2012 Goals Revisisted

As 2013 is sneaking up on us, it's been really fun to revisit my 2012 goals for the Rabbitry.  These were my main goals I posted on the blog last year in THIS post. 


I am still working on plans and everything, but here are a few things I would like to work on and do this year...

* I would like to have more of my bunnies be from MY lines. Currently I have 6 adults, only 1 is a home grown, Mickey. My main goal is to get some keeper does out of my older does to replace their moms. And maybe keep another buck, we'll see.  - MET!  Out of my eight "keeper" adult rabbits in the barn right now, FOUR are "Hoppin' Hotot's" rabbits. :-D That's a big step up from one - 50%!  I also have had a few other Hoppin' Hotot keeper adults that I sold along the way, too.  This goal was definitely a sucess!

*I'd like to grow my herd more. I'm hoping for 8 to 10  6 does, but we'll see how that goes! That way I don't have to breed them really hard if I have more. - MET!  I changed the number of does from 8-10 to 6 after re-evaluating, and building more cages. That's about my max.  Although I did go over that when I had 7 or 8 of them during the summer/fall.  :)  Now I'm down to 5 due to Haylie dying but will possibly keep another doe baby depending on how 2013 goes.  My herd has REALLY grown from last year - definitely can check off this goal!  *I would love to help at least one person start their own rabbitry with Dwarf Hotots. Right now I'm helping a friend of mine start one, and it has been really fun. :)  - MET!  I think the friend I referred to in that post was JULIA who now has a great rabbitry going, and took BOB with her junior buck out of Ruby and Mickey at the State Convention this fall!  I also helped several other people, youth and adult, get started raising hotots with some quality stock, which was very exciting!  Check check!

*I would love to go to a show this year... I have not yet been to a show! I think that would be really neat, and I would like to get into that.  - MET!  And oh boy was that fun.  I went to TWO shows. The We Be Rabbit Club triple show in Hutchinson, MN in May, and the MN State Convention, which also happened to be in Hutchinson!  Hoppin' Hotot's Mickey took 1st place/BOB in all three shows in May and earned his first 3 legs!  Hoppin' Hotot's Trixi took 2nd place in the jr. doe class at the State Convention, too!  :D  I sure enjoyed going to those shows and meeting a lot of great people.  This was a fun goal to meet!


I think the most important things this year for me, though, are increasing my herd, AND having more bunnies from my lines. I am so excited to see what 2012 brings!!! I'll be doing lots of planning and making lots of goals.  - MET!  agan....already went over these, but I definitely have a much larger herd and a good line going!
 

I'm very pleased with my wonderful buns meeting all my goals this year.  It has been a great year!  I'm not really sure where the rabbitry is headed in 2013.  Now that we are getting into the Great Pyrenees dogs, I don't know what the future looks like for the rabbits.  But no matter what, I'll always love these guys, even if there might be some change for a while.  I'm pretty torn over what to do at this point...but at any rate, it sure has been a great year!  Thank you to all those who made it a success....Debbie McLaughlin (Hidden Habit Rabbitry) is responsible for me having, well, bunnies at all, but especially three very wonderful buns out there - Vinson, Dolly and my latest super doe, Veronica.  And she's been wonderful with putting up with my never ending phone calls with rabbit questions, and answers with great advice.  I have pages of notes from our phone calls. :D   Thank you!  And to LINDSEY who has saved the day so many times, she too has soooo much knowledge about our breed that she has willingly shared.  I've learned a LOT from you, thank you Lindsey!  And of course my family, who put up with crazy me and my rabbits.  Not only puts up, but help and encourage me when things aren't going as great. You're the best. :)  To all my other great rabbit friends, you know who you are, and lots of thank yous to all of ya!

Happy New Year!

~Emily