Waiting for babies!

What's always rough about college and keeping a herd is the continual "blindness". It's literally very hard to have a herd in two locations.

Thought my does were overdue and/or missed, but I looked at my calendar and we still have a few days :)

Due:

Nemo x Hank Tank

Linebred cross. Should be a thick, consistent litter. This is Nemo's 2nd attempt at a litter.

Wall E x Sesame

Outcross. Aiming for tons of width with good head/crown.

Tomato x Hank Tank

Linebred. Typewise they match up. Could be a little too line-bred; could be positive or negative.

Hillary x Zeus

Outcross. Just did this breeding for typey color!

Maddy x PM3 (Silver Marten)

Linebred. Hoping she took; young buck so no guarantees.

Washington State Convention

Left Friday ~10AM. Loaded up the show & sale bunnies and headed towards Ellensburg. Good travel; no delays, traffic or stops. Made it there ~3pm. Unloaded the rabbits, set up my tent and attended the judges conference. Not a suberb/over-the-top conference, maybe I was just tired -- either way it was good to attend. Brushed my teeth & attempted to sleep. It was cold, and I spent the entire night just shivering to keep my body temperature up. I literally probably only rested my eyes about an hour. 2nd night wasn't as bad, because I learned and put on 3 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of pants, 3 shirts & 2 sweatshirts.

Saturday morning; started at 8am. Mini Lops were up first under Roger... again. I swear we've had him like 3 times this spring; but we didn't complain. 115 Mini Lops later with a break for lunch, Lisa won BOB with a solid buck and Becky Jones won BOSB with a broken doe.

Silver Martens were up under Tex Thomas. 47 entered! Classes of 14-15 in the Black Senior classes! WOW! My doe got buried with finish breaks, that and she was my 3rd best doe, with the passing of Zinfandel & Del Rio, I had no good blacks to show. I did win 1st Blue Sr Buck and 1st Blue Jr Buck. Tex raved about Bacardi, saying he almost picked him for breed & afterwards found me to congratulate me and what a good job I have done growing him up. Perhaps with a few months of maturity Bacardi will be a Breed winner. Either way he won 2 BOV legs this weekend. Show B in Mini Lops, dropped in numbers at 67... Twitch won his 36th leg for Nicole and Lisa won some classes too, BOSB as well.

Picked up my Silver Marten Satin from Scott, Amie from the Posey's and Lisa let me take home Sneakin' so I sold 4 but came home with 3. Oh dear! Full cages this summer !

Just going to take it easy this summer; no showing -- just judging and enjoying my summer. We'll pick up a bunch of shows this fall... I'm sure.

RIP Del Rio

LHHR's Del Rio

Del Rio was the 2nd best doe out of the Maddy x Badger triplets. She was never shown until Oregon State Convention, Zinfandel had finish breaks and I decided to scratch her and enter Del Rio day of show. She won 1st in the A show, under Cathy S, Best of Breed in the B show under Allen Barr, and Best of Breed in the C show under Tracy Gouette. I had her entered as a Senior doe for WA State and had high hopes for her doing just as well.

Life happens. I've haven't lost an animal that I adored in a long time and it has taken me a bit to get over DR's passing. However; she was submitted to science and taken to the vet hospital for necropsy.

I am down to just 4 Silver Martens :( Hopefully Maddy was re-bred.

New Rabbits?

Yes, the bottom line of a breeder is continual genetic advancement. Even when you have a good, well-established line, you are forced to add in an animal here or there. With a small herd, this happens often, as it's easy to have many animals closely related to one another.

Last weekend I picked up Velotta's Lincoln from Nicole. He was a buck I've always liked the looks of, and with her needing cage space she generously offered him to me. He is out of two beautiful rabbits, and contains a Gold star pedigree registration with all animals being Grand Champions, and all of those being Velotta bred animals. Now that's an accomplishment ;)

Yesterday I picked up a doe who was "disposed" of on Craigslist. A couple good breeders contacted me asking if I would want her back, and of course I did :) The previous owners kept her GC certificate, registration paper and legs won. Even though all of that work was rightfully done by (ME!), they decided they wanted to keep it for whatever reason. Pedigree forgery... jealousy. You name it, there's no other reason to keep it! :) She will likely be retired as a loving pet with one of my neices or someone who truly deserves her.

