BREED LIBRARY PROJECT: We need help of experienced breeders who "know their standards"

[TinysMom]

I tried going off the forum for help - but I think the best way to get this done is to ask our breeders if they will help out with this very large project.

We want to start a breed library so that people can learn more about the various breeds. But we need your help to create a library where the information is sort of "standardized". For example - we'd like pictures of what show-quality rabbits would look like - we'd like to know recommended weights, etc. etc.

I have a sample I'm about to share that GoinBackToCali did for us a while ago on Californians. I think its great.

IF you are willing to help - please reply in this thread with the breed(s) you feel comfortable doing. If you see your breed already covered - you can always pm the person doing it to see if they would like any help or if you can share any pictures. Or you can go through your information and have it be prepared to add into that breed thread once it is created.

I will edit this list at least a couple of times per day so we know what breeds are covered and by whom:

Lionheads - I will do this unless someone else wants to
Mini-Rex - Blue Sky Acres Rabbitry & La~La~Land

Nethies - Shaded Night & Polly (I will post what Polly did and you two can decide if it needs tweaking), Silver Star

Himilayans - Erins Rabbits & Starlight can help

Dutch - Starlight Rabbitry

Jersey Wooly - Starlight Rabbitry & Oak Ridge Rabbitry can help

Holland Lop - Oak Ridge Rabbitry can help (I can help too)

Silver Marten, New Zealands, Fuzzy lops - SilverStar Rabbitry

Mini Lops - Silver Birch Rabbitry

English Spots- Erins Rabbitry

Flemish Giants - TinysMom - unless someone with more experience with flemish wants to do it

Anyone else have another breed they can help with? Mini-Lops? Flemish? Polish? There are still a lot more breeds left ... if you've ever worked on them (or are even able to research them).

IF you want to work on breed - just post in this thread and I'll add your name to the list.

I'd like to get these done by the end of the month of June at the latest.

Ok...get ready to see the sample next...I think its awesome.

 

[TinysMom]

Done by GoinBacktoCali

Californian Rabbit Specifics

The Californian Rabbit is a versatile, pleasing large breed of rabbit.The friendly, nonaggressive temperament of the Californian Rabbit makes this breed of rabbit an excellent house pet, especially to families with children.

Appearance:
The Californian Rabbit reaches an adult weight of ten to twelve pounds, with the does on the higher end of the scale. The rabbit has a white body with the ears, tail, feet and nose a dark brown to black color, with black being preferred. The rabbit also has pink or red eyes, just like his New Zealand White ancestor.

History:
The Californian Rabbit was first shown in 1928 at a South Gate, California rabbit show. The Californian Rabbit began when, in 1923, George West cross bred a Himalayan rabbit to a Standard Chinchilla to produce a chinchilla colored buck. This buck was bred to several New Zealand White does, resulting in the rabbit we currently know as the Californian.

Health:
As with all large breed rabbits, the Californian will tend to get sore hocks if kept in a wire bottomed pen. Proper measures must be taken to avoid them. Aside from the occasional problem of sore hocks, Californian Rabbits are not generally bothered withhealth problems.

Personality:
The Californian’s personality ranges from a very social and loving animal to a very quiet and reserved one. He is generally mild mannered and even tempered. The body is sturdy, compact and healthy, making him an excellent choice for your house pet.

4-H/FFA:
For those interested in a 4-H or FFA Market Rabbit project, the trend in the south leans towards the popular Californian. However, the New Zealand White comes in a close second. The Californian reaches his market weight quickly, in just under 12 weeks time. He is easy to keep in show condition and his mild temperament makes him easy to handle, impressing fair judges.

The Showroom weights for the Californian are as follows:

Senior Bucks-8 months of age and over, weight 8-10 lbs. Ideal weight 9 lbs.
Senior Does-8 months of age and over, weight 8 1/2-10 1/2 lbs. Ideal weight 9 1/2 lbs.
Int Bucks-under 8 months of age, not over 9 lbs.
Int Does-under 8 months of age, not over 9 1/2 lbs.
Jr. Bucks-under 6 months of age, not over 8 lbs. Min weight 5 1/2 lbs.
Jr. Does-under 6 months of age, not over 8 1/2 lbs. Min weight 5 1/2 lbs.
Pre-Jr. Bucks & Does- under 3 months of age, not over 5 1/2 lbs.


