two young boys - holland lops

[ladysown]

Do note: I primarily breed holland lops for the pet crowd as they support my habit of mini rex, polish and harlequins.

BUT I am trying to improve the quality of what I have. Doing so slowly, and trying to keep the best of what I produce while buying in the odd buck or two.

here are my last two boys. Tried to keep the best of the litter back. For those who know loppies better than I do...which would you keep?

Black otter is the bigger of the two.

Black is smaller of the two.

 

[Surfing_Bunny]

How old are these rabbits? With Hollands the best time to tell what they may look like is 4 weeks or 3 months.
Somewhere in between they get the so called "uglies". Where they still are cute. But every body part grows fast and not at a even rate. Such as top of head may grow farster than bottom jaw and so on. This makes it really not so easy to decide at 6- 8 weeks. For showing check the nails. Are they all dark. It's a DQ off the show table for mismatched nails. Fine bone is a common fault with otter lines too. They have a ways to go, catching up to 30 years of tort perfection. Otter has only been on the show table since 2006. I too have a HL otter project going. I like the head on the otter better. Looks to have a better crown. Ear density would be another thing to look at. The otter has more rounded and thicker looking ears. The little one has more of what I call "canoe Shaped" ears and they sit closer together on top of the head. Looks to have more ear control in your photos. Now if the ears sit back too far from the eyes. It is called a slipped crown. I like the way both pose. I also like the nose better on the little one.
Why not keep and show both? You really can't tell until they reach 4 months of age. Winner comes home and the other one could be sold at the show or donated to raffle. Holland Lop is a tough breed to show. Comptition is very heavy. So don't get too discouraged or too sure of your line. Mine have been 1st place winners at one show and the bottom of the class at the next show. By the way the Hollands keep improving with age. A 3 year old will look better than a 1 year old. They do keep getting more stout in looks. So to enter a 6 month old in SR. class. It may not do so well competing against elders who are years old. I have a buck I'll start to show at 2 years of age. He's just over a year and getting better all the time. So his show career starts on his 2nd birthday.
Otter is a very dominant color gene. It should never be bred to tort. Or tort/otters are born- not a show color. Only breed to otter, agouti, or self. (Extension only) No torts, sable points, siamese and so on with darker ears, feet, nose and tail. Good luck on the show table and may you win some G.C. legs along the way.

 

[All Ears Rabbitry]

I no longer raise Hollands but when I did I usually chose who I would grow out between 5 and 7 weeks. At 8 weeks, mine hit the uglies and I didn't look at them again until 16 weeks. Also, once they turn sr, Holland (and AFL really) bucks are better after a year and a half, 2 years - they need time to "simmer" - lol. If you are mostly interested in producing bunnies for the pet market I would go with the otter - solid blacks are harder to place in pet homes (second only to red eye rabbits - brokens seem to be easiest btw).