# Question about developing pedigrees



## Kathyj (Jul 12, 2012)

This is my first post  I have started breeding lionhead rabbits I understand the breed has not been accepted by the ARBA yet but i want to start a pedigree line I have two bucks with pedigrees 3 generations back and two does who i found without pedigrees. The does seem sound and a good representation of the breed just no records. How do i determine what the ear numbers should be for their offspring? The bucks pedigree show ear numbers for their parents grandparents etc.


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## lastfling (Jul 12, 2012)

Your ear #'s are pretty much whatever you want them to be.  In my case I started out using the first initial of sire and dam's name plus a number for the litter and a number for each kit.  As an example: Buck = Cedar, Doe = Maye, first breeding of these 2, kit number = CM11, CM12, etc.  Second litter from same pair  CM21, CM22, etc.  I've since changed and use LF for rabbitry (Last Fling) and kit number.  As I use Evans to track litters and everything think else I can refer back to it for sire/dam and anyother information.  So as I said originally, pretty much anything goes limited by what you can fit in an ear and keep legibility.


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## Kathyj (Jul 12, 2012)

TY I was wondering what the procedure for that was now just get the little buggers to breed lol


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## Bunnylady (Jul 12, 2012)

First of all, 

If (BIG if!) Lionheads ever do make it into the ARBA standard, the requirement for registration is that you have ear #, color and weight for all of the animals on the pedigree. So make sure you keep track of all of those details. 

As lastfling said, the ear # (which goes into the left ear) is pretty much whatever you want it to be. Some people have systems that help them to keep track of the parentage. Some people use the first letter(s) of their rabbitry name as a sort of way to advertise the fact that this rabbit came from them - but that only impresses people if you have the reputation already. 

You don't have to actually tattoo every rabbit, of course. You can assign an ear #, but unless the rabbit is going to be shown or you might have trouble keeping it straight otherwise (identical REW's, something like that) there isn't an absolute need to put the rabbits and yourself through it. For show rabbits, I have found that tattooing a recognizable word helps a lot. A tattoo may wind up hard to read for many reasons; if it is a word, the judge will find it easier to guess at what he can't see. Most judges give a lot of leeway, but a rabbit can be dismissed from the class for an illegible tattoo.

Funny story - I bought a Jersey Wooly buck out of Helen McKie's "Z" line named Ziggie, so I was putting Z's in the names of his offspring. I had one buck that I named "Wizard", his ear # was WIZ.  At his first show, I guess my randy little buck got rather excited by the smell of all of the other rabbits on the table. When the judge was trying to set him up, the little stinker sprayed the judge! It wasn't the first time that judge had been sprayed, of course, so he just went right on with his job evaluating the rabbit. When he looked in the ear and saw WIZ, he burst out laughing! "If I'd looked there first, I'd have been warned, wouldn't I?" he said. (Wiz won his class, BTW, so I guess the judge didn't hold it against him!)


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## GLENMAR (Jul 12, 2012)

Go Wiz.


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