Californian Rabbit Specialty Club

Eunita Boatman
22162 So Hunter Rd.,
Colton, OR 97017-9710
(503) 824-2138
Email [email protected]
Californian Rabbit Specialty Club website



Californian Does

Californian Bunnies

Californian Buck

Newborn Californian Kits

 

[iluvdutchrabbbits90]

I can take posed pics of my chocolate dutch boy. he loves to pose lol

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

I just started summer work, so unfortunately probably won't have time to complete breeds by myself. But I'd love to help to contribute pictures or info to anyone working on the Holland Lop or Jersey Wooly breeds.

Can I make a few suggestions?

- I think I'd personally suggest titling each profile with "*Breed* Specifics", and insert *Breed* with the breed being worked on. Ex. "Californian Specifics". Californians are not recognized as the Californian Rabbit in the ARBA, and I think stating it as such could become confusing for newer members or breeders who may confuse the recognized name to be Californian Rabbit.

- I'd also suggest a "review panel", of sorts. Maybe as each breed profile is completed, it could be posted in this thread for a constructive critique. It may be that one breeder may mention something common to their herd that is not really valid on the whole, or someone may have an idea for better posed pictures, or pictures of a better representation of the breed, information to ad, etc. I know not everyone might have time to complete a whole breed profile, but many of us are knowledgable enough to help review them before they're posted.

- For the breeds where this is applicable, maybe list the ARBA-recognized colors. That seems to be a common question around here- what color and whether it's showable on a rabbit.

Hm...that's all for now. But if I think of anything else, I'll post again! Overall, this is a great idea and should be very helpful to those who are unfamiliar with all the different breeds!

 

[TinysMom]

OakRidgeRabbits wrote:

I just started summer work, so unfortunately probably won't have time to complete breeds by myself. But I'd love to help to contribute pictures or info to anyone working on the Holland Lop or Jersey Wooly breeds.

I was hoping you could help - you have such an awesome website.

Can I make a few suggestions?

- I think I'd personally suggest titling each profile with "*Breed* Specifics", and insert *Breed* with the breed being worked on. Ex. "Californian Specifics". Californians are not recognized as the Californian Rabbit in the ARBA, and I think stating it as such could become confusing for newer members or breeders who may confuse the recognized name to be Californian Rabbit.
This is a great idea since harlequin can be a breed of rabbit - and a pattern in other breeds of rabbits.
- I'd also suggest a "review panel", of sorts. Maybe as each breed profile is completed, it could be posted in this thread for a constructive critique. It may be that one breeder may mention something common to their herd that is not really valid on the whole, or someone may have an idea for better posed pictures, or pictures of a better representation of the breed, information to ad, etc. I know not everyone might have time to complete a whole breed profile, but many of us are knowledgable enough to help review them before they're posted.
Great idea - what we'll do is folks can put it together and then we'll ask if other experienced breeders can help with editing and perhaps non-breeders will be able to share questions they'd like answered in the post too.
- For the breeds where this is applicable, maybe list the ARBA-recognized colors. That seems to be a common question around here- what color and whether it's showable on a rabbit.
Awesome - I meant for that to be included but forgot to add it.
Hm...that's all for now. But if I think of anything else, I'll post again! Overall, this is a great idea and should be very helpful to those who are unfamiliar with all the different breeds!

 

[Tessie]

Great Idea

 

[countrybuns]

Another thing I think might be helpful for each breed is that when you include pictures of common faults aswell for example showing "pinched hindquarters" as compared to what they should look like. I know in learning about Lionheads I often see terms for faults like being fine boned ect but there isn't often pictures to compare them to what would be the correct bone.

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

TinysMom wrote:

OakRidgeRabbits wrote:

I just started summer work, so unfortunately probably won't have time to complete breeds by myself. But I'd love to help to contribute pictures or info to anyone working on the Holland Lop or Jersey Wooly breeds.

I was hoping you could help - you have such an awesome website.

Thank you! And I'm sorry about that, I really would love to help but just won't be home very much this summer so I feel like it would be unfair to commit. I'd probably hold you all up!

If I get a free day and can work on it, I will. And I will definitely check back whenever possible to help out with what's been done too! I just figured they're two pretty popular breeds so they'd probably be snatched up and finished before I got around to it.

