Hard Work

I started my wooly herd with some great stock. I've bred hard, I've culled hard and I've tried to produce the best animals I could- and I try to only sell breeding animals that go above and beyond my standards. For instance- several "brood" animals I've sold have ended up as show animals, and kicked some butt on the tables.

I noticed a few years ago that I was getting one of two comments a LOT. That was "lacking a little in lower HQ". Admittedly, the rabbits were still winning and winning quite often. I decided that was something I really wanted to work on though. It wasn't a massive problem, most were only lacking a little but it bugged me to hear it so often.

I culled a lot of animals. I sold the overall better animals to keep the ones with better HQs. I linebred- and I fixed my HQ in one generation. No joke. I didn't bring in a lot of new animals, I built with what I already had. The next generation built on top of those solid HQs- and so on.

This weekend, one of the judges really made a point of talking about HQs. It was something that she felt was really important and even commented that a lot of woolies seem to be lacking in that lower HQ.I was so proud that ALL of the rabbits I put on the table received comments like "full to the ground." "Now THIS one has a butt...", etc. Every...single...one.

I can't tell you how good that made me feel. It is something I continue to be really picky on and I love that my hard work has paid off and I've produced some very consistent HQs in the herd.

It just put a big smile on my face and I think it's going to be on there a while!

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry