a learning experience

[akane]

So we bombed our first show. We had a pellet issue the past month and had to emergency switch them to a different brand. 1 I wanted to take had a messy rear end from it that I had no time to clean up and 3/4ths of the netherlands aren't tattooed yet. I threw in my only tattooed netherland without known DQs by us and she got DQed on both toenail color and weight plus if she wasn't DQed on toenails he suggested we enter rabbits with her head type and build as polish. I knew she wasn't the best netherland and far from the best I have. Maybe I'll put some of her daughters on the table that are by my very nice bucks who both have color DQs that should not be passed on to those colors but I guess I'm butchering her since I have a hard enough time selling young pet quality netherlands. I already have a ND house rabbit.

Then one of my american sables got DQed for a white toenail which rarely happens in that breed so I didn't think to check them that closely when we purchased them. The owner of all her grandparents and the owner of several related rabbits came over and were checking her pedigree to track down what went wrong. They think she'll still be fine as a breeder to seal bucks but we can't show her. My smaller American Sable placed last because she was a bit on the thin side probably from the pellet issues. Everyone did comment on her coat quality and color. We will enter her again in 2 weeks at the next show and I'm cramming all the sunflower seeds down her that I can. Maybe I will get some horse coat supplement and soak oatmeal in it again. That worked great for a sickly netherland I took in several months back. Provided I don't cause a molt.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Sorry for all the rotten luck!!!

 

[curlysue]

We had pellet problems two years ago.nothing would condition up and few would breed.got tired of hearing not in condition.switcxhed feed but set me back a year.

 

[akane]

They do fine on manna pro but it's random when it's available. Sometimes they'll go months without getting any in and our organic clover hay person didn't get his cutting of small squares so we had junky hay and finally bought a bag of alfalfa cubes. Along with switching to kent feed. None of our feed the past month has been up to quality or amount. We've just been scraping by and feeding them a fair amount of fresh forages to make up for it.

 

[ZRabbits]

Sorry to hear about the first show bomb, but sounds like you got a lot of good feedback to help plan for future shows.

Wishing you luck at the next show.

Karen

 

[MamaMandy]

I feed Kent also. Is it a good feed in your opinion? Hope your next show experience goes better!

 

[Hazel]

I think kent is fine, i have a friend that uses it. I use purina and nutrena naturewise.

 

[akane]

I think they changed it recently or else the feedstore is carrying a different formula. The kent I got before was corn free with flaxseed added and cost near $20. The stuff they have been getting in now has corn gluten, no flaxseed and costs $16 which is $2 cheaper than manna pro around here. I'd rather not have corn in the feed but if they do ok on it a corn byproduct as a minor ingredient in otherwise good quality feed isn't the end of the world.

 

[Hazel]

Akane, i was just reading your posts from two weeks ago where you said you had cocci infection in your heard and bad livers and then here where you said one had a messy rear end. Maybe its not a feed problem with your doe being to thin? Possibly consider skipping a few shows till you get your heard healthy again so as not to infect other rabbits? Especialy in a colony set up one can only assume the problem could be with any and all in the heard untill there are no more sick for a spell.

 

[akane]

These are new rabbits, in a new pen, on new bedding, and they are past the age that commonly gets infected by cocci. All older rabbits butchered and caged rabbits have been clean. Also none of our rabbits lost condition or had messy rear ends even when infected. I butchered fat, healthy looking juniors to find bad livers and had normal looking juniors dropping dead the next day in the heat. If I didn't butcher for meat I never would have known there was any coccidiosis in the younger groups. The loss of condition and messy bottoms only happened after a pellet switch and only in a couple rabbits. I still have some slightly overweight rabbits in colony and cages that are on restricted feed.

 

[skysthelimit]

They do fine on manna pro but it's random when it's available. Sometimes they'll go months without getting any in and our organic clover hay person didn't get his cutting of small squares so we had junky hay and finally bought a bag of alfalfa cubes. Along with switching to kent feed. None of our feed the past month has been up to quality or amount. We've just been scraping by and feeding them a fair amount of fresh forages to make up for it.

