Bravo Rabbitry

29/08/2024

⚠️WARNING: Video of freshly born kits.

Bravo’s Piper delivered a litter of 6 this morning, 8/29/24! She is a first time mom, and as of date one of our best homegrown rabbits. We are so excited to see how these kits develop!

Piper was bred to Bunny Blessing’s Jack the Ripper, a black tort.

28/08/2024

Baby photo dump!

We will check again later to be sure, but we believe that Dixie's litter (5 orange and 1 frosty) is 3 boys and 3 girls. Their names will be Sansa, Cersei, Myrcella, Jaime, Tyrion, and Ghost. Ghost is the frosty buck, and all the oranges have names, we just have not found a way to differentiate them yet 😂 so the names are picked, we just have not assigned them to specific ones yet until tattoo time.

It looks like Bones' litter is also split with 2 boys and 2 girls! She has what we believe to be a black magpie doe (Arya), frosty doe (Khaleesi), Broken chinchilla buck (Grey Worm), and frosty/possible chinchilla frosty buck (Jon Snow).

Can you tell we have been watching Game of Thrones with all these names!

Bonus photo of one of Cider's babies who just might need to be named Dumbo with these ears!

We also have some does due this weekend, but they were bred during the very hot few days in July. We have had some pretty bad luck where the time we wanted to breed was hot and miserable, and now the days right before they are due is hot and miserable! 🤒 We hope that at least 1 or 2 took from the breeding, otherwise they will get bred again soon after their due dates, so we do not breed too late for these new moms.

As always, we are not yet certain who will be staying, and who will be looking for homes. Likely not leaving until 9-12 weeks of age for evaluation purposes. If you are interested in being placed on a waitlist, please contact us and let us know what you are looking for. It will be local pickup in Northfield only, unless delivered to a show we are attending.

20/08/2024

Baby update! Sadly, Tequila's mother instincts never kicked in this time, and she lost her litter. However, Cider did have a small litter on the 15th and has been taking great care of them so far! We originally thought she had three, but we found a fourth. Dixie's babies are exploring and starting to eat us out of house and home! They are some of the sweetest babies I have ever had, which I contribute mostly to me messing with them so much while they were growing up, especially the frosty to see what color he was gonna become 😂 We will post the genders and names soon for Dixie's litter!

12/08/2024

Bones’ second litter. She was bred to Iron Giant and this is his first litter sired so he’s officially proven! DOB: 8/10/24. 5 born, 1 DOA, 4 left. She had a giant baby that did not make it, but these 4 are doing great! Looks like for sure 1 magpie, and we are excited to see what other colors we get 🙂

12/08/2024

Tequilas first ever litter! DOB: 8/9/24. 10 total born, 2 dead on wire, 1 eaten, 7 left. This poor girl was a bit confused for her first litter. She did not have them in the nest, and by the time I found them 2 had already passed. I took the very minimal fur she pulled and put it into her nest box along with the 8 remaining babies. I also added more hay for warmth. By the afternoon, 1 was taken out and eaten. The other 7 have been doing okay so far so fingers crossed they make it. Looks like we have 6 solid blue and 1 solid black 🙂

12/08/2024

A little late to post but we did have a few more litters born the end of last week. I will make a post for each mom and her babies! One litter of 4 Mini Lops and one litter of 7 New Zealands. We also have a few does due this week, and one has pulled a tiny bit of fur so fingers crossed there’s more on the way!

07/08/2024

Another Bunny Update! 4-Her Ava did amazing at the Dakota County fair with Elsa, a littermate of Iron Giants! Elsa took first in her class, and then received Reserve Champion Sr. Doe Rabbit! She also placed well in State Fair line-up coming in at 9th out of all the rabbits shown. So happy for the both of them and the dedication from Ava to learn more about this awesome hobby! She's even getting the wellness flip down and is able to count all her toes too! Congrats Ava and Elsa :)

06/08/2024

Today seems like a good day for an informational post! While helping a 4-Her prepare for showmanship, I compiled a list of several great resources. Some are Mini Lop specific and others are great for all breeds!

