News at SLR

Well we didn't end up taking anymore photos while in Calgary so that is why nothing has been posted. We are officially sold out until we get some more babies going here which should be in a week or two depending on who caught.

We are also in deep disscussions about going to Nationals and am 90% sure that we will be there. Now to figure out if we are brining any to show or just doing some bunny shopping!

GC SLR' Sakari a black and orange tri color doe and a RIS winner enjoying some time out in the yard!

Calgary

We have arrived down in Calgary! We're down here for the weekend as we wanted to make it down before the white stuff flew. By the sounds of it we just made it because we hear that it snowed at home - welcome winter. We'll do a few photos and such when we are down here of some of the bunnies and the two cute little babies who are now two weeks old. There's a tri doe and a harli who are adorable! All Hollands look cute with chubby cheeks and blocky little things at this age so photos of how "nice" they are are really cheating but these guys are too cute not to take photos of!

Until then stay warm = )

SLR's Thumper

He had an introduction a little earlier on the blog but we're giving him an official one and a welcome! Thumper is Robins first bunny and went to the EARS show this weekend with the Berry's. A Huge thanks goes out to them for showing him this past weekend! We haven't heard exact results but was told that he placed first in two Junior buck classes for his first two GC legs. This was his one and only JR showing as he will be six months old at the end of October. Believe it or not but this little guy is out of a chestnut buck and a Tri doe so he will be used in the tri program and we're excited to breed him to SLR's Sassy a torted tri doe to see if they produce some clean tris and with his color genetics they should! Anyways here's Thumper.

P.S. The black buck we have currently for sale is his full brother!

Updated Sale List

We've sold quite a few bunnies but there's still a couple left to go to new homes before the snow flies. Below is an updated list of the bunnies that are available. Photo's are in the two previous post's and more can be sent via e-mail. We are tossing the idea around about going to nationals this spring and will have more bunnies available then!

Harlequin SR Doe PENDING
Torted Tri SR Doe
Tort SR Doe SOLD
Black JR Buck
Cream SR Buck SOLD
Broken Tort SR Buck SOLD
Broken Tort SR Buck
Black SR Buck SOLD
Tort SR Buck SOLD
Mixed breed Buck
Tri SR Doe PENDING
Chestnut SR Doe
Broken Chestnut SR Doe SOLD
Chestnut SR Doe

Some New Photos of Sale Animals

Well we usually do our photos in front of a willow bush just outside the shed and it's usualy done in the afternoon so that the sunlight is not an issue. These photos were just done so there's some shadows and the sun is in their eyes so most of them are closed. There's a lot of things to think of when taking photos!

 Black and Orange Torted Harli Doe ON HOLD

Black Tort Doe SOLD

Black and Orange Tri Doe ON HOLD

That's all the photos for today, more will be posted tomorrow or the next day!



New Bunnies Available For Sale

We took a trip down to Calgary last weekend and brought up another 10 bunnies to sell. Here's a list of what we brought:

Harlequin SR Doe PENDING
Torted Tri SR Doe
Tort SR Doe SOLD
Black JR Buck
Cream SR Buck SOLD
Broken Tort SR Buck SOLD
Broken Tort SR Buck
Black SR Buck SOLD
Tort SR Buck SOLD
And a little mixed breed Buck who decided to move into our barn!

We also have up here
Tri SR Doe
Chestnut SR Doe
Broken Chestnut SR Doe SOLD
Chestnut SR Doe

Most of these guys are about eight months old. E-mail us for more info on any bunny posted above.

Here's some photos of the available bunnies:

Chestnut SR Doe

Torted Tri SR Doe

Tri SR Doe

Chestut SR Doe

Black JR Buck

 

 Broken Chestnut SR Doe SOLD

Broken Tort SR Buck 

Mixed SR Buck

More photos will be coming this weekend - stay tuned for those!

Treats that are Okay for rabbits!

We've said goodbye to the little black & orange tri color doe to a wonderful family which has given me an idea to write down some of the treats that we commonly feed.

