12/30/2024
The perpetual quest for “show does”; an alternative for building your own herd:
Finding foundation stock is not a quick or easy process, and there are many unique challenges to dwarf breeds. But it is very important that you familiarize yourself with some basic terminology (like dwarf vs normal/false-dwarf, peanut, etc), and that you at least know a little bit about how a quality Holland *should* look. Then establish a game plan! There are many excellent online resources that can help you with this (not the purpose of this post).
Many breeders’ inboxes are inundated with requests for “show does” from well-intentioned folks who are trying to build their herds, with a common assumption that you have to start with Kardashian-equivalent show does in order to produce quality babies. If this is your strategy, let me just point out a few things to consider. First, it will take you eons to fill all your cages exclusively with show does because it’s rare to find breeders who will sell you their does who are winning on the tables. Even if you do find such a breeder, you will likely have to sell your firstborn child in order to afford a harem of these show does! (Lets say you have cash to burn—great, but even then, you should still be aware that just because a doe is accomplished on the show tables, that does NOT mean she’s a good producer or mother! In fact, it can be the exact opposite with some diva showgirls...)
You have to understand that most breeders have a very high ratio of does to bucks, as you only need a few bucks to sire babies from dozens of does. Plus, breeders usually want to continue showing their best animals as long as they’re winning on the tables, and then get some nice babies afterwards out of any prizewinning does in the hope to produce more prizewinning babies! Additionally, Holland does have a relatively short window for when they are competitive on the tables. Bucks may look better as their bone thickens over the years, but once does start having babies, their “mom bods” often don’t impress like they did in their prime, so if a breeder does actually move on a prizewinning doe it likely won’t be until she stops winning—in which case you’re paying a lot of money for a doe who’s already at the tail end of her show career. So you can see, there are lots of reasons for breeders to hold on to their show does ( ).
This is why I suggest an alternative strategy: buy the best quality buck you can find, since you’ll be breeding him to multiple does and showing him for years. Then ask breeders if they have any retired/proven does (which means the breeder obviously liked them enough to keep them in the first place—so they might be even nicer than the junior does they’re willing to part with who didn’t make the cuts—but now after getting some babies out of them, they might be willing to part with mom in order to make space for the babies. Or alternatively, breeders may have normal does with great genetics behind them who did not inherit the dwarf gene, which means they’re unlikely to have a show career. These normal does will likely have a bit longer ears/body/limb than their dwarf siblings, but when bred to a nice dwarf buck, the babies can inherit the dwarf gene from dad and grow up to be awesome show quality rabbits! [**There’s no difference between a dwarf rabbit out of 2 dwarf parents vs a dwarf rabbit out of 1 dwarf and 1 normal parent! Babies only need 1 copy of the dwarf gene to be a dwarf Holland**]
Important caveat: You do still have to be picky about normal does—just as with all Hollands, some of them are well balanced or have great parts, while others are just big pets. Normal does should still have nice type, just with some allowances for a bit longer ears/body/limb. Since many breeders don’t post pics of their normal does, I’ve often heard that its difficult to know what a “quality” normal doe looks like. Obviously none of my does are perfect, but I’m including several pics of my favorite normal does here for some reference point. You can see that they may have some length to ears/body/limb compared to dwarfs—but it shouldn’t be excessive—and they still need to have nice mass, width, depth, bone, topline, etc. Don’t fall for the trap of excusing major faults just because a doe is normal! Their length of ear/limb/body is often corrected by the dwarf gene, but most other faults are not!
There are many different strategies to building your herd, but I hope that this can at least provide you with some alternatives to mass-messaging breeders pleading for show does, which is frustrating for both parties. Plus you can still obtain some of the best genetic potential from a breeder when you buy their brood stock (proven/retired does and normal does) to produce amazing babies without having to lose your retirement fund to do it! Just some things to consider.
Raising Holland Lop show rabbits in Dallas, TX. Structure is top priority, but I’m also dabbling in some color projects on the side.
