Rabbit News & Winter Break

I apologize for the lack of rabbit news I've given lately -- When I see my rabbits once or twice every three months, it makes it hard to give updates!!!

I guess the news is... I can't sell out. It's been too frustruating trying to deal with the whole issue so I've deciced to "ride out the wave". No matter how long this dry spell is, or how rough things get, I can't give up on these Mini Lops; i've worked far too hard on them.

At any rate, I sold my BEW project. It made me very sad, but it was the right thing to do, for the project. I am down to 14 rabbits:

Bucks:

• Stitch - retired
• Dominic - For Sale
• Theodore
• Henry
• Money Maker - For Sale
• Matthew - For Sale

Does:

• Maid Dignified
• Obnoxious
• Kristie
• Melinda
• Rylee (available after litter)
• Brianna
• Lila - For Sale
• Tiffany - For Sale

I bred Rylee to Stitch on the 22nd, because I found myself needing to breed a doe in order to consider myself "still a rabbit breeder". Plus, Stitch is the closest buck I own to carrying chocolate, I don't want to purchase or loan a chocolate or carrier buck unless I have to. I still haven't found one I've liked.

With time, I will be selling the others as well. I would like to breed those does, to the bucks I have for sale. I do want replacements out of them.

With a positive note, I have found a cull buyer. Not a local one, but it will work until I can find something more permanent. I have it worked out, that Rylee's litter will just be ready to sort through by Spring Break. That seems so far away, but in reality, it's right around the corner in a college student's life.

My break has gone well. I left early from Corvallis to head home, and I've been here about a week. I am leaving on Friday. I *need* to leave sooner, but I *need* to spend time at home... I have a lot of stuff to get done still! The auto-water system gave us some trouble during the freeze, it's not broken but it got air in the system so I just shut it off and went to bottles for a few days. With the holidays & friends & family I needed something I knew would work.

Overall, 2009 has been a rough year for the rabbits. I am hoping 2010 will lift my spirits and bring some new changes & improvements, even if they are slow. I am ready for another term of college.... I am taking 18 credits (a load and a half...) amongst two planned trips already, my extra-curricular activities, and a job... I am hoping for good to come out of it. Though it is a load of classes, I only have 10-13 "real" credits, because the other classes are easy/or lecture classes.
Enough to keep me on my toes!

Happy New Year everyone!

Pictures from Michigan State :)

Cow-Calf fields
The famous Tower

Inside their NEW & VERY NICE Livestock Pavilion

Winter Spectacular!

I miss it.... already! Such a beautiful campus!

Finals --> Michigan --> Washington --> HOME!

Finals came & went. I did very well & raised my cumulitive GPA. Next term I am taking 18 credits.... wish me luck!

I left for Michigan on Thursday. During my visit I met some new family members and visited with my aunts, uncles and my grandma. On Saturday, I visited Michigan State University. It was the highlight of my trip. I must admit, the campus is bigger/nicer and their Agriculture Department.... boy oh boy I am SO jealous! Great set-ups, barns and there was even a Beef show going on when I was there. I got to visit it! I am in LOVE, and wishing I could go there. We'll see, it might be something I bring up to my advisor in my next meeting with him. Out of state tuition is pretty expensive, but I imagine myself looking into it further.

I got back on Tuesday, and then I drove to central Washington to visit my sister, brother in law & two neices! I even go to go to my neice's school play. It was very nice to spend the day with them. Driving home in the dark, pouring rain was not fun; I think I hydro-planed more than I was actually on pavement, but I made it home safe & sound. I am glad the weather has warmed back up into the upper 40's and low 50's. It makes it a lot more comfortable here.

I had to go on campus today and do some work for Steer A Year. I am feeding later this week and will be headed home either Saturday night (if the weather is good) or Sunday morning. I am excited to go home and see my bunnies!

I am down to 14. I need to cut a few more, I can't make a cull run until I get a carrier back, but hopefully I will be able to be down to 10 or less by the new year. We'll see.

Flight & Hotel booked for San Antonio! I am not too excited to be flying again, but I am excited for NCBA!

I might post some updates next week, if I have any.... until then.... Happy Holidays!

Procrastination

As I write this, it is FINALS week :) I am very excited for this week, particularly because it means it's the end of a term. I am not very worried about my finals, I have done good in my courses to where I have minimal studying/reviewing to do. I'm very happy about that.

Next term I am currently signed up for 17 credits but I need to take 18. So either one of those will be an animal science upper-division credit or I will take a physical activity course. At that point I will be half-way done with my undergrad! So hard to believe!

Last week rolled into a great weekend! I and a handful of friends headed over to Bend, Oregon for the Oregon Cattlemen's Quarterly Convention and I had some great times, learned a LOT and made some great contacts with BIG name people! We have a great opprotunity for an industry tour the 3rd weekend in January to visit a lot of neat places, and the best part is it's free! The last weekend in January, I am going to San Antonio, Texas!