The main component is a 16 %  or 18 % completely balanced rabbit ration. This is the only thing that a rabbit actually needs to eat to stay healthy. Since the food is a "completely balanced" food that mean that it has all the roughage, salt, minerals and everything else that a bunny needs to live a good life. When pet owners start feeding their bunnies food with the treats mixed in the common occurrence is for the bunny to start eating the "candy" treats in the feed and not the feed itself. This leads to an UNbalanced diet and often a very cubby bunny with lot's of wasted feed. The number one health problem in any pet today is obesity because people tend to think that by feeding their pet more is loving their pet more, this I can assure you is not the case. In a case study in Labs one group was fed to maintain a body condition score(BCS) of 4/9(5/9 is the ideal weight) and another group was fed to maintain a BCS of 6-7/9. The first or leaner group lived an average of 5 years longer than the heavier group with far less health problems. 5 years in a dog is a huge amount of time! Although that case study relates to our canine friend the same philosophy holds true to our rabbits as well.

The common things that we supplement with here are a good timothy hay every second or third day and everyday for the babies and other "treats" that are given maybe once a week or so. Good treats for bunnies are things like slow cooking plain oatmeal, plain cheerio's, dried bread, parsley, carrots, apples, dry pineapple and grass clippings. We tend to stay away from the fruits and any vegetables that are high in water content. These can be a great way to boost your bunnies hydration in the hot months of the year but we find that it's very easy to give them diarrhea with high water content foods so you do have to balance what you give and give it in moderation. Ideally anything you supplement your bunny with should not be over 10-15% of your rabbits totally daily food.

There's just a quick list of what I can think of off the top of my head but if there's any questions then please feel free to send me an e-mail. I have not listed all of the good treats by any means that you can give your bunny but have listed the common one's that we use. With anything that you do give though remember this, give it in moderation! Anyways we are off to get some photos of a cute little broken chestnut JR doe to post for sale! Enjoy the sunshine!

Two JR does for sale and South Peace Centennial Museum Petting Zoo!

We've taken photo's of two little girls that are available to new pet homes. One's a chestnut doe and one is a very beautifully colored tri doe. Photos will be below.

We will have these two does plus a couple more for folks to look at and pet at the South Peace Centennial Museum this Sunday September 11th. Although we will not personally be there if you contact us before hand the bunnies can go to their new homes at the end of the day. Fire us an e-mail or ask the lady there for our phone number!

Here's the little cuties!

SLR Update

Well we sent in our little bit on GC SLR's Tritan to be published in the Hollander! Syl(Mom) has sent word that she's bred ten bunnies at home in Calgary so there should be some new babies popping up again! We've had a productful spring in the baby department but have sold most of everything!

We are heading down to Calgry this month on the 22nd so will have some photos of some more bunnies down there and may bring up some more to sell. Transportation is available anywhere along the highway between Beaverlodge and Calgary!

A Gorgeous Little Black Buck

We've just gotten back from a long day of picking berries in the mountains over west and came home with pail fulls of blueberries and huckleberries! Despite the long day I had to share this little cutie which is Robin's first bunny. He's black so harder to tke photos of but here he is anyways! He is yet to be named and is only four months old in this photo, just coming out of those ganglies  = )

For Sale Animals

The above gal has found a new loving home and what a cutie she was! We still have the following available:
Three month old tri color doe
Three month old tri color buck
Four month old black buck
Four month old chestnut doe
Eight month old broken chestnut doe
Eight month old torted tri doe
Three year old chsetnut doe

Here's some photos of the Eight month old torted tri doe

She's a beautiful doe and would make a great brood doe or a pet. Has not been bred yet and is about 4.25 lbs full grown.

On another note we are just about done silage for the year! We have half a field left and then we can all get back to our regular lives an the other things that need to get done - like taking some more bunny photos!

GC SLR's Tritan 9th Top Lop for 2010

A big congratulations goes out to Grand Champion SLR's Tritan a homebred buck that has placed 9th Top Lop in the world for the 2010 show season! He'll be featured in the next issue of the Hollander through the Holland Lop Rabbit Specialty Club (http://www.hlrsc.com/). Here's some photos of our little boy.

An Update at SLR

We have said good bye to the black/ orange harlequin SR doe and the broken chestnut SR doe to a wonderful pet home up north here. We haven't posted a eight month old tri colored doe, an eight month old broken chestnut doe, a black/orange tri two month old doe or her brother a two month old black/orange tri buck yet. Hopefully we will have some photos of them up on here before Friday but we'll see how the week goes! It's silage time here on the farm and we're hoping to be done in the next two weeks, until then things are a little crazy!

