Steve Westercamp from Farmington, IA |
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How may years have you raised Dutch? |
1 to 3 years |
What recognized varieties do you raise? |
Black, Blue, Chocolate, Gray, Tortoise |
What non-recognized varieties do you own? |
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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. |
As a family just getting started raising and showing rabbits we would like to see Lilacs recognized as a variety so that 4-H and ARBA and ADRC youth members with limited cage space could start out with as few as two rabbits (a Lilac, with genes bbdd, and a Black with BbDd) and produce roughly equal numbers of all four self varieties. This would allow a beginning family to invest in one buck with outstanding type that could be used to produce several varieties so that each kid could have their favorite variety (our two-year old claims all our Chocolates as HIS rabbits). |
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? |
While I think that some long-time breeders might enjoy the challenge of developing and perfecting new varieties, I have noticed that many of the current top breeders do not raise all six of the current varieties so I don't think that adding a lot of new varieties would benefit the breed as a whole that much. |
Will the Chinchilla Dutch complement the Gray and/or Steel varieties? This would still need to be proven. |
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Would the Red Dutch complement any other colors? |
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Instead of adding more classes of Dutch to be judged, would it be better to have an agouti class in place of the Gray? |
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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? |
At local youth shows we have attended no other exhibitors showed any Steels, Torts, or Grays. My suggestion would be to have the BOV's of Black, Blue, Chocolate, (and Lilac, if recognized) compete for Best Self Group and the BOV's of all the other varieties compete for Best of Group so that at smaller shows with fewer than five entries per variety there would be a chance to compete for a grand champion leg short of the Best of Breed competition. |
Having more colors of Dutch may just add interest from people who haven't raised Dutch before. |
I doubt it. If people want a breed with lots of varieties they will probably choose Mini-Rex, Netherland Dwarf, etc. Our family chose Dutch because of 1) the distinctive markings, 2) the fact that there were not an overwhelming number of varieties, and 3) the quality of information and how-to articles on the ARDC website. I think that recognizing varieties compatible with current varieties (e.g. Lilac) would do more to encourage youth and begriming breeders to choose Dutch because then multiple varieties could be raised and shown with lower overhead in the number of herd bucks, cages, etc. required. |
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