CA Judging Team

I'm sure the local CA youth who have participated in the judging competitions this year know all about what I'm about to type, but I thought I'd share my experiences up to this point on trying to get on CA Judging Team with those who did not get a chance to participate in it.

Since I'm fairly certain a majority of my readers are active in the rabbit community, most of you know that the '09 ARBA Convention is in San Diego, CA this year! Due to this, the number of Judging and Breed ID applicants have soared, which resulted in the organizers of the team selection to make 'judge-off' competitions, where all potential applicants were seperated into our respective age groups and given 3 rabbit classes and one cavy class to go over and place. The classes had previously been judged by a licensed ARBA judge and our placements were compared to theirs, with a maximum possible score of 200. There were multiple judge-offs at shows throughout the year, though if you were planning to apply to get on a team you were required to participate in at least two. If you participated in more than two you would keep your two highest scores. The last competition was at the San Bernadino show this past month. I personally participated in the March Hanford and April Bakersfield judge-offs.

If you had done the minimum of two competitions, then you had to fill out a questionare in which you described why you thought you were qualified to be on the judging team. This was the last requirement and was due at the end of June.

From this, several people will go over our scores and answers to questionare and pick 4 people from each age group to represent California at Convention this year. We should be hearing back from them in the next one to two weeks.

Anyway, I thought that some might find this interesting. (: This is just a very rought overview, I could have went into much more detail about the judge-offs themselves. I'd like to personally thank Jennifer Munoz, who was kind enough to answer all of my questions and organizing the judge-offs. This would have not been possible without her! I'm crossing my fingers and toes that I scored well enough to make the team! Lots of worthy youth applied and it's a shame that some will have to be turned away.

- Michael

100th Post!

This is a huge accomplishment for me, considering my posting record has been sporadic at best. :D

Jinger's litter is finally opening their eyes. I can't wait until they get to their cute stage in another week or so! (: They still need a bit more fluff before they become adorable, and then I'll post some pictures.

Jonah, a broken blue buck out of Faith, left with Rachael and Karen today! Jonah is a really cute buck that I was going to keep, but the buck I'm getting is broken and I didn't think Jonah is going to be as nice as him.

Who is this mystery buck? I'll let you all know in due time!

- Michael

Summer Shows

The first reason I dislike summer is because the bunnies don't handle the heat well, which stresses me out trying to keep them alive! The second reason is that I don't go to any shows, because heat + traveling = stressed out bunnies! This year another reason I'm not showing it because with my herd reduction I don't have many bunnies to show. I think I have two newly turned senior does, which will take a few months to mature anyway until they get more competitive.

Besides those does, I won't have much to show for another 3-4 months. :( I guess this is a blessing in disguise though, because I really do need to be saving up for Convention! I think the only show for me before Convention will be the Santa Maria show on 9/20, so I intend to get as many comments as possible while I'm there! Then it's Convention 11/1/09 - 11/5/09! I'm so excited to finally go to a Convention! You can't even imagine how bummed I was I had to miss ML Nationals earlier this year.

- Michael

More Bunnies Leaving Soon.

All six of the bunnies left for their new homes yesterday. It was so nice meeting Kara, Jennifer, and Jennifer's sister! They were all such great people. I'd like to thank Kara again for transporting for me, she's a lifesaver! The rabbitry is much more empty without them! I am now down to 23, including my 10 babies.

Heather is coming down on Tuesday to get the broken smoke pearl chinchilla buck. He's going through his gangly stage but I think she'll like him! I know he'll like not having to deal with this insane heat anymore!

Karen and Rachel will also be coming down on Tuesday to pick up a bunny to show at the local fair. I think they will either get the remaining steel buck from Hope's litter or my keeper from Faith's litter (a broken blue buck). With my herd reduction, I'm pretty sure the animals I'm selling are going to beat me at the fair. (: It doesn't matter though, because it feels just as good to see a friend win with a rabbit you bred than winning yourself.

Casey and Jinger are also on hold until I can wean Jinger's current litter, so they should be leaving sometime in August. Sundance will also be leaving in August! :( I'm sad I'm selling him because I've had so many babies out of him. He's such a reliable old man.

Speaking of Jinger's litter, they are getting cuter every day! The BEWs now have enough fur to look white. :D The little black baby is a runt, I've been letting him nurse individually with momma since I don't want to loose him! His sibling are much larger than him. :( I'm crossing my fingers with a little TLC he'll pull through though. I'll keep you all updated on it.

- Michael

Bunnies Leaving.

Well, I guess my herd reduction is finally coming full force. Until now I'd just sold mostly juniors but today a lot of bunnies are leaving! :( It's kind of sad since I've had some of these bunnies since they were born and kept them, sometimes for years. I just need to remember that in the end this will do improve the quality of my herd in the long run.

It's really funny when you do a herd reduction, because when it comes down to it, you are capable of getting rid of most of your bunnies. But when push comes to shove, a few of them never cross my mind. I couldn't ever let some of them go. And surprisingly, those animals are normally not the ones that show amazingly well. They are usually from your first litters, your really sweet brood does, etc. They are the ones that have some sort of sentimental value to you.

Anyway, onto who's leaving today!

I just dropped off Cody an hour or so ago to Kara. He's molting horribly which is really embarrassing, but I've been trying to keep on top of it. Heck, Casey looks part lionhead right now, lol. Darn summer!

Jennifer should be here any minute. She's going to be picking up Jim Bob, Hope, Michelle, Joy-Anna, and Gizzard. I hope she likes them! I think she will.

So, that's 6 bunnies leaving today. After this I'm only going to have about 10 seniors left! I'm super excited. (:

- Michael

Website Is Finished!

I finally finished moving my website over to my new domain today! I still need to figure out how to make a guestbook and still add all my links to my links page. Check it out!

www.silentspringsrabbitry.com

Nothing going on today. . . . I am going to clean cages tonight and print out some pedigrees for babies! I also need to order some new business cards, I might do that tomorrow.

- Michael

Mini Lops Available

I'm still in the process of reducing my herd for the summer and while most of them have been sold, I still have several nice bucks for sale. Here they are.

SSR's Sundance Kid (RGC, 5 Legs) - Opal Sr Buck
(Velotta's Raymond (RGC, 6 Legs) x Hoppin's Cookiesn'Cream (2 Legs))
Sundance is a gorgeous buck that throws gorgeous babies. I have granded three of his offspring myself and one has gone on to win a BIS! Past his show prime now, he'd be best used as a herd sire.

Silent Spring's MF2 - Broken Smoke Pearl Chin Jr Buck
(DeSurra's Morgan (GC, 7 Legs) x Silent Spring's Faith (RGC, 6 Legs))
Promising buck in a gorgeous color! I love his head! Just starting his to go into his ganglies, but I'm expecting him to turn out nicely.
Hold for Heather?

Silent Spring's GH3 - Black Steel Jr Buck
(Kitsemble's Gus (Reg, 1 Leg) x Silent Spring's Hope (Reg))
Very sweet buck with amazing fur! Gus has really thrown this fantastic, plush fur to most of his offspring! Very full, would like to see a bit more depth to balance out the width.

.....I am also contemplating selling Casey, my BEW Jersey Wooly senior buck. Contact me if you'd like more information on him.
email -
ssrrabbits@sbcglobal.net

I'm working on getting pictures up right now!

- Michael