Relating to rabbits, I was able to send one up to WA and 3 are headed to CA this weekend. That leaves me at 14, but still too many. I need to sell 3 or 4 more for my parents to be happy. Currently they are battling the "frozen tundra syndrome" where it has been getting obnoxiously cold throughout all of Oregon. It's sad when I'm leaving for Michigan this Friday and the weather will be warmer there than it is here!!!

So in the midst of packing, and getting the house ready for all of our absences, I will study... later. Too much left to do!

A long post, sorry in advance!

To be entirely honest, my Thanksgiving break was fully deserved and I was *very* thankful for it. I hit traffic on my way home, but I was able to roll in around 4 or 5 pm. I missed my rabbits, very much. Along with my dog, my mare and well.... my family!

I have 3 juniors waiting to go to Red Bluff. I am just going to throw them in a raffle, because I lost my cull buyer. And about that, after 3 long years with this person I am very depressed to have lost who has kept me in the business these past few years. Without culling, my herd can not go on. I don't have the space to keep up with breeders who push 75-100 rabbits (or even 50 for that matter!). I have culled hard and heavy these past couple of years, setting up a keep-cull system unique to me. I've improved my herd immensly. As far as other cull-outlets, I don't know of anyone in my area to buy my excess stock :(

I have 15 rabbits. And where that sounds minimal, family problems have arisen and the ability for my parents or even other people to keep up with the livestock is just not happening. Furthermore, my show year, well I'm even embarassed to talk about it, but other than Nationals placements, I haven't done anything on the showtable. I've granded some rabbits and earned some legs, but recently the shows have been all about selling/'aka' giving away rabbits and chatting with friends. I love the social aspect of it, and it makes me happy to see my stock or my stock's offspring go off and win, but I like to win here and there too. Don't get me wrong, that may sound whiney, but going from an A+ year to like a C average is well, dissapointing.

The rabbits have outproduced themselves, having very close to 100% survival rate on a good number of babies for 2009. (and I don't have that exact number but its somewhat like 75 or 80).

So when you look at my last year of raising rabbits, it's not fun to look at. It doesn't make me feel too good either. I have considered selling out. And where I haven't made any "final" decisions yet, I don't have any reason to still be in rabbits, except that I love the hobby.

I have, considered the mere factor of getting down to 10 Mini Lops (hardly anything to work with) and getting back into the Satins full swing. I have a perfect cull outlet for them, and it's a great one. They pretty much pay for themselves and I don't mind showing those guys, the people are just as friendly there.

We'll see. First, I have to get through dead week, my weekend trip, 4 finals, my trip to the East Coast, and then, I will think more about the rabbits.

In the meantime, the website is fully updated with new pictures & info :) I have 6-7 animals to sell, and I would like to sell them before Frozen Friends. I'll even drive there if I can sell them all.... :)

Pictured above first is Kitsemble's Melinda, a doe I adore and will be retiring soon. She is older and doesn't deserve to make another move after her long trip here.

Second is LHHR's/Velotta's Brianna - a junior/senior doe which, well her picture says it all ;) Lets just say I should have sent her to San Diego.

Bring on Week 9

The school year has got the best of me. Life has been stressful. I have been trucking through, but entirely too exhausted as come Friday.

Saturday I went to a rabbit show in Albany, OR -- the Fall Warren. It's a double open with a bunch of specialities. I missed entirely too much of it, having to do my dairy milking on Friday evening and had to register for classes on Saturday morning, so I didn't arrive there until around 11 am. I did however, catch up with friends, and manage to find a couple quality animals for my 4-H'ers to start them off right! Thank you Mike Misner & Abby/Jeena Corliss! I skipped the 4H banquet to work on homework, which it was worth it as I got about half of it done. :)

This morning, my roomates woke up bright an early, and headed on our "Term Getaway Trip". We headed north to Tillamook, and visted the Tillamook Cheese Factory! We also visted the Blue Heron Cheese Factory and then headed toward Lincoln City. We stopped in Depoe Bay for some *amazing* wave photographs. I have been getting some tips from photographers and took some awesome photographs! We then traveled south to Newport. We rolled into the Yaquina Head Lighthouse at 4:52 and ran ip 181 stairs to catch some photos and get a cardio workout ;) We then watched the sun go down, and travel 53 miles in thick fog back to Corvallis.

Most of our calves have arrived... just a few drop off's left. We're headed over to Bend after thanksgiving to give our presenation. Also that week is the Civil War. OSU vs U of O... if we win, we go to the Rose Bowl! So pretty excited for that.

I go home Wednesday morning. I am entirely too excited. To see my family... and my bunnies.

I will be doing some culling, and possibly some breedings. We'll see. At any rate, I'll have lots of updates!

Week 5 and counting

Week 5 is here and almost gone. The time has flown.

I had an interview last Wednesday for an internship.... and I found out yesterday that I recieved it! I am pretty excited, and this will be a great experience for me!

Tuesday I had a presentation and a midterm, but they both went well. My cattle classes that night went well too! Even though I have less credits this term, I am more involved. Next term I will be back up to 18.... but only 14 of those "actually count" so I will be working, busy with extra-curricular activties and keeping my GPA up!

