The OK Bunny Corral, Landress's rabbitry in Northridge California
In 1977, being 21 years of age, at my first overseas trip I visited my family in the Los Angeles area. With my cousin I made a great trip tru the mid west and had 5 wonderfull weeks. Before I left home I had contacted the secretary of the Dutch Netherland Dwarf Specialty Club to get any hobby-contact possibility in the USA. Via Mr. Hartl. Lucks and Mr. Don Lovejoy I got the phonenumber of the family Landress in Norhtridge, CA.
The very last day in the US I managed to visit their home and met this wonderfull family. I did not believe my eyes, a few hundred wirecages all in the open air, with a sprinklersystem on the roof to cool of this housing. Netherland Dwarfs in almost all existing varieties and Collier and Betty where very interested in my opinion, since the breed was relatively new in the US. We had a great afternoon and on this day I learned what I have experenced very often in the years to come: “When an American wants to achieve something a100% attempt is not enough, he will bring 120%.
Betty Landress, winning BOB in Houston, with her daughters Debby (left) and Barbara (right)
At the end of this memorable day Collier put a $100- bill in my hand: “see what you can do for us”. Back home, after a few weeks, I visited Mr. Beswerda, who had the best REW’s in those days. Bouke sold me 2 pairs of REW’s.
Combined with some Smoke Pearl Siamese and Sable Martens from myselve these animals where the first shipment to the US. In those days, without internet and very expensive phonecalls, communication was quite different than the nowadays “ease”.
Upon arrival it sure was special to receive an American phonecall “animals have arrived in good shape and we love them; will enter some at the National Convention in Houston”. A few weeks later another enthousiastic phonecall: “One of the REW bucks won BOB in Houston”
Ofcourse this was encouraging, and the plan was made to make another trip to the US with 3 friends in 1978. Collier offered us their old stationwagon “Betsie” to use on our trip in september/october. After we returned from our tour 2 friend2 went home and I stayed with my friend Theo 2. We left Northridge with 2 cars; The Theo’s drove an El Camino while Betty and Debby where driving a van. All together we took over 65 Netherland Dwarfs in little cages with water and feed bowls. In these climate controlled vehicles we drove on route 66 to Saginaw, Michigan. This extraordinary trip took us almost 4 days and the animals where in excellent condition when we arrived. At the end of judging The Landresses won BOB with a “Beswerda REW buck” and BOS with a “Jansen Smoke Pearl Si. Doe”. We met wonderfull people and kept in touch with many long after this visit.
Darrel Bramhall and Hartl Lucks
Ralph de Vito, Betty Landress and Hartl. Lucks
The ANDRC emblem in 1978
The California clubpin in 1978
Will never forget the “dwarclubmembers meeting” in some hotelrooms where Marie Louise Cowan did the cathering and Roy Ludwig and Hartl Lucks where good with their “dirty jokes”, Hartl: “no I am not a dirty old man, I am a sexy senior citizen”. Another memorable introduction was made with Ruth Terna, all the way from Hawaii she flew in with some flower lei for us to wear. Ruth invited us to come to Hawaii, and yes 2 weeks we spent on Ohau.
I wrote some articles in the Dwarf Digest and corresponded with many US fanciers in the years to come. Ruth Terna’s husband Jim traveled quite a bit in those days. He visited me 3 weeks before the Seattle ARBA Convention in 1982. I took him to the Ornithophilia Show in Utrecht where a REW jr. doe won BOB. Two days later we visited her breeder Mr. Bouke Beswerda, who kindly sold this doe to Jim. This doe had the perfect “tablepresence” she showed style and elegance in between majorty of “flat” dwarfs, that was quite common in those days. (The era of äss-hunters). Because Jim saw this doe for the very first time at the show in Utrecht they called her “Utrecht”. This little doe was the start of another “mindset” within the ANDRC about style, pose and profile of a Netherland Dwarf.
"Utrecht" won BOB at the 82 Seattle ARBA Convention
Earlier in 1982 I visited Bob and Barbara Brown, in Naples, Florida (my redneck ma). With Mike and Molly Michaels and several others there was a meeting about the ARBA-bid for a possible Ntl Convention in Orlando in 1984. The Florida group won this bid and got to organize the 1984 Convention. I went to this show and entered a few animals, won BOV Smoke Pearl and BJOV Sable Marten. A historic win was made by a REW doe, she won BOB and Best Four Class ( never done by a dwarf ever since). This little doe was a daughter of “Utrecht”, an inbreeding result from a “mediocre” son bred back to his famous mother. “Utrecht 2” was another example of nobility on the table and the time of flat showanimals was over..... Her entrance in the ANDRC Hall of Fame proves her importance for the breed.
One of the handmade trofees at the 84 Orlando ARBA Convention
After the Orlando Show I flew to Honolulu for a short stay with The Terna’s, enjoying their beautifull spot and many dwarftalks in the barn.
Englands Pop Cage comparing Dutch Netherland Dwarfs in Hawaii, with Ruth Terna and daughter Jenny
On the way back I visited my aunt in the Pasadena area and from there I flew to Albany New York to visit Chuck Weber. Chuck Weber posing with some of his winning animals
After the Orlando Show I flew to Honolulu for a short stay with The Terna’s, enjoying their beautifull spot and many dwarftalks in the barn. On the way back I visited my aunt in the Pasadena area and from there I flew to Albany New York to visit Chuck Weber.
April 1985 I also visited the ANDRC springshow in Toronto, excellent organized by Scott Mansfield.
ANDRC April 1985 I also visited the ANDRC springshow in Toronto, excellent organized by Scott Mansfield.
The showhall in the Ontario Science Centre was wel decorated
With Tulips and Dutch flags
Ruth Terna, Theo Jansen and Glenn Pensinger
Theo receiving a trofee in Toronto with the Hawaiian Lei around his neck
Theo receiving a trofee in Toronto with the Hawaiian Lei around his neck
In this time period I stopped with my shaded, which I had had since my start in dwarfs. I managed to get the black otter recognized in our country and loved this colour a lot. Also chocolates, blacks and black silver martens where present in those days. In that time I met Ellen, who I married in 1987. Familylife with 2 children, Bas and Ben, kept me home until 2000 when we made a familytrip to the USA.
First we visited our “old friend” Gary Brachmann in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. What a great place to play for the boys. The Wisconsin Dells Waterpark was an unique experience for us all, especially for boys of this age.
From there we drove to Missouri where we visited other “old friends ”Peggy and Bill Yoakum”. They had visited our place back in 1985 and worked with some of my shades since. At this 2000 visit they where losing quality in their herd and after this trip I could send them some new animals to work with. Black Otter doe 0LB-651, named “Savannah Faith” won Best Of Breed at the 2001 National Dwarf Show, in Perry, Georgia..
This win turned out to be the start of another level of quality in dwarfs in the US. In the Netherlands I gathered a group of dedicated friends. As “Holland Team Maximize” we tried to get the maximum weight up because we saw our best animals, with width, depth and firm fleshcondition, develop overweight for our standard. The Dutch officials did not want to know but fortunately there where several US breeders at that time that shared that vison and worked with these dwarfs. Numerous big wins all over the US by these animals or their offspring proved our “right”.
From this period of time there is a list of “feedback messages” we received back then:
so sorry that I’m so slow in getting this to you. Hope you check your Email tonight or before leaving for your meeting on Sunday. I hadn’t checked my Email for awhile and went out with our daughters and son-in-laws for Mexican Food last night for dinner.
We are absolutely delighted with our stock we received this fall. They are beautiful.
It is at long last spring with the longer natural daylight putting our animals in the right frameof mind to fill our nest boxes.
Because of my father’s illness and death we weren’t able to work with our animals very much during February and the first of March, but are getting our lives back together now and working hard to get them all bred and producing.
We have had a couple of kindlings from the otters. We bred one of our does and thechocolate buck together and now have a really nice Black Otter doe that is developing very nicely.
We just took the nest box out of another cross, a black doe of our breeding (goes back to a buck from Nigel Atkinson) and the Otter Buck. We have a Chocolate and Black we are most pleased with.
The does we received from you are all bred now and due within the next couple of weeks. Really anxious to start getting the nest boxes full! We are working very had with them.
There is one doe that is not bred. We will breed her in the next couple of days before we take her to Georgia to the ANDRC National show next Saturday. She won BOB at the December Missouri State Convention and Best Opposite in a specialty show the next day. Her ear number is 561.
We have not shown any of the other animals. They are too precious to us. We have several Otter Does, so if one is lost, the breeding program is not lost. With the Bucks and the other varieties, if we lost one before getting young stock, we would put ourselves in a bad situation. We have to guarantee we can continue the bloodlines entrusted to us and improve our stock with these animals before we would risk losing them.
We have a good friend who shows and specializes in Chocolates in the National Shows. She took a look at the Chocolate Buck and said he was the best she had ever seen.
