Thanking my Lord and my husband! God has blessed us with some of His remarkable Silver Fox rabbits. It still amazes me when I look at the records of our rabbits' accomplishments on the show tables. I try to be a good steward so His blessing pours out through this heritage breed that I so love and I thank all the breeders who contributed to help me develop my lines so I could pass the blessing on to others. This is my praise report to show what God has done for us and also a tribute to my husband who talked me into raising rabbits for meat in 2010 and has supported my showing habit since 2018 even though he cannot travel with me to all the shows.  On the subject of travel, I would like to say I have been honored to place in the top three placements for the National Silver Fox Rabbit Club (NSFRC) sweepstakes for six years in a row since the first year I have been showing, which was the result of more traveling in recent years. I have always thought of sweepstakes as not so much about...

I have been attending several shows in the past few months where I am the only Silver Fox exhibitor. I used to take a pass on shows not having at least two other exhibitors but we have a few new clubs in the southeast and I wanted to support them as well as be dedicated to provide a Silver Fox presence at every show I can. However, to my surprise, I found it personally beneficial far more than I had anticipated. Granted that the title wins are guaranteed so, of course, I won BOB and BOS in every one of those only-me shows, but I found I could concentrate on the comparisons between my own rabbits against each other in their classes, particularly siblings and have more open conversations with the judges. I have two does that have been very special to me because they were produced from a joint breeding and their sire is Waldrop Acres Ashur, who is now a Grand Champion! I thank Karen Waldrop for the opportunity to produce these two does! Although I was hoping for a buck from the pairing, b...

Some months ago, I was offered a breeding with Waldrop Acres Rabbitry Ashur, half-brother on the dam's side to Karen Waldrop's 2023 National Silver Fox Show winner. My Atarah is getting to that age when her kindles would tend to be smaller, but I chose her because she has a record of producing good buns with different bucks. Out of the breeding, I got two does.  This past weekend was their first show and I thought they were still a bit too undeveloped, so I was mostly hoping for comments and for them to get some show experience. The judges for this two-day show varied widely in placements but, to my surprise, both those little does managed to get their first legs as first-of-class junior does. I was also very excited about another friend when she had three rabbits who won their classes and were on the table at the same time for the Best of Breed judging. She won both Best of Breed and Best of Opposite Sex of Breed in Show B. (She had brought some offspring to show from my Yanis...

I had entered four rabbits in a show with a quad open, the first being on Friday night. I wish I had been able to make the first show but that did not happen, however, my husband and I went on Saturday for the remaining three shows. It had to be on one of the coldest days in a building with no heat and frozen water pipes but being the rabbit show people we are, we all toughed it out that day! My dilemma was what to do with a very nice typed young doe, whose silvering is over the top. I decided to acknowledge her blessing with the name of Zeevah, which in Hebrew means "radiance, brilliance, light, brightness, light of God" and show her. I had gotten several good comments on her type before, but it surprised me that she won Best of Opposite Breed twice this past weekend and now has two intermediate legs! That is amazing to me, but her brother's record is very impressive also. Gavriel won two more Best of Breed awards. He now has six BOB legs and another leg for being first ...

Some years back, a Silver Fox listing on Craiglist became a topic of discussion. I remember it listing young Silver Foxes that would not have yet developed their silvering at prices that many show breeders might sell a Grand Champion. There were the cutest pictures of young bunnies in Christmas boxes, Easter baskets, teacups, or other things. Yes, this same listing was repeated throughout the seasons for a few years. Every advertisement made a point that the Silver Fox was a RARE BREED. The persons involved in our discussion about it were highly critical of the "business practices" of this unknown person because they felt whoever posted the ad was trying to profit from it being a "rare breed" and not on the quality of each rabbit, which was too young to assess. I just stayed quiet for a time.  You see, this was an attitude that I found concerning and I still hear it now and then. While I am absolutely in favor of protecting and improving the breed, I am concerned wh...

Just recently, in a conversation with a friend, I confessed that for most of my life, I hid my Christianity in the closet, so to speak: no stickers on my car, no jewelry other than a cross necklace once in a while, and I even toned down my talking of God so that I would not draw attention to my beliefs or offend anyone. Perhaps it was not so much to avoid offending anyone who had unresolved issues with God, but mostly, I did not want anyone to judge God by me. Then I heard God say to me: "But then you are not honoring Me." It was very convicting. In my heart, I believe that God should be honored in all my endeavors, including my rabbitry, and He is, but now I do not keep that a secret or tone it down. I wanted to share this for you to understand I try not to just honor God by praising Him for the good things that happen but asking for His guidance and following what He asks of me to do...and some of those things do not seem to make any sense by the world's standards, like...

