Sunday, March 28, 2010

Fulton (and other stuff)

Well, I did end up traveling to the Fulton show this weekend but as luck would have it I walked out the door without my camera:(. Since this turned out not to be one of the better shows of the season I guess there was a Freudian reason for leaving it at home (LOL!), but either way I will remember to bring it next time and there will be lots more to post:).

I managed to pick up three or so legs with jrs. and my REW Cross doe Diana which was unexpected and nice, so now I will get a few more buns sheared and bred this week and wait for the season to finish up entirely so everyone else can be bred and retired to the nestbox.

One very exciting thing that happened this weekend was that I picked up 2 new Giant Angora babies! Janet Gruber traveled a very long distance from Ohio to drop them off for me (which I am grateful for:)), and so now I have one REW and one Black baby buck settling in nicely downstairs, who will hopefully help to kick off a brand new 'Spang' GA line:-).

And other than this, there is nothing much else to report. The time is coming near now where the barn will have to be pulled apart for BIG spring cleaning, and it will be nice to get everything pressure-washed, scrubbed down, and disinfected. If it comes down to needing much more space for the Giants at some point then I will think about adding a new wing to the barn to accomodate them, but we'll see how things unfold as time goes by.

More again next week as Easter approaches and there are tons of kid-related things to do including dying massive amounts of easter eggs and decorating the house with crafts and our ever growing 'bunny' collection, LOL. Have a fabulous week and an even better holiday!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Hamburg, PA Show

Yesterday was a long drive to a v-e-r-y long show in Hamburg, PA. Though it was fabulous to see good friends again after a long winter, it will be nice to veg. a little this week and begin getting spring chores done (like garden stuff and bunny-cleaning stuff) around the house.

I stuffed about 12 rabbits into my station wagon for the long haul, 8 of whom were entered in the show. This time I not only brought a few FA/NZ F4 juniors with me, but also two F4 Seniors to see how they would hold up in an FA Senior class. There was a HUGE amount of general entries in this show and the hall was mobbed with rabbits of every breed, but the FA entries held steady at about 25 with 3 exhibitors.

Our judge for the first show was Paul Kyle, and the judge for the second was George Long. In the first show the BOB and BOS went to Spang's Juno and Spang's Giacomo with a BOV White going to Spang's Diana (an F4 cross doe). In the second show, the BOB went to Spang's Bijou and BOS to Spang's Felix (an F4 Cross buck).

These first two pictures are of the show hall first thing in the morning. It was very large and already very crowded:):








These are my rabbits stowed on a table in the corner in their carriers.





This is Paul Kyle judging one of the White Classes in Show A:





This is Aileen Brown holding one of her Tort bunnies. Aileen is a fantastic person from PA who shows FAs and Rex, while her husband shows Holland Lops!





These are Pam Barnes' bunnies hanging out near the table waiting for Show B:)





And this is Bijou sitting on her carpet waiting for the Show B BIS judging to start, and below her is Dru Shepherd's English Angora, who went on to win BIS a few minutes later:).






So anyway, that was the story for this week and this show. I am debating now whether I should bite the bullet and take another 4 hour drive up to Fulton, NY next week since everyone is still in coat and looks good, but we'll see how it goes and how much other stuff I can manage to accomplish during the week, LOL! After next weekend there will be a number of does getting clipped and bred as I am eager to get started with the Spring breedings. A week or so after that the first April litters should start coming in:).

Have a great week and enjoy this warm spring weather!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Two Bucks for Sale

I have two bucks for sale at the moment. One was born 8/7/09 and is 7 months old, and the other was born 12/17/09 and is 4 months old.


The REW buck shown below was born in August and is out of Spang's Sabini (Tort doe) and Spang's Akeno (REW buck). He is pictured here with one month's growth on his first Senior coat. He has good color (a very bright, crisp white) with great density and adult texture coming in. He has good shoulders and a nice mid-section.





The Tort buck below is 4 months old and still carrying his baby coat. He is out of Spang's Margaux (Sable Pearl doe) and Spang's Giacomo (Tort GC buck). He is going to be large with good color and a fantastic adult coat with really great density. His sire is pictured in the side bar of this blog.





Both these rabbits are available for $100 each. I can deliver them to Hamburg, PA on March 20, Old Bethpage, NY on April 10, Rhinebeck, NY on April 17, or Rutland, VT on 5/29.

Have a great week and enjoy the spring weather!:)

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Snow and Bunnies

Well, it looks like we are having a long awaited respite from snowstorms and power outages now, and by some miracle the temperatures have been rising and it looks like spring is actually on it's way for a change:).

With all this wintry weather the does have been reluctant to breed, but it looks like things are finally starting to pick up now. I got Margaux bred to Anton and Kimba to Akeno this week, and tomorrow I am planning at least 4 more breedings.

Here are a few pictures of our yard right after the snowstorm that dumped about 2 feet on us last week. The first shot is of our garden and garden shed, and the next is of the chickens hanging out in the only dry place left under the porch next to the dryer vent:).











And speaking of breeding, this bunny pictured below is named Mardiney's S'more. He is a Seal buck out of two rabbits I sold more than 6 years ago to a local 4Her whose mom is a very good friend of mine. This woman's daughter showed the bunnies many times over the years, even winning BIS at the county fair, and she eventually bred them together to produce a single litter from which this Seal buck was kept.

S'more is now an old man at 5 years of age. I mentioned to my friend that I was trying to revive the Sable color in my herd and she offered me the use of this fellow. I tried bringing a doe over to meet him but she was uncooperative and he was too wooly and a little too tired, LOL!

Anyway, to make a long story short, my friend then kindly offered to loan S'more to me to see if I could get some babies out of him:). I have 4 does clipped down and ready for him now, and this morning I went ahead and sheared the guy himself to give him every possible advantage in the access and mobility departments, hahaha.

Below are two pictures of this boy. He was never taught how to pose commercially so he is sitting up like a arched breed right now, LOL. His coat is hard to see in this position and he was long overdue for a clipping, but even at 5 he still had nice wool and impressive density.

Next I posted the after-clipping picture, and hopefully this baldie will now feel chipper enough to get down to business in his S-L-I-C-K new birthday suit:-)





More again next time. Have a great, warm week!:)