THE OPALS – We have used them extensively in the breeding program and are very happy with them.
Our good friend Tommy Thompson(he has won best Opal several times at the National Shows and won Best of Breed this fall with a Chestnut Buck at the ARBA Convention in Columbus, Ohio) has given us several of his top Does and we now have them bred to the buck we received from you. We have crossed him into our stock and are very pleased with the stock we are getting from him. We have several keepers and are building a base to expand the breeding. The ring color on these animals are something that is just not seen over here, didn’t know it was possible. We do not plan on losing it. We have a nice litter from the Doe that was sent and she is rebred.
This is now the breeding season. We have had a very hard and stormy, cold winter and are looking Forward to the next few weeks and the anticipation of full nest boxes.
PLEASE, PLEASE let all your club members know how very pleased we are with the stock and the opportunity to work with them. I will keep you informed with the progress we are making.
We have a tradition in our club that after you win the Best of Breed at a show you take your pals and fellow exhibitors out to dinner and a drink or two. You owe us $125.00 for Saturday nights dinner and drinks. Your otter doe won BOB at the State Convention and I know you would want to follow up on this tradition. Tom and Diane Thompson, Gary and Yvonne Michaud and Bill and I had a wonderful dinner after the show to celebrate. You should be glad that the Grates were too tired to make it or it would cost more! Hope you know I'm teasing. At least about the dinner on you. That beautiful doe took Best of Breed in the first show out of about 130 rabbits. The second show on the second day under Glen Carr she took BOSB. She took Best Otter and Best Tan Pattern. The black buck you sent over for the Grates took Best Self under Glen, and the Otter Buck you sent them took Best Opposite Otter and Tan pattern. You did pretty darn good. After the show I heard Glen mention to the comment taker that he thought the Otter doe was an import. I told him that indeed she was. She was a Euro Dwarf from our good friend Theo Jansen who was helping getting us started in Otters. He said "a very good start". Another very good news item, our first baby from our Euro dwarfs was born today. Our good blue doe had two babies. She had two, one dead and one live. We have two more does due later this week - this is the real excitement for me - I just can't wait to see these babies come hopping out of the nest boxes. This is a good time for them to be born - should be fairly moderate this week in temperatures, next week it is suppose to get extremely cold - sub zero temperatures. Glad our rabbits are were they are. Bill wanted to be sure and let you know that we didn't take any of the other rabbits you sent over to the show. You sent 4 Otter does and the show was just over night so we risked taking 561 out before we breed her - but until we get some back up babies hopping around protecting that precious bloodline, wouldn't want to risk losing them. I know that the otter buck and chocolate buck would "knock em dead" but if we lost them we would be in deep "do do". (The chocolate otter doe is one of the does due this week). I will let you know how the maternity goes - hopefully we will get a few or at least get the does started for spring. Peg
Hope you received my Email before your meeting. Did you? Yes, it would be fine with us to post the information. Hope your fellow breeders realize how much we appreciate their sharing their wonderful stock.
Glad you had a good meeting and are enjoying your common interest.
We won’t be able to take a summer holiday this year. It is a disappointment to me but that is the way it will work best for Bill’s retirement. We were looking forward to a trip to Europe but under this situation, it will not happen this summer. Hope you will keep the invitation open for us. Please give my best to Ellen, Bas and Ben. I’ll try to get a picture of that jacket in the near future. I enjoyed wearing it to the one show we went to this spring and will definitely wear it in Georgia. I’ll keep in touch, please do the same ( our best blue doe is definitely having young ones this week out of that marvelous otter buck you sent, sure hope she does so successfully.
It was nice to hear from you. I hope all is well with both you and your family.
I am happy to give you some feedback on the rabbits I had shipped last year. As far as showing them and the results I have had, the first black otter buck from Euro 99 that I purchased received 5 grand champion legs out of the six shows I put him in when he arrived.
After that I retired him for breeding and he has become the best herd buck I have ever had. He has sired many beautiful dwarfs that have gone on to win Best of Breed and Best Opp. of Breed awards and several grand champion legs. I have been thrilled with him and the doe I received in the first shipment. I will try and send a few pictures of some of the offspring when I get a chance.
A few months later I received 9 more dwarfs from you and your colleagues and they have again been wonderful assets to my breeding program. They continue to be very successful in both my breeding program and the show tables. I am now beginning to breed the second generation offspring together from the original shipment dwarfs and they are continuing the wonderful lines and producing.
