When to move on

Yesterday I told the sad tale of Tippie, our wonderful foundation brood doe who is having trouble conceiving. Although we haven't yet given up on her, we are starting to discuss "what if...."

As I said yesterday, Tippie is behind most of our barn's pedigrees and we're just discovering the benefits of linebreeding her offspring. She's birthed several grand champions and we were greedy: we wanted more.

But if she is done, what next?

I suspect my good friend Patty would reserve a special cage for her and allow her to live out her natural life with honor and respect. Not a bad solution.

It creates a problem for us, since we are always struggling with cage space. Can we afford to give a cage to a non-producing doe when we have so many promising younger animals?

Some breeders who are past their prime make good pets and can be given or sold to someone looking for a pet. We're not sure if Tippie qualifies, although she has mellowed since the day she nipped my hand for handling her too many times. Her patience ran thin after being wormed, checked for fur mites, enduring a toenail trim, and finally weighed.

That was after assuring Timothy that Tippie only threatened to bite; she never did it. Uh-huh. Timothy refused to pull her out of her cage without leather gloves after that.
Although I think that's overkill, I'm not sure Tippie would make a good pet.

She's too big to be a show animal for youth.

So, ultimately, we may have to decide if we make her cage into a museum or if we get rid of her. In this case, I mean euthanizing. That is the stomach-churning side of Hollands because they're really too small to be a meal. If a meat rabbit, they'd have some purpose, but a 5 lb. Holland is more like a cornish game hen than a full-size chicken, as far as meals go.

I hope this a decision to be postponed but it's one of the decisions that face a rabbit breeder. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.