We have a small herd of Holland lops, currently we have 11 senior does and 2 senior bucks that are our show/breeding hollands.
Breeding holland lops is not for the faint of heart, they are one of if not the most challenging breeding to raise and show. The competition is tough and it gets tougher every year, it takes an immense amount of time and effort and planning and culling to raise and show holland lops.
We do not use B.U.D. (big ugly does) in our breeding program, or normal bucks (over sized). We only use what we consider show quality and animals that we feel will best contribute to our breeding plans. We only keep the very best bucks who have proven themselves on the show table and bucks that have produced winning stock, most of our hollands used for breeding have done some winning and by being so selective we get faster results and more consistent results.
We do not breed continuously, we plan each breeding months ahead of time. Our does typically have from four to eight kits, we watch the kits very closely as they mature and start going through them at about 4 weeks. The best two are picked and marked and then we check the litter again at 8 weeks, at this point we cull the kits that do not meet our standards. We pet out all of those who do not make the cut, the ones that stay for growing out are separated from one another to allow them to develop without having to compete for food, space etc...
When we go through a litter we know how our lines develop so this makes it easier to sort them out, we will take the whole litter and line them up. We look for and compare ear length, width of head, bone, length of body and depth. We only keep short ears, short fat front legs, heads wide enough to make it hard to view the eyes from the front, they must exhibit very good depth and very short length without a dip in the shoulder. We do not believe in hanging onto something that is inferior in type to see if it grows out of it, why waste cage space and feed on an "ugly" junior when we have already picked out the best. This works for us and may not work for you but each individual breeder has their own way of doing things and there is no right or wrong way just different ways, we cull hard and breed true.
When getting started we recommend you purchase from "one" breeder a trio, which should consist of one buck and two does. When purchasing from an established breeder you will have a head start in your program, we recommend line breeding which means breeding similar lines to each other. Ask for advice, a good breeder will always be available to answer your questions and help in any way they can.
Currently we have 15 holland lop does and five senior bucks, we rarely have over 25 seniors in our breeding program. We keep it small and breed for the best and we believe in the old saying "Quality NOT Quantity", this has proved itself tried and true for us.
The holland lop is a wonderful breed full of personality and love attention, they are great for children and we recommend them for pets. They are a very unique breed and nothing compares to a baby holland lop peeking over the nest box and taking their first steps into the world, they may be difficult to breed but if you make your goals, keep your goals, work hard and don't except anything but the best you will succeed.