For the mean time feel free to browse the previous blog posts as there is quite a few photos of our animals and educational posts! We hope everyone is doing well and catching some good summer sun!

For Sale Black Buck and Chestnut Doe

Well as promised here are photos of the two little cuties! They are just coming out of the ugly stage and are looking pretty nice.

Black Buck, three months old.

Chestnut doe, full sibling to black buck above

Anyways those are the newest two that have become available, soak up some sun until next time,
Shannon

A couple helpful tips when e-mailing a breeder!

Oh what a lovely holiday today! We managed to get the bunnies that are up north settled in a little more and took a few photos of the black buck and his three month old sister the chestnut doe - what a pair of cuties! On a more serious note I wanted to go over some tips to use when e-mailing a breeder about what stock s/he has available.

First off use complete sentences and proper punctuation! If this is not present there's a few things that go through my mind, one is that it is a child e-mailing with/without parental consent or two the person that sent the e-mail just doesn't care. If you are really interested in a bunny you can take the time to use complete sentences and punctuation. Also with spell check so readily available there's no excuse to have common words spelt wrong.

List what you are interested in! List the age, gender, color, whether it's for show, brood or pet and what traits you may be desiring and which ones are already an issue for you so you want to steer clear of. This helps greatly to give the breeder an idea of what you want and they can get back to you with animals that fit your description.

If applicable say where you live. If you live far away from them and are planning on shipping it's a good thing to get that out in the open ASAP. Some breeders do not ship and others have a minimum shipping order. If you have other ideas on how to get the rabbits talk about that too, ie meeting somewhere or bringing to a show or driving to their house.

Say your budget. This can narrow down and make the process simpler by avoiding getting attached to bunnies that are out of your budget. If you can't afford any of their animals they can probably point you to another breeder that can help you out.

Those are just some things that are on the top of my head. It's so nice to get e-mails that are complete and outline exactly what they are looking for, after all there's no point wasting either of your time!

We'll post the two cuties tomorrow but until then enjoy the rest of the long weekend!
Shannon

For Sale: Broken Chestnut doe and Black/Orange Harlequin doe

Here's another two photos of ome of the current sale animals.

Broken Chestnut doe

Black & Orange Harlequin Doe

More photos to follow tomorrow ince I'm off work for the weekend!
- Shannon

Chestnut SR doe and Torted Tri SR doe

Well as promised here are photos of two of the ten animals that are currently for sale.

Chestnut SR doe - proven brood doe

Here's a few photos of the torted tri SR doe - also a proven brood doe

If one of these gals strike your fancy feel free to e-mail me for more info on either one.
Until Thursday, Shannon.

An update at SLR

We hope that the show in Red Deer this weekend went really well and that all exhibitors and animals arrived home safetly.

Robin and I made a trip down to Calgary this last weekend and picked up ten pet/brood quality animals to sell near the Grande Prairie area. Here's what is available:

One tri color doe, one tri color buck both are pet quality DOB June 6 2011
One chestnut doe three years old, proven brood doe
Two broken chestnut does, both eight months old brood & pet quality
One torted tri doe, two years old, proven brood doe
One harli doe, one and a half years old, pet quality
One black doe, one Chestnut doe, siblings three months old brood & pet quality
One tri doe, five months old, brood/pet quality.

We'll have some photos posted last today so if there's anyone who strikes your fancy then feel free to e-mail me! Until then take care.

Taking a little time off and a note about the show

Hi Al!

Well there has been a lack of posts lately because it's two weeks today until the wedding! We are busy trying to get some last minute things together and get the little details done. For this reason I won't be answering my e-mail every day so it may take a couple days to get back to you especially closer to the 28th. After that we are taking off on a honeymoon for two weeks and I'm not sure how much internet access I will have. So I have probably gotten your e-mail it'll just take some time to send you a reply!

