I'm looking to bounce some ideas around about who to keep/cull in an upcoming "reorganization". I have things all planned to fly down to the southern US in early November, and pick up some honest to goodness French Angora to import back home. 
However, this process will create a bit of a "bottleneck" were I will have very limited cage space while the new acquisitions are in quarantine, so I have to pare down my existing meat mutt herd, and I was hoping to bounce some thoughts about this off you fine people.
The way I plan quarantine (3 holes moved to garage, 3 must be empty in main rabbit shed for angoras to go into) it will leave two primary holes, and two grow out cages for my existing herd to fit into during the bottleneck.
Right now I have 5 adults (3 bucks, 2 does), and two litters of kits (total: 14 kits, age ~6wk and ~0.5wk)
I don't need that many bucks, for sure. But I'm not sure who to keep just yet. Hops (in-house F1 generation buckling) is my current favorite for keeping - but that does make me feel a little bad for my original herd buck. Given the local market conditions, finding him a new home in another backyard meat herd is unlikely. Culling is likely terminal in this case. But I like his son a bit better for body/overall size. The main downside is Hops is not yet a proven breeder, I will be testing that next week, and I SHOULD have an answer before the new angoras are out of quarantine. If I delay my actual downsizing as long as possible, I *should* be able to know if Hops is a proven breeder before I make the final decision. Still - feels like I'm cutting this a bit close. There won't be time to retest if the doe doesn't take.
And then, of my does, Jet stays. She's my little F1 "skunk" kit. (Black otter VM) Her first litter is doing really well, she's performing about as well as my other doe, Mithril, did with her first litter. Only downside is that there might be one kit in the litter prone to stress seizures? There was some weirdness with one of the kits last week. Anyhow, Jet is a favorite, and is getting a spot on the roster.
My other doe, Mithril, is small, but a really good mother. Downside - she's also a bit of a holy terror. Her 4 litter history reads as "Demon, demon, sweetheart, demon." Part of me wants to keep all of her doe kits from this litter in one of my grow out cages, and then select a replacement from those once the "bottleneck" is over. I'm a little afraid I would be figuratively killing the goose that lays the golden egg, though, as Mithril IS my best producer to date, but I don't have the cage space to hold over more than 2 adults, really. (For clarification, the "Grow out" cages mentioned are >6 feet off the floor and require a step ladder to access- I can't really handle moving full size rabbits in and out without risking a fall - they're somewhat cages of last resort, but work okay if I'm only lifting <5lbs of squirming rabbit, not 8-10lbs.)
This is a bit of a puzzle. Any thoughts?
However, this process will create a bit of a "bottleneck" were I will have very limited cage space while the new acquisitions are in quarantine, so I have to pare down my existing meat mutt herd, and I was hoping to bounce some thoughts about this off you fine people.
The way I plan quarantine (3 holes moved to garage, 3 must be empty in main rabbit shed for angoras to go into) it will leave two primary holes, and two grow out cages for my existing herd to fit into during the bottleneck.
Right now I have 5 adults (3 bucks, 2 does), and two litters of kits (total: 14 kits, age ~6wk and ~0.5wk)
I don't need that many bucks, for sure. But I'm not sure who to keep just yet. Hops (in-house F1 generation buckling) is my current favorite for keeping - but that does make me feel a little bad for my original herd buck. Given the local market conditions, finding him a new home in another backyard meat herd is unlikely. Culling is likely terminal in this case. But I like his son a bit better for body/overall size. The main downside is Hops is not yet a proven breeder, I will be testing that next week, and I SHOULD have an answer before the new angoras are out of quarantine. If I delay my actual downsizing as long as possible, I *should* be able to know if Hops is a proven breeder before I make the final decision. Still - feels like I'm cutting this a bit close. There won't be time to retest if the doe doesn't take.
And then, of my does, Jet stays. She's my little F1 "skunk" kit. (Black otter VM) Her first litter is doing really well, she's performing about as well as my other doe, Mithril, did with her first litter. Only downside is that there might be one kit in the litter prone to stress seizures? There was some weirdness with one of the kits last week. Anyhow, Jet is a favorite, and is getting a spot on the roster.
My other doe, Mithril, is small, but a really good mother. Downside - she's also a bit of a holy terror. Her 4 litter history reads as "Demon, demon, sweetheart, demon." Part of me wants to keep all of her doe kits from this litter in one of my grow out cages, and then select a replacement from those once the "bottleneck" is over. I'm a little afraid I would be figuratively killing the goose that lays the golden egg, though, as Mithril IS my best producer to date, but I don't have the cage space to hold over more than 2 adults, really. (For clarification, the "Grow out" cages mentioned are >6 feet off the floor and require a step ladder to access- I can't really handle moving full size rabbits in and out without risking a fall - they're somewhat cages of last resort, but work okay if I'm only lifting <5lbs of squirming rabbit, not 8-10lbs.)
This is a bit of a puzzle. Any thoughts?
