What do you do at shows?

First, check in.  For 4-H shows, check-in lasts about an hour.  For ARBA you can check in whenever, but they are busy, so you will want to arrive earlier rather than later.  If you are late and you miss your show, you miss your show.

After we’ve checked in, we look for the other angora breeders.  We are almost always together.  When you find the others, you always politely ask where you should set up, unless there is some obvious space for you.  It’s nice to have a table to set your cages on so that you don’t have to bend over so much.  

After you’ve located a spot and set up your table, give all your rabbits water and food. Next, find the table where your rabbits will be judged and determine where your rabbits are in the line-up.  Then set up your chair and grooming table.  French angora people usually set up their tables outside because of the blowers and blowing wool.  As soon as you can, start blowing and grooming.  French angoras are normally last, but occasionally the judges switch up the order.  This happened at the Gridley show.  We hadn’t started grooming soon enough, and not all the rabbits were ready when we were called up.  This cost Duchess a leg.  Don’t make the same mistake we did.

After you have blown your rabbits, you can hope it is close to show time.  Use the slicker comb to spruce them up just before taking them to the table.  If there are comment cards already placed on the table, match your rabbit to its card and put your rabbit in its designated space and then turn the card over.  When all your rabbits are at the table, move to the opposite side and let the judging begin.  

Following the judging, give your rabbit a treat while you look at what the vendors have to sell.  You can find cages, water bottles and crocks, treats, hay, feed, cage repair items, brushes, books, nesting boxes, grooming tables, gifts and more.  Breeders will also sell used items, cheaper than retail.  While your rabbit is still on break, also walk around and look at the rabbits for sale.  For yourself, you can usually find sodas and sandwiches at the snack bar.

Whether or not you are participating in the show, you will find some breeders that you can talk to. We have learned so much from going to shows.  We learn from breeders about grooming and feed.  We learn from judges about the disqualifications for French angora.  For example, we thought Blue would be DQ’d for her torn ear.  However, we also thought the judges might not even notice it.  One judge didn’t even notice it; none of them DQ’d her.  I learned about rabbit health from showmanship and about rabbit breeds from preparing for royalty contests.

Plucking Day

We try to delay plucking time until after big shows, because wool counts for 55% of a rabbit’s score in judging.  But when new wool is coming in, it is time to start plucking, or it will be soon.  If rabbits aren’t regularly plucked and groomed, they can get wool block.

Plucking is pulling out the rabbits’ loose wool.  It doesn’t hurt them.  However, make sure not to over pluck.  It is possible to make them bald (we did that with Ninja).  We do it outside when it is not windy, because Dad and my brothers complain about wool on their clothes if we do it inside.

Maple and Stanley got plucked yesterday.  They are a little over 4.5 months old right now—the average age of the first plucking.  Maple yielded .6 ounces of wool and he probably still needs to be plucked a little more.

Stanley, before plucking

Maple, before plucking

Maple, after plucking

Gridley Show--11 October 2014

There were a lot less people than we expected at a double triple show (triple youth show and triple open show).  It was a smaller building, so we were all very cozy.  Strangely enough, this triple show went faster than any double show we’ve ever been to.  We were done by 3:00.  It was indoors, unlike the last Stockton show, and probably the nicest place we’ve shown—the AC was going for the rabbits, there was a large grassy parking area for letting rabbits out (and parking), and it was right outside the building.  All the angora judging tables were right next to each other, making it so much easier for us to find them.  We were so used to long shows and always being last that we didn’t have all our rabbits groomed when it was time to go to table.  That did cost Duchess a leg, but it was ok since Becky’s other doe, Honey, got the leg.  They switched up the order, which we had never seen done before, so the youth French angora went up sooner.  

 

If we had to choose between going to Gridley or Stockton, we would choose Gridley any day. 

We had our best friends who are also raising some nice French angoras with us, so it was lots of fun.  At the show, we met some other French angora youth.  They had a beautifully colored buck—a self-chocolate, but he had a lot of reddish tint.  My mom is still drooling over him.  It was really fun to meet them, and we hope to see them at other shows.

Tootsie was way overweight, and Muddy just turned senior and was underweight.  I didn’t want to spend money to enter them—even though they both had nice coats—and risk getting DQ’d.  So I took Ninja who had very uneven coat, just so we’d have the numbers for getting two legs per show.  Two significant things I learned this time—1.  If rabbits are DQ’d for weight, it doesn’t take away from the count for legs, so I should have taken Muddy and Tootsie, because the judges sometimes don’t even notice the weight;  2.  Senior does usually win best of breed.

Disappointment

Well, this week our public schools are on break.  We homeschool, so this shouldn't make a difference to us, but the girls like to stick with the public school schedule.  So there is a good chance the girls won't post every day, and I will have to fill in.  Like today.

