My First GC Mini Rex!

GC Briony’s Amante

(Crappy cell phone pic…sorry!)

The Sunflower RBA held its January “Fiesta” Fun Show this past weekend, and a good time was had by all!  Every year our club buys ARBA sanctions, arranges the building, and hires local judges for $1/head.  This is in case the weather ruins the show, which happened two years ago.  I judged the entire open show, all 80-some rabbits, after being towed out of my own driveway that morning while wearing a pirate costume.  The show always has a theme (hence the pirate costume) along with youth contests and activities. 

It was a smaller show, with only a little over a hundred rabbits per judge, so there was time for some fun classes and for each of the judges to be able to show our own rabbits.  The day started with the Best of the Best contest.  Each exhibitor can enter one rabbit, any breed, for $5 and the winners get a payback.  I put Midnight in (with not much of a coat) and he ended up taking 3rd out of 31 entries.  The white Satin that later won BIS also took this class.

There were only a few Dutch, and Midnight won BOB with Dandelion taking BOS.  There were more Mini Rex, and I was thrilled when my broken chin buck, Amante, took BOS.  He’s just a few days past the 6 month mark, so it was his senior leg.  For those who are not familiar with Mini Rex, brokens are one of (if not THE) toughest varieties.  Broken blacks and broken castors are frequent winners.  Chinchilla is a rare color, so broken chins are typically underdogs in their classes.  Which makes it all the more exciting when one wins!  It has been fun showing him this fall/winter and watching other judges’ reactions when they realize he’s a nice rabbit!

The show was a nice break from the cold weather drudgery.  I finally have a few litters due and will be ready to put some juniors on the table when spring finally arrives!

Confession time

Cloudy

21°F

RealFeel: -3°F

Winds: NNW at 25 mph

It’s January, and I know every other rabbit breeder in a temperate climate is thinking the same thing I am.  Only I’m going to say it:

I friggin HATE raising rabbits in winter!!

I realize that a lot of people live in places where it gets much colder than it does here, but hey, frozen crocks are frozen crocks and they really suck.  And a few live in places where 60 degrees is considered “chilly.”  I deeply envy them.

Like a lot of things about this hobby, it’s either dedication or insanity.  Mostly, I lean toward insanity.  Removing one’s coat to wrap around a nestbox of newborns while dashing into the house with only a T-shirt and jeans on is probably the act of a very unbalanced person.  And I’m sure that being seen standing outdoors on a frigid Kansas night with a howling north wind and subzero windchill while unzipping one’s coat, then coveralls, then pulling up one’s sweatshirt to put a chilled baby on one’s bare (and momentarily warm) tummy could result in some sort of involuntary psychiatric hospitalization.

Sometimes I fantasize about not breeding anything from September to March.  I wouldn’t have to worry about does not being interested or going behind my back and not pulling enough fur for a nest that looked pretty good beforehand.  And it’s so nice not to have to keep litters in cardboard boxes in the spare room and run them in and out of the house to nurse.  As annoying as all this is, the prospect of having no juniors for spring shows (NDS included) is worse. 

So for this reason (along with basic good animal care and welfare, which I work hard to provide, but isn’t as exciting) I will lug hot water from the house three times a day (including my lunch break) to pour in frozen crocks.  I will waddle around like the Michelin Man in coveralls with a coat on top and a couple layers beneath to scrape out trays, and hope that I can get them all done while I can still feel my hands.  I will pull every prank I can imagine on my does to try to convince them it’s springtime.  Fortunately, Dutch bucks do not care. 

But still, I will keep on doing this (and hating it) with those spring shows in sight.  While I know that I should just congratulate myself for giving good care to my animals through the nasty weather, I really hope there is more reward for me than just that “participation” ribbon!