A question for the more experienced breeders! As new breeders, we have found it difficult to be taken seriously by other breeders. We're keen as chips to start our programme, have done heaps of research, and feel like we are ready to take on the responsiblity. However many breeders we have tried to contact don't even reply, it seems they are hesitant to trust us. How can we prove ourselves? I really want to start with a traditional line, but have been told that many breeders will be reluctant to give us a traditional girl. Any advice?
The obvious place to start are the breeders of your pet Ragdolls. If that is not attractive, consider starting out with a show alter. That way you will learn the breed and meet breeders and get to know who you can work with - and perhaps even whom to avoid. They will get to know you. You are more likely to be trusted with a very good alter to show before a very good breeding cat to breed.
Thanks Jan, I hadn't thought of having a show alter first. We were going to show Lancelot (blue tabby point) but as he wasn't sold to us as show quality we decided not to show him. His breeder has been great with any questions we've had about him and breeding in general, her cats are also amazing so it may be a good start. We are hoping to use a stud service for the first couple of litters before we dive into having our own stud, trouble is most breeders in Australia run a closed cattery!
Particularly in that case, do not use a stud service. In the US, the tradition is not to support any "partial" cattery because it just results in less serious breeders pushing out kittens. Having at least a breeding pair means taking on the full burdens of breeding. There are also medical issues in getting or giving stud service, not to mention that many Ragdolls will not breed under those circumstances. Many breeders will not place breeding cats with a person who will not be getting a breeding pair. They want to know who the other cats are to evaluate them as a reasonably good genetic match for their kitten.
If you have a good relationship with a breeder, get one of the breeding pair from that breeder if a pair is not available because of genetic diversity and get that breeder to help you get the mate. You then can have your first litters, become established and accepted and go from there. It is a mistake to start out too fast anyway.
I would strongly recommend that you get an established reputable breeder to be your mentor. Starting with your own cats breeder who maybe able to put you in touch with someone who has what you are looking for. You will need someone who's there at the end of the phone at anytime of the day or night for advise in case of emergency. They would also need to be fairly close to you so they can assess your kittens for show/breed potential until you are 'trained' and confident enough to do so your self.
I've just had my Belle to stud and I've learnt a lot from the stud owner in the last 2 weeks, things you don't read in books. Also surround yourself with other breeders they will help enourmously. A tip I was given last night, weigh Belle then again in 1 week, as an indication she may be pregnant rather than wait for her to pink up. Other breeders' experiences will prepare you for anything they may have had to deal with out of the 'normal' pregnancy/kittening behaviour.
I would also speak to your own vet and get into a good relationship with them, you will be relying on them a lot more if you go into breeding.
(02-28-2010 09:34 PM)JanH Wrote: [ -> ]Many breeders will not place breeding cats with a person who will not be getting a breeding pair.
Do you mean a tom and queen as a pair or 2 queens?
Taking on a stud boy is a huge commitment.
I mean a male and female and yes a stud male is a big commitment. The burden of caring for a whole male is exactly the reason that the founding breeders in the US made that a requirement to get breeding Ragdolls. Having a whole male requires a level of commitment to the breed and breeding above a queens only cattery and raises the cost of entry to an appropriate level. This approach has worked very well for our breed. In addition to creating a smaller and more committed group of breeders, it closes catteries to the health risks of a group of catteries, perhaps a large group, being exposed to the communicable health risks of common studs. (I know that in some countries living conditions, cat fancy history and other factors do mean a different attitude to queen only catteries and development of different techniques to try to get the same benefits. However, as noted, there also seems to be the same approach in at least part of the Ragdoll breeder community in Australia.)
Surely your not advising getting the breeding pair at the same time? One female is not going to keep the boy happy or even 2 or 3 girls. Unless he is going to be at open stud, then you will need the experience and knowledge to take on that kind of commitment and you need to ensure there are plenty of females locally to keep him happy if you don't have enough girls of your own.
Yes. That is exactly what I recommend and you are absolutely wrong about the "needs" of whole males. MANY of us average many fewer queens and I would estimate that MOST breeders have had fewer queens for some periods. Our males have done fine during periods of infrequent matings. If a new breeder finds a particular male is not suited to a particular lifestyle in the particular cattery, then he can be retired or one can get more queens or ...
This has worked just fine for generations of Ragdoll breeders in the US, for the cats and the breeders and the breed.
Breeders here will not sell a stud boy to anyone with less than 3 queens that is the recommended minimum by the GCCF.
Are you then saying they are to increase their own stock by mating the kittens back to the sire? Or what do they do if they keep back breeding girls from the litters, send them out to stud? or keep back a stud too? or purchase another stud?
If you have local requirements or practices, wrong headed or not, then one has to deal with that. I would not recommend starting breeding with four cats. If many catteries in Australia are closed, as was noted, AND they have the wrongheaded view of proliferating queens only catteries that you note for NZ, then one is in a bind to start breeding.
As for the breeding limits of having only one male, yes, they exist. However, you have the same issues with two males, it is just delayed. These are not really important issues for a newbie breeder and they can be resolved as with any other cattery over the coming years.