Holly's Hollands Rabbitry
Raising Holland Lops exclusively with the mindset of quality over quantity.
  • Home
    • About Me
  • Contact
  • For Sale
    • Sales Policy
  • Blog
  • All About Rabbits
  • Updates
  • Testimonials
  • Foundation

Don't let the Judge Rule your Herd

1/18/2016

1 Comment

 
Judges are almost thought of as the gods of the rabbit hobby. They know everything about all rabbits, don't they? They never mess up placements, right? 

They do. They are humans too. They mess up, they get confused, they don't interpret the Standard the way we would sometimes. Some judges study certain breeds more than others. Some judges don't raise the particular breed they are judging, and in some cases (but certainly not all), that makes it harder for them to interpret the Standard the way most breeders within that certain breed would.

The Standard of Perfection is difficult; some people interprets the articles within its pages differently. The SOP itself does not have pictures of each quality as it describes it, and occasionally uses vague language. I'm in no way bashing the SOP or critiquing the author, by no means! It's an amazing resource and without it we wouldn't have a purpose for showing our rabbits or breeding show rabbits.

Interestingly, the Standard goes by a point system. I think rabbit shows are similar to human beauty pageants, as the rabbits are judged on how they look, not what their personality is like or what breed they are. Each part of the rabbit body has a certain amount of points, and each breed is different. A perfect Holland Lop will have a body worth 32 points, head worth 24 points, ears worth 10 points, bone/feet/legs worth 10 points, crown worth 8 points and condition/fur/markings/color worth a combined 16 points. Theoretically, all of this comes together to make a 100 point rabbit.

But judges know that they will never see the perfect 100-point rabbit on the table. So, they have to go off of what they can envision should or shouldn't be there on that individual rabbit...what would or wouldn't make this rabbit perfect? What is it lacking? What does it have too much of?

A judge can't see your entire herd. They are judging each individual rabbit and the rabbits on the table. They don't know what you need in your herd. Maybe that mid-place rabbit has that body you need, but his slipped crown and long face cost him first place. But you have an amazing doe that can fix that. Some breeders/showmen let the judge rule their herd, and sell whatever doesn't win first place every time. 

In the world of raising show rabbits, the breeder needs to become his own judge. He needs to understand what his herd needs. If I were to let a judge rule my herd, I wouldn't have kept Butterfly after she got last place in a class because she was out of condition and molting. Although she was still amazing, the other animals in the class had great condition and a little more 'umph' that Butterfly lacked. 

But Butterfly, right now at least, is easily the best or second best rabbit in my herd. But still, she's definitely not worth 100 points on the show table. Maybe she would be worth 70 points. I think it would be fun sometime to dedicate a blog post to a few of my rabbits, and see where they would lose or gain points, and how many points I would give them if I were the judge. Even though the Standard is based in points, most judges don't add or subtract the points in their head, they just look at what they see and remember which parts of the rabbit are most important. 
Picture
Butterfly - *drool* she just keeps looking better and better!
I feel like was a really confusing post (haha), just some random ramblings I've been thinking over recently, so if you have any further questions or something doesn't seem right, let me know! :) 

Until next time! 

~Holly
1 Comment
Hannah Fewox
1/25/2016 10:17:24 am

Very true, and well said! Thank you for pointing this out to other rabbit raisers!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    My name is Holly.

    I'm glad you're here! Don't be a ghost; leave a comment every once and a while! Let's talk ;) 
    A little about me - I love breeding and raising Holland Lop rabbits! I have been blessed the with the opportunity to raise rabbits in the city, and I am so grateful!
    Besides rabbit breeding, I have a babysitting business, and I am an author. I hope to have a novel published in the next couple years or so!
    In this blog I hope to post daily articles and updates on the rabbitry. Thank you for following and I hope you enjoy! Don't be shy; feel free to leave a comment once and a while! I would love to get to know you.

    Categories

    All
    Articles
    Babies
    Birth Stories
    Boarding News
    Breeding Info
    Diet
    Feeding
    For Sale
    Health
    Herd Evaluations
    House Rabbit
    Personal
    Q&A
    Rabbits And Friends
    Rabbit Showing
    Updates
    Yearly Bookkeeping/goals

    Archives

    June 2019
    October 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.