Huckleberry's Cosette

None of you have gotten to meet my adorable little doe, Cosette! I purchased this beauty from my friend in Virginia, Hannah Walton who sold out of Hollands around the end of 2012. She saved this little sweet heart for me!!
With all honesty, this doe is pretty much one of my favorite Holland I have ever owned. What a little ham! She has one of those hard to come across personalities where she must know what you're doing at all times, will get in your face if you dare ignore her, and will give your face a firm boop with her nose if the ignoring persists.
On top of her precious personality, this doe is a little, yet solid tank! She has phenomenal type on her! I call her my "lil' chunk" because she is firmly fleshed yet still so thick and wide. Do not confuse this width with being overweight. This is the width I'm striving for!

What a fun doe to pose!

Uh, width and mass! Picture perfect!

And of course, here she is jumping to me. She loves attention!

Her smooshy face; how can you not adore her?!

An Abundance of Updates

Since my big break, a lot has happened here at LRR. I'd like to spend the majority of this post catching my readers up on all things going on here. I want to warn you of two things. First, this post is bound to be a long one. And second, I'm going to update on all the good things but also the bad things that have happened. I hate to make a negative post at all but unfortunately, the bad events had a big impact on me and my rabbitry so I need to talk about them.
Let's start with the bad so I can end on a happy note. Lol!
First, I lost my favorite Holland Lop buck, Gilroy. I only got 1 litter out of him. :'( Gilroy was a once in a lifetime rabbit and I am thankful that I got to spend the time I had with him. He will be forever missed.
Second, my rabbits are homeless because we're in the midst of a big move. Most of the seniors are staying at another breeder's house which is very difficult. I miss my bunnies, and I really miss my routine of taking care of them.
Third, I also lost my hotot herd buck, Buddy Holly right after moving my rabbits into their temporary home. I have a lot of theories as to how he passed away but I was to hurt to go do an autopsy. His exterior signs pointed towards a fur blockage which would make sense because he was in mid-molt. I am thankful for the 6 litters I got from Buddy and the beautiful son of his that I am still blessed to have in my rabbitry. I am also very thankful for the time I got to spend with Buddy, himself. Bud taught me a lot and set a high standard in my rabbitry. He was also a sweet heart and a very gentle little buck. He is one of those rabbits that stick with you long after they're gone...:( Thank you Lindsey King for sharing this sweet boy with me. <3
Okay, enough with the depressing happenings! Whew, that brought me down. Anyways, now for the exciting and happy things!
First, I finally got to bring home Huckleberry's Cosette! She is a BEAUTIFUL senior Holland doe. My nest post will be all about her so I'll save the details for that post.
Second, as mentioned in my last post, Tyrade won a RIS in a relatively big, competitive class! Made my month! Hehe!

Third, I'm loving my juniors! Diesel, a very depthy, compact, 4 month old sport buck is still looking beautiful. Love him! TF Lovie, a very cute junior doe has filled out a lot! She's looking gorgeous but is tough to pose long enough for pictures. Her pictures were quick shots I got of her. Definitely not her best photo! All 4 of my Holland jr does are looking very cute too. I'll have to get photos of them once they fill out a bit at 4 months old.

Lacks in shoulder width but her depth is her biggest strength!

Cute little chunky face <3

Nice depth and thick bone with no bent ankles! Wowza!
Also a nice crown for a junior!

This October, I have about 7 breedings planned. In November, I have about 4-6 breedings planned. All of these litters are exciting! I'm breeding everyone in the coming months in preparation for Nationals and Convention next year. Spring breeding will be crazy for convention juniors! If you can't tell, I'm so excited!
I'm getting my bunnies back in about 2 weeks and they'll be living in our new house's garage for the Winter and then we'll have a nice new 12'x16' barn to move them into this Spring. I'm hoping to purchase some stackers at the shows in February and March so my keepers can all stay with me. I run out of cages quickly now that I have quite a few nice does in my breeding program!

8 week old Holland jr does relaxing.
Raybans' head is starting to show some real potential!
I had to add a plywood foot rest for my rabbits in the hutches to
chew and sit on. They love it!

Fresh Hay

That break didn't last as long as I thought it would. Lol! I made a deal with my good friend that if she started blogging again, I had to as well. Therefore, I'm back!
We've been busily cutting hay this week because we finally caught a break from the constant rain! Our little town as been buzzing with the famous green and yellow tractors cutting and baling every field in sight. What a busy time of year! After baling our smallest field today, I took a break and snapped a few pictures.
This beautiful, rich grass hay will be stored away for the bunnies to enjoy through the Winter and Spring until the 1st cut of 2014. I like to store 15 bales every Fall. If we have any left by the 1st cut the next year, I feed it to our cows and store away enough hay until 3rd cut. I really like to rotate my hay as much as possible. I usually rotate 2-3 times a year. I can't stand old, dusty hay. Especially for rabbits. The cows don't mind though! ;-)

So rich and green! <3 LOVE fresh hay!!



Tyrade- Because I haven't posted in forever,
I didn't get to mention that Tyrade won RIS on
September 6th! He got a beautiful handmade orange and
purple ribbon. So exciting!

Temporary Goodbye

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)

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!

Thadium- Blue Banded jr buck
Gorgeous boy may be headed up to Montana soon to help a
youth breeder's hotot program...

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?!

Beastamous- black banded jr buck
He may not be as compact or depthy as his brothers, but boy,
does he have width!

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!

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!

Bold Ruler- Broken Sable Point pre-jr buck
A cute little buck! Reminds me so much of his daddy! <3

Oakley- Broken Sable Point pre-jr doe
Oakers is a nicely typed little doe!

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.

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.

....just look at her for a second........no, no, keep looking at her...

Yep, this is Manda's adorable little daughter!!

Little chunk <3

Annie kept darting to the fence so I made a barrier. lol

Lots of little cuties!! <3 I wish I could fast forward and see them all as seniors!

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.


..... O.o .....

Eek! Shoulders!! :P




These next pictures were taken just recently:

Ooo-La-La!

Pretty nice for a doe who has had 2 litters and pregnant
with her 3rd! What a beautiful home bred doe!

^_^ LOVE!

Home bred junior buck

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.

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!

Mia's litter of 4 bucks- Diesel is the little sport

Addy is due in 6 days!

Miss Grumpy Manda...

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!