Why I Raise Rabbits
By Ashley Peters
12/2/03
My name is Ashley Peters and I am 18 years old. I have been raising New Zealand whites for well over 10 years now and I still love every minute of it. I am going to share with you some of my personal experiences about breeding, showing, and sharing my rabbits. My parents and I have tried to trace back and remember when I got my first trio of bunnies and were pretty sure it happened when I was about 4 or 5 years old. Here's a little background on how I got my rabbits.
My Papa, or grandpa, pushed and pushed my mom to let me have the experience of raising an animal. Believe me; the two of us tried everything in the book. Pickle, let the girl have a lamb, he would say to my mom. Her reply every time was, "where are we going to put it." Then we tried to convince her to bring me to his farm every weekend and I could keep my lamb, calf, chicks, whatever we hadn't tried on my mom for a while, at his house and I could take care of it while I was there. Thank God my mom said no to us every time or I don't think I would have ever got my rabbits. My Mom told my Papa if I was going to raise an animal then I was going to do all the work my self and I still strongly agree with her to this day. In one last desperate attempt we tried rabbits. I drug out some old cages and cleaned and cleaned them until they shined. Then I drug them to my Aunts house, also on the property, where my parents were and pleaded with them. Look at all the work I've done, I swear the cages will always be this clean. Please Mommy, please Daddy, can I please have a bunny? And low and behold it worked!
My Papa gave me two Californian Does and a New Zealand white buck. I made the agreement that I would breed them and give the babies back to him to be butchered. My Dad built me a really nice hutch and I was on my way. I lost one of the does that winter to pneumonia, but I couldn't get her to breed anyways. My healthy Californian Doe and my New Zealand buck lived and produced many babies for me. I kept a few of the babies, but I was always partial to Bum, my buck. He was a perfect pet for a little girl and would let me do anything I wanted to him. I would let him run around on my lawn and play games with him out there; he would even come to me when I called. My Papa knew how much I loved him so he bought me another New Zealand doe to replace my Californian doe. We made the trade and I was on my way to breeding pure bred New Zealand whites. Around this time I also was given a Siamese Sable Netherland Dwarf doe.
I joined 4-H in 1992 with a huge desire to learn more about rabbits. I had already been raising meat rabbits for 2 or 3 years and I just really wanted to learn. Our clubs only rabbit group at the time was a meat rabbit group so I joined right away. We cross clubbed with a near by town a few times but nothing more. I wasn't thrilled with the results and didn't join another rabbit group until 1996. Our club had a very good rabbit group in 1994 and 1995, but I unfortunately did not get along well with the leader or her daughter and this kept me from joining.
In 1996 I believe a new Feed Store opened up in our town. The owners were very friendly people and I would stop by there everyday after school to hear about Al's experiences threw out his life. I came to learn that he raised New Zealand whites for meat purposes for many years and at one time his son Sam, the other owner, was butchering about 50 rabbits every weekend. I told them that I was breeding for meat purposes and described them as having a mandolin type, no shoulders and huge, well filled hindquarters. (I didn't know any better at the time.) Al still had some of his breeding stock at home and was generous enough to give me a doe. He told me that she had very good lines and that she would do a lot for my breeding stock. I drug her home and began to breed her right away. Some of my best breeding stock came out of Al's doe. Sam and Al also encouraged me to put differences aside and re-join the rabbit group so that I could learn the information I so badly craved. Sam also thought me how to butcher my own rabbits in 1997 or 98. A skill that I feel is very important and everyone raising rabbits should know about.
Around this time I also tried raising English Angoras. I was given a Blue buck and I loved him, but not the work. Sam and Al rounded up a female for me, but I never got a litter out of her. She died of wool block we believe and my buck got loose and disappeared. I have to share a story with you at this point. We had a cat named Nermal and she was a calico with long mostly gray hair, a very pretty cat. Well during the spring and summer months the cherry tree above Easters, the blue buck, cage would be in full bloom. My cat would go out to his cage and the two of them would lie next to one another and sleep the days away with each other. It was like Nermal thought Easter was a cat and he thought she was a rabbit. The two of them did this everyday until Easter ran away during the winter months.
I joined the rabbit group again in 1996 when a new leader took over the group, her name is Annette. This was the smartest thing I ever did because Annette is the best 4-H leader I have ever had. She took me in as if I was her own daughter and drug my butt around to every rabbit show her daughters were going to so I would have the opportunity to learn. My very first show was the January Jamboree, the largest rabbit show in Northern California. I exhibited my Netherland Dwarf, who at the time was 12 years old and one of my New Zealand bucks. My New Zealand placed last in his class, the whole bad type thing, and my dwarf place Best of Variety and Best of Group. After seeing all of the colors that dwarfs come in I decided that I wanted to raise them. I was tired of breeding white to white and getting white.
