Pulling hair - findings

Zass":98isnffp said:

I don't believe there will be too many v-lop breeders who will use the term "cull" right now.

Click to expand...

Probably not, but they need all they can get right now.

I saw some at OSRBA, and they were cute, but smaller than I thought they would be.

-- Fri Jul 04, 2014 6:51 am --

Zass":98isnffp said:

A show breeder would probably prefer all the "normal doe" traits mentioned above VS the hair pulling, for obvious reasons. How could you show a rabbit that always looked she had just had a litter? :?

Click to expand...

Well I'd have to say no. For me, it's worst to have an ill tempered one, because it has to be handled a lot as show rabbit, I'd rather not be scraped up, and buns have been DQ'd for biting/severely scratching the judge. And if she's around the age of breeding then she would no longer be on the table in my case, I don't go past 8 mos to breed and I don't put brood does back on the table. She can tear her hair out all she wants. If a buck did that, he'd be culled, but a doe who doesn't show always has worth in the box.

As far as temperment and the SF, I feel the same way about most of my rabbits, except the JW. The rarer breeds are kept even though they have issues that normally would get them culled. And the larger they are, they less likely they are actually taken out of the cage. GRRRR. And even though I'm culling, I take adult Angora/Rex/SF out of the cage a lot less than I take adult JW out.

But you bother with them because they are so cute !!!! It's a labor of love, and eventually you will get them where you want them to be.

One other thing I am thinking about since I raise elops, also great pets that some don't like to cull--The market can quickly become flooded. There are now several breeders near me now who raise elops, and I expect to have to cull more and more of even very nice, showable ones in the future just from the flooded market. Culling a poorly typed rabbit is pretty easy, but culling a nicely typed one is harder for me. But I see doing it in the future. I think vlops will have the same problem in the future due to extreme popularity.