| Culling Show Dutch Note: Culling does NOT mean to kill, it means to “remove from the breeding program or rabbitry”. No matter what you do with the rabbit when it leaves your barn whether you sell it as a pet, to another breeder, ect. that’s culling. Even though this article is geared towards Dutch, culling is basically the same in any breed. The biggest thing to know about breeding rabbits is to cull, cull, cull. Dutch are a marked breed, meaning at birth you are able to see whether they will be showable or not. However, these markings can change as the rabbit develops. I have had Dutch that looked like they had tied elbow (color extending above the elbow, a disqualification on the show table) at birth, but as they developed more the color went down not touching the elbows, just giving them a ragged undercut. When my litters are born, I give a good look over the kits to see how many of each variety (I only get Blacks or Blues, as that’s all I raise) I got and how the markings look. Other than this as they grow up I do not pay much attention to their markings or type. When I’m feeding or handling them I might glance at their markings, but don’t put much emphasis on them at this age. This is because while their young they might have blunt blazes, wavy saddles, ect. These all look a lot better once the kits are aged a bit. At 6 weeks old is when my culling process begins as this is when the type starts coming in. I go through and divide the litters up. I leave all the mismarks in with their mom. I then check the others over closely, for disqualifications that are common in any breed. I check for: Flesh marks (common problem with Dutch) Malocclusion and simple malocclusion Missing toes or toenails, colored toenails (Dutch are to have all white nails) White spots Eye colors, spots in the iris Ect. I also examine the markings even more closely. I only keep the best marked ones. Ones with the very poor markings but are still showable (just will be faulted really bad) are put back in with the mismarks. Rabbits who did not pass the above will be put back in the cage with their mother. These rabbits will be sold as pets once they’re old enough to leave my rabbitry. Some of the mismarks that have good type and no genetic defects are sold to other breeders who use these rabbits in their breeding programs once they’re old enough (note- nothing about markings are genetic, meaning that good typed mismarks can throw show quality rabbits). After this, if they pass all of the above I then examine their type. At 6-7 weeks old, all the show quality rabbits are placed in their own cages. Past 8 weeks of age, every rabbit will have it’s own cage. My Dutch mature quickly and usually make the Dutch minium junior weight ( 1 3/4 pounds and over) at 8 weeks of age. I usually start showing them past 8 weeks of age. At this age some will be too young to compete, however I have some do very well at young ages. For all the show ones I kept, I like to put them in a few shows to see how they stack up against each other and other people’s rabbits. I also like getting judge’s opinions on them, as they might see something that I missed. However the final decision of who I keep will be based on my opinion alone. At about 3 months of age, if I have multi animals in the same class I will sell the rabbits that in my mind are the lesser whether they be of the 3 month olds or the older juniors. Just because I consider them the lesser does not mean that they’re bad rabbits. I have had quite a few of these rabbits go onto win Reserve in Shows, Grand Champions, ect. at shows. When selling rabbits, don’t be afraid to sell to other people who show, I’ve seen people selling really nice show rabbits as pets, or refusing to sell any at all just because they didn’t want those rabbits to come back to beat them (I’ve even been encouraged to do this by a judge who said if it’s not good enough for me to keep, why sell it to someone else). Don’t be afraid of competition, especially of your own breeding. In my opinion, if I can’t win at a show it’s better to be beaten by a rabbit I bred or that’s out of my line than by a stranger. One of the biggest things to realize about raising rabbits is that you can not keep every rabbit that comes through your rabbitry. I try not to keep any rabbit that is not doing anything in my rabbitry or helping me to improve my rabbitry. My breeding rabbits are given only a few chances to prove themselves. I only keep rabbits that throw offspring that match up to my standards. Anything less than that will be culled. It’s fine to have one or two rabbits as a pet, however to be competitive on the show table you have to realize you can’t keep every rabbit as a pet. I, myself, have always had a few older ones that I couldn’t part with, however in the last few years have gotten to the point where I can part with anyone in my barn. I’m just very picky about where these rabbits go. My way of seeing it is that they are much happier somewhere where they can be the only rabbit or one of just a few instead of 1 of 40, as they’ll receive more attention than at my place where they have to share me with everyone else. Just remember the biggest rule of the rabbitry is: cull, cull, cull |
| Background courtesy of Pam Nock Copyright © 2003 Double Dutch Rabbitry |
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