Anyone with Netherland Dwarfs (rabbits)?

My kids are expanding their 4H projects to include Netherland Dwarf rabbits. Anyone else here have any...and have anything to share?

Haha....we own two.

i have a friend that shows then, i help out at her farm a lot. the only thing i can think of (and that is if you dont already do rabbits of some sort) is that pick a color you like and find the different shades for it that are showable, ie siamese sable also breeds smoke pearl, or you can breed a blue to an otter and get showable offspring. also that they dont have very many kits, its normal for her to only get 1-2 but she does have does that have 5. and to work with them a lot because they are even tempered but slightly skittish.
oh and check for good ears and make sure the spine is whole, Netherland Dwarfs are prone to having a 'divit' in their spine right up near their head that some judges overlook but it is a disqualification

We have raised them for 10 yrs now ( wow!!!! its been a long time) They are the toughest breed but very rewarding if you get it right!!!! 1st Very important Do not mix shaded into anything other then other shaded .... Rew or Himi but make sure the rew is out of a shaded background. The other colors Selfs,Tan pattern and agouti can all be bred together with good results... Blueeyed white should only be bred to other BEW unless u know what your doing ... if u do.. u will get sports which carry the bew gene and can hide it for yr to come or the babies come out looking like lil miss marked dutch. Confused yet????

Now on to babies.... If you can handle Peanuts... Max factor.... Faders and big uglys this is a breed for you....... Peanuts are a baby who gets a double dose of the dwarfing gene and its terminal, they die and theres nothing you can do about it
Max factor is something rather new and this gene is something you want in your herd due to it adds bone mass wonderful rollback fur and massive heads but..... if the genes match up in the nestbox you will get a alien baby with horribly deformed legs ( froglike) and born with the eyes open so massive eye infections and are always totally blind and this will live so you need to cull them and that can be tough to explain to a child. Faders... make it to weaning and then just fade away slowly, quite common , The reason we beleve is the baby just fails to handle the switch to solid foods. Big uglys are a good thing in does... They dont carry the dwarfing gene so you wont get peanuts ( good thing ) but the bucks are no good for breeding and if you don't have a good pet market they can be difficult to find homes for. Then... after all that your lucky to have 2 make it to adulthood if they are not out of good stock you can run into teeth issues ( malconclusion) or buck teeth ( when the teeth match up and dont back behind the other)
Temperment problems.... Some bite..... My personal line does't or if they do they get a one way ticket outta here!!!! They can be skittish and some get grumpy when bred... BUT... I've stayed with them for so long due to they can be charming and fun.... They are silly and full of life and there is nothing cuter then a 4 wk old netherland dwarf!!!!! We call them mousefaces

I raised ND for awhile they are fun but challenging. If you are just going to have one or two to show 4-H buy the best you can from the best breeder you can and one that is willing to show you what is good about each rabbit and what is not. Even if you want to breed still go for the best you can find. Look at the standard and have someone show you a "typey" ND vs a not so gret one, once you get the hang of it its easier to spot the nice ones.

My favorites but hard to find colors are the orange and Fawn ND, that is the color we focused on. They are hard to get good type and color on but when you get both they are adorable!

Orange


Fawn


Orangey babies


here are Seal(too dark for show) colored bud and or bub jr's


just a cutie

WOW! Who knew there was SOOO much to know about these sweet, little guys. My son has found a breeder (Gene Styles) and we go tomorrow to pick up a black otter ND. I really appreciate everyone's replies...this helps me understand everything I need to ask....

If anyone else here has pictures to share, please do. There are too cute not to post!

My main ND recommendation is to watch out for the teeth!

We have Netherland Dwarfs. We raise and show them. We also have Mini Lops. Right now we just have Blacks, Black Silver Martens, and Black Otters in the NDs, but I would like to maybe try some Chestnuts, Opals, other colors of Otters, Brokens, Oranges, Shadeds, etc. Oh, someday. You can visit our website to see all of the rabbits and the other critters. If you have any questions at all just PM or e-mail us and we will happily help you in any way we can.

The Snyders

allaboutdemchicks:

The white one with the black eye rings is a Dwarf Hotot (hoe-toe), not a ND.