News!!
5 April 2008 - Our second Montgomery County Fair was quite a success. Though the goats that Kate and Emma showed did not do that well, the girls did great at the rabbit show. Of the 54 pens there, Kate's took Reserve and went to auction where it brought $8,000.00. She was pretty excited to also get a buckle. In addition to this, Kate also won senior Showmanship, and Emma won the junior Showmanship. They both got very nice jackets and a cash award of $60.
Friday evening before the Market Pen show Saturday morning we went up to the Extension office and helped pick market pens for some exhibitors who needed the assistance. Tonya helped Keith Lemons weigh and check for disqualifications. Russ and Kate evaluated the prospects and tried to put the pens together. Emma was a huge help keeping her cousins safe and entertained while the rest of the family worked on picking pens. We ended up picking the fourth, fifth and 13th place pens up there before coming home and picking our pens.
26 September 2005 - Thank the good Lord we had no damage from Rita. The last minute (comparatively speaking) turn was a God send. I feel for those in east Texas and western Louisiana, where this nasty storm went through, and wouldn't wish it on anyone, but am thankful it was not a direct Galveston hit. We only have a few limbs down, lots of yard work ahead, and lost power for 18 hours, but otherwise are fine. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone out there as they get resettled. My big concern is now that this storm turned, everyone that evacuated this time will not in the future. Folks are frustrated by all the traffic and fuel issues, but I wonder if they are considering the number (about 2 million) of people that had to be moved. If they had waited, it would have been too late if the storm had not turned. They have learned to have fuel trucks in place to refuel the corridor stations, and road side assistance in place before calling for the evacuations in the future, and I hope individuals have learned not to leave home without a full tank of fuel, and food and water for everyone in their vehicle. Our prayers are also with those families affected by the terrible bus tragedy just south of Dallas. What a nightmare for everyone.
18 September 2005 - Boy the heat is like the energizer bunny....keeps going. It is brutal on the Mini Rex fur especially, but the poor Cals with their "exploding coats and fading points" aren't feeling beautiful right now either. We only have 5 babies for the extravaganza, and 9 for the county fair market pens. It will be interesting choosing two pens for the fair.
The first "litter" of Chin MR's is here. There were only 3, 2 whites and a "dark" one. Well, the "dark one" is "Budda" he is a self chin, and is just as cute as he can be with his multiple rolls. Being the "only child" his wonderful momma made sure he was never hungry. I was worried he wouldn't be able to walk he was so fat, but he is getting around much better the last week. We will try again when it cools off for "traditional" chin babies.
We are also proud to announce that we have filled in any empty cage space we had. We have acquired the last stock from "Tracy's Honey Bunnies". T5, is now here with 3 of her daughters, BD "Dove", BA a broken senior doe, and BC, a castor senior doe. There is also "BUL" a broken senior buck, and 4 broken babies out of him and BC. There is no room in the inn, and we will be evaluating herd does soon. Keep and eye on the for sale page.
20 August 2005 - When will the heat go away? We lost Bud last week to an apparent broken back after a mid-day thunderstorm. It was a sad day for MHR. We still have his sons and grandsons to go on in his stead. We have recent litters for the 2005 Harris County Fair, and recently bred for the 2005 4-H Rabbit extravaganza. Litters have been smaller, but so far only one misfire. We have heard it has been a rough summer for many folks. I am anxiously awaiting upcoming chinchilla MR babies at the end of this month. School is back in session, and marching band will limit our show season until after the new year. I am beginning to understand the saying "youth is wasted on the young". Trying to keep up with all the schedules is a challenge.
26 July 2005 - Hope this finds you all surviving the heat! Oh my it has been a scorcher! My husband who is supposed to keep me grounded helped me to acquire 3 new babies. When we first started looking for Mini Rex, I fell in love with the Chinchilla variety. Well now thanks to the patience and understanding and changing of passions for the Cozad family, I now have a lovely trio! I am so excited! I may actually have to try showing in open with these guys!
When we went to pick up the MR Chinchilla trio, we looked at some other stock. Kate fell in love with a lightly marked broken castor doe which she purchased with her own monies. She is a doll, and has great fur and type at 4 months old. While we were there I wanted to look at their senior doe that had taken best opposite of breed at nationals several years ago. She is so pretty in pictures, well, she is 4 and she's still got it! She is so nice! She is also now in our quarantine cages getting fawned over by the Upton girls! Thanks Lisa, we love her! I can't wait till we can see what she throws with our bucks.
It has been great fun since HLSR to go to shows and see stock that we sold do well on the table. Kate giggles and says yep, we beat ourselves again! We love to see the kids that purchased them do well. We have met so many awesome people through the bunnies!
03 March 2005 - See our HLSR page for our amazing results at the Houston Livestock Show.
22 January 2005 - My how time flies. I apologize for being so delinquent in updating this page. A lot has happened since this fall. We haven't attended too many shows, as at the start of the season we had an issue with them molting. However, the shows we have attended have all involved wins. A mini rex born in our barn out of Party Sister and Beany is now eligible for Grand Champion with 3 BOV wins! (Mom is in trouble, as she forgot his pedigree at the last show when we were to register him). We have 2 young men in the MR's that only lack their senior leg to be eligible. The Californians are doing well, always in the top of the class, and getting their legs as well. They are so much more competitive than the MR's.
