The simple answer to that is the same as in pet owners and that is to love. As a breeder I love seeing my rabbits every day and watching them grow from babies, to juniors to adults to seniors. I love spending time with them and meeting new people by providing a lifetime pet, brood or show animal. The purpose to my small scale breeding program is focused on producing show quality animals as per the ARBA standard of perfection. Please go to www.arba.net and www.hlrsc.com for more information on this aspect of rabbits. Other breeders raise animals for meat or fiber as well as show and pet. I love having people over and them interacting with my animals to see their faces light up, the joy on a child's face when a baby bunny licks them is indescribable.
Many folk seem to lump all of us breeders in the same corner and say that we are raising these beautiful animals for profit which is utterly untrue in my case. It costs me money to keep my animals the same as it does a pet owner to keep their rabbit. We are not backyard breeders producing mass amounts of animals and selling them on the side of the road to who ever wants to impulse purchase a pet that will most certainly out live their impulse "but he's so cute factor". Here's a quick but very accurate profit vs. expenses since January 2014. Yes this is personal information but if it helps to shed some light on this subject then I'm not against it. We have had 4 litters of bunnies born since January, of those 6 were sold to pet or breeding homes for a total profit of $315.00, there's still one available who will probably be sold for $40 so let's round that up and say the years profit so far is $355.00 generously speaking. We typically go through two bags of feed a month at $19.95 per bag x 9 months equals $359.10, plus hay on top which we make our own so I can't really put a price on that. So as of right now we are just breaking even. We also purchased a new doe for $50.00 this spring so that brings the total up to $409.10. That doesn't count the costs to replace(we're not talking about all the initial investment) broken water bottles, feed dishes, toys, cage bottoms, cages, hay racks, medicine, deworming, grooming tools, or feed additives. This also doesn't cover the cost of showing them which is around $16 per rabbit per weekend, $8 to get the animal registered, $8 for a grand champion certificate, plus $200 for a hotel plus gas money plus food for that weekend. We're also building a brand new barn for the bunnies this fall so that they have more room, are more comfortable in the winter months and better exercise pens - this I am expecting to cost around $2000.00. On top of that is the man hours that I do for free to clean them, cuddle them, feed them and basically look after them, are you seeing the point that I'm trying to make?
Why do you raise them then is what you would ask and I would answer with love. Love for the animals & the common love that many people have for them. I love taking the best care of my animals that I possibly can. As a couple that is unable to have children of our own, these animals get the care and attention that our kids would have received. That means making sure that if they are sick they get treated, they are on a regular deworming schedule, they have a proper cage for their size, their nails are trimmed monthly they get daily exercise & cuddles and that their feed & water requirements are being met. I raise them to produce animals that are as close to the standard of perfection as possible and that the animals I am raising will help the breed along both quality and temperament wise.
When we were located in Calgary we were inspected by the SPCA a number of years ago and they found no causes of concern with our set up, cleanliness or animals health. Health is a huge passion of mine and I work as a registered veterinary technologist so if one of our animals are sick it's as simple as bringing it into work with me in the morning. We are glad that there are people out there whose passion is to look after an animal that can't say it needs help itself. We have been raising these precious animals for 14 years now and have lived every minute of it with our animals from the joy of a new litter safety nestled in the box to what can only be described as heart ache when the time comes to say goodbye to a dear old friend to the countless hours spent cuddling and scrubbing their cages so that they are clean enough to eat off of. This is what being a breeder means to me, not the tiny amount of profit(before expenses) or the excitement of a best in show win but the joy of the animals themselves and all the fantastic friends that we have met along the way.
I know that this post is a little rough around the edges but it's because I'm passionate about rabbits in general from showing them to their health and love passing that on to others.
GC SLR's Tritan, 9th place "Top Lop" in the HLRSC in 2010
Bye for now,
Shannon