Your dwarfs have added a great deal to my breeding program including larger heads, thicker ears and beautiful thickness of bone. I was very fortuneate that my own rabbits worked well genetically with your dwarfs and I was able to produce show winners in the first generation of juniors. Often first generation outcrosses are not very successful and it takes a few generations to begin to get consistent results but I was very lucky to get a nice line of rabbits in with the first few breedings. I feel very fortuneate to have had the results be so positive and I credit your strong dwarfs for this success.
So you can see that both in breeding to my own dwarfs and in the showing of the dwarfs, I have been very pleased with the addition of your beautiful animals to my rabbitry. I would like to thank you and your colleagues for opening your rabbitries to me and my friends and extending us such beautiful dwarfs. Be assured that I know of many other recipients of your dwarfs locally that have been equally as pleased with the addition of your dwarfs to their breeding programs.
If you are able to put together another shipment of dwarfs this spring, please let me know. I would be very interested in chocolates, blues and chocolate or blue otters along with black and black otters but would be open to whatever colors you have available.
I hope that you have a successful meeting this Sunday. Thank you again for all your help this past year and please thank your fellow colleagues from me as well. Sincerely, Alicia Kennemer Sunnyside Rabbitry
Theo,
It was wonderful to hear that your meeting went well. You are very welcome to use my comments on your website! I am happy to add my comments to a page of other people that have been so happy with your bunnies! I hope you have a wonderful day and I look forward to hearing from you again. Alicia
WE HERE ARE VERY HAPPY WITH THE STOCK WE GOT FROM YOU, WE RECIEVED THE 9 OTTERS AND THEY ARE A VERY TOUGH HEALTHY STOCK. THE BUCKS HAVE CROSSED VERY WELL WITH OUR AMERICAN GIRLS AND THE OUTCROSSES ARE UNBELIEVABLE, THEY HAVE IMPROVED OUR EARS AND OTTER FACTOR, AND SOME VERY NICE BLACKS HAVE COME OUT TOO, ALONG WITH CHOCOLATE SELFS AND CHOCOLATE OTTERS. THE BONE IS ALSO EXCELLENT THEY TEND TO LOOK ON THE LARGE SIDE BUT DO NOT GO OVER WEIGHT ON THE SHOW TABLES. THE DOES HAVE ALL PRODUCED EXCEPT ONE OF THE JUNIOR DOES NOW A SENIOR REFUSES TO BREED, I WILL KEEP TRYING. NOT SURE WHAT YOUR CLIMATE IS WE LIVE HIGH IN THE MOUNTAINS AND HAVE SNOW FROM OCTOBER TO END OF MARCH THEY SEEMED TO REALLY ENJOY THE COLD AND WE HAVE SOME SUPER FUR COMING IN. 2 WEEKS AGO OUR DWARF CLUB PUT ON 2 SPECIALTIES IN PORTLAND OREGON, A BLUE OTTER DOE OUT OF THE BLUE OTTER BUCK 444 AND A AMERICAN BLACK OTTER DOE OF OURS GOT BEST OPOSITE SEX OF BREED IN THE SHOW, SHE HAS GEORGOUS COLOR FOR A BLUE OTTER AND WE HAVE TO HAVE MATCHING NAILS HERS ARE EXCELLENT AND DARK, SHE HAS A VERY NICE HEAD SET NOT TO HIGH OR LOW AND EXCELLENT DEPT AT THE SHOULDERS AND VERY FULL HINDQUARTERS. SO AS YOU CAN SEE WE ARE VERY HAPPY AND THANK YOU TO YOU AND THE HOLLAND TEAM FOR ALL THE YEARS OF DEDICATION TO THE BREED. IF ANYONE IS GOING TO OUR ARBA NATIONALS IN SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA IN OCTOBER WE WILL BE THERE WITH OFFSPRING AND LOVE TO SHOW THEM TO YOU.
THANKS AGAIN, KATRINA WIDRIG P.S. WE WERE BEST OF VARIETY AND BEST OPOSITE VARIETY OTTER IN BOTH SHOWS AND ALL HAD HOLLAND BLOOD IN THEM:):):)
Hi Theo,,
yes you have my permission to use my letter on your website and I hope it will encourage more people to order form you. I hear you have hoof and mouth in your country I am sorry and hope you don't have any livestock like cattle, goats, and sheep and swine in your area effected by this.. take care and best of luck in the future
Hope you are all OK also, we are all doing good and looking forward to babies in the boxes! Everyone is very happy with the rabbits we received from you. I know several people are showing them (I know the opals and black silver martens, chocolate and chocolate otter and black have been shown) I have both sables and have not shown or bred them yet. I don't know if anyone has tried to breed any of the 'new' rabbits yet or not, I do know that at least the black doe that was sent received a BOB or BOS. I am not positive on how the other rabbits have done but as I said everyone is thrilled with what you all sent over and several people are asking when you may have another shipment. Please tell everyone thank you again for all of us and let me know when you have more that everyone would like to send over! :)
Stacy Anderson
Hi Theo,
Sure you can use anything you would like. Have a nice week!
