Back Again:)

Well, it's been a ridiculous amount of time since my last blog post, and I wish I could point to one specific reason why I've been so lackadaisical but I have to confess that there just isn't one, LOL. I've been very busy with kids, rabbits, and work (especially work), and there hasn't been a lot of extra time for writing. Things are slowing down now and I've figured out a few ways to save time (thank goodness:)), so I think things will get back on track now. There are several pictures and articles saved to post over the next couple of days/weeks, so I'll get those up shortly as well.

I have attended zero shows for the most part except for the PA Convention in Feb. That was fun, though it didn't go as well as it has in the past due to the fact that my coats weren't primed and I wasn't prepared the way I should have been (and usually am:( ).

Despite the lack of blogging I have not been idle on the breeding front. I just wrapped up the last cull of the winter breedings and I currently have 7 does bred with 4 more due to get bred next weekend to space the litters out and make room for everyone. Most of my breedings this time are French, but a few are Satin cross breedings that should result in the first phenotypical Satin babies in the barn:). All will be posted on my website at www.spangangoras.com on the breeding page as soon as I can get them up.

I still house mainly French, but as I mentioned I am working on Satins as well. I have to admit that I never thought I would like these rabbits owing to their sparse wool, etc, but they have been genuinely growing on me the past few months as I have come to truly appreciate their hardiness, breeding ability, and ease of care. I came very close to giving up my Giants entirely for several reasons which I'll explain in a future post, but I have decided to hold onto a few of those as well and just work harder to make them heavier, thriftier, and more consistent in quality and wool.

Anyway, so this is the current update, and I will get back to regular posting as my schedule allows. Have a wonderful weekend and C U here again soon!:-)

NY Convention Pictures

It looks like I have finally managed to get things together here and post pictures of last week's show:). Below are mostly pictures from Show A where Cheryl Eng-Link was judging. The NY Convention typically has some of the highest angora entries in the state, and most of the people standing at the table here were entered with one breed or another:

Here is either Carmen or Evita sitting out on the table, awaiting judging:

And this is Zsa Zsa during the judging of the White class:

This is the YOUTH FA show, with rabbits owned by a little girl named Meghan:).

These are my buns in their carriers, awaiting the second show:

And these are some of Zsa Zsa's 'formal' pictures, taken at home after the show:). She is still holding a prime coat now and probably would have made it to Convention, but unfortunately it is not to be since she will be getting bred and retiring soon to the nestbox instead, LOL:).

Next weekend I will also be attending the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool festival, so if anyone is interested in some sale bunnies for delivery to the event, please email me ASAP at amy@spangangoras.com. There will be several Torts and REWs available:).

Have a great week!:-)
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NYS Convention and Reserve in Show

I have some pictures I'm going to post in a few days once I get this camera thing worked out, but for now I figured I'd post the results of a show I went to yesterday (Sat, Oct 1):).

I hadn't planned on attending the NYS Convention this year because A) for some reason I thought that there was only one Open show planned per day (which later turned out to be wrong, LOL), and B) I was planning on attending the DelMarVA show the previous weekend instead. Well, the DelMarVa show didn't quite pan out because of flooding here (again!), and later it turned out there were 2 Open shows on Saturday in Syracuse, so I decided to head over to try to squeeze in at least one show for this season:).

I brought 3 Sr. does along: Spang's Zsa Zsa, Spang's Evita, and Spang's Carmen, and the two shows were judged by Cheryl Eng-Link and Helen Brose, respectively. There were 33 FAs entered in both shows and 6 exhibitors.

Zsa Zsa took BOV/BOB for both shows, and Carmen won BOV Colored for both shows. Evita placed right behind Carmen in the Colored class in the second show, and I think she did it in the first show also, though I wasn't writing anything down and can't quite remember the details (apologies to anyone in case I'm wrong!:( )

In the Best in Show competition for Show B, Zsa Zsa also won the Open RIS on a very competitive table, and overall she had a wonderful, excellent day:). She earned her 7th leg and will now come home to be sheared and bred along with everyone else for the Fall litters.

Today I am getting ready for the kids to arrive home after their l-o-n-g vacation:). Though I got a lot done and it was great to have an uninterrupted break, it will be wonderful to see them again and get back to the daily madness that is normal life in the Spang family household. LOL.

Pictures will be posted in the next several days----have a great week!:-)

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