Friday morning the rabbits leave for San Diego. I did mark the cages so my parents knew which ones to send.

I won't get to see my rabbits for another 3 weeks. I'm going to make a trip south to pick up 3 rabbits to show at the Fall Warren show, I'd rather have someone transport them but I'm afraid I won't find that.

For now.... LHHR's Rylee, our only colored rabbit in the barn is looking pretty impressive for a future brood doe. We have completely updated the website with most current information and pictures.

Velotta's Kristie is due on the 9th to LHHR's Titan!

Getting over it

I'm slowly getting over the fact of my absence at Convention. It hit me hard, but luckily I was able to get over it before midterms came.

The end of week 3 is tomorrow, I have 2 classes and then I am rushing home. I have a *lot* of stuff to do at home, most importantly getting my wisdom teeth pulled... I let them go too long. I really didn't want an appointment this soon, but oh well.

I also need to cull some juniors and evaluate my older juniors. I am considering showing a few at Fall Warren. I could pick them up on Friday and bring them home on Wednesday.... I just don't know if I want three more rabbits in the house! We'll see how they look.

Obnoxious is due a couple days after I return, so I will give her a bigger cage and build up a good box for her.

I might be breeding my BEW pair if they are mature enough. I haven't seen them in ages so I really don't know how far they've come, but they are 'old enough'.

I will spend a few hours getting my older seniors ready for their long trip down to San Diego. I want them to arrive in Arizona in good condition so they can be bred right away for their new owner.

I have to change my plane ticket. I guess I'm going to Michigan in December after finals. It's the only thing I can think of to do with my ticket.

I will have lots of PICTURES to post when I get back... I am excited to get to see my bunnies!

Ups and Downs

I was adding up convention costs yesterday, trying to tie up transportation ends, when my transporter tells me she has no record of my confirmation e-mail.... I lost my convention transport. So I scrambled and found someone else, more expensive but just as good. Thanks Scott!

I'm not going to send ANY rabbits to show at convention. period. And I'm not going either. So now I have a $350 ticket in lingo... what to do with it.

This year has been pretty hard on me, I've been to a few shows and failed them all (I have not gotten a BOB all year), which is the first time in like, hell along time (5 or 6 yrs or more). I did pretty well at Nationals, so I bred 10 does for Convention, so all of those babies were non-purposeful since I'm not going now. The offspring I did get was amazing, so I don't regret that.

I haven't been able to sell rabbits. Period. I've culled more than I like to JUST because I can't sell. I realize culling IS essential, but not when it means dead-ending animals just because the economy blows (which is what I have blamed it on).

I don't have the money to invest in shows, when they are not beneficial finacially anymore. And I'm not in it for the money, DO NOT get me wrong, but I am a college student, and I have LOTS of bills to pay!

I have, considered, the possibility of selling out.

I cried last night for a few hours until my roomates came home, because it was very hard to consider. I have come SO far these past few years, creating a good line, having great rabbits and a hobby I truly enjoy! I became a registar because I eventually wanted to become a judge, and still do have that goal but maybe just not right now.

I have tried the herd reduction thing, and still... just not working. Granted I did manage to sell a couple for Convention... seniors too, but it still is just not enough. I will be updating my for sale page either today or tomorrow, visit it, and e-mail me if interested. Prices not as important as finding them good homes.

Week one complete!

Don't let anyone try to fool you that college is easy, because it's quite the opposite.

My first week back to college was stressful. Monday was my birthday and well, it didn't go all that great and I ended up going to bed early because I wasn't feeling well.

Tuesday was suicide. I have my first class at 8 am. I then have a 2 hour break where I can go home. But then I have to be back on campus at 11 for a 3 hour Bio lab. And, I really hated it because they "monitor" labs so you can't go at your own pace and get out early. It was really frustrating having to power-walk to my next class. My next class, was an Education class for my Agriculture Education minor. It is also, 3 hours long. I got out a little early since it was the first day, but that still left me running home, grabbing my keys and having an off-campus Steer A Year meeting in the nearby town. That alone was another three hours, so I didn't "land" until almost 10 pm. Every Tuesday will run like this.

Wednesday was short, but filled with work, readings and home work. Thursday was short, just a class and a two hour lab at the ranch, but I had errands to run and lots of stuff to do. So when I rolled out of bed this morning to go speak to a class, and then two hours of class, I was very excited to believe it was FRIDAY!

As far as the rabbits go, I really don't know how they are doing. I have plans of showing 4-6, I want to sell 2 but *if* I don't go, I'm not going to send those 2. That would leave me showing a SJB, BJB, SJD & a BJD. :)

As far as convention goes, yes, it is now less than a month away. I still have my ticket, which has gone un-changed so far and with only one week of school down, I can't say if I've made a decision. I had changed my mind and decided to go, and educational wise I could go now, taking less credits. And, monetarily, I could swing it. But, I should probably save my money, I just spend about $500 in books and still have two more months of rent, electricity, internet, groceries and gas to pay for. We'll see. Hopefully I would have made a decision by next week.... :(

I might go home next weekend, cull some more rabbits and make my convention entry "final".