Little Creek Farms Tour

Welcome to Little Creek Farms (LCF) and THANK YOU for taking the time to view our website. My name is Larry Black and I will be your tour guide.

Image titleFor the next few minutes I hope you will allow me to introduce you to our rabbity by giving you a brief tour. We are a small family owned and operated rabbitry that is built on integrity and trust. We have the philosophy of old, ie. treat people right, do what you say, and a person’s word is his bond. So let’s get started on our tour.

Who We Are

To begin, a bit about who we are. Larry and Linda Black are the owners and prime operators of the farm. LCF is about sixtyImage title acres which is Larry’s original home-place. On this property Larry raised boer goats for some twenty years and during that time build several barns. We no longer raise goats but renovated and converted the barns into rabbit barns. We live on the farm and always enjoy visitors, especially children.

Larry is a retired from a major defense contractor and devotes most of his time maintaining the farm. It seems there is always a water leak that needs repairing, or a light fixture that needs replacing, or rabbit cages that need mending. In short, he is the maintenance man.

Larry also maintains the rabbitry data base. He has an elaborate computer data base that details every rabbit, including location, date-of-birth, heritage, and breed type.

Linda on the other hand is the “rabbit lady.” She has a good knowledge of rabbits and willing to share information with anyone who wants and/or needs it. She loves talking rabbits and spends countless hours on the phone talking to rabbit people. When visitors come, they all leave with the feeling that they got more than they expected because of Linda and her explaining rabbits and rabbit care.

Linda is also the marketing part of LCF. She tries to keep abreast of the market and what is available through social media.

In addition to maintaining LCF. Both Larry and Linda are very active in the church. Larry is a full time preacher at the Blodgett church of Christ while Linda spends time each week (Thursdays) at the “House of Blessings”, a clothing outreach program.

Larry and Linda also raising three school age grandchildren which means trips back and forth to school on a regular basis plus the extra curricular activities.

Now that you know a little bit about who we are, let’s move on to take a look at the farm and some of the facilities.

The Farm

Little Creek Farms is Larry’s original home place. He is the fourth generation to live on this farm. Originally it was farming land, but over time it has become more wooded and has evolved from corn fields to about sixty acres of wooded habitat for critters.

We live in a modest house with several outlining sheds and buildings. Just about all of the building are filled with treasures (i.e. a poor mans junk). But the key to our rabbitry are the rabbit barns.

We have two seperated barn facilities. Between the two barns, there is approximates 6000 square feet

Image title that contains more than 300 rabbit cages. Each barn is divided into separate rooms with most being climate controlled. Generally there is a barn for show rabbits and a barn for meat/pet rabbits. One of the barns we call the green barn (because of it’s green color) contains our Californian and New Zealand rabbits . These rabbits are predominately our show rabbits. The second barn houses our Tamuks (meat rabbits) and Holland Lops (pets).

We live on the property and have a small pond behind the house that is well stocked with channel catfish. Should you want to bring children for a visit, bring your rod/reel and let them try their hand catching a few. There are also some ducks that call the pond their home. The number of ducks varies as there are a lot of predators that like duck.

Then you might hear Annie. Annie is our orphan Bore Goat and was raised on a bottle from day two and thinks Linda is her mother. She lives behind the barn, but when she hears people, she gives a “don’t forget me” cry.

Last, but certainly not least, you might be introduced to several dogs. There are usually at least five dogs and several barn cats roaming the premises. Don’t be intimated by the dogs, while they are large, they are very friendly and none aggressive.

I want to close our tour by introducing you to some of our rabbits.

The Californian

The Californian, also known as the California White, is a breed of domestic rabbit initially developed for the fur and meat industries by George S. West of Lynwood, California, starting in 1923. West maintained a herd of 300 genetically pure New Zealand Whites which he began crossing with Standard Chinchilla rabbits for their dense coat and Himalayan rabbits (from which the Californian's markings come). This new breed, named after the state of its origin, was first shown in 1928, and a standard was accepted by the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) in 1939.

New Zealand

The New Zealand is another breed that we raise as “show rabbits.” They come in a variwety of colors; white, blue, red, black, and broken. The white is the most popular followed by blues. However, it is the brokens that catches the eye because of the spotted colors.

This unique breed has an interesting background . Contrary to their name, these rabbits are not actually from New Zealand. In fact, they are the first American rabbit breed to be developed. At the beginning of the 20th century, American breeders crossed the popular rabbit types from the ‘old country’ in hopes to develop a meat-producing, show quality rabbit. By 1913, their Belgian Hares and Flemish Giants produced what was called a New Zealand Red Rabbit which quickly gained popularity.

Soon after (1917), the albino breed was developed, which we today call the New Zealand White. One of their traits is pink eyes. Sometimes they are called “Red Eyed Whites (REW).

As time went on, the blue, black, and brokens were developed and are gaining popularity. The New Zealand has become one of the most popular breeds amongst pet owners .

Tamuks

In addition to the Californian and New Zealands, LCF also has a good selection of Tamuks. This rabbit is quickly becoming the “meat rabbit” of choice. The Tamuk is a composit rabbit develoved at Texas A&M Univierity at Kingsville (thus the name).

TAMUK rabbits were developed in the mid-1980s. They were specifically bred for heat tolerance, rapid growth, and efficient meat production, making them well-suited for the Texas climate. The Tamuk is composed by seven differ breeds of rabbits, (including Californian and two New Ze alands) thus it is not a breed in and of itself and is not recognized by the ARBA as a breed. The Tamuk is a composite of

New Zealand Red, New Zealand White, Californian, Dutch, Champagne d’Argent, Harlequin, Havana. Because of the variety of breeds within their genetics, they are all colors. Even within the same litter there may be black, white and spotted babies.

Holland Lops

LCF has lop rabbits as pet rabbits. Most of what we have are Holland Lops with a few Mini-lops. Both of these rabbits are cute little bunnies with long floppy ears. In a rabbit popularity contest, the Holland Lop currently hits the top 10, maybe the top 5, and is No. 1 for many people. The Holland Lop was developed in Holland and over the course of more than a decade. The breeds that contributed to the look of the Holland Lop include the Netherland Dwarf and French Lop. The Holland Lop weighs no more than 4 pounds.

If colors are your thing, the Holland Lop is available in a wide array. Holland Lops are categorized into eight color groups for showing, with more than 30 recognized colors overall.In addition, this friendly little rabbit wins fans not only because of adorable looks but also its personality.

This completes our tour. We hope the time was informative and appealing to you. Now that you know a bit about Little Creek Farms, we welcome you to come for a and visit. Call Linda (903-860-7511) and schedule a tour. Hope to hear from you soon.