Little Jasper - My Ben Son

What an awesome day!  Xcaliber’s Jasper won Best in Show under Allan Ormond.  I cannot tell you how thrilled I am by this win.  Although I have won a few Best in Shows before, this is my very first All Breed Best in Show in Colorado.  Winning under a wonderful Holland Lop judge makes it even better.  However, what makes it simply the best is to point out that this little buck was one of my only babies I was able to get out of CN’s Ben before he died unexpectedly.  Just like his sire, Jasper has an AWESOME body.  Allan Ormond even commented that he has the “most firm and rock hard body” he has seen in years!  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  That’s so great to hear!  That’s exactly what I was hoping to produce out of Ben! I’ve got a few does already bred to Jasper. I am really looking forward to seeing what he’ll produce for me.  Hopefully- he’ll be able to pass on his rock hard body.  His first litters are expected to arrive around June 10^th.  I am really looking forward to see what he produces with Xcaliber’s Xing.  She has an awesome head, ear and crown that will complement him nicely!  Watch for nestbox news!  I think I’ll take Allan’s advice and go breed him to a few more does. LOL.

It was an overall wonderful day for Xcaliber Hollands.  I received news that Xcaliber’s Xander who is living in Iowa with Kandy Reif also won Best of Breed.  That’s great news because it now makes him a grand champion. It’s always a wonderful feeling to hear about rabbits I’ve sold doing well on the show tables.  To make the weekend complete, I also learned that Xcaliber’s Indiana “Indy” who is residing in Louisiana with Angelle Kraemer ended up winning 3 legs this weekend. That’s awesome!  Indy also went on to win Reserve Best in Show. How cool is that? 

Promising Start

It is so nice and warm here today.  I think the high is expected to be in the 60s.  This is especially nice after the last couple weeks.  We experienced record low temperatures in Colorado the beginning of February. It was so cold that school was canceled for two days.  Yikes!  The rabbits seem to be taking the bouncing temperatures of this winter pretty well.  A few of them are in a funky molt.  I don't think they know what to do with their coats. 

The 2011 show season is off to a wonderful start exceeding my hopes and expectations.  So far this year I have won Best of Breed a total of 5 times, Best Opposite Sex of Breed 4 times and Reserve Best in Show once!  I am so excited to see my newest crop of juniors starting to do well.   I am just starting to show the babies that were born in September and October 2010.  

Within the past week, I went through the babies that were born in November and December.  It was a challenging time culling the herd to make room for the newest batch of pre-juniors.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the number of promising solids. Although, brokens will always be my preference, I do have a lot of promising solids that will be making their debut in the upcoming weeks.  I was also taken back to find a couple of really nice solid blacks and two solid blues. From breedings in November and December, I discovered that one of my herd bucks CN's JD carries dilute.  I am ecstatic to be finally getting blue torts.  I also have been breeding more does to Xcaliber's Damon.  His babies are really looking awesome. The few litters I did get out of Ben before he died also look promising. I have not gone through his babies too critically yet but in handling them I am happy to find one or two that have his firm flesh condition and short type.

I had a 3 week break of not having any does due.  In the upcoming weeks, I have several does that are palpated positive.  I love having babies.  Nothing is cuter than a baby Holland Lop.

Ups and Downs

It’s both hard to believe as well as a relief to see 2010 coming to an end. Over this past year I have experienced many ups and downs raising Holland Lops. Of course winning Best of Breed at the 2010 Youth HLRSC Nationals was one of the biggest highlights. This past year also served as the first year I was able take a new sense of pride as I watched several of my own homebred Holland Lops do well on the show table. My first all breed Best in Show came as a result of Xcaliber’s Xcaret winning at the May 2010 in Russell, KS.  Later in the year, I was ecstatic to see Xcaliber’s Damon win Best in Show in Duncan, OK with over 600 rabbits shown. 

Unfortunately, this year is ending with a severe loss that I was not expecting.  This past week, I lost one of my herd bucks, CN’s Ben.  I do not know exactly what happened.  He was eating and drinking fine.  He also lived in a temperature controlled environment.  I came home from school to find him dead in his cage. I had only had Ben in my herd for about 2 months.  He had one of the best bodies in a Holland Lop that I have seen (really short, solid as a rock and smooth as can be).  I had high hopes in trying to use him to “stamp” his type on my herd.

At this time, I only have 2 live babies out of him. Although, both babies are cute as can be, they are still too young to make a judgment as to their quality.  Fortunately, I do have a few more does that were bred to Ben due later this month.  I am hopeful that all these does will have healthy and big litters.  I am keeping the faith and staying positive hoping that one of his babies will turn out to be my next herd buck.  Losing Ben is a loss that I don’t think I will be able to get over anytime soon.

Off to a Good Start...

The fall show season is off to a good start.  We attended the triple show with Southern Colorado RBA and Four Corners RBA in Pueblo, CO on September 25^th, 2010. It turned out to be a really good showing for Xcaliber Hollands. In the Four Corners RBA show under Ashley Garza, Xcaliber’s Xora ended up winning BOB and Xcaliber’s Lil MJ won BOS.  In the SCRBA show A under Heather Coin, Xcaliber’s Xora once again won BOB and CN’s Cook won BOS. In the BIS selection for both of these shows, Xora was an honorable mention. Both judges stated she would have won if her coat was more finished.  Hopefully, she will be in prime condition come convention.   In the final show under Carla Wilson, CN’s Cook won BOB and Xora won BOS.  After the show, Carla pulled me aside and told me that Xora was an awesome little doe and just needs to be a little more finished.  

My solids are starting to take shape too. I ended up winning the solid junior doe class in all shows but with a different doe each time.  In one show, the SJD won BOV and in another show I won BOSV. While culling the herd last weekend, I also found 2 nice solid junior bucks that I am keeping my eyes on.

Xcaliber's ??  - Solid Junior Buck @ 8 weeks old out of CN's Cook

Another Solid Junior Buck @ 9 1/2 weeks -  Xcaliber's ?? (this one is out of Y&K's Carter)

Right now I have about 10 does with litters.  The next couple of weeks should be really crazy too.  I have another 8 does that have been palpated and confirmed pregnant.  Last weekend and this past week, I have bred another 11 does. Looks like the rabbitry is going to be hopping with babies very soon. 

Awaiting Fall...

Although September is right around the corner, the temperature is still staying in the upper to middle 90’s. Fall can’t get here fast enough. Kylie has had some luck with summer babies but the whole concept of litters born in the summer is challenging. She is finally starting to get babies in the nest boxes again. For awhile it seemed like she was getting babies but around a week old, they would just fail to thrive and die. She currently has 3 litters of babies that are about 4 weeks old and another 4 litters that are a week old. All of her current litters seem to be doing well. Over the past few weeks, Kylie focused most of her remaining days of summer vacation working on breeding all of her does. If everyone takes, she will possibly have 15 more does due in the upcoming 2-3 weeks. Looks like we will be investing in more cages since she is currently at capacity not even counting her current babies. Keep an eye on our available page since we should have plenty of sale rabbits to offer