Goodbye 2009!

2009 was a rough year, I'm happy to say goodbye to it and have open arms for 2010!

I spent my last couple of days on my 'To Do' list. Of these, the biggest was fixing the auto-water. Simply enough, the tube came unhooked from the bucket, but the whole system needed cleaning anyways, so I scrubbed it all out nice and clean! Now I can remember when I did it last!!!

I moved the young seniors to bigger cages, with dividers. I am going to prime them up and hopefully show them in March! I also bred Maid Dignified to Dominic, she will be due on the 28th.

I had to do a feed run today. I got 3 bags, I used about 5 gallons for Roxy, as I have no clue when I'll get home next.

I hope to sell a trio for St. Helens. I will then be at 11 rabbits, and only 10 of those count since Stitch has his permanent place here in the barn.

10 rabbits... It sounds so nice... yet so sad!

At any rate, I'm saying goodbye to 2009 tonight, and headed up to Corvallis bright and early in the morning. I have soooooo much to do when I get up there and prepare for school and what not.

I don't know when my next update will be, most likely after the Industry tour & Texas trip :)

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.