Bunnies for Sale at DelMarva

Just wanted to post a quick note to say that I will be bringing two Tort Jr. bucks with me to sell at the DelMarva show on Saturday. They are both approx. 4 months old and show quality (out of my best herd sire). If anyone has any questions before 2PM tomorrow just email me at amy@spangangoras.com. Otherwise, hope to see you at the show!

Have a fantastic weekend:-)


---Due to flood warnings up and down the east coast this weekend (again!), I will not be attending this show after all. Sorry! :(

Rabbit/ Stuff Update

It's been quite a while since I've blogged, and I guess a lot has been going on in this neck of the woods:). During the hurricane we lost our power/internet for a week and the phone for almost 3 weeks (it just came back the other night:( ). As if that weren't enough, a whole bunch of flooding came afterward and the majority of the towns here had profound damage, with one nearby getting totally inundated and almost wiped of the map:(. We were very, very lucky because we are located on a hill where the water always runs down, and we also have few trees around our house (thanks to dh cutting them all down years ago, LOL), and nothing fell on the house or any of our outbuildings. The rabbitry is also on a hill so no water collected there, and all in all we were one of the very few here who had no damage or flooding whatsoever:(.



Show-wise I had planned on attending some local shows this fall, but the Cobleskill show last week ended up getting skipped because of the flooding between here and there. Looking at the NYS show website the NY Convention has basically scheduled one Open show for Saturday and one for Sunday but there are no specialties in between, so it is hardly worth making a 4 hour trip Friday night and spending money for 2 nights at a hotel for only 2 shows in 2 days, LOL.



Anyway, what ended up happening is that I remembered that the UARC was holding a Specialty in addition to 2 Open shows in MD in DelMarva on Sept. 24, so I decided that the best thing to do might be to take a road trip down there on Friday night, show 3 times, and then come home again on Saturday:). I've never shown that far south before but it looks like it's going to be a really fun show, so I'm going to round up the buns next week and go.



On another note, ALL of my kids have taken off on a cross country trip with their Grandfather for the next couple of weeks! They are going camping, visiting the National parks, seeing lots of new places they've never seen before and having an absolute BALL, and for the first time since they were born I find myself with free time that I haven't had since before I got married, LOL!



After some initial confusion I took off like a shot, and I've been cleaning and organizing things like a MANIAC:-). The rabbit barn is absolutely spotless, every rabbit (not in coat) is sheared and ready to be bred next week. Everyone is tattooed and ivomeced, every cage is labeled, and all my dishes/bottles/ and supplies have been neatly stored in assorted plastic tubs:). I keep thinking of other things that have to be done but then am amazed to find I did them already (LOLOLOL!). I cannot BELIEVE how much time there is in the day when you have it to yourself, and now I am whizzing through every room in the house cleaning, organizing, redecorating, and in some cases even repainting. YIKES!:):)



The only problem I have is that my camera is acting up and it won't allow me to post pictures. All the bun photos I've taken, etc. will have to wait until everyone comes back and I have someone technical on hand to fix it:). Until then I will just check in every once in awhile with posts and assorted text articles as I continue to zoom through this place getting lots of things done---!!!!!!!!



I hope everyone everywhere else is starting to see the temperatures drop for fall (great bunny weather!), and I hope also that others in the east who were hit by the hurricane and excessive flooding did not sustain too much damage. Best of luck for a calmer (and happier!!) fall and show season for everyone:-).

Bunny Trip to VA

Hello Everyone,

I will be taking a trip down to VA this Wednesday, August 17 to deliver some rabbits, so if anyone is interested in acquiring something or arranging a pickup, please feel free to contact me at amy@spangangoras.com. I will have REWs, Pearls, and probably a few Torts for sale. Breeding and Sire/Dam information is available on my website on the 'Breeding/Litters' page at http://www.spangangoras.com/. Does will be $125 and bucks will be $100 along with a small delivery/gas charge for each rabbit.

Litters that will be available are out of Nikola, Natalya, and Miachi. I plan on driving South out of NY via I-78, I-81, and I-83, with an endpoint near Waterford, VA.

Thanks, and have a great week!

New Bunny Pics!

I finally got some pictures taken this week, and amazingly I also figured out how to upload them on this new computer, LOL! I have a monstrous amount of new rabbits in the barn now which is great, and thankfully I also have plenty of new FAs to add to the existing herd that was getting a little thinned out. Most of these shots below are of FAs, and there are actually many more juniors in the barn that I haven't photographed yet. I put together my best combinations for breeding this spring/summer and happily it resulted in some beautiful babies who will be filling the roster for upcoming show seasons (where the older buns leave off and retire to spend the rest of their careers in the nestbox:)).

