Friday, June 17, 2011

Rabbits for Independence

Amherst family subsists on home-grown rabbits
In pursuit of independence
http://www.gazettenet.com/2011/06/11/in-pursuit-of-independence

Have a good day!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

NCAG CoCo NZ

NCAG - CoCo County Fair, New Zealand 2011 Rabbit Convention

The New Zealand 2011 Rabbit Convention is featured in pictures on the web log of the Northern California Angora Guild. We mean the country of New Zealand, not the rabbit breed.

Betty Chu is the manager/editor of the NCAG blog and has assembled a great group of pictures from the NZ Convention. Follow this link to the articles

Something I did not expect to see was a picture of Enderby Island rabbits on the the show table. Enderby Island rabbits are unique to the country of New Zealand, having developed by natural selection on Enderby Island.

Also featured this week is the rabbit show activities at Contra Costa County (Calif.) Fair.

Great snapshots of a traditional county fair that keeps to the basics.

While you are at the NCAG blog, bookmark it so you can visit and check out what Betty has found.

Have a good day!

Friday, May 20, 2011

See the Rabbit Breeds

To see all the rabbit breeds

Visit the American Rabbit Breeders Association website to see pictures
http://arba.net/Breeds.htm

The pictures are linked to the rabbit breed specialty club if available.

Have fun clicking!

Have a good day!

Friday, April 29, 2011

English Angora Rainbow

Cruising the internet when I saw this link and clicked it.

Bumblebee Acres - English Angora Rabbit, Colors of the Rainbow

http://www.bumblebeeacres.com/EnglishAngoraRainbowofColors.htm

This is an astounding pictorial of the many colors found in the English Angora Rabbit as seen in the USA. Many pictures of the kits and some adults display different types and lengths of wool to demonstrate the fabulous colors.

Go there! See it!

Bravo to Bumblebee Acres!

Have a good day!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Linebreeding

Line breeding is controlled in-breeding. It's used to reinforce genetic traits. So when you have a great rabbit, it's a proven way to almost "clone" that rabbit. But care must be taken to cull any rabbits that don't meet the mark since any undesireable traits will also be reinforced by linebreeding. Line breeding is common in many types of livestock.

Have a good day!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

It Lives In The Bloodlines

The bloodlines are the important thing. Individual bunnies can be dear, but because rabbits have such phenomenal birthrates, the bloodline has a life of its own.

One of my favorite rabbits was a Blue Dutch buck named Schettlers Chevy. We picked him up in a raffle. We called him Baloo because he was big. He was a big Dutch with a lot of rabbit personality. Always glad to meet you when you came to feed or visit and he never bit
anybody.

Baloo never won a leg, too big, kept getting DQed for being overweight. But he did produce 3 Grand Champions among his offspring. A long line of offspring including Dust Bunny, Lulu, Shirley, Catalina, Blue Betty, Blueberry, and the last of his line, Blue Berry Bonds, a Blue Dutch Buck with 15 Grand Champion legs.

Blue Berry Bonds passed away in 2005, but we will remember Baloo and his children forever.

Have a joyful day!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Complete Angora Person

Looking at the Domestic Rabbits magazine from American Rabbit Breeders Association, the Nat'l Angora Breeders Club Club Report (Mar/Apr 2011), Betty Chu says:
"A show exhibitor is only half of a complete Angora person, the other half is the fiber artist who works with the Angora wool; and vice versa. It takes both showing and utilizing the wool to totally appreciate the beauty and functionality of Angora rabbits."

I have to agree with Betty. My lovely wife Tracy and I started as Angora exhibitors. We used to throw away the wool we gathered on the slicker brushes during grooming. Then we discovered that people will pay $5-$6 dollars PER OUNCE for raw angora wool.

So we started saving it. I learned how to spin angora wool on a homemade drop spindle which started me on a fiber adventure that continues to this day. I've spun angora, alpaca, and sheep wool. I learned about knitting and weaving.

My lovely wife Tracy would blend it with other wool on a drum carder. She would spin it into yarn and ply it with other yarns for "art yarn" or "novelty yarn." Then she'd knit it into hats and scarves.

I've met many competent and passionate Angora rabbit exhibitors at the shows. I'd say over half of exhibitors I've met USE the wool.

The reason the Angora rabbit exists is for the wool.

To fully appreciate the Angora, one has to use the wool. To understand the structure of the wool, one has to use the wool. To appreciate the differences in Angora wool, one has to use the wool.

If one does not use the wool, they are missing out on the full Angora experience.

Have a good day!