 

[pamnock]

OakRidgeRabbits wrote:

- I think I'd personally suggest titling each profile with "*Breed* Specifics", and insert *Breed* with the breed being worked on. Ex. "Californian Specifics". Californians are not recognized as the Californian Rabbit in the ARBA, and I think stating it as such could become confusing for newer members or breeders who may confuse the recognized name to be Californian Rabbit.

Or, put the "rabbit" in lower case.

For PA 4-H state days competition, I have to specify wording in the questions as "Californian rabbit" because the questions and tests also include cavies (just as the ARBA competition currently does, although there is talk of splitting them back into two separate competitions).

So - because ARBA also includes cavies, I think that the word "rabbit" should be included.

 

[whaleyk98]

countrybuns wrote:

Another thing I think might be helpful for each breed is that when you include pictures of common faults aswell for example showing "pinched hindquarters" as compared to what they should look like. I know in learning about Lionheads I often see terms for faults like being fine boned ect but there isn't often pictures to compare them to what would be the correct bone.

Yes, this would be extremely helpful as well.

 

[Pipp]

Thanks Peg!

A few notes... I think/hope we're going to have a lot of people volunteering photos, but the format still has to be finalized. We will have a gameplan soon for what kind of posts should follow the main page, but right now we're at page one.

We really need people to write up these descriptions and hopefully provide three good smallish pics representative of the breed for an instant visual ID.

The perk for writing the page is a thank-you credit on the page and our heartfelt appreciation! (If the pics and the write-up are from different sources, both will get credit).

Ultimately the decisions about which photos are included will be determined by a panel of staff (Task Force, Mods, Admins) and VIPs. Our Sponsors are promised involvement in panels like this (if they want to do so) as part of their 'perks'.

There should be a number of breeders on the Task Force (ORR, we'd love you to join) helping to put the project together and of course we have Pam Nock's expertise.

Generally speaking the strength of this forum is the accumlation of our members knowledge, so nothing is more important than pooling experiences, there will be opportunities.

We would very much like to know what the breeders would like to see in the section, so keep the suggestions coming. (There is also a pending forum, 'Breeder Resources').

The 'Breeds' forum is part show, pet and medical. ie: The text includes also health, temperament.

The next set of pages can probably run photos of different faults and even a set of overweight and underweight photos (to demonstrate how obesity presents itself differently in different breeds).

A simple breeders directory page is also a good bet.

How or if we'll be showcasing different rabbitries still needs to be determined.

sas :thanks:

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

I will see what I can do for the Mini Rex, if anyone wants to help out as well. I can submit a picture also.

Emily

 

[Shaded Night Rabbitry]

I could do ND's when I get home later tonight, perhaps.

 

[MikeScone]

Perhaps when the library thread is set up the acceptable colors for that breed can be listed with example photos of as many different colors as the person setting up the thread has on hand. Then, others can contribute pictures for the colors which are listed without photos.

I'd suggest standardizing on a fixed photo width of 450 pixels. On a standard camera, that would give a height of about 330-340 pixels on a digital camera using the computer aspect ratio (about 300 pixels with a DSLR). That should be big enough to show the rabbit clearly, but small enough to eliminate scrolling even on VGA screens, allow a fast load and reasonable number of examples on a page. This picture is 450 wide by 340 high:

 

[Erins Rabbits]

I would HAPPILY cover Himalayans.

 

[polly]

I did do the netherland dwarf but if it needs changed or updated then I don't mind doing it :0)

 

[JadeIcing]

What I would also like to see mentioned and it would be a little harder is standards for ARBA and for the UK. Some breeds are different. Aren't Mini-Lop(UK) and Holland lop (US) the same? Also isn't the Britania Petit something else in the UK? Or is it another breed?

 

[dixonsrabbitry1]

This is really good idea, and I think this can be used as a good reference the breeders of the members section case use. Even those that want to breed their rabbits,but don't show. I don't know if i can do breed standards. I do have plenty of pictures of florida whites, standard chins, and I may have some of some thriantas.

 

[dixonsrabbitry1]

I like the UK suggestion too. There are different breeds of rabbits all over the world.

 

[Starlight Rabbitry]

I could do the Dutch and would help Oak Ridge Rabbitry do Jersey Woolies.

Erins Rabbits: If you need help with the Himis, let me know. My best friend raises them, you probably know her...lol

I can also get profiles and pics of a lot of the rare breeds, just let me know which ones.

I know a lot of breeders who have almost every breed so if you have a list of questions you would like me to ask them about their breed, that would be helpful and they would not mind answering them.

Sharon