Rabbit & Cavy News

The first show of 2008 for me, and the first time I’ve attended this specialty show for Polish rabbits. 

Held in the Richfield Fire Station, which is between West Bend and Sussex, I began the drive worried about the forcasted snow flurries.  The snow did come during the show day, but melted as it hit the ground so my hour-and-a-half drive was not treacherous as I thought it might be.

The building was heated, and had a nice kitchen and showroom area - everyone brings their own batch of chili which is all combined in one large cooker and sold by the bowl at lunchtime, along with other goodies.   There was a nice raffle which the kids always like, and Roger Moeller’s rabbit equipment was there to offer just about anything you needed for your rabbitry.

I only brought 5 Polish rabbits to show - I have more, but since I am only in week 7 of recovery from my surgery, I didn’t want to carry and handle a whole lot just yet.  

There were a lot of Polish there!  Many of the senior classes had more than 10-12 rabbits in each, which is plenty for Polish!  My black senior buck didn’t do well in his huge class, being out of condition compared to the other nice rabbits there.  My broken does only had each other to  compete against in their class - and the judge did not pick the one I thought would do well at this show!

My chocolate doe who just turned senior, won her large class and then won Best of Breed!  I was surprised by this one - she’s got a very nice body and nice coat to her, but to me, her head is not as nice as my pretty little brokens’ heads.  But I am not a judge……and I am fairly new to this breed.

Funny thing about this doe is that twice she was not going to be shown:  I originally planned to take my black senior doe to this show, but she seemed a little ‘off’ in the morning, so I grabbed this chocolate doe instead, and the second time was when I became so tired around 1 pm, that I came close to scratching my chocolate doe so I could leave for home……… but I stayed and this is the doe that won!

The Polish breeders here in Wisconsin are the best I’ve met.  Every single one has been so nice and helpful - and I noticed so many of them offering assistance, advice and encouragement to the youth that participated in yesterday’s show.  This in itself is very refreshing to me- everyone works as a true team to better the Polish in our area!  

If you are pondering what breed to begin with, you can’t go wrong with the Polish - this small breed is delightful to handle and breed, and in Wisconsin you can get quality stock readily and plenty of good advice to go along with!  You will only encounter encouragement showing against the other Polish breeders around here - the Polish are just a very nice breed of rabbit!

Cathy

Since I still can’t update or change my website, I guess I’ll post a little bit about convention here at my blog:

What a fun time!  This was the first time I’d ever been to the Eau Claire County Fairgrounds - what a great place - large buildings and lots of green space surrounded by woods. 

The open building was large enough to easily house us all plus two vendors, and the youth building seemed roomy enough also. 

Because I had procrastinated early in the week, getting ready on Friday afternoon was a rushed event, filled with frustration, but I did manage to leave home around 3:30 pm, only a little later than I originally planned on leaving.

The interstate drive was easy and I had no problems finding the fairgrounds when I arrived in Eau Claire around 6:30 pm.

Nice fairgrounds!  Newer, roomy buildings, nice grounds, and best of all, wonderful cooler weather and no mosquitos!

After I set up my few rabbits, I spent some time visiting with other breeders and checking out the facilities.  How nice to see everyone again, but I have to mention how strange it felt to be in the OPEN building, when for the past several years I had been with the YOUTH group! 

Despite all my efforts to become a proficient camper, I always fail miserably………  Again, as at previous rabbit shows, I slept in my van.  I was grateful that my air mattress stayed inflated this time; but Mother Nature still got me good when she dropped the thermostat close to the 50 degree mark.  I woke up around 1:30 that night shivering and remained frozen until about 5 am when I decided to scrap the crazy idea of getting any meaningful sleep. 

Saturday 4-class showing in Open was exciting - first I showed my Polish.  I only had three to show and I was pleased when one of my bucks placed 2nd out of the five black junior bucks.  My other buck placed 4/5, and my black junior doe placed 4/8.  I learned a lot from watching the other rabbits get judged and from talking to all the nice Polish breeders!

With intentions of buying a new Holland Lop breeding doe or two, I looked at several from the Open breeders.  I saw many nice does of which any/all would of probably worked well for me, but I settled on one from Laini’s Lovables - a nice brood doe with Swandt’s, Sarah’s, Swade’s and others in the background.  I really like this doe - she’s got a nice body and bone, and a good crown with should help with my herd.  I forgot to look at some breeders’ rabbits because I was kind of a zombie from lack of sleep……

I felt kind of strange bringing only one Holland Lop of my own to show but this spring I just didn’t breed much - then when my daughter decided to sell out of her French Lops in June, that threw a wrench of uncertainty into my rabbitry plans so I didn’t breed for summer litters either.  This one solid junior doe is out of a litter of two - and her brother turned out to be a normal sized rabbit.

I was pretty happy to hear that Allan Ormond was going to judge Hollands - he’s an excellent, high quality Holland judge and you can take to the bank any comments he makes about your Holland Lops………

Despite my doe acting like a psycho on the show table, judge Ormond did get some good poses from her and she showed off a bit.  She won her large class, then Best of Variety- and with some awesome comments from the judge!   I guess she’ll go to ARBA Convention even if I don’t go.

Patrick Reilly won BOB with his broken black buck, and I didn’t see who won BOS - but it was one of the broken does.  Congrats!!  Really nice Hollands everyone has! 

After the Holland judging was over, I left for home - I debated on whether or not to stick around and visit longer, but knew I had so much to still do at home so I ended up leaving at about 3:30.     

Of course I went home and bred some does…….   next show is Dodgeville  - one of my favorites because of the short drive, large building and homemade pie! 

