I got to attend a triple show in Duncan, OK this weekend as just an exhibitor. I love judging, but I REALLY love breeding and showing my own rabbits,and have found that I’m a better and happier judge when I get to alternate judging trips with showing my own. Not to mention I have to put my money where my big mouth is 
I don’t have a lot to show right now, as several of them are too young or too molty, so I only took 4. Two senior bucks, a junior doe, and Tumbling Dice, who is 2 1/2, weaned a litter Sunday the 14th, and looked awesome! I’ve quit referring to her as “retired,” since every time I think she’s done with shows and breed her again, she comes back looking just as gorgeous as ever. I wish I could take all the credit for this, but I tapped into some pretty good bloodlines when I bred her and she comes from lines of easy keepers. Almost all of her relatives I’ve raised and kept are the same way. Their “conditioning” consists of being fed good pellets, given clean water, and being kept as clean as I can. The reality is, I’m lazy efficient, and I don’t want to have to do any more work than is absolutely necessary to have really hot show rabbits. So I keep the ones who do it themselves.
In the C show Friday night there was a large turnout, as some youth breeders had entered in open. Dice won BOV Black. Storm took BOV Blue and KS19 was BOV Steel. BOS was TK, a black buck owned by Trevor, a youth breeder from Texas and entered by his mom Laura. He’s done very well with him (2 BIS wins!) but is cutting his herd back. I couldn’t pass him up, so I bought him that night. And Dice again proved she’s the Heidi Klum of the rabbit world as she won Best of Breed!
Saturday was a double show. In the A show Dice took BOB again, TK was BOSV Black (now in my name) and KS19 was BOV Steel and BOS. The numbers in the shows dropped as a couple exhibitors went home. In the B show Storm took BOSV Blue for his third leg, and KS19 again took BOV Steel.
It’s been a pretty successful couple of weeks, I’ve managed to grand three rabbits (Factory Girl, Storm and KS19) along with just kicking back and having fun with rabbit friends.
Our barn has had a major upgrade since we’ve finally gotten wired for electricity!! You know how it goes, you don’t always know what it is your rabbit friends do for a living, so we had no idea that Mark was a master electrician. After what we’ve been through, I insisted on a pro doing our wiring, and someone who is familiar with barns and animals is even better! He and his family (Rachael and daughters Chelsea and Kassidy) came over last Wednesday and got us hooked up. By now I can’t even imagine how we did it with just two drop lights! We have eight long flourescent lights, ten outlets, and a working exhaust fan! Of course, the new lighting only illuminates some of the cleaning I need to do. But since I have so many outlets, I can just roll the ShopVac right down the aisle sucking up cobwebs, spilled feed and shavings. Life is good!
