This is something I've been thinking about writing for a while. In this day and age of Facebook and all, things come to light more readily. With breeders of all animals coming under attack from animal rights groups more and more, a breeder should really think about what they're doing.
My point here is going to be about selling pet quality. I know I was guilty of this back in the beginning. I remember an incident vividly. I bought a pair of breeding dwarfs. Back then, brood quality went for around $20 tops. In hindsight, the buck wasn't very good, actually pretty bad. When I got the first litter from the pair, I sold some. Since I was sold pedigreed rabbits from a well-known breeder, I assumed I could sell the offspring as pedigreed, too. Later on, I got a very angry email from that breeder. Apparently, a boy who had bought a buck from that litter (looked just like his sire) showed him, and the judge was convinced it wasn't a purebred dwarf. After being shown the pedigree to prove it, the judge contacted the breeder. She went up one side of me and down the other about her reputation being sullied by a rabbit of this caliber with her name behind it. You better believe I was afraid to sell any more pedigrees that came from her lines. When I didn't want to give a pedigree with a doe and had to explain why, that person told me she was way out of line in the way she handled my inexperience. He later became one of my best friends in the hobby, and I learned more from him and his circle than the "clique of top breeders" she belonged to.
When I look back on that, I realize it really wasn't my fault. If this breeder was so worried about her reputation, why did she sell me pedigreed crap? I was a newb, I didn't know any better. Back then, the internet wasn't as helpful as it is now. The only way to learn was to visit rabbitries and go to shows. I went to as many shows as I could, but there weren't that many rabbitries local to me. And that clique wasn't very helpful at all. I felt like I was bothering them if I asked questions.
Oh yeah, my point. There seems to be quite a few breeding solely for their pet market. Apparently they have a healthy pet market to fill. That's fine and dandy, I suppose, more power to ya. I don't have that. My pet sales are few and far between, and most of my culls end up going gone in other ways. I've watched (online) as these pet breeders seem to be selling pedigrees to other wannabe breeders who then do the same thing thinking there must be money in it. Hence the title of this blog post.
One of the things that makes me label someone a pet breeder is their practices in regards to color breeding. Netherland Dwarf is one of the breeds that are shown by variety, and there's so many different colors allowed, the genetics are almost unlimited. We have to pay attention to the genetics to avoid the undesirable colors. When a breeder says they are trying to produce an unshowable variety on purpose for no reason other than they like it, I can't help but think they are not serious about the breed. Most of these unrecognized colors have no use to a reputable breeder who doesn't want the hokey genetics haunting their lines. They don't seem to understand that if they sell pedigrees, the next gullible newbie is going to assume they can breed and sell (as I did), and those bad genetics are going to affect someone eventually. The other thing that says pet breeder to me in conjunction with that is when they don't seem interested in actually entering shows, and ignore whatever they've learned about type. It's still type before color. They keep breeding those rabbits because they produce pretty pets.
Maybe some of these pet breeders have the lofty dream of seeing a new variety accepted when they start an unrecognized color project, or at least that's how they rationalize it. In the meantime, those genetics are being passed around. One of the genes I'm seeing newbies seeking lately is Harlequin and the related Tri-color. It's highly unlikely this will ever be accepted and the gene will cause bloody havoc in any breeding program. In fact, to even get the gene, you often have to look to a different breed, and that will set type back for many generations. If you must breed them, do so as pets only and don't sell them with pedigrees to newbies who want to get serious about raising quality dwarfs.
Serious breeders know that pets will always be available in their culls. Our goal is a better rabbit and anything that doesn't get us there is pet quality. The integrity of that rabbit's color genetics is part of that. We don't have to breed pets on purpose, nor do we want to, and many breeders have stopped selling pets altogether. Not flooding the market with pets helps keep the ARAs off the backs of reputable breeders.
39 days until Spring
tnt
