Help developing a herd numbering system for pedigree?

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
Rabbit Talk Forum

Help Support Rabbit Talk Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
R

rtower

Well-known member
Rabbit Talk Supporter
Joined
Jun 19, 2015
Messages
99
Reaction score
0
I've searched the forum but haven't found this particular topic covered. If I missed it please direct me to the thread... Thanks!

I recently purchased four pedigreed Florida White rabbits. My intent is to raise Florida Whites for meat. But I am interested in working to maintain the best quality I can in my little herd.

I've set up the pedigrees on GlobalPedigree.com for the rabbits I purchased.

For those of you who keep pedigrees, how did you set up your numbering system?

I want to keep it simple but I want to be able to keep track of the animals that I may keep as future breeders. I hope to have the first two litters kindled in a few days so I have a few weeks to come up with my system.

I appreciate any guidance!
 
I am working on a system for mine... so far this is what I have:

Each doe has a different first initial - that is what they will be tattooed with (started trying to get them done today, not sure how well I did)...

Kits:

first initial of mama doe
letter for year (2015=A, 2016=B, etc.)
letter for litter number (running total for the year, not per doe: 1=A, 2=B, 3=C)
number for kit number (maybe?)

So the ones that were born last week are in the litters labeled PAD and SAC (Pauline and Sweet Pea)

There were some good ideas shared on my initial tattoo thread when I first joined:

do-you-tattoo-t25017.html

Edited to add: I might need to throw a number in mine... will have to think through what some of the word combinations might end up being :lol:
 
i use a pen tattoo

The majority of my rabbits go for meat and to K.I.S.S. and so I don't spend hours trying to tattoo a tiny little 4 week old kit ear I only write in their litter number :cheesysmile: and can always go back and reference my calendar to see who produced that litter.

If I sell any as pedigreed breeding stock or keep them as replacements I add in more letters or numbers so I can identify their info without checking my records.
 
Dood":21gnrzab said:
i use a pen tattoo

The majority of my rabbits go for meat and to K.I.S.S. and so I don't spend hours trying to tattoo a tiny little 4 week old kit ear I only write in their litter number :cheesysmile: and can always go back and reference my calendar to see who produced that litter.

If I sell any as pedigreed breeding stock or keep them as replacements I add in more letters or numbers so I can identify their info without checking my records.
Click to expand...

The rate I was doing my first ones with a pen (and who knows how successful they actually were :shock: ) I might go with a single letter/number... I can't decide. Most will be going for meat, and they're not pedigree rabbits anyway, so who knows. It's not a huge deal to tattoo them or not, but I want to get in the habit in case my rabbitry expands in the future.
 
What I use is the first initial of the Dam and Sire,
then I put a number. whoever is tattooed first logically
becomes number one, next two and on and on it goes.
I try to keep thins simple.
Ottersatin. :eek:ldtimer:
 
Heritage... Thanks for the link to the tattoo thread. That's a big help.

Okay, I'm starting to see a plan developing.

I need to decide what information I want the tattoo to provide, then keep a more detailed record in a spreadsheet or some type of herd record book.

I need a record for each buck that shows 1) date of breeding, 2) doe's name, 3) results [take or miss?, number of kits kindled, number of kits weaned, weight of litter at ??? ages). With that data I can tell how productive each buck is and (if those traits are heritable?) help me decide which litters to select replacement bucks from. Does that sound right?

As ottersatin says, I want to keep it simple. So if I keep a fairly detailed record book, I can probably get by with a three digit tattoo.

It's starting to sound workable... Thanks!
 
I don't like simple, lol. :roll:

My system is doe's initial, buck's initial, rank in litter (biggest is #1, etc.) month (X=November, Z = December), year. This way I can look in a rabbit's ear and know who it is out of and when it was born.

Example: TW104 is out of Take2 and Willow, was the biggest kit when tattooed, born in October of 2014.
 
I do a simple one two three four.... :)

At least that's how I started.

now I do a letter for the name and that's it. :) I have cage cards for each cage so monitoring who is who is not a big deal.
 
rtower":397q8gpf said:
Heritage... Thanks for the link to the tattoo thread. That's a big help.

Okay, I'm starting to see a plan developing.

I need to decide what information I want the tattoo to provide, then keep a more detailed record in a spreadsheet or some type of herd record book.

I need a record for each buck that shows 1) date of breeding, 2) doe's name, 3) results [take or miss?, number of kits kindled, number of kits weaned, weight of litter at ??? ages). With that data I can tell how productive each buck is and (if those traits are heritable?) help me decide which litters to select replacement bucks from. Does that sound right?

