Home

Show Rabbits

Breeding Bucks

Breeding Does

The Nursery

Photo Gallery

Show Results

For Sale

Useful Links

About Us

The Beginnings

Sycamore Rabbitry began in August of 2003. When I, Kristy Hume, realized I would no longer be able to show a horse at fair (due to the fact that my current horse is not the typical "pleasure" horse, but instead, a dressage horse), I decided that I wanted to be involved in Dutch rabbits.

Toby - Cantering
Toby - Halt
Toby -Trotting

Kristy and her dressage horse, Toby, during show season 2007.

My family had been involved with raising and showing them when I was much younger, but as my interest in horses grew, it diminished for my rabbits. But here I was, ready to jump right back into the pool.

What started off as a small idea, simply having animals to show at the fair, has since turned into much more. When you can't find me at a horse show, you're sure to find me at a rabbit show! Sometimes I even find a way to do both in one day!

Kristy - Showmanship    Kristy

My younger years! We used to raise chocolates!



The Foundation Stock

When I made the decision to get back into Dutch, my family studied breeders and show results before making decisions who to call around and see what was for sale in terms of breeding stock. We wanted to start off with two bucks and three does. Of the several people we contacted, we connected up with open breeder Tom Dietrich and youth breeder Steven Stump.

Buster
Tess
Panda
BUSTER
TESS
PANDA

Tom, one of the top breeders in Michigan, showed us several animals to choose from. We brought home three wonderful animals: a black buck (Buster), a blue doe (Tess), and a young, black doe (Panda).

We then visited the Stump's rabbitry and brought home a black buck (Chip) and a black doe (Oreo). I got some lovely beginning animals out of these two, but I no longer own them. Their lines are still strong in my herd though!

I can't thank Tom and Steven enough for providing me with such excellent beginning stock!


The "Super Litter"

Every Dutch breeder loves finding a new litter containing all showable babies. On May 9, 2004, I experienced such luck when Tess had an exceptional litter of six excellent marked, show quality animals, sired by Buster.

Three of the rabbits were sold at a young age. Digger, a black buck, was marked well, but gangly in his build and was therefore sold. I have since come to realize that my animals, bucks in particular, tend to take some time in developement, and I probably should have held onto him. Spaz, a black doe with excellent type, was psychotic as a baby and became difficult, and even scary, to handle as she became older and therefore, was sold. Then there was Lorelle, a blue doe who has a story of her own, who ended up being sold, then finding her way back into my barn as a show rabbit, but was then sold again to Eric and Sharon Mixdorf of Iowa.

Blue
Daisy
BLUE
DAISY

Then there were the three animals I kept until they were seniors: Blue, Daisy and Priss. Blue has always been spectacular on the show table, and has the awards to prove it. He has been retired as a breeding buck, and while he still occasionally finds his way to the show table, I mostly focus on his babies. Daisy, a black doe, has been winning since she was a mere 3 months old and has numerous legs and significant wins, just like her brother. At nearly two years old, Daisy finally got her chance to settle into motherhood and is producing great babies. Priss, another black doe, was a beautiful animal, but could never beat her sister. Priss is another one who was sold, found her way back to my barn as a brood doe, but has since moved on to a new home.

Needless to say, it was a litter to say "wow"about and these rabbits really helped to get my rabbitry established in the Dutch community.


And Then Came the Grays... 

The original intent was to become involved in only two varieties of Dutch, and I chose blacks and blues. Of course, that didn't last long! At the National Dutch Show in 2005, I got my first gray, Glory (with her brother, Tag-A-Long, in tow) from Al Peeler of Illinois. After much pursuit, and over a year later, I purchased two more gray does to establish my lines with. Rita, an overweight but wonderfully typed doe from Steve Blythe and Rita Stelzer of South Dakota. I also bought Ginger, a well-typed, well-marked and beautifully colored doe from Theresa Kortbein (now Schwandt) of Wisconsin. Ginger has since passed away unexpectedly, but I have bought another gray doe of similar lines, Kortney, to replace her.

Glory Rita Kortney
GLORY
RITA
KORTNEY

I then got an excellent gray buck to use as foundation gray sire, Smokey (from breeder Mike Smith). Smokey has since been replaced by his son, Broer. I also was very lucky to snatch up an absolutely lovely gray buck (Laddy) from Erik Ladd of Ohio. His first litters are being born, and I hope he passes on his excellent gray color.

Laddy
LADDY

Grays have proven to be an exciting addition to the barn, as I always seem to be learning something new!



My New Blues
Even though I have been lucky enough to have some beautiful blue animals born in my barn, I ran into the problem that everything was so closely related, I needed some new blood in my herd to get more blue babies. I went to the National Dutch Show of 2007 with the goal of buying a nice blue doe to breed. I really wanted something old enough to breed right away, but I fell in love with a cute junior doe owned by Bob Bergene of Kansas. I call her "Dorothy" because she's "not in Kansas anymore." She is a smaller doe, but she has massive bone, excellent leg structure and a big head on her. I brought her home and let her grow up a little and have been breeding her. So far I have been very impressed!

Dorothy
Pete
DOROTHY
PETE
At the 2007 ARBA National Convention I had a new goal. I wanted to find a new blue buck to breed into my line. I contacted a few of my favorite blue breeders well beforehand, and it seemed that no one had anything for sale. Once at the show, I looked at several sale bucks, and was disappointed to find that the buck I was selling seemed to be the best of the bunch. I decided to take a long shot and asked one of the breeders I had already contacted if he had anything for sale, even though he clearly hadn't put any sale tags up. Well, Pete Nelsen of Washington let me look at nearly every blue buck he had brought to show, and I chose out my favorite and bought him. Thanks Pete!!! Of course, I call the buck "Pete" and he already has many cute muchkins running around my barn!



My "Others"
Although I focus on my grays, blues and blacks, I have always really admired the steel variety. I think they are really pretty. So although I don't plan on doing too much with breeding them, I have bought byself a pair of steels. My buck is a lovely rabbit from Katie Bickelhaupt of Ohio named Jar. My doe, Pepper, comes from breeder Theresa Kortbein (now Schwandt) of Wisconsin.

Jar Pepper
JAR
PEPPER
I also have discovered that certain crosses in my barn throw me a random chocolate every once in a while. There's obviously something in the pedigree back there! I don't mind if something well-marked and with good type happens to show up in the wrong color, it just gives me one more color to put on the table!

Back to Top

Home | Show Rabbits | Breeding Bucks | Breeding Does | The Nursery
Photo Gallery | Show Results | For Sale | Useful Links