On the bunny side of things, there are three new babies out of SLR's Kaylee, two blacks and a chestnut. We also had the Chestermere show last weekend and the show itself went pretty well. There's always a few kinks and things that cause it to be a little slow that's why I encourage everyone to take an active part in the local show in their area. If you are going to show your rabbits you are obligated to help with the set up/tare down and planning of at least one show per year. Also please don't be hard to get along with to the show committee, they are just doing their best to have a great and successful show, instead thank and praise them for giving their time and money to put on a show for you!

I am very disappointed with some happenings that went on during the show from exhibitors. Show's are meant to be fun and educational for all and the etiquette that makes that possible was just not there that weekend. Here's some common show room rules to keep in mind.
Don't argue with the judges decision, you are paying him/her for their opinion and that is what you just got. Different day, different judge different opinion and not all of these are going to agree with what you think of your animal. 
Stand back from the show table so that everyone can see and don't hover over your animals. The judge is NOT supposed to know which animal belongs to who.
If you would like a more detailed opinion or to talk over the reason of why the judges thinks what he does wait until either the breed is finished or the very end of the show.
This last one goes for mostly for the breeders who have been to a couple shows before. Be nice to the new breeders!! They are just learning the ropes an don't always know what to do or where to be at a show. Cut them some slack and help them to learn because that person you are annoyed with for not bringing up the right animal at the right time was you a couple or shows ago so be humble! These new breeders are our future and the people purchasing your stock, help them get the right leg up into the show world.
Lastly don't brag about your wins or rub someone else's lose into their face, the later of the two is the worst but remember to be humble and treat others the way you want to be treated! There are breeders out there who have bred their animals for thirty years and that's what make up their show string, these are the breeders to learn from because they can not only buy a winner but they can take that winner and produce generations of winners. These are your true breeders and the people to look up to.
Anyways that is my little rant on some things that happened at this last show. We're all in rabbits because we love our animals and because we look forward to seeing all our friends at the next show so just try to remember this!    

Here's a cute engagement photo from April!

Spring time means more new babies

If anyone thinks that having a spring wedding to plan for and calving at the same time is easy, is probably nuts! It's been a very busy calving season so far and we've only just started here on the farm last Sunday with one cute little black calf. We've now got seven youngsters running around and doing well.

On to the bunny news. . . We've got more new babies out of both GC SLR's Bailey and her full sister SLR's Hailey both litters out of GC SLR's Tritan. Haileys babies are about three weeks old right now and do they ever look promising! Huge bone, fat chubby faces short compact bodies and short fat back feet. There's two broken bucks and one solid buck in that litter growing like weeds. Bailey just had a litter of four with two peanuts a few days ago now that are doing really well.

There's also a harli buck and tri doe out of GC SLR's Tritan and SLR's Kaylee which are just stunning little guys. The harli buck may come out to a show or two just for the fun of it, he's looking just like dad but in a harlequin color!

GC SLR's Tritan has been proving where he is most valuable and that's not on the show table dispite his multiple BIS & RIS wins but in producing babies that are almost look alikes. He's been used a lot in the tri program and even though the babies are torted the type on them has made a huge leap! We've got some of the best looking kits in the box than we've ever had in the past 11 years that we've been breeding, now that's some exciting news! Just to work on cleaning the color up in some of the tris now and they will be gorgeous.

SLR's Bumble has babies

SLR's Bumble has had her first litter of six kits! She's out of SLR's Buster and GC SLR's Moxie and was bred to SLR's Starburst. Her full sister is also expecting any minute now and has plucked a nice nest of fur so it's just a waiting game!

We're hoping to make it down to Calgary on the first weekend in April and then again for the May 7th show in Chestermere so can get some photos then.

Below are photos of Bumble as a junior.

Here's the sire of the litter SLR's Starburst.

Torted and clean tris

So I'll post a couple photos of some torted and clean animals today to hopefully get a good ccomparison between them. First I'll post some photos of torted tris.

 These guys all have the classic torting going up their sides and on their ears & nose. The nose marking is probably the easiest one to tell if they are torted or not on full grown animals and the side marking are probably the easiest on a few day old animals.

These are all tris that are clean and have a good density of orange color. They have no torting marks on the nose ears or sides and have good clean orange color. I was going to incude torted and clean harlis and tris/harlis tha are too light in the orange color making them a cream but there would be way to many photos for one post so I'll post those one's tomorrow. If there's ny questions on this topic please feel free to e-mail me!