Acceptable losses

[MaggieJ]

Kits that get enteritis and recover, do you keep those or cull those?

Unless there is some unusual reason for keeping them, I'd be sending them off to camp. Their littermates that did not get enteritis would be my keepers.

 

[toastedoat37]

i agree with maggie<br /><br />__________ Mon Jun 11, 2012 5:08 pm __________<br /><br />cull as in dead

 

[skysthelimit]

I'm thinking I should just go ahead and cull them now. No reason to let them continue to take up resources. I'm kind of low on dog meat till Weds anyway.

This is a litter that had 5 does. Finally a litter of does and they have to die too. From this doe, I've had two get sick from a first litter and two from this litter. Both different sires. All does getting sick. I wonder if I should consider this a trend with this doe. Or whether these kits are just casualties of the game. That's what I mean when I wonder about acceptable losses. If this had happened with my pups, the dam would have been spayed, and that's what we did with her, her first litter was her last.

Two litters, two different sires, two doe kits from each litter with enteritis.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I think your protocol with the dogs applies.

As for acceptable losses- I guess it boils down to what you find acceptable. If the doe was a Rex, there would be no question in your mind as to what to do with her, correct?

 

[skysthelimit]

I think your protocol with the dogs applies.

As for acceptable losses- I guess it boils down to what you find acceptable. If the doe was a Rex, there would be no question in your mind as to what to do with her, correct?

I would like to think so, but there is a Rex doe I've been thinking of culling for some time. She is only two and the first one the breeder sold me, but I am not happy with the kits she's giving me. I have not had her for very long, but what I want to avoid is the breeder feeling like somehow I've become better than her, and that my breeding practices are more stringent than hers. But the truth is they are, I am willing to accept much less from my animals. I don't want her to ask me how is the doe and her finding out I culled her, but I am not happy with her.

Maybe I shouldn't accept this from the hollands either. Perhaps I'll have a healthier holland in the end.

 

[toastedoat37]

i believe if all breeders over the past thirty five years would have been more stringent,culling (as in making dam sure no one breeds the animal),Then the animals we have today would be healthier better producers.

i looked at someones rabbitry site today,and aslo saw their ad on cl, it was a pet breeder. She said she was running out of room , needed cage space and had a nice looking 14 month doe rex for sell, said she had had two litters so far and was heathy and would make a good pet.,,,,later in the ad she said the doe should not be bred
again..,If an animal should not be bred again,it should be made so it cant breed again, not pass off as a pet,where someone will end up breeding it, keepings its problems in the rabbit world.

 

[skysthelimit]

i believe if all breeders over the past thirty five years would have been more stringent,culling (as in making dam sure no one breeds the animal),Then the animals we have today would be healthier better producers.

i looked at someones rabbitry site today,and aslo saw their ad on cl, it was a pet breeder. She said she was running out of room , needed cage space and had a nice looking 14 month doe rex for sell, said she had had two litters so far and was heathy and would make a good pet.,,,,later in the ad she said the doe should not be bred
again..,If an animal should not be bred again,it should be made so it cant breed again, not pass off as a pet,where someone will end up breeding it, keepings its problems in the rabbit world.

Yes, nothing not worth breeding leaves this rabbitry alive. I let my breeder know that first hand. Because you never know. I got a doe that came from a buck from her rabbitry that she sold as for meat. No one could ever know that's how that would have ended up. If the kits that survive enteritis aren't useful in a breeding program, they will not leave here alive.

As for the Rex doe, she cannot remain her as a pet, no room for that.

 

[3mina]

I tend to cull hard because I feel it's better for my rabbits in the long run and it causes me less heartache as well because my herd will be healthier.

 

[skysthelimit]

The way I feel now, I might not let them go on much longer.

I also want to make sure that it's not something I did, perhaps weaning too early, changing food, bowls not clean/too clean.

 

[Diamond]

great topic, have enjoyed ' listening' to the discussion... as Frosted Rabbits has expereinced, sometimes the whole herd dies and there is nothing you can do about it but start over again. As far as kits go, my meat does have large litters (10 or more) so if I lose 1 or 2 kits I feel that is acceptable to my standards. Losing mature rabbits.... that has to be a lot harder to take. But it does seem inevitable. Culling .... even harder. I am afraid that my $25.00 pedigreed NICE California doe is a no-go where breeding is concerned. That's going to be an expensive pot of soup. But how many times do I breed her before determining the mistake is hers and not mine? There's a point where a decision must be made, regardless.

 

[skysthelimit]

great topic, have enjoyed ' listening' to the discussion... as Frosted Rabbits has expereinced, sometimes the whole herd dies and there is nothing you can do about it but start over again. As far as kits go, my meat does have large litters (10 or more) so if I lose 1 or 2 kits I feel that is acceptable to my standards. Losing mature rabbits.... that has to be a lot harder to take. But it does seem inevitable. Culling .... even harder. I am afraid that my $25.00 pedigreed NICE California doe is a no-go where breeding is concerned. That's going to be an expensive pot of soup. But how many times do I breed her before determining the mistake is hers and not mine? There's a point where a decision must be made, regardless.

Yep. Trying to stick to that three strikes rule. I wish I was better at math, I would just calculate how many kits died or got sick and would have died without my intervention, from each doe, determine some type of statistical limit and cull that doe.