Am in good health. Thank you for asking. Hope all is well with you and your family too. Am very pleased with the rabbits that we got from our shipment last June. I went in with Katrina Widrig and Mary Henderson on the shipment.Katrina ended up with otters, Mary with BEW and I ended up with a chocolate brood doe, very nice head and ears, but too large for show. Bred her with the sr. chocolate otter #604 and all were too large except for one. He has is a chocolate otter and has been shown once with a best of breed. 1 chocolate otter Sr. brood buck #604, very nice head, ears, and thick ears and fur, a little heavier than our show bucks, but would be nice show if he was a little smaller and he is a wonderful breeder, with nice youngsters. 1 chocolate otter (was Jr.) buck show buck #518. He has been show three times with two best of breeds. Just started breeding with him and don't have offspring yet, but am very excited. 1 chocolate otter (was Jr.) show doe#517. Didn't show her because she wouldn't sit for very long, but is equivalent to the quality as the chocolate otter with two best of breeds. She is two weeks bred with #604. Then there was a chocolate otter jr. brood doe in that litter #519. Just breeding these now. 1 black silver marten Jr. brood doe with chocolate in background. And almost forgot there was a chocolate otter sr. brood doe. She was breed to chocolate otter 604, the sort of big guy, and liked some in the litter, but didn't keep them because they were lilac otter and not working with too many of those. Did get one of the sr. black otter bucks. Have bred him to mostly chestnut and otter does. The out crosses on all of these have been so great. Did get one chestnut that got two best of breeds at 10 weeks old out of the black otter!!! Was scared that he would go over our 2 1/2 pound weight limit but did not. At 10 weeks he was one ounce under 2 pounds. He matured at about 2 pounds two ounces. He is really pretty and have just bred with him for the first time a couple of days ago. The black otters head after his molt is so much bigger. Am looking forward to an exciting breeding and showing season this year because of those bunnies.
Katrina showed a blue otter that is out of the blue otter buck from you, and she was here at a show in Enumclaw Washington two weeks ago and got a Best opposite of breed and the went to a show after that and got a BOB. I have heard very good things from Alicia Kennemer and Carrie Engel and Ann Craig. They had gotten some from you before us. Saw many of them and they are very nice. Thanks Theo. Cathy Bohn
Hi Theo,
It sounds like a wonderful idea to have the many of the people's comments about the bunnies that they have gotten from you. Would be interesting to see what they say about you stock also. Yes, would be perfectly fine with me if you post my letter. Thanks for asking. I do have a question about the chocolate otter line. I have been breeding dwarfs for about 17 years now and just recently started the chocolate and chocolate otter line. Until I got some from you they were very hard to get a good head on them. Usually it only takes a generation to put a good head on a dwarf, but these particular chocolate lines seem to carry a bad head with the color chocolate. I am speaking before I got some from you, with american lines. I was wondering with the wonderful fur and thick ears if there is REW in their breeding? They sure look like they do. I don't think we could get bunnies to have that kind of fur and thick ears without REW in the lines here. Am very pleased with your bunnies. It helped me so much to improve the chocolate line.