This slideshow helps you understand what to expect during 4-H showmanship.
https://georgia4h.org/wp-content/uploads/UNL-Extension-Rabbit-Showmanship-Slides-1.pdf

This helps show the proper posing of a Mini Lop rabbit. This is helpful for when you are posing your animal for the judge, but also when evaluating your own rabbits or rabbits you are interested in buying.
https://d3vhqawhyaq08k.cloudfront.net/F/valleypatriots/Posing%20Mini%20Lops.pdf

This link takes you to the American Mini Lop Rabbit Clubs website. It gives a bit of info about the breed, similar to what you would find in the Standard of Perfection.
https://www.amlrc.net/mini-lop-standard

This one just has some sample showmanship questions along with the correct answers!
https://quitebunnyrabbitry.weebly.com/showmanship-questions--answers.html

Many people love the variety of colors that Mini Lops come in, so these websites are perfect for learning about the different colors and what they look like. I have used the color guide to try to find what color bunny I have if I am unfamiliar with the color. It's not perfect, but it definitely is helpful! Be warned that color genetics can get tricky and overwhelming, but still fun :)
http://hoppinherdofhares.com/kitcolorguide.html
https://everbreed.com/blog/rabbit-color-genetics/

05/08/2024

What a hot week we just had! The bunnies are definitely enjoying the slightly cooler weather today, and I hope it stays cool for our does who are due soon. Bones is due by the end of this week and has already begun building a nest. Fingers crossed she is actually bred and not just teasing me with a false pregnancy! If she does have babies, this will be our first litter from Iron Giant. Dixies litter is continuing to thrive, though the heat made these babies leave the nest a bit quicker than usual. I pulled some fur out of the nest, and they mostly hang out in there again. We are also able to see more of the white kits coloring now that she is older, and it looks like we might have a frosty on the way :) Hopefully there will be more posts to come of some very cute babies!

30/07/2024

Bravo bunny update! Mazey ended up with the perfect family and has proven to be a great fit for them. She ended up winning her class at their fair, and then received an honorable mention in state fair lineup! She also receives princess treatment and is allowed to ride outside of her carrier as that is what she prefers for car rides. I am so happy for Mazey and her forever family 💙

29/07/2024

Rabbit math is hard! Crazy how one new herd buck turns into two new bucks plus a doe! These all came from Kellee Rud at Bunny Blessing’s Rabbitry, which is where Slasher came from, and we are so excited to add them to our group! It’s a hot day and no one wanted to pose up super nice, but hopefully once they are settled in we can get some photos of them to add to our website. Names are under each photo 🙂

28/07/2024

Showed today at the Olmsted Fair and came home with another show leg! Bravo’s Black Magic won her 3rd leg today and now is eligible to be registered as a Grand Champion! She will also be bred now within the next week and we hope she is able to produce the next round of champions for us!

Congrats to Jessica Marie and Keith Goetze with their huge wins today! Such amazing bunnies 😁 Also congrats to Ashley Snediker from Snediker Farms on her win today! Showing is so much more fun with all of you! 🤍

26/07/2024

It’s gonna be hot this weekend! Made a special trip to the store for a few cases of water to freeze so we can use them this weekend to keep the rabbits cool. Fingers crossed that everyone’s bunnies manage the heat well🤞🏼also added a picture of Dixie’s litter, looks like we have an odd one out!

