Elisha B. Silva
from Ivanhoe, TX |
|
How may years have you raised Dutch? |
4 to 8 years |
What recognized varieties do you raise? |
Black, Blue, Chocolate, Tortoise |
What non-recognized varieties do you own? |
Blue Steel, Blue Gray |
When using other breeds of rabbits in the development of these new colors, it will take many years to get animals that consistently show a good Dutch type. What about the colors we could have just crossing the varieties we already have? Lilac Dutch for example were very popular back in the days of the AOV class. |
I get concerned when crossing Dutch with other breeds to develop new varieties: we don't want to compromise the breed, and we can't have all of our breeders too preoccupied with unrecognized varieties. On the other hand, I am all for new colors. |
If we start adding new colors of Dutch to the Standard will we get carried away with the entire thing? for example, the Netherland Dwarfs and Mini-Rex. Will this benefit our club or the Dutch breed? |
I breed Netherland Dwarfs and Mini Rexes, too, so I can definitely see both sides of this. I think the more colors you have in a breed, the more people will become interested in it as they are drawn in by that particular color. It doesn't matter how many colors there are in a breed; the breeders will simply need to select the colors they wish to focus on. |
Will the Chinchilla Dutch complement the Gray and/or Steel varieties? This would still need to be proven. |
It will take plenty of studying to decide what colors the Chinchilla Dutch is most compatible with, but for the breeders who master the puzzle, it will be worth it. I already have Dutch breeder friends making plans to purchase Chin Trios first chance they get. |
Would the Red Dutch complement any other colors? |
I think maybe chocolate and black only, but that remains to be seen. |
Instead of adding more classes of Dutch to be judged, would it be better to have an agouti class in place of the Gray? |
Maybe it would be better to have an agouti class. It would be very difficult to get Grand Champions if there were only a couple entries in each color variety. |
At many shows the number of Steels shown is not very good. Will more colors hurt the Steel numbers even more? Plus will it add to having more varieties with poor showings? |
I'd say yes to both, at first. As the colors get more common and popular there should be a higher demand for them, and they will appear at shows more. |
Having more colors of Dutch may just add interest from people who haven't raised Dutch before. |
Having more colors of Dutch should interest both new and old breeders and may even bring in some folks who otherwise may not have even tried Dutch. |
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