Cathy

This may be the last post I can make for a few weeks or so - the computer I have some of my website stuff on is on the fritz and I need to replace it, or at least replace my hard drive.  I am in the process of transfering all my files over the the newer computer we have…I should of finished doing that when I got the newer computer this past winter, but never had the time.

During July, Reilly’s loaned me a broken chocolate Polish buck to breed to two of my does - so I could get some brokens.  Last week my chocolate doe had a litter of 5; four are broken chocolate, plus one solid chocolate!  She is an attentive mom too - I keep pulling fur off her litter (it is still quite hot around these parts!) and she covers them back up with more pulled fur! 

My black Polish doe finally had her litter - she had only two kits on the 33 day.  One kit is quite large and had more fur than a newborn normally has, so I suspect this was delaying the birth-luckily both came out ok.  The other kit is a normal sized solid chocolate. 

One young Holland from our last litter is looking pretty nice - she poses quite naturally and her timidness actually causes her to ‘freeze’ into a pose when manipulated gently.  Her head is just starting to pop out too - so we’ll have to wait to see how she developes. 

Her brother is appearing to be a ‘normal’ Hollands, but does he have a nice body, nice bone and his head is going to be huge!  Jody named him ‘Big Friendly Guy’, of all things, because he pulls a lot of antics to get attention!  Actually…….if his ears were not so large (they are shaped nicely, just simply large) he’d probably show well given that the standard took out the smaller ideal Holland weight……..

This thick, humid weather has everyone suffering lately - usually our Wisconsin summers don’t get this brutal until August, but this heat spell started at the beginning of July without a let up, and I don’t see any relief anytime soon either. 

All my rabbits are beginning to molt now - so I am constantly battling flying fur in my rabbitry - what a challenge to keep all the fans cleaned and running smootly!  I am sick and tired of inhaling fur, pulling it out of my eye sockets and, by gosh, I can’t even bring a soda out in the rabbitry (unless it is in a capped bottle) or I’d be drinking fur also!

I have to admit, I am getting more and more excited about the start of the fall rabbit show season!  I can’t wait to get back into it all - and see rabbit people again!  I am hoping to not have too many weekend conflicts so I can attend several area rabbit shows, and since Jody and Kelly will not be showing, I will be able to count on them to take care of my bunnies at home while I am gone! 

Off to rabbit chores, stay cool!

Cathy

Today I bred two of my Polish does to a broken chocolate buck that the Reilly’s loaned me!  I am so excited - finally some brokens!

The weather has been climbing up into unbearable, but I’ve been able to keep the rabbits fairly cool using our huge exhaust fan and many other portable fans strategically located throughout our rabbitry. 

It also helps that we are really low on rabbits right now, and the remaining rabbits are placed right in the path of cooler air flow.

Off to the barn to check on the mare- a few days ago I found what feels like a thick sliver or almost a pencil-thick stick lodged just under the skin of her neck- it is strange - about 2 inches long and at first the opening was not apparent.

Now it has become apparent that this sliver entered from the top, and my friend pulled out some of it today - I am headed out with some Nolvasan to try to finish it up…..

cathy

The two Polish does I bred last month each had their litters over the past few days!  Finally I’ll have some Polish babies - I am so excited!  I was worried that the one doe could have some lilac babies with the coloring in both her and the buck’s backgrounds, but the kits are all black. 

Sweety doe, Jody’s Holland, also had her litter.  She had 5 babies, but crushed two of them and one looks like it was pulled apart at birth (perhaps she had trouble delivering this last one, it looked abnormal) but the two remaining are doing fine.  We should of bred more Hollands along with her, but I wanted to treat all the other rabbits for coccidia last month so no others were bred.

Kelly hasn’t wanted to rebreed any more French Lops.  I truly think she is easing back on her rabbits - and already has a lot of them to care for.  I can’t fault her - she seems to know when she is nearing her limit of animals to care for and refuses to breed more.  She’s got the last two litters still; none of them have been shown yet because we haven’t been able to get to any rabbit shows in April! 

Well I am just excited to actually have my own Polish babies - I’ve always wanted my own rabbits to show myself.  Soon I’ll be able to attend rabbit shows, even when the kids can’t go! 

I suppose I can bring a few Hollands along to show also, since Jody and I ‘merged’ all our Holland stock at the beginning of the year.  Jody and I are now just one ‘open exhibitor’ as far as the Hollands go.  Jody hasn’t much interest in showing anymore, but does not want to give up his funny Hollands - he still cares for them every day without fail.  I have to say, the Hollands are the funniest and most personable rabbits I’ve ever seen - they captivate us daily with new antics. 

Each rabbit has a distinct personally and is so different from the next one; Little Bear is so spastic and never stops running back and forth for attention - if you listen closely to him, you can hear him humming loudly and blowing air out of his open mouth - while he runs back and forth in front of you!  “Prairie Dog”, a younger buck out of Shorty, is always sitting up on his hindlegs while he eats his hay every night, and of course, Wire, or ‘Musso’ as Jody calls him has to have a fresh piece of cardboard every night and he’s specific about it - the cardboard must be approximately 4″ square and we must put a small hole in the center so he has a ‘handle’.  In response to anyone talking to him, Wire picks up his carboard piece and carries it around his cage, whirling in small intricate circles, all the while making sure his audience is watching him.  He is truly insulted if we give him a too-large piece of cardboard, or an awkward-shaped piece and admonishes us by stuffing it in his water bowl instead of carrying it around. 

I did not have good luck with my new Polish this December - I had three does bred and due for last week - two only have one baby each and both were dead (one was kind of mangled so by the new mom), and one was too cold (born during that cold snap)

The only other Polish I had bred didn’t come in.  And I was so hoping for these litters!

Well I guess we’ll try again for next month…..