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More notes on the continuing Red Giant Angora project. This is an F3 hybrid 6 months I retained four out of the litter. Body type isn't bad. No foot fluff or furnishings really to speak of and only seven pounds. They won't make weight this generation. The facial color lightened up too much for my liking, and the body fluff is near white. That is the German influence I am sure. This fall I will do a brother/sister breeding, second doe bred back to Dad, third doe to an unrelated Giant and the buck also to an unrelated Giant.
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I see so much banter in various rabbit groups about how timothy hay is the bees knees and the only best hay for rabbits. I wholeheartedly disagree. Diversity is the key to the best health. This may look like a just a bunch of grass, but it's really not. Burdock, stinging nettle, plantain, thistles, curly and yellow dock, wild daisies, pineapple weed, wild chamomile, several types of creeping ground cover, red and white clover, lamb's quarter, dandelion, red rooted pigweed, alfalfa and at least a half dozen different varieties of grasses grow and live in this field. This is what I know of for sure. These plants are a vast wealth of various nutrients and far healthier than a limited diet of timothy. Everything on my farm gets this hay as part of their regular ration. If you buy your hay, buy mixed field hay from a local farmer if you can! If you live in the city, look for a feed store, a small animal swap or a small stock social media group in your area. Often times they either will be selling small square bales or be able to point you in the right direction.  
Black Giant Angora 11# 7 I started with blacks in 2010. Blacks are not a showable color and have failed the COD process numerous times. That never stopped me from continuing to work on them. I've encountered a host of problems over the years. Size, type and lack of leg furnishings are the main ones. It took me 15 years to get this far and I won't stop working towards improvement. Don't let anyone tell you what you can or can't or should or shouldn't breed. Raise what you like!
I like reading in those groups because that is where IMO you find the most serious of breeders.
Very very interesting ..... Calf Manna is very high in energy. I’ve found that when the crude protein tends to get above 17% that rabbits tend to be softer in flesh condition. Somewhere in the 16-17% range is what I’ve found to work best. I’ve found that I tend to get better growth and hardness when I feed second cutting grass hay in addition to pellets. I don’t think that is necessarily due to the nutrition of the hay, but may instead be due to the roughage it provides to clean the villi in the gut and allow for better nutrient absorption as well as helping to move the food through the digestive system quicker, helping with metabolism. When I’ve given calf manna to does that are nursing, I’ve tended to notice splay legs. I have not given calf manna to nursing does in many years and have not had any incidents of splay legs. I think the two largest helps for meat pens are: 1. Cutting the litter size down to a size the doe can milk well. If the litter is too big, they won’t grow as well and can be uneven in size. Too small and the kits tend to get too wide, get soft and lose depth of body. I somewhat wonder if too much milk in the gut at that time where their skeletons are malleable can potentially affect the depth of body by a full belly weighing them down too much, pulling downwards on a very malleable skeletal frame. I think the better a kit nurses the better they tend to eat throughout their entire life. To me, those first few weeks are extremely crucial. 2. Pulling the litter box as soon as they open their eyes I think helps a bunch. This helps avoid nest box eye from ammonia building up in the nest box. It prevents single kits from getting out and chilled or from getting caught between the nest box and cage wall. It also gets them out and utilizing their muscles sooner. They also start eating solid foods sooner. When I pull the nest box I’ll throw some hay in for a bit of bedding and for something to munch on. Crawford did similar but he used oats placed on a board from what he once showed me. Also, pulling the nest box sooner allows the kits to milk more. They don’t have to wait for mom to jump in the nest box. I see better growth rates on kits where I pull the nest box at around 12 days old. My other concern with calf manna during the 6-10 weeks period is that it may increase the chance for bloat due to the high energy. I tend to focus on what optimizes the nursing in those first few weeks so that they grow the best possible but don’t get pudgy. That seems to usually carry over for the rest of their lives. Very rarely does the small one tend to later eat more and outgrow the bigger one. Finally producing some broken Giants with the size they were lacking, but type is still as crappy as ever. I'll never understand why they weren't passed as semi-arch instead of commercial and why they are so dang hard to fix.   I was asked to cull this rabbit and investigate due to a progressing and unidentifiable eye problem. The cloudiness started as a junior and worsened as she matured. The eye also bulged out a bit more than the other eye, which was perfectly normal. The bulging was a cause for concern due to pressure and pain possibilities. This doe is a young senior. The little hard ball is the lens. It should be perfectly round and smooth. The clear goo is probably vitreous fluid. If you look closely in the upper right quadrant, the lens appears bumpy and chunky. I would guess she had a fast growing eye tumor of some sort.
Take good care of your barn kitties and they will stick around and do their job. Zero degrees and warm ground rabbit for lunch. Little Girl, on the right, will be 24 next month.  |
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