gypsy wrote:
I dont want to soundlike a B here but this isnt a very valid reason to breedin my opinion ( and its onlymine )
** " I believe I should be breeding because I know what the market is for the babies" **
this particular comment leaves the door wide open for BYB to say the same thing ( even tho it isnt true ).
If such a comment was a necessity the market would be over floodedwith every Pedigreed breed out there .
Gypsy & everyone else,
Let me explain my statement because it probably did not come across the way it was intended.
Before I decided to breed, I knew the breed I was interested in -lionheads. I had two that I had purchased and when I spoke to the woman who was going to become my mentor - she encouraged me to become a breeder - which totally shocked me. She stated that I appeared to have a lot of knowledge about rabbits (I'd learned a lot of it here)...and that she often had requests for lionheads in my area of the state. She offered to help me get started and teach me what she knows too.
Now - if she had said to me something like, "Peggy, there are already a lot of lionhead breeders here in Texas..." or "There is a lionhead breeder in your area.." then I probably would have decided to not breed lionheads. If when I spoke to another woman in this area (who runs a pet boarding kennel and has a rabbit of her own) - I'd heard that there were a lot of breeders in this area for any type of rabbit...I probably would not breed. OR...if I found out that our shelter was filled with rabbits (they don't take them at all), I would have reconsidered breeding.
Instead, I know that there are only one or two breeders in this area -who mainly sell their rabbits at the feed store or for snake food.
I hope to sell my rabbits the following ways:
through rabbit shows in San Antonio & San Angelo (yes, it means I will be committing my weekends to going to those places)
through an internet web site I'm working on developing
through contacting the local 4-H and offering discounts (and heaven forbid..possibly even a low-cost rabbit or two if I find some young people who are really interested in rabbits and rabbit care and show a gifting for it).
Any rabbits I don't sell - I will give a home to for as long as needed.
But Gypsy & everyone else - I'm also planning to go beyond that. You see, once I'm done using a doe for breeding - I'm going to have her spayed - AT MY EXPENSE - before finding her a home as a pet. If need be, I will give a doe to someone I think she's a good match for - vs. selling her to someone who simply wants a pet but knows nothing about rabbits. I haven't yet decided on my bucks...whether I will neuter them at my expense....because I've gotten the impression they don't have the same high likelihood of cancer that does have - and I don't know yet what I'll be able to afford.
I'm sorry this is so long - but my point is this. I didn't decide to go ahead and breed rabbits without thinking through how many breeders were in my area or how I would find homes for them. I've had three years of business courses an done thing I always learned was "See if there is a market before you try to provide something...". I didn't want to breed rabbits in this area if we were overrun by rabbit breeders.
I hope this helps.
Peg