How we check our facts

You may be about to spend money and take on an animal based on what you read here. This is how we get the numbers, and what we do when we're wrong.

Where facts come from

We trust them in this order:

Breed standards and associations, such as the American Rabbit Breeders Association and the American Poultry Association.
Breed references: The Livestock Conservancy and Oklahoma State University's Breeds of Livestock.
University extension services.
Seller catalogues, for price and availability only.

See the full source list.

What you can count on

Every fact has a source

You can follow any number back to where we found it. A fact with no source can't be published.

You see the disagreements

If two sources give different numbers, we print the range and link both.

We don't guess

If we can't find a figure we trust, the space stays empty.

Every page is dated

You can see when a page was last checked. We recheck the oldest pages every three months.

How pages are made

We use software, including AI tools, to gather facts from the sources above. Each fact is then checked against its source a second time, and anything we can't confirm comes out. A person reads pages before and after they go live, and reads feeding and health sections most closely.

The beginner rating

This one is our opinion. We score each breed from 1 to 5 on temperament, grooming time, hardiness and how easy it is to buy. Five is the easiest to live with.

Health and feeding

We cover the basics and give the source. It's general information, not a diagnosis. If you're worried about an animal, please contact a vet or your county extension office.

Photos

Every photo is a real animal, credited to the person who took it. We never use AI-generated animal pictures, because they get breed details wrong.

Corrections

Found a mistake? Email [email protected] with the page and, if you have one, a source. We check every report and fix confirmed mistakes within a week.