I decided to raise group 2 dwarfs and I tried to do this for 5 years. I remember a time I told my mom that I wasn't going to buy any more New Zealand's and that I was just going to let them die off so I had more room for my dwarfs. I bought a Sable Point buck at the January Jamboree in 1996 and bred my Siamese Sable doe to him. These were the only two successful babies I got out of my dwarfs. I bought a Sable Point doe in March of 96 and she was one of the most memorable rabbits I have ever owned. Her name was Morticia, but be called her Tish for short. (I named all my dwarfs after the Adams Family and the Munster's on TV.) Tish was one of the best showmanship rabbits I ever had and was a great teaching tool. At one time I think I have at least one variety from each of the five groups in my barn. My breeding attempts were without success. I got one little buck with a split penis, a little girl who died when she was three weeks old because she was so tiny, a lot of peanuts and the very first two Siamese Sables that were both over weight at 5 months old. What a mess and a waste of 5 years.
During this time I continued to breed my New Zealand's and worked on their body type and fur. I just couldn't get rid of the low shoulders and the long, old fashion commercial fur. I was struggling because there was no way my rabbits could compete in the open show and I was one of the only youth exhibiters of New Zealand's in my area. I had nothing to compare them to and didn't know what or how to work on there problems. Once again Annette stepped in to save the day. She made me talk to Manuel Hidalgo, an ARBA judge here in California. He raises New Zealand whites and had many National Convention winners. I did and he took an interest in me. I tried to clerk at the shows for him so I could learn what he looked for in a good New Zealand. Many times he would ask me what I though of the rabbit sitting in front of me and then tell me what his thoughts on the rabbit were. I am very thankful that Manuel took the time to teach me about the breed because it really helped me. He was also very generous in 2001 and gave me a very nice Jr. Buck after watching my breeding progress. This buck fixed my shoulder and fur problem and helped me to get the offspring I have today. I couldn't thank Manuel enough.
Also during this time I was volunteering and doing a lot of educational speeches and displays with my rabbits. I was usually in charge of either the marketing and or the judging portions of our activities. I feel that it is very important to keep the large meat breeds around so that the kids can learn about that part of raising rabbits. I also wanted to help other people and give them the opportunity to learn because I was so thankful that somebody helped me. As I mentioned before in my area you could count on one hand the number of kids breeding and exhibiting nice commercial rabbits. The best teaching device I think is hands on experiences so during my marketing presentation I would bring a Netherland Dwarf, a Satin and a New Zealand. I would use the rabbit to help the kids understand what I was trying to say. My most memorable phrase was as I would hold up the Netherland Dwarf I would ask the audience, Now would you rather eat this, or (pointing to the New Zealand) this? By using the rabbits and posters I encouraged a lot of kids to start raising commercial rabbits. I am very proud of myself for that and of the kids for taking the leap and trying one of the commercial breeds instead of one of the cute, little fancy rabbits. I have also tried to teach kids that you can make more money off commercial rabbits than Fancy rabbits. You can sell their meat and fur, as well as sell them for show and pet. The children that listen are the ones who try commercial breeds and make money off them too.
Between the years of 1998 and 2000 I was really looking for another breed because the dwarfs just weren't doing it for me. I looked at Hotots, Chinchillas, the giant breeds and many more. I finally took the next step and bought a Satin. I could butcher them, sell them as pets and it wasn't breeding white to white and always getting white. These also had babies when I bred them. My very first Satin was a Copper doe, what a beautiful color, and just my luck one of the hardest colors to breed. Yet just like the dwarfs I tried and tried to raise nice reds and coppers. I've had Satins for almost 4 years now and most of the babies were sold as pet stock or as dinner. Let's just say those are slowly leaving my barn as well.
I would like to share with you now one of my success stories. At the January Jamboree in 2002 I believe I sold a New Zealand White doe to a young lady that was about 9 years old. It was her very first rabbit and after walking around the building a couple of times she came back and asked if she could buy one of my does. I sold it to her and she has written me letters ever since. She sends me pictures and updates about her up and coming litters and its just great! I see her at least two times a year and I am even starting to buy some of her stock to help better mine. She already has a Grand Champion, a Best in Show winner and is, or has already started to learn how to butcher her own rabbits. I am very proud of her.
Over the past 3 years my New Zealand's have improved phenomenally. Threw strict culling and persistent breeding I have locked in the traits of a good New Zealand. I have worked very hard and now have my very first Grand Champions out of my breeding lines and have the winners I have worked so hard for. Looking back I can't believe I was going to let my New Zealand's fade away because they are a wonderful breed. Very loving, personable, friendly rabbits that are great for many things. I can sell them to children far a great pet, I can butcher the culled stock and I can sell them as show stock with a reputable background. Also out of the 13 or 14 years I've raised rabbit I have been very fortunate to have never had a disease break out, but I think that has a lot to do with the knowledge I have picked up. Learn as much as you can and take advantage of information provided to you. There is always something to learn.
I will raise New Zealand's for the rest of my life because I just love the breed so much. I hope that my story will inspire somebody out there to keep on trying and never give up. I started with nothing and worked up to where I am today. You don't need top of the line stock to have good rabbits; you need pride and the drive to better yourself to have nice rabbits. I hope everyone out there can have the chance to have someone in their lives like Annette who will push them to do their best and to never give up. If you're having trouble, ask a judge, I can almost guarantee that they'll be more than happy to help you out and teach you what you want to learn. Get your feet a little wet, and never let them dry out. Good luck and I hope my story will help you in some way.