8 Week Evaluation Part I

I am not sure if I will have time to post all of both litters today as I may need to pack to live at work for a few days thanks to the winter storm rolling in tomorrow. I decided to start and see how far I get.

This is Jack, one of the keepers:

Although his coat is all weird in the first picture, he is very smooth and wide as you can see from the second. Top view:

His ears are covering his shoulders some, but there is a dip, so they are lower than I would like. His depth is alright, but he has a late rise because of the low shoulders. He is full and rounded through the loin. His hindquarter is lacking as it slopes towards the ground- he is undercut and pinched. His overall shape is pretty balanced and his type is overall an improvement compared to my older Harlies. His temperament and rufus are outstanding. His markings are poor. Overall, my Harlequins need better type and we have elected to keep him as a herdsire despite the fact that Harlequins are judged primarily on their markings.

To contrast, here is the buck from Sunshine's litter that I am not planning to keep:

Gah! What in the world? Okay, okay.. so he isn't quite as awful as the picture above (he had flattened out after I caught him trying to take a leap of faith off the side), but still, he leaves much type to be desired:

And here is a top view also so we can compare apples to apples:

Some of the differences are much more dramatic in person, but things that jump out at me even in the pictures is how much smaller this buck is. He also lacks the depth and width overall that Jack has. His shoulders are more narrow, long, and low. His hindquarters are also very pinched/chopped/undercut. He feels catchy, hippy, and boney whereas Jack feels smooth and wide. While Jack is far from the ideal New Zealand White commercial rabbit, the difference is still pretty durned dramatic between the two:

 

Yikes! There are so many issues with the blue buck's HQ that it helps to remind me how far I still have to go before I get serious about markings. Hopefully Jack can contribute his big booty, improved shoulders, and thicker loin to future generations and we are very happy to welcome him to the herd.

The only other kit in Tacoma's litter besides Jack is a doe that you've met before- Pancake. Unfortunately she is not as nice as her brother, but still nicer than the blue buck. She is also the largest of all of the kits born around that time. The thing is- she is super comfortable being hauled around and totally not interested in posing. Most of my attempts came out like this:

Hi Pancake! Not exactly what I was going for though. Let's try again:

Pancake! You aren't an English Spot. After approximately 134, 621, 210 attempts, I finally had one where she didn't pop up for a split second. Not perfect, but I didn't have time to keep trying:

We can see right away her shoulder is long and low contributing to a late rise. She has better depth than the blue buck (thank goodness she doesn't actually look like a pancake!). Here is another (sorry about my hand):

Her hips lack roundness over the top and she is a bit hollow through the loin, though still better than the blue buck. She is also very pinched and a bit chopped when her legs are actually where they should be. I am on the fence about her. Type needs improvement, but she does have traits that are important to me like being the biggest, having fast growth, heavy muscling through the loin, great rufus, an outstanding temperament, and is my only doe from this litter. We will consider her carefully at 10 weeks and go from there.

And that's all for now! Feel free to comment on what you like or hate so much you can't stand it. :) I think I have pretty realistic expectations that it will take generations for consistent improvement and in the meantime, we will eat like kings. I hope everyone further North made it through the storms okay and continues to stay warm!