I think most people hang with the people of their club/breed at the Convention. This time, I hung out with a group of another club and breed because a friend of mine is well-established with another breed and just starting with Silver Fox. Throughout the last year, I have gained some insights into how different our two national clubs are. Every club has its overall personality, so to speak, but those of us with only one breed tend to only see the one national club associated with that breed. I was truly blessed to experience how another club does things. The banquet was a breakfast and during the last showing of a variety they hoped would earn its third and last pass, which it did. I thought members of the club might not have appreciated the scheduling conflict but it is very difficult to schedule club events at the Convention without conflicts. It was not fancy but simple with an adequate breakfast buffet. Then they had the awards ceremony! Youth was first and I have to say that I enj...

This is just a reminder that breeders need to be respectful when visiting another breeder's place. I write this because I have heard many stories from breeders over the years, who regretted allowing some people near their home and rabbitry. Some were stories of breeders with atrocious manners, some acting with entitlement, and some were just a bit irritating in being disrespectful. To be honest, I have had to bite my tongue several times when looking at dirty cages or cages that looked too small for the rabbits. However, I did not have what I would describe as an abrasive entitlement experience...until I did. Some time back, someone needed her juniors to be transported so she came to my place to drop them off. After they were placed in my garage, I thought she would be leaving but instead, she walked out toward my rabbitry. There was no asking me if she could and there was no reason that she should as I did not invite her to do so, yet she proceeded. Since I was doing this as a fav...

"Why do you keep showing your Grand Champions?" Some breeders have been asked this question many times and here is why I continue to show every and any rabbit, especially my best rabbits, at any given show: First, the most obvious of reasons: It is not my top goal to get three legs to then retire my Grand Champions from showing. Some show breeders find satisfaction in this as a top goal, while others see "granding" their rabbits as a step on the ladder to their top goal. Second: My goal is to win Best in Show (and Sweeps but that is another conversation). There is no chance for a rabbit to win Best in Show if it is not shown. Why would any breeder who wants to win Best in Show keep their best rabbits out of a show?  Third: Even though a rabbit has been shown many times before, it could win Best in Show or Reserve in Show on any particular day with a particular judge because of several factors, like it is in near-perfect fur and condition or the other Best of Breed...

When my husband and I decided to enter the inaugural show of Southeastern Bunny and Cavy Shows (SEBACS) and donated the double sanctions, I was hoping there would be other Silver Fox breeders who would attend but it turned out we were the only ones—just one exhibitor with five rabbits: one buck in a significant molt (but less than the others I left at home), two intermediate sibling does, and two junior sibling does. In most cases, I might have passed up on the show. It was the wrong time of year to show a fur breed, but fur would be an issue with most of the breeds as we had been in the hottest part of the summer. There would be no available legs for Silver Foxes, not even for the assured title of Best of Breed since I was the only exhibitor, but I was not thinking about winning as much as supporting the new club, getting comments on the does, talking with friends, and just having fun.  It was a smaller show but the judges were some of the best and there were some top breeders als...

God is in everything, even in a rabbit show, and He talks to us in many ways. We attended a double Silver Fox specialty show last weekend that was squeezed in between the rush of birthdays, college graduation, and a piano recital. The first item on the show day was an opening prayer and I loved that God was honored first among friends! I also loved the message God gave to us all. It was hidden but God wanted it to be revealed. For the last few years, I have been led to give my rabbits names that have spiritual meanings and to honor my Lord. When I walk in my rabbitry and say their names it is like giving blessings over my rabbitry as well as the rabbit, but my Lord brought it to my attention that He also gave a blessing to us at the show. Selichah is a junior doe who just finished filling in her coat so this show was her first. When I assessed her for show potential, I thought she was not only the sweetest doe I have had but the best doe we had produced out of our rabbitry, although I ...

As I am in the process of updating my rabbitry records and preparing for the 2023 National Silver Fox Show, I reflected on the progress of how one line from my first Silver Fox meat rabbit, who was far from show quality, progressed to grand champions: granddaughter and great-grandaughters and even great-geat-grandaughters and some bucks in there as well! I am also reviewing the past year and reflecting on my purpose of showing rabbits. Why do we show rabbits? That is the question. The ideal answer: Showing rabbits determines if we are improving  the breed toward its standard of perfection. If everyone had that single purpose in mind, things would go more smoothly in the rabbit-showing world. While judges' opinions differ on what is ideal and much also depends on the condition of the rabbits presented on any given day, over the course of several shows, the better rabbits will win more consistently.  When I select my rabbits for a show, I am not thinking about who...

How to make people happy as a show breeder: Go to every show you can but DO NOT WIN!  Only be happy when other people win...but tone it way down if the rabbit is one you bred. If you should win, express how bad you feel for winning, scratch that rabbit from the remaining shows so you cannot win the next ones, and then immediately sell your winning rabbit to someone else. Okay, that is over-the-top crazy. But, is it?  Because I have heard other breeders over the years say to people directly or in a conversation about them: When are you going to retire "Winning Rabbit"? Rabbits should be retired after they become Grand Champions. "Winning Rabbit" should be at home making babies, not at shows. It seems unfair that you brought "Winning Rabbit." Hasn't "Winning Rabbit" won enough already?  How many more legs does "Winning Rabbit" need after all? Here is how each sounds on the flip side—especially if you were to ask a judge: Stop showing ...

