show room blues....

[whatever4andnomore]

We went to a rabbit show today to get some tips on showing rabbits. We are very new to the rabbit show thing and we joined 4H for the first time this year.

In September we went to our first show and purchased two pedigreed castor mini rex rabbits. Well, today we learned we might have been "taken". It turns out that neither rabbit is a good representation of their breed or variety. The female in particular had poor body shape and neither one had a very good coat color or texture. Several of the people we spoke to suggested we go ahead and "start over" which we intend to do. The rabbits we currently have will continue to be our pets as I do not believe in "discarding" rabbits on show quality alone. (Besides they belong to my children who have become quite attached to them, not to mention my black male has bonded with the female)

I am not sorry this happened, as I feel we often learn more from mistakes at times. We also learned that perhaps the Castor color variation might be a bit tricky for beginners.

In January we will look to purchase a nice buck and doe for the 4H showing project. Hopefully we will have babies to show at the fair this summer. We want to find a broken blue or a solid blue and maybe a broken black. My daughter even likes the broken chocolate.

I was wondering if anyone else had a shakey start to their show room experience.

 

[Sugarbread]

I wouldn't call that shakey, I'd call it helpful! It's better that you found out sooner than later, right?

Hopefully you can find a nice broken chocolate, black or blue, lots of nice Mini Rex out there!

 

[whatever4andnomore]

yes, it was extremely helpful and the different breeders we spoke to were extremely nice, and they were all agreed as to the condition of our current rabbits. They clearly showed us the proper body type and they all also had several examples of good rabbits in the colors we like. There was a solid blue buck I am particularly interested in. The plus is, the breeder lives in my city and her daughter actually goes to the same school as mine! I was happy to find a breeder in my area. It has been really difficult to find local people to talk to about rabbits and then to find one who has our prefered breed!

I thought speaking to the 4H rabbit leader would be helpful.........it really wasn't. She was nice, but at the meeting for the rabbit project, all they talked about was the rules and regulations for the fair. while we needed to know all that, I wanted to learn more about the rabbits themselves.

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

I'm sorry to hear that your first rabbits didn't meet your show expectations. A pedigree is really just a piece of paper, it doesn't determine the quality of the animal. The original breeder may have only been breeding for pets.

Good to hear you found some mentor to help get you on the right track.

 

[majorv]

It's not unusual to hit bumps in the road when you first get into the hobby. My daughter thought she wanted to show Dutch at first, and we got a rabbit at a rabbit show for a good price. As she grew we realized that she wasn't good enough quality. Talking to different breeders and making contacts is the best way to start in this hobby. You want the best you can afford for your foundation stock, but sometimes you can be surprised! We switched to Tans after that experience and my daughter's foundation buck came from a nice quality buck (borrowed from a fellow breeder) and a $25 doe with no pedigree. He earned quite a few legs and gave us many good offspring, but we could never register him with only half a pedigree. Stay in touch with the breeders, go to some more shows because that's the best way to learn.

 

[indianamom]

I have never showed but interested in doing so.. So I'm following you to get helpful tips

 

[majorv]

I have never showed but interested in doing so.. So I'm following you to get helpful tips

Did you have any specific questions?