers crossed for some babies out of Gilroy and these two does. This is likely the last straw before I will be making some serious changes with the hollands. I've had almost a year dry spell with hollands so it is time for a serious change after this attempt. Only time will tell!
My camera broke a few weeks ago so I haven't had anything to take decent pictures with! I apologize for these poor quality pictures taken from my phone. Lol They will have do for now... ;-)
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| Mia- Wow! <3 |
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| Buddy- Double Wow!! Lol! |
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| Beautiful!! (I apologize for the stained table. Lol) |
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| Pistol Annie, This picture doesn't do her justice. She has really filled out lately!! |
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| Hehe... I had to sneak a picture of the Palomino mare in... Feast your eyes... Lol! |
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| Whoops! I don't know how another one got on here... XD |
Monday, May 13, 2013
Taking a Break :'(
First, I'd like to say I am not taking this break by choice. I guess this was inevitable but my family threw a fit because I had a "population explosion" in my rabbitry. This so called 'explosion' was 13 rabbits including babies. What really irks me is my dad has 12 rabbits right now that I am stuck taking care of plus 10 more in a couple of days when his NZ doe, Peach kindles. I'm about to go all teenager here but this is very unfair and I'm so sick of it. Last night, after being yelled at for 2 hours straight about rabbit and chicken care, I'm being forced to stop breeding until we move and I have to move the rabbits out. I am so disappointed, angry, and heart broken.
I'm tired of fighting with my family about the rabbits when they aren't even a burden to any of them. The only reason everyone is acting like this is because I'm younger and running a whole 'business' on my own which somehow invites all of the adults in the house to try to run it for me.
Yes, I am very angry but should I mention terribly heart broken over this? If I breed another rabbit, I will be forced to sell every last one. This doesn't seem like a big deal right? Well then we have to consider that my holland herd buck is almost 4 years old and is struggling producing. If I really have to stop breeding, he will sit idle for another 4-5 months. Now this doesn't seem like a huge problem but what about all of the does?! Every single doe I own could stop producing after sitting idle that long. And who knows what could happen any rabbit in my herd in that time period? Who knows, I could loose my best, my favorites, or dare I say, all of them to what ever causes may arise.
I'm feeling very put down and hurt right now, honestly.
So I guess after the next litters, Little Rascal's Rabbitry will be done for the year.
**tears**
I'm tired of fighting with my family about the rabbits when they aren't even a burden to any of them. The only reason everyone is acting like this is because I'm younger and running a whole 'business' on my own which somehow invites all of the adults in the house to try to run it for me.
Yes, I am very angry but should I mention terribly heart broken over this? If I breed another rabbit, I will be forced to sell every last one. This doesn't seem like a big deal right? Well then we have to consider that my holland herd buck is almost 4 years old and is struggling producing. If I really have to stop breeding, he will sit idle for another 4-5 months. Now this doesn't seem like a huge problem but what about all of the does?! Every single doe I own could stop producing after sitting idle that long. And who knows what could happen any rabbit in my herd in that time period? Who knows, I could loose my best, my favorites, or dare I say, all of them to what ever causes may arise.
I'm feeling very put down and hurt right now, honestly.
So I guess after the next litters, Little Rascal's Rabbitry will be done for the year.
**tears**
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Barn Changes and Mini-Rant
Oh, how I look forward to the day when we have a nice barn completely designed and dedicated to the rabbits! I'm getting tired of all these big changes I am having to make in order to accommodate more and more. We will be starting to let the 28 young pullets into the outdoor part of the rabbitry/chicken coop. We will probably hold off for another week or two but in order to do this, we'll have to put my rooster and hen in a cage where they won't be able to attack the chicks as they are exploring and growing to adult size. I'm expecting my grandma to throw a tantrum as she usually does when I change anything of mine out there. But of course, it's our barn, not my grandma's. So we may just have to put a lock on both doors and light curtains over the windows. The critters will live happily ever after as long as no one throws tantrums! Lol!! This gets me so excited to move this Summer!! I can see it now... A big bunny barn... with chickens ever so far away. Haha!!
So we will have the chicks on the floor of the outdoor and a small portion of the indoor part of the barn just in case this Utah weather goes bipolar again. The two older chickens that my Grandma has suddenly inherited are going to be in our cage that was used to separate our chickens back when we had a huge flock. We will eventually get 2 stacks outside as well. I will be purposely making them as tall as possible to keep all the chickens off of them and so there is more floor space for the chicks to explore. Luckily, I'm 5' 9" and can reach pretty high! Lol!
I'm just getting pretty tired of being not only being yelled at but threatened for moving around my animals in my barn. It's driving me out of my mind! So tempted to lock everyone out. It would make it a bit more fun and a lot more peaceful in the barn! Whew! Okay, rant over. Lol! Here's a quick design I threw together to give you an idea of what the barn will be like assuming I get to follow through with my plans.
So we will have the chicks on the floor of the outdoor and a small portion of the indoor part of the barn just in case this Utah weather goes bipolar again. The two older chickens that my Grandma has suddenly inherited are going to be in our cage that was used to separate our chickens back when we had a huge flock. We will eventually get 2 stacks outside as well. I will be purposely making them as tall as possible to keep all the chickens off of them and so there is more floor space for the chicks to explore. Luckily, I'm 5' 9" and can reach pretty high! Lol!
I'm just getting pretty tired of being not only being yelled at but threatened for moving around my animals in my barn. It's driving me out of my mind! So tempted to lock everyone out. It would make it a bit more fun and a lot more peaceful in the barn! Whew! Okay, rant over. Lol! Here's a quick design I threw together to give you an idea of what the barn will be like assuming I get to follow through with my plans.
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