choosing herd sires - polish

[ladysown]

Right now I have five polish bucks. I am aware they aren't the best photos for critiquing. I am looking more for advise on HOW to choose.

I only need three.

I have Mitch (grand champion)... black. Only keeping until I get a good solid replacement for him. Haven't truly succeeded in that yet. He often can't convince the ladies that "he's all that" though. So sometimes I wonder on keeping him....

I have Popper. broken black. he's bigger than I want to breed, but he's typey. He does NOT like change so he lives in a small cage in the isolation tent. If I move him, he stops eating. I dislike this intensely. BUT he breeds really well.

William. Once again, he's bigger than what I want to breed BUT the judges love him. he also gets the job done quickly. They like his height and width and colour.

Petey. Technically still a junior. The judges DO NOT like him. I like him for his size and personality, but I also want the type. He is, as of yet, unproven due to age. But he's at the stage where he is trying hard. He's flat. But they do like his head.

And "the unnamed". Small chocolate buck off of Mitch. Too young really tell type on, but at this point he seems a good fellow. He's only five weeks old here.

so I'm trying to figure out what to do.

Any suggestions on how I can make a decision here?

 

[Peach]

Well here are a few things I will cull first with my herd:
1) How is their temperment? This is a make or break with my herd.

2) How straight are the back feet? Flip them over and tickle their stomach so they pull their feet close or you can run them on a table or on the deck (Even though you see people with racey breeds do it, it actually helps a lot to see this fault) and just look at how the feet meet up....do you see V or | |?

In my program, those are the first to go. I like a nice full hindquarter, especially with does. Think of those with V shaped legs as women with little hips. Birthing can be very complicated.

3) Now, that I culled the undesirables, I will judge type. I've culled an entire litter before, and I have no problem doing it again it they aren't up to my standard. Heads usually come second because they can be fixed rather easily with my breed. Sometimes, heads take up to over a year to develop with my breed.

4) Grow them out further if some are head to head. Show them against each other if you can.

Things to consider:

The one buck that concerns me is your buck that can't go from place to place without him risking to stop eating all together. It may just be his unique thing, but if you notice his line gets stressed easily, then I wouldn't continue further with them.

I notice you don't want to keep some of the ones because they are a big larger, but do you have smaller does that could bring down the size?

I'm not sure how old your jrs are, but unless they are around the just almost senior and they aren't getting promising comments, consider selling. Also, I have rabbits blossom when they are older. My lines grows slowly.

 

[ZRabbits]

If it was me, I would keep William, Petey and the "unnamed".

Reason: William is liked by the Judges, though he's a bigger type. Petey, though not liked by the Judges, has a good head and is not proven yet, and would like to see what he helps pass on. And the "unnamed" because he is out of Mitch, your grand champion, and I would like to see how he develops.

I think it's time for Mitch to go. Though Grand champion, he's not really "servicing" the ladies. Would definitely make a sweet pet. I like him because he reminds me of my Kreacher. But would not keep him as Herd sire.

Popper, though breeds well, has a problem with change. Has that passed on to his offspring? Now that you have other good bucks, I wouldn't want to deal with "his way".

I have NO experience in showing, but this would be my way of thinking if I was starting. Hope it helps a little.

Karen

 

[ladysown]

Mitch is a very sweet rabbit and has never caused me issues other than refusing to eat hay or grains when he came because he knew not what they were. Now he eats anything I give him as long as i remember he's a 2 lb rabbit and only needs a little bit of food.

the rest is all food for thought. I've been trying to sell Popper....but he was only shown in DRBCA and placed well but has no official legs so people aren't interested in him. So it's hmm.... I don't want him in a pet home since change isn't his thing.

 

[ZRabbits]

Look forward to hearing what you decide.

Karen

 

[luvabunny]

Sell Mitch & Petey. Keep the other 3.

 

[ladysown]

based a variety of decisions

I've listed Popper to go for sale, I'm going to breed Petey to a couple of my bigger does and sell him as well. If the chocolate turns out well I'll keep him and let Mitch go to a pet home. hopefully one of the younglings will get the depth of the does and the head of Petey.

Why sell Popper? I'm tired of keeping him in the isolation tent. Makes it too easy to keep too many rabbits as when I count them up I don't include the isolation tent. I don't want him also potentially "catching" anything, not showing symptoms and then spreading that to my herd.

Petey since I can't justify keeping a poorly typed bun just for his head can I? I like him as a bunny - he makes me laugh and that's key part in keeping many of my buns. But if his weaker rear end and flatness causes problems down the road for me... is it worth it now?

 

[3mina]

Good reasons, all of them

 

[ZRabbits]

Thanks for your explanation. Truly understand where I would go wrong if I chose a rabbit just for a good head, but weak in other areas. Definitely not worth it in the long run. Hoping the Chocolate grows well and will be interesting to hear how he turns out.

Love my Polish. My smallest rabbit with such a sweet, engaging personality. Really enjoying the experience of a Polish.

BTW, are Polish really a dwarf? I thought they were actually a minature and peanuts are not part of the breed, like other dwarf breeds?

Karen

 

[ladysown]

that would be correct. they are not really a dwarf and as such should NOT be having peanuts in the litter. There are breeders who will cull for such things due to it showing the presence of dwarfs in the line. They are a rabbit bred down for size selectively.

I just figure...okay...this litter has peanuts. That shows that at some point in it's history a dwarf was used for whatever purpose, but the rabbit itself is still fine. It's no different to me than breeding NZ's and getting fuzzy kits (because of past use of Angoras) you don't keep the fuzzies, the peanuts don't live and you just do a different sort of breeding next time.

But yes, I love my polish. I've never EVER had a mean one. not even one that would growl at me. Such an easy rabbit. that lack of growling was the decider for me in getting a small breed rabbit. The sheer number of ND's and Hotot's that have come through my rabbitry that would lunge and growl was enough for hubby to say NOPE you are NOT DOING THEM! So polish won us over.