Busters Bunnies Californian Show Rabbits and Meat Pens

Well a new year brings a bright outlook for the future.
We’ve got bunnies in the cages for our up coming Hays
County stock show. And hopefully more on the way
for the Star and Houston shows.

It’s always a challenge to have babies and keep them
alive at this time of the year. Since they’re born naked,
it doesn’t take long to lose them, if they’re not in the nest box.
But when they do make it, they’ve passed the initial toughness
test that it takes to be a Buster’s bunny!

While it’s hard to tell when they’re young if we have that
grand champion pen. It’s great that we do in fact have any
at all. Cause I’ve had people that have lost theirs due to…
dogs, snakes, coyotes, weather and who knows what else.

So our new year is looking good so far. And there’s
anticipation of more bunnies on the way. It’s sometimes
nerve racking, while still exciting. When things happen
correctly (as anticipated), it quite exhilarating.

I hope your nest boxes continue to be full.
And keep trying to find those elusive grand champion bunnies.

So you think you wanna raise rabbits.
In particular, show rabbits. Good.
Now all you need to do is find a couple of
good does and a buck, put em together and
Bam, in 30 days or so, you magically have bunnies.

Well…

there’s more to it than that.
But, I’ll let you keep on believing it’s that easy.
Cause otherwise you might not ever try.

Anyway, there is many different techniques
that breeders use to try ensure that a doe is bred.
And different theories on how many times to allow
the doe to be bred to the buck(when she’s receptive).

And I’ve developed my own, that seems to work
pretty well. Of course there’s all kinds of variables
that you just have know about that will come with
time. In other words, you’ll need to learn your stock.

But what I’ve found is that once you find a doe that
looks to be receptive to taking a buck, (that’s another
part of learning your stock) you take the doe to the
buck’s cage (of course, you already know this, right?)
and he should proceed to want to copulate with the
doe, right away. Some young bucks it takes a little bit
for them to get warmed up. But once he mounts her
and she raises her tail end, then he falls over, this
is what I consider one 1x. That’s it. Write it down.
In other words, she’s been bred 1 time.
This usually does not take very long,
like less than a minute.

So then I’ll go ahead and have a cigarette for him… ;o)
Leaving the doe in the cage with the buck, while still
keeping an eye on them. I’ll wait, and give the buck
time to recover. Then he should shortly mount her
again, she raises, he falls over, and that’s 2x.

Now at this point, I take the doe out of the cage
and put her back in hers and move on to the next one.
Using a different buck on the new doe. I believe that
you need more than one buck (unless you only have
2 does) to not over work them in a short period of
time, thus increasing your litter size. Just my opinion.

Ok, back to our first breeding. I write down whom just
went with who and go about doing some more chores (there’s
always plenty to do). At least 20-30 minutes later, put
the doe back in with the buck one more time. And he
should be more than ready willing and able to go again,
by now. Same thing, buck mounts her, she raises, he falls
over, 3x. Now this buck is done for the day. And of course
I consider the doe bred, mark it my book, make note
when 30 days is from that day. Then look to put a nest
box in with the doe at that time.

There’s many variables that you’ll have to learn about
with experience. But this is my technique and has worked
quite well again this season. With about a 80% conception
rate, and litter size generally about 5-6.

Gotta head back out to the barn and check on the little
ones that were just recently born.

Good luck with your breeding program. And let me
know how it goes using this or other techniques that
you may have come up with.

It looks like I sold another grand champion meat pen,
for East Montgomery county fair.

Well actually, I sold em the buck and doe that produced
the bunnies that were the GC pen.

Since they have to raise their own, they wanted some
“good un’s”. And according to judge Bob Sorrell’s,
he could find nothing wrong with them.
Three peas in a pod.

Now if I could actually pick out good enough ones
for my kids, to hit the top hole, that would be good too.

But it’s still an honor to have other kids do good with
my rabbits. And it will that much sweeter (not if, but) when
are able to bring home the purple banner too.

Fall show season is kickin into high gear. So I’ll be going
to some breeder shows here directly. If you see me,
come up and “say hey”, I’d love to meet you.

Buster

Well you know that everything is going up in price,
mainly cause of the price of gas. That means
the price of 4-H projects are gonna be going up also.
It’s just the nature of the beast.

What would be a better project than rabbits?
By far the cheapest project for a kid to work with.
It may seem prices for a little rabbit are kinda high.

Huh…

go price a goat project, or a lamb, pig or even a steer.

Those are great show projects, and we would like to
show pigs again, one day. But right now our daily
activities revolve around raising champion quality
rabbits. And it is a every day thing. Cause rabbits
don’t just appear. There is work involved.
And it’s even more challenging having them born at
the appropriate time! I just try and make sure
the does get the memo… baby bunnies please. ;o)

I’m expecting a lot more kids looking to get some
of our show quality rabbits from us. But there’s
only gonna be so many to go around.
So if you’re thinking about gettin some bunnies,
contact your breeder, EARLY.

Good luck, and have fun!

Finally, it’s starting to cool off a little bit here in Central Texas.
It’s actually “only” in the mid 90’s, instead of the hundred’s. Yippee!

That’s means it’s getting close to breeding time for our up
coming county fair’s. And if you’re interested in getting
some bunnies from me. You need to contact me pretty quick.

