Just thinking

Topic: early culling / not growing out every rabbit in a litter

Rylee was the ugliest baby at 10-12 weeks. Deciding between her and her sister was hard because they each had their ugly parts, and deciding which was worse was hard!

She was ugly until about 6 months. Then she blossomed. How? I don't know.

Her parent's weren't that spectacular. I just bred the doe to the buck because he was being sold. Her parents were half siblings (both had the same sire).

She is now a (colored) 2 x Best in Show Winner (both at big shows/ with incredible breeders exhibiting (Betty Chu, Shumaker/Mesick, Webb, Peralta, Cathy S, etc)

If she doesn't win (BOB), it's mostly because she's under a judge who doesn't know where the points lay in ML's. Oh "this doe is "soft" in condition". Condition is 5 points out of 100. The icing on the cake. But when the animal who wins clearly is not as good in General Type (80 points) it makes you bang your head against a wall.

Rylee's show days are over with. She's now gotten a little soft in condition (no longer "tight"), but I know her type, her body are so irreplaceable. I will be breeding her after WA State Convention and will await her to give me her first litter. I had "bred" her in January to Stitch. I tried breeding her to Dream Maker when I got him. She hated him and smashed her butt on the cage floor. That was the good lord's sign that I needed to SHOW her so that she could bring me sheer happiness. It's Rylee, and her success this year that has drug me out of the hole of nearly selling out last November!

Now, almost didn't keep anything in Rylee's litter. Infact I culled everything but her sister because I had her sold. She now lives in WA somewheres. So does her mom, Mia. Her dad lives in CA with Bob Tapp. If I ever want Mason back I can get him from Bob (or any of his offspring, I currently have a Mason daughter).

How many of these early culls, would have gone on to be big winners like this? I almost culled Rylee, but I didn't because I felt the urge to keep "something" in the litter so it wasn't a "waste".

I went through one of my old CD's and pulled off pics of their Grandsire Keepsake, mom Mia, dad Mason and baby pictures of Rylee. The rabbit in the top of the post. Yeah, that's Rylee!!!

What was I thinking, right? :)