If you have watched the movie "The Hunt for Red October," you know that one submarine was stealthily following another in its "baffles," a sonar blind area behind the pursued submarine. There was a time when Russian submarines would do a series of sharp turning maneuvers to check this blind spot and be ready to fire on a pursuing submarine. This was dubbed "Crazy Ivan." (By the way, the technology of today makes that unnecessary for submarines.) Right now you may be wondering what a Crazy Ivan has to do with breeding rabbits. Nothing really, but when I am planning my breedings to specifically check for recessives a rabbit may be carrying, I somehow associate it with being a Crazy Ivan breeding. Recessives seem to just follow in the course of some lines often hidden by the dominant genes, so some of my blacks have a genetic blind area and I go off course with my breeding to check it.  I have rabbits in all-black lines with no recessives, at least none that ...

There are so many things to learn about the rabbit show world and the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) when starting out. One of those things to which I did not pay much attention at first was registrations and that was because I did not understand them as having any purpose beyond being an ARBA requirement for a rabbit to earn its Grand Champion certificate along with its three qualifying legs. There are quite a few breeders that only register their rabbits when they also can be "granded," as some of us would say. I used to be one of them. However, there are several reasons why I have decided that registrations are important for every senior rabbit in my rabbitry. How one gets a rabbit registered is to bring the rabbit to an ARBA-licensed registrar, which every ARBA-sanctioned rabbit show is required to have present with the exception of fairs. A good registrar thoroughly inspects the rabbit, even more closely than many judges. The registrar is not going to judge ...

I always wish to honor my Lord, Who blesses me with my rabbits, and I want Him to continue to bless me with rabbits. With that in mind, there is one rule that I have tried to keep in my rabbit dealings and that is to treat my sellers and buyers as I would like to be treated as a seller or buyer. I try to be sure to honor them. As with everyone starting out, all the rabbits I first acquired came from other breeders. Some people do not show rabbits that they bought from another breeder but I did because I hoped that my buyers would show rabbits bought from me, assuming that one day I would have some worth selling. In my first year showing, I only had my purchased rabbits to show and some earned Grand Champion certificates! Whenever I posted about their wins or anything else about a rabbit I owned but was bred by another, I made sure that the full name of the rabbit was used at least once in the post or article to give credit to the breeder and I often thanked the seller by name also....

Yesterday was a day for which I had long awaited and it was such a win that I smiled all the way home. Did my rabbit win Best in Show? No. Reserve in Show? No. Best of Breed? No. Best Opposite Sex of Breed? Yes, in one of the two shows, she won BOSB under a judge I look forward to showing under because I highly respect his picks. However, I was quite happy before that win. I had a kindle develop bloat a year ago in the spring. While treating them, I was praying and I heard God tell me, "I saved one for you." The next day, I noticed I had a doe that did not seem as ill as her siblings that I was later unable to save. Yet, I was concerned about the doe because she was not eating well and it could stunt her growth. But, standing on God's promise to me, I named her Shaya, Hebrew for "worthy," because I believe God found her worthy of being saved, so I expected that there was something special about her. As she developed, I saw that she looked exactly like her mother...

Most of the country experienced a rabbit-killing heat wave last week and in my area, there was no breeze at all. Temperature predictions for this week were as high to higher, but this week most of the southeast will have lower humidity, also lowering the heat index. The result would be the rabbits could feel a bit cooler at 85 degrees this week than last week.  We have seen several posts about breeders throughout the country losing rabbits and kits to heat or seeing some oddities showing up in their nest boxes that are usually not common but should be expected in these conditions: fever coats. ( You can read an article about my past experience with fever coats by clicking here. ) I have been fortunate that in the 12 years we have had rabbits we have not lost one to heat. However, in the beginning, we may have just been fortunate due to several contributing factors that we were unaware of at the time. Typically, that does not just happen and requires planning and adapting as necessa...

Tale of Tails Tirza Reserve in Show! Once upon a time, there was a kindle of three does and the rabbit keeper could not keep all three, so she contacted a breeder east of her and another west of her to promise them one doe each, keeping one for herself. She had a very hard choice to make because all three were very similar in their beauty, but each doe would have her own tale to be told... The Tale of Josea Josea was one of my most loving of rabbits. I like to give my rabbits names with meaning, some to honor God and some as a blessing. Josea means "God will increase" and I hoped it would be a blessing of increase for the rabbitry that would be Josea's new home with the breeder to the west.   I entered Josea in the May show in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Because of a conflict with a family event, I was not able to attend, but my friend still planned to go so I delivered Josea to her new home a few days before the show. Josea then won Best of Breed in the first two shows for h...