As ottersatin says, I want to keep it simple. So if I keep a fairly detailed record book, I can probably get by with a three digit tattoo.

It's starting to sound workable... Thanks!
Click to expand...


I'm using Bunnytrails software for my record keeping. I was loathe to spend the money on it, they don't offer a trial version or refunds :roll: but I'm actually glad I bought it. It's simple to use but does everything I need it to.

It's good for keeping track of litters, expenses, stats, all of that stuff.
 
They get a number if they are lucky enough to be shown or bred and have a live litter that I keep a bun from.

Several buns here don't even have tattoos, they have yet to produce a litter. I have at least 200 kits a year born, only 2-3 are kept, I would not do them all just to cull them.
I thought about a system with names. I am very bad with names, Not all of my rabbits even have names, some just have numbers.

The Jersey Woolies and Angoras are fortunate. There are so few of them, they get their names tattooed in their ears, but only after they are ready to show or produce a litter.

I use Kintraks, but I also keep an old fashion journal that goes out to the barn with me, a pedigree binder and a breeding binder.

I use the forms from Colorado State 4H which are wonderful. There is a pdf and a fillable version.

Plus I have color coded card tags on the cages.
 

Attachments

  • rabbit_production_fillable_0.pdf
    625.7 KB
I never had the benefit of 4H, I didn't realize how sophisticated the whole process is. I love browsing 4H forms from different states.
 
I have honestly never understood the numbering system so I never used it. I have raised rabbits for over 2 years now, (I think) and have 6 breeders and of course I've had breeders die/get replaced over the years.

They all have the same name. For example. One of my does names is Lola. When I started raising rabbits I named one breeder that. Sometime down the road that breeder died and I found a replacement whom I named "Lola II". I think I'm on Lola III atm.

Only thing I change on the pedigree is DoB, name and what type of rabbit it is. When the next pedigree is printed out it just goes down the row from Lola, Lola II, Lola III.

Works for me anyway.
 
I've just solidified what WILL become my tattoo system, when I start tattooing.

First letter Buck, First Letter Doe, Letter=Month (January = A), Last# Year, Litter order.

How do I designate litter order? Just... whichever kit I take the first picture of. :p

So, my current litter Scarlett (dad) X River (mom) = SRG5 (Sprinkles/River July 2015)

First kit is SRG51

Easy peasy
 
I've just solidified what WILL become my tattoo system, when I start tattooing.

First letter Buck, First Letter Doe, Letter=Month (January = A), Last# Year, Litter order.
Click to expand...

I like that!!

I don't name my rabbits. Just identify them by their tattoos.

I'm thinking I'll assign each buck a number from 1 to 9. With my small operation I doubt I'll ever have more than two bucks at any one time. By the time I get to #9, numbers 1, 2 and 3 will likely be hopping around in bunny heaven and I can start over at 1 again.

Then I can use a single letter to designate the doe, starting with A. So, following your system, the first litter from my first buck and doe, if kindled in October 2015, would be 1AJ5 plus the Litter Order#. That's pretty clean and simple.

Plus, I won't be tattooing that many rabbits. Most will be for meat. I just want to be able to keep accurate pedigrees and production records in hopes of maintaining and/or improving the quality of my herd.

Thanks Susie570!
 
The rabbitry I visited had even numbers for does and odd numbers for bucks. What their lettering system stood for I don't know. So, my Megan is RM4, her mother is D2, and the buck that bred Megan was ML1.
 
Ok...
So folks are keeping track of litters by using the month they were born?
Rather than a cumulative count (ie. the third litter this year overall, or the second litter by this doe)?
Starting to consider how to proceed with this where needed.
 
We started with Netherlands and I stink at tattooing so I wanted to keep our tattoos short! LOL! We went with our rabbitry prefix (BS) and then followed with a number. We just started with "1" and went up from there in order the kits were born. Within a litter, I try to start with the largest kit at the time and go by size, but that isn't always the case. We have our first Mini-Lop babies that are going to be tattooing age soon, so we need to decide if we are going to use the same system across breeds or do something different.

We show and are getting to the point that we put quite a few of our homegrown rabbits on the table. The kids don't do a good job of remembering who is who just by ear numbers since they are so similar and we call them by names (I have to look sometimes, too). I am considering switching to just using names or partial names as ear tattoos for a really simple system. LOL!!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top