An update

I've been a bit disappointed this year. We haven't been able to attend any US shows. In fact our last US show was 2 years ago this month!!! So besides for the few shows here on the Island we've had very few comments on our rabbits. We really need to go to a show and see how we are doing. I know with the rabbits we've sold they have gone on and done amazing things but we've sold most of our show stock the past year. Next year we need to keep show stock more LOL!

So I am a bit disappointed because sometimes I feel barn blind with just us looking at the rabbits. The last person to look at the rabbits was Cliff Dick and Jan Coffelt and that was in August. We had excellent comments in all 4 breeds(now 5) overall and are heading in the right direction but my 2010 goal is definitely more shows. I know Cristina and I are both disappointed with so few shows the past couple of years we used to be quite high in the sweep stake points(for Mini lops) and we have dropped a lot from the amount of shows we have been too.

We've discussed what we need to work on in each breed. The mini lops we have worked on the longest so we have come the furthest in them. We want to continue working on balance but also better depth. We actually bought 3 animals to improve our herd. One is Velotta's Hydro a nice broken black junior buck, the other 2 are Kitsemble's Gus and Kitsemble's Sidney. I wasn't actually going to buy Gus but both Sidney and Gus bred together produced some super deep and typey kids for Silent Spring's Rabbitry so I decided.... they cross well why not!

The Red Satins I have seen a huge improvement in overall type already. But, I do want to work on temperament. My really nice buck we bred is showing signs of aggressiveness-- something I will not put up with! So we will work with him. I have a re breed right now of 10 babies that are super sweet(as was he) so I think it is just a "I'm a buck and I know it kind of stage) but some really nice babies in this litter as well! I'm actually finding the Satins the does have better temperaments then the bucks all of the sudden? Maybe it is just the weather? The bucks are wanting girls? Who knows. Anyone interested I do have 2 juniors, a Senior buck and a Senior doe for sale.

The French lops are hard to tell with only a couple of litters underway. I did keep 2 nice junior bucks from the one litter though. Emerald is due on Saturday. Punch is hopefully bred, and I've bred Squirrely as well. I can't really say with them what I'm needing to work on until I get some more litters! Sarah from Rainstar rabbitry worked very hard on the type in her herd and I am so grateful to get a great start again them. So I am really pleased with what I have and look forward to working with them.

The Dwarfs we have a lot we want to work on. These last litters we thought for sure Matt's babies would be nicer then the Sonshine buck(Keno) but we like Keno's babies better. We have 3 nice herd bucks to work with now. I think probably what we want to work on the most in the next 6 months with the dwarfs is short bodies and fuller ears.

The Mini rex have a lot of good points but we have a lot of different lines that I don't know how they will all tie in. First generations might not be great, and 2nd generation line breeding should be better. Although, I know as a whole(breed) they seem to cross well most lines. And Mini rex have the best temperaments! I just love their cuddly personalities : )

So, end of 2009 and 2010 we have our work cut out for us, but I've never backed down from a challenge so I won't start now!! I also spent a lot of the summer thinking about raising/showing Ducks and Chickens(Or Waterfowl and Poultry I should say) but that took away from a lot of breeding and showing with the rabbits. So I've decided to just keep what I have with the ducks/chickens and if I get something nice maybe show it but otherwise just keep them for eggs/selling ducklings/chicks and go from there!

Today is Cristina's 23rd birthday. We took the dogs for a good run and play, and then we gave all 4 dogs a bath(boy did they stink!!). We've had a problem with dog food- we've been Feeding Go Natural! Chicken/Fruit/Vegetable and suddenly our dogs got violentally sick with major diarrhea. We didn't realize at first it was the food but other people were saying the same thing. The food smelled like cat food! Anyway I switched them off that, and their canned Tripe and they are doing fine. They are now on Acana Large Breed and a little Science Diet canned food. So far all is well and they are now finally doing fine. I was really worried. First it was our old lab and then it was the Golden Retriever, and then it was my German Shepherd. The Shih Tzu had the opposite problem and was getting constipated so I knew something was wrong. I am hoping Acana will be a better food. I was pretty disappointed as well that Pet Curean did not seem interested in helping myself or the other 6-8 others with the same problem- basically all from the same batch of feed and only chicken based product of theirs. "Supposedly" it is an isolated issue, or a water issue. It if it "IS" an issue. But, everyone having this problem were on different waters(City, North Cowichan, Wells etc)
Anyway, hopefully now on a better dog food!