The date, weight, nails, matting, molting, sheared, length and oddities all across the top under name-- so each rabbit gets it’s own card and record.  Then the dates come into play, and Staci ( from the English Angora group on ning.com says she only grooms on days 45, 60, 75, and 90, shearing every 90 days for wool production.  Another woman told me she only grooms right before she harvests her wool-- amazing!

Some people suggest using ivermectin every month, while some feel like that is an overkill--an unnecessary  use of poison.  It seems like four times a year might be a good median position, just somewhat preventative.  Once a month after a outbreak does not seem like overkill, to me.  The dosage is .15 cc for a 5 pound animal, injectible or a petite pea size in the paste for the same.  So to start a mite clean-up, it’s every 10 days, for 30 days-- three doses running, then once a month until there are no signs of wool damage, then perhaps return to four times a year, or when visible evidence suggests, or once a month on selected rabbits that are going to shows-- a great place to pick up mites!

In the meantime, I am thinking that nutritional supplements and immunity boosters are a great idea for anyone with rabbits that might also be enduring a more harsh than usual winter.  Molly Smith Nolte has a site/ store for that from her days at the Fiasco Farm.  Where is that link?

Goldie (x 3D) and Dewdrop (x Sundance) got nest boxes today, and they were both checked for the underside matts (none) and weighed.  They are due for the 18th and this is Goldie’s first litter.

It was all I could do to groom faces, nails, take records and give shots, (some pictures) of eight Angoras today.  My hands were getting so cold. 

I still want to cut cardboard tonight for this storm coming in --to cut the draft from underneath the rabbits, and to draw out a flow chart, and re-organize my records, or maybe i’ll go to bed