Rabbits and Chickens

The rabbit and poultry judging was Thursday. These are the projects that my boys really pour everything into, as well as working hard all year long with.
T and D gave the Rhode Island Red trio a bath Wednesday. I conveniently was busy…with something..anything. That did not sound like much fun to me. They got them clean and they smelled like Suave’s Refreshing Tangerine shampoo. The very best part though was looking out on the porch and watching them blow dry them! Funny stuff!
Anyway, T’s trio got a blue!

The rabbits have been very drama-ful this year. Actually, it was all well till the last 2 weeks or so. Eaten rabbits, molting rabbits, injured rabbits, sores on hocks….what fun!
We didn’t think T was going to take ANY rabbits except his hand pet to the fair, but our new rabbit bud Sam kept telling me to just let T take both the rabbits. He didn’t think the molting bun would be a problem, and the rabbit with a sore on her feet COULD be DQed, but to just let the judge decide. We kept going back and forth and that morning we literally just threw up our hands and grabbed both of them.
I’m glad we listened to Sam, as the one we grabbed at the very last minute..the one with the sore on her foot….WON! I sat with my mouth hanging open for a sec! Sam laughed and asked me if I was happy we brought her! I was totally shocked. T was too! He was a little confused and he had to be told that he had gotten Champion. He had no idea!!
J’s Californian, Truman, came in Reserve Champ. The judge told J he could be a bit bigger and that his leg bones are tiny. But that he was still a really nice rabbit. So, if J breeds again, he needs to find a doe with big bones, to try to even out the board a bit.
Both boys took their mutt, 4 year old rabbits, Jack and Heidi, from our “uh-oh” litter years ago, and the judge gave them both blues. They look to see how well taken care of and clean they are, but usually don’t do Champ or Reserve Champ. This is Jack's 4th year of going to the fair, and J thinks he’s going to retire him after this year. All 4 years he’s gotten a blue, and last year the judge even gave him a GC, so not a bad record for a mutt bun with dorky ears! (He has one that stands up, one that flops like a lop)
This was Heidi’s 1st year of going to the fair. She had been adopted by Jamie and Tony’s kids, but when they moved to Dodge, they couldn’t take her so we adopted her BACK!

J did something new this year. He decided he wanted to do rabbit showmanship this year. This means he takes his rabbit in front of a judge and is basically judged on how much HE KNOWS about his rabbit. The rabbits aren’t judged. They get points for different areas, and they tell about their breed of rabbit, illnesses, treatments, DQ’s, personal appearance, and other things. He did AWESOME!! Out of 200 available points, he got 160!! He got Grand Champion for that, and I am so proud of him! It takes a lot of guts to get up in front of a judge as well as a bunch of adults and your buddies, and do something like that. I, at 30 years old, wouldn’t/couldn’t do it!! We are trying to talk him into doing it at the State Fair, but he thinks he'd like to do it here another time before he attempts that.

This year’s fair has been so much fun and held many surprises for us!!

The trophy presentation and foods auction is Saturday evening. I’ll blog with pictures after that to let everyone know if T passes out or not! =)