22/07/2024

Just got our ARBA membership renewed! We recommend that anyone serious about the hobby join the ARBA as they have some great member resources, and multiple membership options for both single members, families, or youth! I will add a link to their website page explaining the benefits of being a member :) Also adding a picture of Dixies kits... looks like maybe some orange coming in!

https://arba.net/about-the-arba/join-the-arba/

Bravo Rabbitry specializes in Mini Lops and New Zealand Rabbits for show, pet, and meat quality

20/07/2024

3 does are due this weekend and looks like one popped! Dixie had what we believe to be 6 healthy babies! We didn’t wanna move them around too much for now, but they are all looking good! Last time we bred her to Slasher she had 2 black, 2 seal, and 2 orange, and we are excited to see what colors they produced this time. We are also very excited for this litter as the last time we crossed these parents we ended up keeping back 3 gorgeous does and 2 have won multiple show legs! Fingers crossed for as good of luck as last time 🤞🏼

19/07/2024

Tattoo time! These girls will be making their first show debut on the 27th at the Olmsted County Open Show. They are still a little young, but at only $1 per entry we figured we’d get some feedback from the judge!

We also thought we’d share our tattoo process 🙂 we found that both the clamp and the pen have their challenges, and now what works best for us is actually using both! We start with the clamp to give us an outline to follow with the pen. Without it, my handwriting can look especially bad! Using just the clamp sometimes can be tricky since the ink doesn’t always stay in the holes well, and can be tough to read if it fades. Using a combo of them is also great for when shows are very soon as you don’t need to wait for all the extra ink to fade when using just a clamp.

Today we tattooed Dusk (B4DUSK), Luna (B4LUNA), and Thorn (B4THRN).

Then the last step is to give all the bunnies a treat! Even if they didn’t get a tattoo 😉

17/07/2024

Got some rabbits moved around today! We are expecting some litters the end of this week, so fingers crossed all goes well. Either way the does are loving the big cages 🙂 we also have does bred for the beginning and middle of August, and then will also breed 4 does beginning of August for September babies… we might be going a little crazy but that’s okay! 🤷🏻‍♀️☺️

05/07/2024

Thank goodness these sisters are starting to get more unique coats from each other so I can tell them apart 😂 I originally thought I would choose one of the three to sell and keep two back for show, but they each have parts I really like. I will be keeping all three back for now to see how the continue to develop and perform on the show table. MAYBE then I will be able to pick one to sell (although I still have Black Magic, Piper, and Phoebe which are littermate sisters and don't have any plan to sell any of those three soon... so we will see what happens!

04/07/2024

Happy 4th of July from Bravo Rabbitry! ❤️🤍💙 We hope everyone has fun and that nobody's bunnies get spooked too bad 🎆

27/06/2024

When it comes to Mini Lops, knowing all of the colors can be tricky! Even today, after having raised them for over a decade, I still get tripped up sometimes. The link we are sharing today is one of the main sites we use when we are trying to determine what color kit we have, and hope it can be helpful to some of you! The plus side to Mini Lops compared to other breeds though is you can breed pretty much any color to another without worrying about miscolored kits, which we absolutely love so we can focus on pairing body versus color.

http://www.hoppinherdofhares.com/lopcolorguide.html

We plan to continue sharing more helpful links, especially while we anxiously wait to see if our does we bred took!

If you have good quality pictures of a color I do not have in the lop color guide or the kit color guide, feel free to email me and I will consider using the picture.

26/06/2024

We haven't taken these girls out of their cages in awhile so decided to pose them up. We are so happy with how all of them have developed, and are excited to say that before the summer is up they will all be getting bred for their first time to Iron Giant (pictured at the end)! We hope these girls will produce some babies as beautiful as they are. We are especially proud of all the rabbits pictured as these are all home grown rabbits, making the legs that a few of them have even more special ❤️

24/06/2024

Uriel and I are getting ready to leave for a trip to Michigan tonight which means cleaning the barns really good so my sister has a clean space while she takes care of chores for us. Getting all the pans cleaned is hard work with two cute kittens distracting us! We also took out Iron Giant today, one of our rabbits born in January and soon to be a herd buck, to take another look at him. We are very pleased with how he is turning out!

Gravy is our gray and white kitty and Triscuit is the tabby. I found out today trying to take the pics that Triscuit is very camera shy! They both grew up in this rabbit barn :)

23/06/2024

This has been me the past couple days planning our rabbit breedings for the rest of the year 😂 we do have a few bunnies available still from our last breedings! Sadly the two does that were due this month either didn’t take, or lost them due to the stress of having them during a thunderstorm 😭⛈️ let us know if you’d like more info any the bunnies we have available, or to get on our waitlist if there’s something specific you’d like!