All is well here and we are finally starting to get some weather above freezing. We do not have many litters of babies at this time because of the very cold winter that we had. I hope that you are all well and do not have any trouble with the foot and mouth disease where you are. We had just heard yesterday that it had spread to The Netherlands. I hope that this information is what you are looking for and I will forward more in a couple of months about the offspring. Black Otter buck 330. This is the otter that came in on the first shipment in October. We took him to the National convention in November and he placed 6th out of 65 otter senior bucks. We also showed him in Joplin Missouri in December and won Best of Breed. This are the only times he has been shown, as he has matured in weight to 2 pounds and 15 ounces and is overweight for our show tables. He is a beautiful buck with excellent head, ear, profile and well filled hindquarter. We are breeding him to some of our own smaller otter does to pull down the size. Only one of his offspring survived the winter and was a black silver buck that we gave to Tom and Diane to go with the stock that they got from you. He has several litters in the barn now, but all are under 2 weeks. Black Otter doe 634 1st shipment. One of the nicest otter does that I have ever had the pleasure of owning. She was shown at the Harper, Kansas show and placed 1st and went on to win best of Tan group. She is the mother of the black silver that we mentioned above and is due with babies again next week. Her weight matured to 2 pounds 13 ounces. Black Otter buck 569 This is the young buck that came in on the second shipment and has not been shown as he had been unhealthy and we have quarenteed him from the herd. He is a very nice buck and would show very well here. I believe that he would be in the top 5 at at national show. His weight has matured at 2 pounds 8 ounces.We are medicating him and have hope that he will recover enough to produce some offspring. Chestnut buck 712 He also is a very nice buck and we have shown him several times. He has won best of Agouti group 2 times and best opposite one time. He has matured to weigh 2 pounds 3 ounces. We have several litters of babies out of him now but all are too young to give information on. Chestnut buck 327 This buck has placed 2nd behind 712 at the 3 shows we have been to. He has the better head, but lacks a little in the shoulder developement of 712. We have 4 does bred to him now that are due in April. Opal doe 519 This doe has the best ring color of any opal that I have ever seen. Tom and Diane have seen her several times and this is a color that they specialize in. Both have told me that there are no opals in this country that can compare in color to this doe. They have won best Opal and Best of group at Nationals with opals in the past. She has had 2 litters of all peanuts, so we have bred her to one of our bucks with hope of normal babies. Chocolate Otter 563 I must tell you that this animal is very, very nice. We have shown him 4 times and he has won Best of Breed in two of these shows. We have been told by several judges that he is the nicest chocolate otter that they have ever seen. His weight is 2 pounds 9 ounces Chocolate Otter doe 612 We only showed here one time and she placed 2nd, behind 634. She is also very nice and we have her bred to 563. Her weight is 2 pounds 8 ounces. Sable Marten buck 520 and does 804 and 908 We have never shown 520 as his weight is 2 pounds 15 ounces, but he is also one of the nicest bucks that I have ever seen. If he were to be within weight I have no doubt that he would be in the top 5 and Nationals. ( Honestly, I think that he would win his variety!!) We have never shown the does as they are the darker sable color that is not shown here. We have them both bred to a rew buck out of our sable line to lighten the color. We have several litters of babies at this time out of 520 and our line of sables. All of the babies are sable martens so we are very happy!!! Otter doe 628 This doe is very nice. She weighs 2 pounds and 8 ounces and is awesome!! We have entered her in the national convention in Perry next week. I will let you know how she does. She has the absolute perfect headset and earset. Blue otter buck 623 He is just now coming into his own. He is maturing into a very nice buck. We have not shown him yet, but he also will be going to Perry next week. The deep blue color on this buck is outstanding. We also then have 4 black otter brood does and they are all due with babies the first week of April.
Anyway, I hope that this is of some help to you. I wish I had more to tell about babies but we will soon!!! We have showed off your rabbits to a lot of people and they all believe that they are what we are striving for. The only change we must make is in the weight. Unfortunately, I love a dwarf at about 2 pound 10 ounces, but the rules on weights here will not be changing any time soon. There are a lot of people breeding for a 2 pound dwarf, but the 2 1/2 pound dwarfs are beating them at almost every show!! Your website has also stirred a lot of interest in the larger, more well rounded dwarf. We wish you all the best and if there is anything else you want to know just e-mail me and I will try to find out for you! Best Wishes Dan and Stacy Grate
Theo,
You can put any part of this letter that you feel will help out on the website. We had some more babies last night and are very excited !! We have had a very successful show season so far. We have a nice siamese sable doe that is on a winning streak. She has had 2 best in shows, 3 best of breeds and 2 best opposite of breeds. We cannot wait to breed her to your 520 sable marten buck!!!
I will be updating my page in the next few weeks and would be happy to link up to your very nice page.
Also I would like to thank you personally for send over bunnies to Greg Pisano. I have the chocolate doe and 1 of the smoke does. I am very impressed with them and think they are wonderful and will help my herd temendously. Chocolates in the US have been lacking very bad and the beautiful doe you sent over will help very much. I just got them to my house and they both look great. They have not eaten much feed but plenty of Grass hay and water. I am sure being in a carrier for a few days plus airplane and car rides have distressed them a little. Again thank you for being so kind as to send us some of your beautiful bunnies.