Everyone has finally accepted the fact that of the three bred does, not one kit was born.  Not a single one. 

What happened?

Honestly, we do not know.  We can only guess.

Two of the three does were experienced, or "proven" in the rabbit world.  The lone proven buck was mated with the first-time doe. 

We are pretty sure Snowball was pregnant--she went off her pellets again and would eat only grains and strawberry leaves for a few days. 

In the first two weeks, Tootsie gained a pound.  Porker.

We did experience quite a bit of smoke from the King fire, but I didn't think it was enough to stress them out.  They didn't look stressed.

We took Honey to the Stockton show, so that could have stressed her, but that doesn't explain the other two. 

The girls remembered that last time they played the radio at night so that the does wouldn't be able to hear coyotes prowling outside, and this time they didn't.  But we haven't seen any signs of coyotes around here in quite some time.  Maybe the does just like to listen to music.

The girls are naturally very disappointed.  Hopefully, our next breeding will prove to be a more satisfying experience.

Charlotte re-bred everyone again on Saturday.  Three times.   Same pairings.  The new due date is November 6.

It's all a learning experience. 

A New Blower

We decided to get a blower because we found out that it made the rabbits fluffier so that they do better at shows.  It makes them fluffier because the blower will only blow out little mats and tangles.  The comb will pull out wool that doesn’t need to come out yet.  

My mom didn’t think a blower would make much difference.  But at the Stockton show we watched Julie use it on her rabbits. We were surprised to see the tangles and mats blow steadily out.  

We didn’t get the same blower that the adult angora breeders use.  What they use is larger and more expensive.  We also decided it was a little quieter than what we got.  We got the Quick Draw Portable Pet Dryer by Metro Air Force pictured below.

Metro Air Force Quick Draw Portable Pet Dryer

Maple and Stanley did not like the blower.  It was hard to keep them from jumping around.  Maple was a little scared and cuddled up to me.  My mom suggested that she would use the blower and I would keep the rabbits calm.  Normally, rabbits are used to the blower so it only takes a few minutes for one person to do it.  

Maple, before being blown

We are going to see if our rabbits do better at the Gridley show next week since we now have a blower to use on them.

Maple, after being blown

Judges and How They Look at Rabbits Differently

I was planning on writing about this after the Gridley show, but I have an English assignment on developing paragraphs by giving examples.

 

As you may recall, we were at the West Coast Classic in May 2014.  That was our first ARBA show and our first experience with multiple shows in a single day.  There we had an eye-opening experience.  

At all our 4-H shows, Snowball was always in the best condition, meaning she always got Best of Breed.  No matter what I did with Ninja or Indy, Snowball always won.  She always had the density and texture.  So I thought that most judges were the same and all was lost for Ninja and Indy.

When we went to the West Coast Classic in May, we all thought Cookie was in the best condition and thought he would win the leg in the youth show.  And indeed, Cookie was favored over Indy in the first show.  The judge detested Indy.  (Indy was a little stressed and it showed, if you know what I mean.)  The next three shows that day, Indy was highly favored over Cookie, to the point where he got the leg in the youth show.  That day I learned that I shouldn’t take only the rabbits I thought were best, but all of them, so I can see what the judges have to say.  The judges all look at rabbits so differently.

At the Truckee Meadows show in July, Snowball won Best of Breed in the first show, beating out her brother Ninja, who still got a leg for Best of Variety.  But surprisingly, in the second show, Ninja trumped and won a second leg for Best of Breed and Snowball got nothing.  

At the Stockton show last month, Muddy was favored in the first show.  He had great wool but lacked a little in density.  He has a great body.  So he got the leg.  However, in the second youth show, Honey got the leg.  The judged was almost drooling over her wool and density.  He was ready to whip out his spinning wheel right then and there.  

So in conclusion, don’t lose heart if your bunny isn’t favored.  He could win a leg in the next show. 

Fattening Up Rabbits, Part 2

As you read in the first post of this three-part series, I need to fatten Muddy Buddy up to meet the minimum show weight for senior French angora rabbits.  I have been weighing him every day to make sure he is eating enough.  In addition to his normal feed, I have also been giving him strawberry leaves and a slice of homemade molasses oat bread every day.  He loves the sweeter bread, so he will eat more. 

Last Wednesday Muddy weighed 5.15.5.  Today he weighs 6.6.5.  I think the bread is working!

Here is the recipe for Molasses Oat Bread, in case you would like to give it a try.


Molasses Oat Bread

Yield:  3 loaves

4 cups boiling water

2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup molasses

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1 package yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)

9-10 cups flour

In a mixing bowl, combine the first six ingredients.  Cool to 110-115 degrees.  Add yeast; mix well.  Add enough flour to form a soft dough.  Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch dough down and divide into thirds; shape into loaves.  Place in three greased 9x5 inch loaf pans.  Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.  Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.