Yeah I tried switching from MannoPro because it's a 25 mile drive to get it, tacking on another $10-$15 dollars in gas. Tried using Buckeye brand and lost two kits in four days. Back on the MannaPro. Now all my fresh forages are covered by some type of leaf miner or what looks like fly larve. We shall see how everyone looks in the fall.

 

[-HRanchito]

Sorry you bombed it! But the comments about nethy type sound super encouraging!! Way better than having perfect toenails and poor type...

 

[tnelsonfla]

Interesting to hear a Judge tell you to enter a ND as a Polish. The pose is all different isn't it? I see alot of ND DQ'd for weight here recently atleast 5-10% of those entered. I have a friend who switched all her ND to Purina's Fibre3, she isn't a big fan of Purina but it seems to help her stock and it is always available. With Mazuri having their recall and new not available til mid August it will be interesting if I have enough to stretch it til then.

 

[Piper]

Mazuri is owned by Purina, too. I am a bit leary of their feeds, for right now.

 

[skysthelimit]

Mazuri is owned by Purina, too. I am a bit leary of their feeds, for right now.

Have been for years, that's why I'm with MannoPro, but all of these "big" companies, you never know what you're getting, and when they will decide to cut corners.

 

[akane]

I think he was just saying to enter her as a polish because her weight DQed her as a netherland and her head is not quite round enough. No one seemed to greatly like that judge and he had to get the opinion of another judge about her. She poses like a netherland but he kept pushing her down flat every time she sat up. He never did try to set her up correctly for a ND. It doesn't matter though because she has both light and dark toenails and they need to be all one or the other. Her sable daughters are quite nice though after crossing her to my sable with a much better head and about half her size while still having a more substantial body. So long as the toenail colors do not change.

Not the most cooperative pic because she was new and still afraid of our dogs so wanted to run away but this is the doe that DQed

 

[luvabunny]

I would take away from that show that it was a learning experience. Learn never to show ND under that judge again. There is absolutely nothing to compare ND to Polish, short of their size. Their heads, ears and body types are completely different. They even have 2 different types of coats - ND has rollback and Polish have flyback. You have to keep in mind, that at a show, you are just paying for someone's opinion. As with all opinions, you will not always agree. It sounds like your judge needs to be more educated on ND standards.

All of that said, toenail and eye color are the 2 hardest things to get on a blue rabbit. Her eye color is fine. Her ears do look fairly long and she appears to be fairly slimly built. Bred to a stocky, square, short eared buck, she could produce some very nice babies.

I raised bunnies for a number of years, and I remember several years that I lost bunnies, both young and old, in May, that I could only attribute to feed change. Not that I changed the feed, but the contents seems to change. My guess is that it was a blooming, or sexual time for either the alfalfa or other ingredient in the feed. Possibly, it was just a time for some sort of insect to hatch that normally never got processed. I never had anything tested and I'm just going on guess, but it happened often enough for me to see a pattern.

Don't give up and don't get discouraged. Next show, take what you would consider to be many different types, those you think that are good, and those you think might not be so good, and see how your ideas compare to the judges. It's even better if you can enter a double or triple show. Don't worry about untattooed bunnies. The registrar at the show can take care of that if you want.

 

[akane]

I've been crossing her to Kido and keeping the sables

I also have a poorly marked himi, Rhi

His bad ear markings, possibly from sable point background, would not be a concern on another color of rabbit. Like I said they are nice bucks but have color DQs that would not be an issue on other colors or may not be passed on at all.

 

[luvabunny]

If she were mine, and I were after showable bunnies, I would not cross her to the siamese sable. He doesn't appear to have enough good qualities to counteract her bad. Better bunnies will probably be gotten from crossing to the himi. To correct her toenail issue, if you wanted to try for the blue coloration, breed to a black.
That will help to keep the good blue color and "should" darken the toenails up on the babies.