I got lots of great Torts, which I guess is the one color that good rabbits here seem to be, but there were also some stunning REWs which was great because no color in angoras can truly compete with the wool of a white rabbit:). There are 4 more French litters coming up (all 8-9 weeks old now), but no one will be bred again til September to give the bucks a chance to recover from the heat of summer.

The first two babies pictured here are Giant crosses (F2's now). Both are nearly 9 weeks old and one is Chestnut while the other is REW. There were many other GA babies born this spring (probably too many, LOL), but most have either been Black or White except for two or three Chestnuts and one Steel. The Steel baby was surprising, but it showed me that my main GA sire SFF's Rubicon is Steel beneath the white, and I will have to work that out at some point. The Steel baby was too nice (and large:)) to get rid of, and her sire is an excellent buck with superb balance and wool quality, so I will keep them both and strip the steel out later using 'ee' animals. After this I will separate my lines to keep the gene contained while (hopefully) still managing to isolate the best qualities of the GA buck:).

CHESTNUT GA CROSS---9 WEEKS

REW GA CROSS----9 WEEKS

This below is an older picture of one of Etienne's French babies at 10 wks. (Etienne usually produces my best show litters). This little girl is now almost 5 months old in Jr. prime. Her name will be Spang's Esperanza.

I thought these two pictures were very interesting because they show an F4 FA/NZ doe whose coat has changed dramatically in just over two years of life. Elenita had a perfectly textured coat when she was young, and her picture was even added to the latest Standard of Perfection. Several growth cycles later (and several litters later) she began to get much hairier. Now at approx. 2 years old, she has become so imbalanced that she is no longer fit to show. The darker color seen on the saddle area is a function of her abundant guard hair which contrasts sharply with the sides of her coat, which still have a correct ratio of guard hair to underwool. Elenita can no longer be shown, but since she has wonderful type, size, and production quality, she will stay on to breed for a much longer time. I don't worry much about her coat issue because even though an F4 generation rabbit is considered purebred, there is no question that the wool is still not 100% balanced on many of these animals, and another 2 generations are needed for them to become indistinguishable from 'genuine' purebreds.

This is a picture of Bijou last spring right before harvest (on a somewhat windy day). Her coat was slipping badly and it had become rough looking, dull, and disheveled. The picture at the very beginning of this post is Bijou again just yesterday, growing in her next new coat. She looks even, primed, and balanced again, and she should be stunning in another 2 months. The differences in coat quality for each growth phase become very apparent over time. A great wool judges can discern instantly what phase any angora is in, and some can even tell how long a rabbit has been in a particular phase (beginning, middle, end).

This here is Spang's Nikola, a Pearl doe in full coat last spring who recently weaned her first litter. I haven't looked these babies over yet, but I think there will be some nice ones in the bunch.

And this is the very best REW that was born this spring to Zsa Zsa and Anton. She is a beautiful baby with great density, type, and balance who will be named Spang's Zaragevna.

So anyway, that's it for today. I will get more GA and FA pics up as I take them, and some of the new babies coming up as well.

Have a great week and STAY COOL!:-D

Back at Last:)

It's been a long time since I've posted (I mean really, obscenely long:( ), and I think that every year from now on at this time I will have to take a formal break from blogging until the baseball season is over because with 3 kids going in 3 different directions for MONTHS there is little time for anything but cooking, cleaning, sleeping (if I'm lucky:)) and washing uniforms. Whew!!

Anyway, the season is mostly over now, so it is time to get caught up on rabbit stuff again. I did manage to get my barn pulled apart and deep cleaned several weeks ago, so everyone is now housed in a bright, clean, shiny, happy barn:). I bred LOTS of babies over the spring/summer---probably more than I've bred in years----so now it is a matter of weaning those litters off and evaluating them several weeks later to determine who stays around and who has their destinies decided elsewhere. Since so many babies were born this spring I have decided to give my does the summer off and not breed again til the fall. Clearly this was a good choice since along with everyone else on the eastern seaboard (and the entire country!), we are having HORRIBLE high temps that have more than likely rendered all the bucks sterile.

Tomorrow we have another near-100 degree day here, and then it is supposed to cool down somewhat. I've spent most of the last few days shearing as many rabbits as possible down to the skin. Aside from a few of the French adults growing in showcoats (who will be lounging in the basement to stay cool), there is no reason to keep anyone else in coat in these high temperatures.

I have found that the Giants, especially, suffer terribly in this weather. Notwithstanding their thicker, more insulative coats, they also have the problem of heavy ear and facial furnishings which prevent them from dissipating heat the way a clean-headed rabbit breed would. FAs seem to handle the weather well and so do Satin Angoras, but as long as any wool rabbit is either sheared or kept groomed so that no matting occurs to make it even hotter, most are able to cope well and get through these dog days of summer:(.