I’ll see what I can do to try and help you out. If you’ve
gotten rabbits from me in the past, and would like to get
some again, you still need to contact me. Cause if you don’t,
I’m assuming that you already found some or, are not interested.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Mercy sakes alive. It’s hot! Duh, it’s Texas in middle of summer, of course it’s hot.
You either learn to live with it, or… tough.

Well I also believe that it’s a way for the good Lord to weed out the lesser quality animals,
that we may have. They gotta be tough to be a buster’s bunnies anyway.

The reason I mention this is that I lost the only doe from our 3rd place Houston meat pen,
from a couple years back.
Darn it, she was a goon un too.
That’s ok, I do happen to have some pretty good daughters out of her, that look quite promising.
So BOX6 lives on through her daughters.

That’s another part of the challenge to raising rabbits, is that you never know when one
might pass on. Thus, I generally like to try and keep litter mate daughters(if they’re good enough),
cause you never know when something might happen to one of em.

As well trying to keep em cool, during the summer months. So when someone mentions how
“easy” it is to raise rabbits. That’s when I start mentioning some of the little known facts to
how challenging it is to raise quality show rabbits. Much less just raising them in general.

Wed Jul 23, 8:51 PM ET

MELBOURNE, Australia - A pet rabbit is credited with saving a couple from a fire that swept through their home in the southern city of Melbourne.

Metropolitan Fire Brigade commander Mick Swift said the husband returned home from a night shift early Thursday and heard the family pet, named “Rabbit,” scratching at the couple’s bedroom door half an hour after he had gone to bed.

Swift said the husband, whose identity has not been released, discovered a fire in a back room and smoke spreading quickly through the house. He was able to escape the house with his wife unharmed.

Swift said the rabbit saved the couple from injury.

He said the blaze caused substantial damage to the house before it was extinguished by four crews of firefighters.
—————————————————————————————–
there are many uses for rabbits. Since we don’t have any pets…

you figure it out.

We do like them, irregardless of what for.

What does it take to breed does in Texas, in summer time…

patience.

C’mon now, it’s blistering hot out, and they’re wearing fur coat.
What do you expect? Well, baby bunnies, of course.

Well it’s a distinct possibility that they will not cooperate, even it’s cooled
down some, at night. You just gotta keep after it. And try to find a doe
that IS receptive. If not, try again tomorrow.

It’s definitely an extra challenge to get babies born for early fall shows,
here in Texas. But hey, that’s part of the “fun”.

There are a couple of things I do to try and confirm that they actually
were receptive. I’ll post that at a later time.
Right now, it’s actually raining here in central Texas, wahooooo!
So I gotta turn the computer off.

But I’m hoping to have some litters born at the end of July, first of August.
So, if you’re needin some bunnies for your fall fair. Better contact me soon.
Cause I suspect they’re gonna be hard to come by.

Well as we all know, the price of gas is steadily going up.
I knew it was only a matter of time. Just didn’t think it would
happen all at once.

You can squawk about it all you want, ain’t gonna do no good.
Simply have to expect it, and adjust your budget accordingly.

Why do I mention this…

I just got our electric bill for June.

Zoowie. I knew it was hot, just not that hot!
I turn the A/C up in the house some so it will kick off
some. But I’m still reluctant to turn off the fans for
the rabbits. Cause they’re wearing fur coat too.

But I’ll be turning em off if it’s even the slightest bit
cooler. Cause I want my kids to eat too… ;o)

Gas had been going up, and of course feed has to be trucked in,
so it’s steadily been going up in price. Keeping the bunnies cool
is costing more, that’s been going up.

So unfortunately, you can expect the price of meat pen rabbits
to more expensive as well.

While it’s still going to be the least expensive 4-H/FFA
project to have, it’s gonna cost more initially.
But still less (a lot less) than any other project.

I got a flyer from person we purchased some goats
for our project(s) a few years back. And it was for
a sale for some of his upcoming prospects. No doubt,
he’s had some good ones in the past, so they’re quality ones.
But the STARTING bid was $300… ouch.
And you have to keep/feed/raise/train them for 6 months.

With our meat pen rabbits, you essentially have to keep them
for less than 3 months. And you don’t have to teach them to lead!

So, don’t be surprised if a pen of 4 meat pen bunnies costs more
than a $150, come show time.

Be prepared, cause I know we we’re working our hardest to provide
you with some good un’s, when you’re ready. But call early.

Well, as most everybody knows, the summer’s in Texas are hot!
But it seems that this year it’s extra hot, already.

The month of June had only one day that wasn’t 95
degree’s or more. And little to no rain to speak of.

Fortunately for the rabbits, I was smart enough to get a
“swamp cooler” for em this year. It still gets hot, but not
nearly as bad as if I just had fans.

In fact, I’ll just go out and sit in the habitat sometimes.
Cause it’s cooler in there, than outside.

With the swamp cooler, I’m probably gonna try to breed some does
here in the summer, for some meat pen rabbit projects.
And hopefully won’t lose anything, due to the heat.

So, if you have an early fall show that you need bunnies for,
contact Buster quickly, and I’ll see if we
can get you some of our champion rabbits, for you.