What breeds sell well?

[powellanimals]

My main breed is Lionheads which I breed and show and can get $100 a kit. I am also interested in possibly getting a trio of Hotots, Netherland Dwarfs, and a larger breed where I am leaning toward the French Lop. Which of these breeds and what colors do you feel would sell the best on the pet/4H market?

 

[The_Dutchess]

It really depends on where you live. Check out your local prices for rabbits and figure out the most popular market used near you. For me, the biggest market is pet bunnies because I live in the suburbs. Pet people tend to like small breed rabbits. And Mini Lops sell frequently here as well because people love their temperament and lop ears.

 

[imajpm]

:yeahthat: I live in a rural area and the only thing that seems to sell here are NZW and Californians for 4H or meat production.

 

[ladysown]

You'll need to do some research.

If you live near a city... flemmish can go over well as people either want BIG or they want small.

If you live in the country, away from suburban life, then look around and see what is selling and either figure out if you can make the dollars you want by careful marketing, or breed what sells in your area.

if you can get $100 for your lions, then you are probably nearish a town, so I'd be doing fancy stock with interesting features.

 

[powellanimals]

Thanks everyone! I am not super close to anywhere but everyone around here breeds meat rabbits so I think I just have a niche with a smaller rabbit in the Lionheads. I am close to deciding but checking out breeders right now to see where I could get good stock.

 

[macksmom98]

We only have a pet sales business with our Holland Lops, and they sell very well for our area. Some people complain they are difficult to breed and get good litters out of, but ours have very good mothering instincts and I have had no problems since our Buck has been working We just had a litter of 7, and none died and all are eating well so far. I agree that it does depend on your area, but as far as marketing goes just pick a nice breed that will appeal to a wide variety of buyers

 

[imajpm]

What I did was look at Craigslist over the spring/summer. I also joined some local rabbit/pet FB groups for my area. Then I observed all the "Wanted" ads to see what people were looking for. In my case it was always NZW plus the occasional lionhead. I ended up getting Satins and NZW and lol, the NZW's sold pretty well and the Satins not at all.

 

[macksmom98]

Hmmmm-how much marketing are you doing? You may consider advertising also through the local feed store or Farmers Market and see if they will let you actually sell them there or in the parking lot. You can also get a fb page going for free, and keep folks who join the group updated on what you will have coming up. Trick is not to make it look like you have a ton available at one time, or people will think that there is something wrong or you are a breeding mill. You can also develop a business name and get some business cards for $15 or less on Vista Print .com. I provide a bag of feed and Basic Bunny Care list with all kits we sell. Some of these things will help grow your business and make you look nice and legit, without costing a lot. But the research you have done and knowledge of what has sold and what hasn't is a huge part of all of that, best of luck!

 

[jimmywalt]

:yeahthat: What macksmom98 said.

Where we live I make a killing on Holland Lops, Mini Lops, Netherland Dwarfs, Mini Rex and Lion Heads. It's all in the marketing!!! I've been told over the years that I could sell dirty baby diapers because of the way I word and sell whatever it is that I'm selling. LOL! :lol:

We live in a medium sized city, in a subdivision, so there are a lot of people/kids around. It's all in the marketing!!!

Case in point --- we closed our rabbitry and sold EVERYTHING about 1 year ago because we were going to move out of state. We didn't move.... we then decided to raise rabbits again and had to get EVERYTHING over (cages, rabbits, etc). We have six - 3 hole stack cages (18 holes). In the past 12 months we have made a very, very, very healthy profit (after repurchasing everything when we started over!). I keep track of EVERY expense (food, hay, etc., etc.).

You don't want to have too many available at a time. Even with litters of 7+, only take pictures of 4 of the kits and post them in your ad. That creates urgency because the "4" may be sold already (yet you really have 7). I also do "pre-sales" about 2 to 3 weeks before they are ready to leave. This weeds out the knee-jerk people that only want the bunny for a minute, and then (most) don't show up when they say they will.

I have very detailed ads that just make you love our bunnies and think that you can't live without one. I also have extremely high quality pictures (not stupid cell phone pictures!!!). I've also been known to post videos of our kits playing --- that gets them every time!!!

As someone posted above, check the Craigslist ads in your area to see what bunnies are selling for and go from there. Good luck. You will figure it out.