More again this weekend as I can get some pictures taken of the latest buns and get my show on the road once more:). I may be making a trip to the state of VA sometime later this summer and bringing buns down south as a result. Stay tuned for more details!

Have a great week and STAY COOL:-)

Economy in the Rabbitry--Feed

As gas prices go up and the price of everything seems to be rising each day, it is a good idea to look over our rabbitry routine periodically to see if we can cut costs:).

As we have all noticed, feed prices go up when gas costs go up. Lately, feed prices have skyrocketed, which makes any breeder pause to think about how their costs can be contained. Since feed is by far the most expensive ingredient in raising rabbits, it is the first factor to consider.

Quality angora feed is not cheap, but there are things we can do to lower the price:

1) Order it by the ton. A ton of feed sounds overwhelming, but when you consider the fact that a rabbitry of 40 or more adults including nursing does and babies can easily polish off 4 or more 50 lb. bags of feed a week, it becomes a logical and attractive option. A ton of 40 lb. bags of feed amounts to 50 bags. A ton of 50 lb. bags equals 40 bags. If you order a ton of feed straight from a company you will not only get it at the wholesale price, but even with the cost of shipping you may find that you can save 5$ or more per bag under the cost at your local feed store. Add this benefit to the fact that you are eliminating a middle man who may a) be storing your feed improperly, b) forgetting to order at the right time thus leaving you hanging at the worst possible moment, and c) neglecting to keep track of expiration dates. Ordering feed yourself often makes it possible to get a batch right after it has been milled, and even if you do not have anyone to share a ton with (another breeder to split it with you, etc.), you would still have a good chance of using up the full amount by the time it expired. 1/2 tons are also available to order from most companies, but shipping costs are often the same and it is usually more economical to order the full ton.

2) Choose a less expensive feed. Though you would never want to use a feed with poor quality ingredients, there are certainly variations in price between most of the major brands. Depending on where you live, feeds which are manufactured nearby are going to be cheaper (and fresher) than brands which are milled far away. Also, some brands are available in 50 lb. bags while others are available in 40, making it smart to calculate cost effectiveness.

3) Use a lower protein feed for younger rabbits and a higher protein one for adults, especially if a lower version in the same feed line is cheaper. Angora juniors, for example, are not typically competitive on the show table and baby wool is not of great value to the spinner either, so it does not necessarily pay to feed babies a top of the line feed with a high protein level to promote wool growth. Most major feed lines offer an assortment of feed preparations with varying protein levels. A Standard 16% (or even 15%) feed will work very well for babies up to 4 months, and may better safeguard gut health since juniors of 14 weeks and below are more susceptible to enteritis.

4) Cut down the number of rabbits in your herd. This can be difficult if you are trying to maintain a gene pool of a certain size or are working on a project which requires frequent, heavy breeding. However, if cutting back means the difference between continuing or going out of rabbits altogether, you will simply have to prioritize. If you are forced to downsize, one option to consider is to take on a partner who has similar breeding goals and animals of similar quality who would be willing to trade rabbits and breedings to keep the line/gene pool healthy. Since agreements of this nature can often run into conflict, it is important to partner with someone who shares your breeding goals and is someone with whom you get along well.

More again next time as I add to this topic and try listing ways to save $$ on hay, supplements, meds, tools, cage equipment, and so on. Also, I will add a list at the end to suggest ways of bringing money in while raising rabbits. Rabbits are not typically known as money makers, but it is certainly possible to make enough profit while raising them (particularly angoras) to cover the cost of feed and other needs.

Have a great week!:-)

Bijou and---Baseball!

I just clipped Bijou recently, but since she had this beautiful, beautiful coat ahead of time I figured it would be necessary to post 15 million pictures of it first, LOL. It was a little windy that day so she's slightly unkempt, but she yielded close to 11 oz. at this clip, and it will all be going to members of my mother's local spinning group:).

I had a few more litters born last week, and am expecting many more next week, including several FA litters. I will be breeding 3-4 more French does this week, and I think I will have to build many more nestboxes soon too, because the usual supply just isn't cutting it anymore, LOL.







And just as an aside, we went to my son Keith's first Babe Ruth double header game this weekend. There he is (#11!) first in the huddle with his team, then in the yard in his uniform, and last in the batter's box right before he got a big hit:). All three boys are on different teams this year so it is going to be crazy trying to keep up with them this season (much less trying to transport everyone, LOL!!)






Anyway, have a great week and more again next time!:-)