Anthony Campbell Survey

Survey Submitted by Anthony Campbell

Anthony Campbell from Page AZ

How may years have you raised Dutch?

8 to 15 years

What recognized varieties do you raise?

Black, Steel, Tortoise

What non-recognized varieties do you own?

Blue Steel, Chins, Harlequins, Golds and Reds

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 support having lilacs as a showable variety whole heartedly. From what I have seen in recent years is that chocolates are one of/if not the weakest variety in the breed. I know that there are good ones but overall they tend to be weak in type. By accepting the lilac color we are creating a link to chocolates via blues, which traditionally are very good. I think that the breed as a whole cannot go wrong by adding this color.

To finish the prompt...other color that can be produced in the breed with the genes we already have would be fine. Although I don't know whether they would help or hinder already existing varieties or just be able to stand alone without helping or hurting. I think that we need a few more colors to possibly spark interest from outsiders to our breed. However if we accept things like blue steel or chocolate grays I think that an option to be explored would be to show them all as steels or all as grays (in groups). This would decrease down time between varieties on the show tables.

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 hope we don't get too carried away! But I don't think we will. I think that dutch have been around for long enough and set for so long that we would not have a problem of too many. I think that one reason the mini rex has so many colors is because of their relatively new existance and most (almost all)varieties were already accepted in their large counterpart(rex).

Another thought while writing this, not that I am for it, is how bad would it be in reality to have so many colors? Mini Rex are one of the largest breeds exhibited in this country, this is due in part to large followings of all the pretty colors. Do we want our breed to appeal to mass numbers of are we content with our numbers? I do raise mini rex and have seen many colors that are accepted and are horrible examples of the breed, but I see that in dutch in blacks for example at times as well. I think it is not necessarily the number of varieties that can make or break the breed, but the amount of commited breeders for the betterment of the breed.

Will the Chinchilla Dutch complement the Gray and/or Steel varieties? This would still need to be proven.

In my herd steels far out number any of the other colors. I have always been drawn to this color. However according to our standard we are asked to have an off white or cream ticking. This is not what we have and a common comment on the tables is that the steels are too brassy. This, in my opinion is due to the fact that we are producing a steel on a gold background, getting the ticking from the grays in the breed.

I think that by adding the chin (if type can be maintained) to our breed we will better be able to produce what our steel variety standard calls for. Building a steel from a chin base will give us the deisred off white ticking, thus a silver tipped steel.

Lops(minis) are a great place to observe these two different types of steels. Ones that are based on a chin back have silver tips and ones that are based on a chestnut are gold tipped.

Would the Red Dutch complement any other colors?

Yes, having been present in the making of the original red dutch I would say that there are definate benefits to a red. Many areas of the country have grays that are far too washed out in color, and by that I mean in the intermediate band color. By incorperating these reds we can intensify the intermediate rufus band in grays. I also think that eventually it may help other non accepted colors such as golds, by allowing enough color to be present to distinguish belly color and markings. I also think that this will help the harlequin variety in the same way.

Instead of adding more classes of Dutch to be judged, would it be better to have an agouti class in place of the Gray?

As I stated above I think if we wanted to add other gray colors and show them together that would be fine. Same with steels. However I am not sure that by showing chins and grays together, or steels would be a good idea.

Many steels (bad steels) are too heavily ticked and border being considered grays. I think that this would end up creating things experienced by many lop breeders. How many times have you been at a show and a judge is looking at lops and is not quite sure what they are. I think we would end up with a bunch of oddities that are agouti but not gray or steel being shown.

I have also seen some steels that I truely believe are selfs. So where would these fit? These are the ones that are almost black but have very little ticking and usually a dorsal stripe.

I guess what I am getting at is sticking to steel groups, gray groups, and chin groups would be fine but combining I think would hinder the breed.

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 think that by adding chins we will see a new interest sparked with the steel variety.

I also don't think that by adding more varieties we will hinder the already strong varieties in the breed. If one looks at mini rex your castors, brokens, blacks and whites are your strongest varieties. This is because they have been worked on the most and are the easiest to produce winners. Even with all the colors in that breed the base colors remain strong.

I think that is what would happen with dutch. I think that blacks, blues, grays, and torts will remain strong.

Having more colors of Dutch may just add interest from people who haven't raised Dutch before.

I believe this statement. Whether or not these new breeders who take on new colors will all be beneficial to the breed, some will be, and if we have to wade through lesser breeders to get new top breeders I think the breed will be better off in the long run.