14/06/2024

We’ve got some of our bunnies up at Windy Willow LLC for the weekend! This Saturday and Sunday at their farm is Truck and Tractor weekend! Come out the see all the farm animals (including a new alpaca!), see the machinery, and support local vendors and food stands that will be there!

27/05/2024

It’s been pretty uneventful at the rabbitry lately, so figured I’d share some cute photos of kittens on our farm! Not for sale, just to share 🙂 this litter has 4, 2 boys (Hedwig with the split colored nose, and Fletcher the white) and 2 girls (Casey is the tabby with more white, and Crumb the little tabby). As much as we love baby bunnies, we probably love the kittens just as much!

19/05/2024

We have guesses in for sexes as well as tentative names for all the buns! They are still too little to have an idea of who will be held back for show grow-outs, but hopefully they will get bigger quick as they are blowing through the feed they just recently started eating 😂

In Stillwater yesterday we had a very long show, but were thankful we attended. There was some stiff competeition there! Lots of great bunnies and great exhibitors. We were lucky to earn Black Magic's second show leg while we were there, and hope her and her sister Piper will each be able to earn another when they reach senior age to be granded (made into Grand Champions). Time will tell but for now we are taking a few weekends off from showing to give the bunnies and ourselves a much needed break.

14/05/2024

Here is a post sharing some of our best performing bunnies in the barn! These four bunnies are all part of our current show stock and have earned show legs. Slasher and Dixie are parents to both Piper and Black Magic. There is a third sister we kept back, a solid orange named Phoebe, who has also gotten close to earning legs (2nd place in her class), so we are hoping she might earn one eventually too! Slasher and Dixie have both been amazing bunnies that are definitely helping increase the quality of our stock. We hope they will earn their 3rd legs eventually so they can retire from show and focus on being part of our breeding program. We are so happy Dixie was able to bounce back and earn another leg after her babies, and we cross our fingers that she will earn another before her next breeding.

We hope to continue adding to the list of bunnies in our barn with show legs, and want to thank all who support our rabbitry and help us continue to show and expand in this hobby 🤍

13/05/2024

We apologize for being so behind on posting! Life has been a little crazy lately! Here are some photos we took about a week ago of our two young litters of bunnies. The small litter of four is definitely a bit chunkier as expected, but the others are doing well too. We are excited to find out soon whether they are boys or girls!

We just had a show this weekend with a couple classes won, so we will be making a post soon to share how the shows went and which rabbits have gotten recognized recently.

Some other fun things that have kept us busy lately is four different barn cats with kittens, Uriel graduating from Riverland, myself (Ashley) graduating from St. Olaf soon, as well as getting started on an internship! We appreciate everyones patience with our rabbitry updates as life continues to stay busy :)

30/04/2024

Look at these cuties! This is probably one of my favorite growing stages as they are still so small but fuzzy and colorful! For those who have filled out our rabbit inquiry form, we apologize for the delay! We did not have notifications on for it, so assumed that we were just not getting any responses 🤦🏻‍♀️ We have since gone through and sent out messages! We have already started taking some reservations, so feel free to fill out our form to get on the waitlist :)

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd3qsCiF5xT3nk7tl-nr65uadgpo4xNW4DPy4g1hVKiVw381Q/viewform?usp=sf_link

*We are not sure yet which of these young babies we will be keeping back for ourself, so can not guarantee a color or what will all be available. If you are put on a waitlist, we will offer the available rabbits in the order of who has been on the list longest :)*

29/04/2024

These two does are looking for new places to hop! With current litters on the way, and with life being a little crazy right now, we are offering these two solid black does up to help make room in our barn. Would make great show rabbits, still time to add these to your 4-H lineup as well since entries are not due until May 15th 🍀 Pedigreed and tattooed. Asking $40 each or both for $70.