As some of you know we are planning on mating Amelie (our LH REC satin) to a stud male from Tristar later this year. We obviously have been talking to Jean/David a lot.
In a recent email where David listed a
very long list of boys for us to choose from he said that we might want to wait until June/July, and show her lots in between, rather than the middle of May (when she would be 4 and 1/2 months old) like we had originally planned. Now she is a big girl (was around 154g at 9 weeks old - I will weigh her again soon) and did well in her first show. When I asked them for advice they told me that they mostly mate at 16 weeks old so I don't think it is anything to do with size/weight.
This made me think - does having babies decrease how well they do in shows? I just can't come up with any other reason why he would suggest it. I do understand that condition/weight may decrease for a while after mating, but does it permanantly effect it?
I still plan to go ahead with the mating (in whichever month we/Tristar think is best), but was just curious! So everyone's opinions are welcome