Chesla Clella Sherlock

“ It has always seemed to me that the reason why so many people have trouble with their rabbits is that they do not take this fact into consideration. They try to feed green food alone, or grain alone or hay alone, and expect the rabbit to get along famously on such a ration.
If you stop to think that no man could live on oats alone and make a good development, you will begin to see why the rabbits cannot be expected to do something that is contrary to Nature. ”

“ Those few breeders who continued to keep rabbits knew that some of the faults of the stock in those days would have to be bred out, and that the rabbit would never assume its rightful place in our live stock world as an article of commerce until it really met a need and was in a position to fill that need successfully.
The present widespread adoption of the rabbit is not in any sense a boom. It is merely a growth which has been going on for several years. ”

“ You have an opportunity to get acquainted with the habits of the stock, what they like to eat, just what sort of care seems to produce the best results, and to acquire that confidence in yourself as a feeder that is so necessary for success. No matter how much you read about the care of rabbits there is nothing that equals experience, even if for a few months. ”

“ Being a rapid grower and favoring certain kinds of feed which is comparatively cheap, even under high prices for all feedstuffs, it is possible to produce a pound of rabbit meat for a very small figure. One breeder, who has made quite a success of raising rabbits entirely for meat purposes, tells me that he can produce a pound of rabbit meat as cheaply as he can produce one egg from his poultry. ”

“ Line-breeding is a systematic form of breeding which preserves the excellence and characteristics of the parent stock. In other words, it perpetuates the blood of both sire and dam so that it is not eventually lost as is the case in cross-breeding. ”

“ The purpose in market feeding is to encourage just as rapid a growth as possible in order to get the fullest weight and development from the stock at the earliest possible moment. It is in market feeding that regularity is most important.
While it should never be advisable to attempt to force the growing stock for weight, we do not proceed along the leisurely way that we do when feeding for breeding stock. We do not limit the ration to a certain amount per day, but give the youngsters all that they can eat, just so long as it is not dangerous. ”

“ The point we are trying to make is that regularity is what produces such wonderful results in rabbit raising, or in the feeding of any animal. Your ration must be right, of course, but the best ration in the world will not compensate for irregularity and improper care. Stock breeders who habitually bring fine specimens to the shows and fairs will tell you that regularity in the care of their animals and in the feeding of them is the secret of their success. This certainly applies to the raising of rabbits. ”

“ And, in the end, it isn't the breed that counts for so much after all, as it is the strain and the breeding vitality back of the animals you choose. It is the individual and not the breed that counts in the long run. ”

“ It seems that most of the breeds coming from Europe have originated from the Belgian hare which, in fact, is not a hare at all but a rabbit. It takes its name from the fact that the breeders in England attempted and partially succeeded in breeding the Belgian rabbit to such a state that it closely resembled the wild English hare. Hence the name.
About thirty years ago there was a tremendous craze over the Belgian hare in this country. It swept the nation like a forest fire. People everywhere invested large sums of money in breeding stock, all expecting to get rich overnight. ”

“ We have heard of people offering strenuous objections to poultry, but we have yet to hear of any one objecting to the rabbit.
It is a noiseless animal. It never has anything to say and it makes no racket whatever, except to stamp its hind legs on the floor of the hutch once in a while when it thinks a stranger is near. ”

“ We can only touch upon the matter of breeding in a very casual way. It is a subject which has filled many books larger than this one. But in the main the laws of breeding applying to one form of plant life will be found to apply to another. It is certainly true that rabbits are subject to much the same laws as to breeding as are other kinds of live stock. ”

“ The domesticated rabbit is not the same animal as the wild rabbit, we have made that statement before, but there is a comparison between the two that is worth noting. The wild rabbit is not as regular in his habits as the hutch rabbit under proper care. Consequently, it does not develop into the animal that the hutch rabbit does. If you do not believe this, get a couple of young wild rabbits, put them in hutches and feed them regularly along with your other stock, and when they are matured note the difference between them and their wild brothers and sisters. ”

“ While housing and feeding and general care have a great deal to do with success in rabbit raising, it is not these factors alone that will determine the success of the venture.
Feeders know that some men can feed animals more than others do and are still unable to get any gains in weight out of them. Two men may feed exactly the same ration, even down to the same weights in food fed and one of them will have a tremendous success, while the other will be unable to get any gains out of his stock. ”

“ In selling breeding stock, be fair and square. We have already referred to the dishonest tactics of many dealers and hucksters, who merely buy up rabbits from here, there and everywhere, and sell them out again at a good profit. Too often these gentlemen are willing to stretch the truth a point or two in order to make a sale. They have worked a great injury to the industry by their ability to "gather in the suckers" and have disgusted many budding fanciers with the whole rabbit business. ”

“ One can generally get a pretty good idea as to the value of an animal by following these exterior characteristics, but they are by no means a final criterion. It is wise to keep a careful record of the offspring of the respective matings and when you find a doe and buck that seem to produce better offspring than they do when bred to other animals, by all means do not stop breeding them, but get all you can out of the combination. Breeding records as well as intelligent selection of the breeders is necessary to success in picking the breeding stock. ”

“ Discoveries have lately been made which prove that snuffles is a germ disease, a disease that fastens itself in the blood of the animal. It is not merely a nose disorder, so those remedies which look to a clearance of the nostrils are really working in the wrong direction. The proper way to cure such a disorder is to clear the system, drive out the germ from the blood, and it stands to reason that the nose discharge will cease when that is done. ”

“ We have already hinted at the operations of the dishonest dealer and sharper who is not a producer of blooded stock, merely a dealer, and who does not hesitate to do anything short of murder to get your money. ”

“ In picking a commercial rabbit, it is not wise to let sentiment rule your reason. If the enterprise is to be for meat, pick a breed that will mature fast and bring you more at market age than any other. If you are breeding for both meat and for fancy purposes, it is well to choose a breed that combines these qualities as much as possible. ”

“ A pedigree is merely a systematic record of the ancestry of a given specimen. As originally planned the pedigree system was of great benefit and value in arriving at the breeding value of the individual. Some form of pedigreeing is practised by all live stock breeders, most of whom have a stud book or breed book in which such records are kept. ”

“ What does the rabbit eat, is a question most frequently asked by beginners. The adult rabbit will eat almost anything that is wholesome and sweet. They like carrots, beets, whole and rolled oats, stale bread, skim milk, clover and alfalfa hay, timothy, straw, dandelions, lettuce, lawn clippings, wheat bran, alfalfa meal, in short, almost anything that it is possible for them to eat.
Feeding the adult rabbit is not a hard proposition. The rabbit has now reached its weight and proper development for its breed and all that is contemplated by the feeding is to maintain it in this condition. ”

“ A great many people have just cause to dislike the wild rabbit and do not care for it as an article of food. They should not fall into the error of believing that the domesticated rabbit is subject to the same objections as the wild rabbit. ”