Next weekend I'm picking up Posey's Amie from Canada. The Poseys had to sell out, and where Nicole & Lisa grabbed up a lot of the very best animals, I had the wonderful opportunity to grab Amie. I've never had a Posey rabbit, but I do know that they use a lot of Milkhouse/Velotta in their stock, so I'm sure someway it will relate back to the herd to offer us something new to work with. Pictures will come when I get her home :)

OR State Day 3, + Home

Show C went just as well, Del Rio won BOB again.

Twitch won BOB again, congrats Nicole. I registered a few rabbits and I was leaving the show room at 11:40 AM! WOW!

Went directly home. Was good to see baby bunnies and palpated does. Looks like mostly everybody took.

Bred Rylee, separated some juniors.

Zinfandel passed yesterday. She will was one beautiful Marten & will be missed.

Loaded up the 4 pre-sold rabbits and will head to Washington State after I get back from Montana. So you likely won't hear from me until then.

Website is updated.

Oregon State Convention - Day 1 & 2

Friday afternoon I packed up my rabbits, plus some Dutch and such and headed on down to Albany for the OR State Convention. I easily found a spot by friends and was able to relax before the Judges conference. I've been to many judges conferences, this wasn't the best one I've been to, but certainly a good one!! :) It was also my first official conference as a judge!

This morning started off well under Cathy S. She did Mini Lops first. I didn't have any entered but supported Nicole who brought down some excellent rabbits! Twitch won BOB!

Next were Silver Martens. Bacardi was BOSB!

A VERY deserving award was given out to Tom & Muriel Keyes just before BIS A, they are now Hall of Famer's. Tom is a great judge (esp with the youth!), and Muriel! Bless her heart all the work she has done with the Forestler fund and getting kids sent to Convention every year!

Show B started, Martens first this time under Allen Barr. He seemed to be a more structural judge and gave my juniors the benefit of the doubt even though their prime coats aren't there yet!

Bacardi won BOSB & Del Rio won BOB!

Mini Lops up under Cliff Dick & Twitch won BOB again!

I didn't attend the banquet this year. Feel bad, just too much going on and needed to get home. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings! :)

I have babies!!!

After some rough months, I finally have live babies!

Milkhouse's Issabella (Broken Smoke Pearl) had 5 of 6 babies by LHHR's Hank Tank *GC 4 legs on June 6th, 2011.

MW Wintergreen (Ruby Eyed White) had 6 of 6 babies, also sired by Hank Tank

Also have a LOT of litters coming up in the next month:

LHHR's Nemo x LHHR's Hank Tank (GC 4 legs) - Bred on 5/29

LHHR's Wall E (3 legs) x LHHR's Sesame - Bred on 5/29

LHHR's Tomato (1 leg) x LHHR's Hank Tank - Bred on 5/29

Hillary x Zeus (GC 4 legs) - Bred on 5/30

Silver Streak's Maddy (GC 6 legs) x LHHR's Call Me Ugly - Bred 5/27-5/30

School year.... COMPLETE!

I never thought I would be SO excited to taste summer! I finished out this morning as my last final was at 9:30 AM! Even though I don't have quizzes/midterms or papers to write, I am still studying for AQ and my GRE exam.

Tomorrow I am headed over to the barn to pick up my rabbits and head on over to Albany for the Oregon State Convention. I will also attend the judges conference. I entered 4 Silver Martens; I sure hope they look good! I'm also dropping off 3 pre-sold rabbits and will probably bring one to advertise for sale.

After the show, Monday, I am headed home for a couple of days. Gotta get some stuff done there and pick up some rabbits before I leave for more travels.

Tomorrow night I will decide who to enter for WSRBA Convention.