Carrie Engel C & D Rabbitry Stanwood, WA USA
Hi Theo
Yes I think that would be a wonderful addition to your web page. On our second shipment I recieved a very nice rew senior buck that I have shown for many month and had managed to get 12 legs on and won best of breed twice with. Named him Oscar. He is retired now but still in prime condition and has fathered many babies that are doing well for me. If you would like I would be happy to add another few words about our shipment.
I am very pleased with the bunnies that I received yesterday. They all have wonderful bodies, especially well filled rearends! I am especially taken with the REW senior doe, she is breathtaking and the older REW senior buck is also beautiful. All of these animals should do wonderful things for my breeding program.
Thank you very much, Mary Henderson Rainbeau Rabbitry
I don't mind if you use my first response. I would like to add an update. The animals I received in June are doing very well. I have some very nice new babies out of the original 9 that I received. The original 9 I received were REWs and BEWs. In December I had an oppertunity to go in with group to purchase 2 more, this last time I received a pair of opals. They have magnificent color and type. I have 2 litters out of the buck that all look great and I am excited to see how they mature. The doe is probably the best of the two and I will wait until June to breed her. I am hoping to get a few more of the great bunnies that are coming from
Holland. The animals I have received are all healthy and have settled into my barn very easily.
We are extremely happy with the rabbits and know they will be a great addition to our breeding program. 3 or the 4 does bred to the bucks have kindled. Have 1 kit by the chocolate otter and 4 by the opal buck, along with 6 double dwarfs (peanuts) which we expect in our breeding program. The doe the black otter was bred to still hasn't kindled.
The opal was bred to a nice opal doe that has won a Best Opposite of Breed. Can't believe how the hindquarters have improved over there or is it just your breeding? I have had German and English imports and a line that goes back to Holland and really have to work to get the hindquarters and train the young to sit not stand on the show table. Glad that this won't be the case with your bunnies! Did you show the black otter a lot or does he just naturally love the extra attention and petting, he has such a great disposition which is very important in our barn.
The chocolate otter and opal have good dispositions as well but prefer not to be petted. I will keep you informed on the offspring as they develop.
Thanks again, Niki's Bunnies Leslie and Niki Ketrenos
I would be honored! All three rabbits are still doing well and I have several outstanding offspring out of your bucks. If I can be of further assistance to you please let me know!
My name is Ann and I am a friend of Greg Pisano. I am one of the breeders who bought 2 of the rabbits that you so graciously shipped to the US. I have the chocolate buck and a smoke buck. I want to tell you how impresse I am by them and look forward to getting some babies. What information on background on the chocolate buck and smoke bucks could you send me? I understand that pedigrees in Holland are not kept as we keep them in the US. I noticed that ther bunnies have tatoos in both ears? What does that stand for? Thank you for your part in providing these bunnies to us.
Thankyou for your response. I find it very interesting how the tatoo numbers are done and will check to see old the "boys" are. Most rabbit breeders in ther US have some type of system for tatooing, but often is just choosing a number/letter and following in sequence. In the US, the REW and BEW are mostly the varieties that have the thicker substance of ears. This is something that is lacking in the rest of the varieties. Both of the bucks-the chocolate and smoke buck have above average substance and furring compared to what is shown in the US. The smoke definitely has the darkest toenails I have ever seen on a smoke-almost black and that is SUPERB. Light or mismatched toenails is mostly a problem and hard to breed out. I look forward to seeing offspring from these 2 fine bucks. The ride to the US did not seem to slow them down or dampen their interest in the does.
Again, thank you. Ann Craig
That would be fine. Since that writing have had opportunity to receive some more Holland bunnies-esp happy with a chocolate otter doe that was shipped in Dec. Many of the Holland crosses are looking VERY nice-the Holland bucks are adding the bone and bulk that seem to be lacking in some of the Americian dwarfs.
My first experience with a shipment of imports, over all, has been wonderful. In my wildest dreams, I could not have imagined that I would have such quality end up in my barn. In total I received 9 animals. One was a chocolate otter doe that, no matter how beautiful she was, I knew I would not keep her since I only do black/blue silvers, chins and squirrels. I traded her and the young black silver buck to a good friend, Tommy and Diane Thompson, who also received some animals in the same shipment.
As far as breeding, I did not start breeding them right away. I wanted to give them time to adjust from the trip and to their new surroundings. It's been a rough winter here and I'm only now starting to get babies.
Here's a rundown of the remaining animals, bucks first:
OLB/220 Black Silver Martin Herd Buck - I'm still overwhelmed that he is in my barn. If he wasn't 3 lbs. you can bet that he would have hit the show tables. I absolutely adore him and he will never leave my barn. All the animals were given names from Norse Mythology. His is Odin; the highest and holiest god and god of victory. He has babies in the nest box that look very promising.
