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- Breeding BEW for Show
RLR's Start to BEW
Our not-so-traditional ways
Over the years, I have dabbled with BEW twice before, but in both instances I ended up cutting the project. The first time I tried to work with BEW, the stock that I got was so inbred for so many generations that I couldn't seem to breed out the flaws (dramatically pronounced flaws). After a few generations and some progress (but not as much as I had hoped for) I had to make a decision between Tricolor and BEW because taking any color project seriously takes a ton of commitment. On top of the fact that my Tri project was making very noticeable improvement, I just absolutely cannot get enough of the vivid orange and black contrast, so I chose to focus on Tri and dissolved the BEW project.
The last time I dropped the BEW project was about 3-4 years before I began to really focus on the Reds. I met a breeder who had been working with BEW for several years and had some wins with their vienna carrier blue tort buck, so I got a couple of does who were line bred from him (but not nearly as inbred as the last BEWs I got). At the time, my primary herd buck was GC Pride & Joy's Cozmo, who really produced phenomenal offspring, and he did not disappoint. We had improvement on the first generation and I was actually very excited to get this project going again. The plan was to line breed to Cozmo, but when we lost Coz I had to rethink the project. Between difficulty getting the does in this line to reproduce and the issue we had with fine bone (and I just didn't have a buck to correct bone at that time) we were unable to make the progress we were hoping for. It was around this time that I had an opportunity to buy almost a dozen of Lil' Bit Farm's Tricolors after LeAnne made the decision to stop breeding. So again my Tricolors took precedence.
Shortly after (when unfortunately the tri acquisition did not pan out- one of the 2 bucks died within weeks of getting him home and then out of all of the does failed to have litters except for one doe who gave me one single litter) we started to really focus on the Reds (we were only a couple generations in). With the (quicker than I expected) amount of success that I had with my red program by beginning with Thrianta, I started to wonder if there was a better way to do it with BEW. So since breeding out issues in very inbred rabbits was my biggest frustration in my previous experience I decided that maybe bringing in another breed would allow for quicker change. Long story short, when I had all the issues with my tri project not producing, I brought on BEW lionheads to breed just so I had litters keeping me positive about breeding rabbits. When I decided to bring BEW into the Holland line I actually considered several different breeds to work with, despite the fact that I had these BEW Lionheads available to me. I spent weeks reading through the SOP and looking at other breeds that may have BEW in the line and considering how they would work with and against the Holland Lop breed standard. In the end I decided that breeding to Lionhead could actually yield results within a few generations if everything were to go right.
So I kept my one beautiful BEW Lionhead doe that I had gotten from the breeder who holds the COD for them and sold off the rest of the lionheads to make room for this endeavor. I also got one more phenomenal BEW Lionhead doe from the same great breeder in an effort to reduce line breeding to Lions, but unfortunately she died the day after she came home (not an omen at all right?)
We are on our third litter of our first generation and very hopeful for how this project is going to go. The one thing that did not work as expected is that we got 100% Double-Maned Lionlops! This is not what I was going for at all. My expectation for this combo was to get Single-Maned offspring and then breed back to a solid Holland to breed the mane out completely and still be able to identify Vienna carriers. Apparently this is going to take longer than I expected. I am not sure how this happened and I am hoping that it is just a phenotype thing and that they really are genetically single manes that just look fantastic since mom is from such great LH lines.
The good news is; they are getting the holland width, bone is already improved from Lionheads AND the most important part- they all have good teeth! I think the lionhead has actually improved on the front end and made them just a bit more upright without adding length to the limb. Ears on some of these babies have been somewhat flopped as well. I am looking at the fur and feeling very overwhelmed, but hands-on these guys are better than I expected first generation to be.
RLR's BEWs from scratch
Original Bucks
Meet the bucks we are using to start out BEW project. The reason I began with these 3 is that all 3 are out of GC Pride&Joy's Cozmo, which will allow solid and related show quality Holland genes going into the project
Lumos
Lumos is my primary red project buck, and while I typically don't mix my color projects, this guy has so much going for him (and the legs to prove it), that it just felt right.
Ragnarok
I went back and forth on breeding Ragnarok into this line since he just lacks bone- it really is his biggest flaw. But since this is first generation and I have a LONG way to go, I think he will be more beneficial in other ways that will make it worthwhile.
Hucklebunny
Huck is my primary. He produces quality consistently and if I wasn't too lazy to get him registered he would be GC by now. He has a lot going for him and I think using him early on will allow for an easy transition breeding to his son, Harley later on when I am trying to correct bone.
Original Doe
Meet the girl who started it all!
Floof
Floof was our BEW Lionhead who is responsible for bringing the gene into our line. She was the dam for our first generation of BEW.
First Generation of BEW Project
Alfalfa
Alfalfa
Alfalfa is out of Lumos and Floof.
Darla
Alfalfa
Darla is out of Lumos and Floof. She is our oldest first generation doe.
Diaspore
Diaspore
Diaspore is a doe out of Ragnarok and Floof.
Second Generation of BEW Project
Daphne
Daphne is out of Alfalfa and Snoopy. She is a second generation doe. She may carry the vienna gene.
Velma
Velma is out of Alfalfa and Snoopy. She is a second generation doe. She may carry the vienna gene.