9LB/441 Blue Silver Marten Buck (son of above) - His name is Baldur (the most beautiful of the gods). I will probably use him more in my second round of breeding, after his father.
The Does:
OLB/626 Black Silver Marten doe - Sif I consider the best of the three black silver does. I showed her a couple of times and she did OK but her coat was slipping. First litter didn't make it.
OLB/563 Black Silver Marten doe - Freya is second and also did OK on the show table but her coat was slipping, too. And like any of the does, it was more important for me to get babies out of them than it was for them to have a show career.
OLB/570 Black Silver Marten doe - Nanna is a funny little thing. She refuses to pose and, in fact, arches her back so she looks flat and even swayback. She's just destined to be a mommy but hasn't yet.
OLB/622 Chin doe - And last but not least Nossa who, I think, is probably the most beautiful thing (not counting the herd buck) that I have ever seen and will never part with. To me she and the herd buck were worth everything. She did hit the show tables and first time out probably would have taken Best of Breed but came up with malocclusion which ended her show time. We believe she pulled them here on the wire and I'm clipping them. I think she would have done very well at the show tables if this didn't happen. I have a chin buck that has great colour, wonderful type and depth, a very nice head and ear but, in my opinion, could be just a touch wider that I'm hoping will be her perfect match. Did you ever show her?
I'm sorry this went on for so long but I wanted you to know how each one was doing. I will keep you informed on how my first round of babies do but I have no doubt they will be awesome and will only get better. Overall, and I'm sure you can guess from my remarks, I am extremely please with the shipment of animals that I received from you
Thank you again, Teri
I don't mind at all if you use part of my response on your page. In fact, I consider myself pretty lucky that when I go to your website and look at the dwarf with the perfect head that I can see him everyday - in my barn!
You must be very happy about the progress with the BEW. The flesh,fur density,and head,and ears are amazing. Flesh right down to the table. All animals are bred now, and all is healthy . You should have one hell of a show season with the up and coming BEW. Are the Chocolates from Maurits, and Jaco? I am just going by the ORC, and OAK in the show results. Bred the Chocolate doe to the otter buck. Also used the BEW jr buck who I think is an outstanding animal as they all are.
I wonder how many rabbittrys are using your bloodlines? I bet over 50% of animals in the US have your lines somewhere in the background. Due to the length of time you have been breeding Dwarfs, and the number of big breeders over here that have received shipments or have purchased animals from these breeders, or me. You really have something to be proud of. A legacy that will live on long after you and I have gone to that big rabbit show in the sky. I bet breeders like Beswerda and some old timers will have a hard time changing to the Eurodwarf.
Even the Dutch rabbit breeders president at the Euro show must realize that the change will be for the better. There have been complaints from some oldtimers over here, and the ARBA standards committee about the upright pose of the winning Dwarf(Larsens) from last year. It will be a tough battle to even change the pose here, but with more people liking this in the ANDRC we can make it happen, and could possibly bring this to the ARBA standards committee for approval. There is much work to be done. It would sure be nice to have the same standard worldwide. If you do not show in Holland maybe you could show here? The weather here is -20C and snowing so would not mind having some Holland weather right now.
Take Care, Gary
Hi Theo,
You know about Otter Doe #553 and 2 BOS Dwarf with about 120 animals shown in eachshow. It was a very cold winter and all does had trouble with litters. All are rebred with the BEW buck #205. Spring and fall seem to work the best for shipments here as it creates less stress for the animals for the change to the wormbeds I use . The wormbeds work better when it is warm. I love the stock and the widebodies of the animals and am looking forward to many babies. I have been checking on flights May1- May 11 $531.40 for nonstop from Chicago on KLM.Will let you know if the dream becomes reality.
Thanks, Gary
Hi Theo,
Of course you can use my response, and maybe I will add some more.The American Rabbit Breeder when purchasing a Dwarf looks to purchase the best possible animal to help his breeding program. Too many will not purchase brood does, because they want the show animal. There are exceptions however which is the catagory I fall into. I would much rather purchase a wide body 23/4-3# doe to produce the show animals than try to get a show doe to produce anything without having any trouble, and the show does(smaller does) almost always have trouble producing.The Eurodwarf is a little larger and therefore produces much more easily which is a help to anyones breeding program.
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Some Rabbiminimus Netherland Dwarfs where entered at the 1997 ARBA Convention.