In October, Kate competed with her market pens once again, and placed in the money yet again! We have learned that keeping the does in production is the key to larger litters. The litter sizes have almost doubled.
Also this fall, Bud didn't seem to be able to "complete his job". Not for lack of trying. We had noticed that he was hanging a bit low in the private section. When it became his turn to get his nails trimmed, we noticed that his scrotum was very large. Not swollen, but long, in fact, he was standing on it. Now understand that we are not prone to take a rabbit to the vet; however, Bud is very special, so off we went. Our vet is super, and very understanding. He gave us two options: try to trim the scrotum, or neuter him. Of course we wanted this boy to stay in production, but Kate told the vet, whatever was best for Bud. Well, we have the first ever scrotum reduction in our barn. Bud recently bred with two does for the Californian Nationals market pen competition. Way to go Dr. Miller, you did a great job!
On 15 January 2005, we attended a double show in Conroe. The show went on forever, 15 hours. We were told there were over 1,200 rabbits there, way more than they expected. We had a great time, came home with 3 legs on our entries, and were very tired.
We are preparing for Houston Livestock Show in March, and the Mini Rex and Californian National specialty shows in April! We are very excited, as Emma will be able to enter her first meat pen competition, and we have never been able to attend Nationals before, but they are in Belton, Texas, and we can't pass that up! We already have our reservations!
04 September 2004 - Fair season is upon us, and show season is here! Many babies in nestboxes, and fighting serious molts with the show stock, but excited to get back and see all our "bunny show family" again. It is strange how you miss it. Unfortunately out of 3 litters of MR's there is only one broken. The pattern is nice except for only 1/2 nose marking.
Some first time moms in the Californians are proving themselves to be good mommas. decent sized litters at 6 - 8, and taking care of them very well. We are proud of our mommas, and excited to see how this batch of babies turns out.
30 March 2004 - We have 3 litters in the boxes. 2 out of Pickles x Bud, 7 out of Belle x Bud, and 6 out of Party Sister X Beany. Party's babies are all brokens, 4 charlies, and 2 very nicely marked babies. No peanuts in that litter, yeah.
21 March 2004 - Did well at Montgomery County Fair Rabbit show. Took 1st place in Sr. Broken Buck, Jr. Broken Buck, Jr. Castor Buck and Doe, and 2nd in Sr. Castor Doe. George, the Jr. Broken buck went on to take BOV, BOB, and RIS! Emma was so excited, 2 large plaques for one small bunny. We are hoping he finishes out as nice as he is starting.
The Cals did fairly well too. 4th, 6th, 7th in their classes. This crazy hot/cold weather makes keeping a coat a nightmare. It was a decent sized show, with some nice competition. A Californian Doe took BIS, and she was very nice!
16 March 2004 - Well, we survived the 2004 Houston Livestock Show, and are proud of the outcome. The meat pen finished in the top 50 pens out of 169 pens total. Our hat is off to the judge Randy Shumaker who had a tremendous job on his hands!
This is the first time Kate has entered the breeder show, and she took 3 Cals and 3 Mini Rex. The Cals did well in their large classes. They were all 6 months old, but the doe had to show in the Senior class. She took 6th out of 48. The bucks did well in a class of 28, with 5th and 7th place. The Mini Rex did well also. George, the junior broken Castor buck, took 1st in his class. The junior Castor buck took 2nd as well as the Junior doe. We are proud of our girls, and the hard work they put in on their projects.
01 January 2004 - Happy New Year Everyone! We have 11 Cal kits in the boxes, these will be this years Houston Livestock Show prospects. Now the waiting. Rosie went to a wonderful new home today where she will be the "princess" of the castle. We know she will be happy.
I have got to share our kindling experience. We had one of our first time Cal Does "Pickles" deliver a single kit on Monday the 29th. We put that kit in with the litter of 9 to keep warm and left Pickle's box in. The 30th, nothing but a happy hungry doe that fed her single and 3 others. The 31st I took the boxes out to the 2 moms, and they got in to feed. The "experienced" mom fed quickly and got out. I checked tummies and took her box in. When I came back out to check Pickles, she was bloody faced and eating something! I very unceremoniously yanked her out of the box, calling her some unkind words, and discovered a mess. On closer exam I realized there was a fetus in the box with the older babies, so I scooped out the live babies and put them in my shirt and gave Pickles her box back. She was quite upset with me! When I got to the other nest box in the house I realized we were up by one kit. Pickles had delivered another kit about 36 hours after the initial kit. I marked the new kit with a permanent marker like its sibling, and left them to warm up. A couple hours later, I went back out to check on Pickles and discovered she had delivered 3 more kits on the wire (I thought at that point I may have scared her from ever going back in the box). 2 kits were dead, one was alive but very cold. Kate warmed the baby on her tummy, but he only lived about 24 hours. This had to have been the oddest thing we have yet to experience... littermates with birth dates 2 days apart. That is fun to notate in our herd management software.
06 December 2003 - The fair is over, and we are well into this years show season. It is so great to see everyone at the shows again. Kate's meat pen took 19th out of 48, so she finished in Pre-Sale and some money. One of the babies out of the pen already has a leg towards GC. We are now waiting for the prospects for Houston Livestock show to arrive later this month from 4 does. The crazy hot/cold weather is hard on the bunnies coats, and most are molting.
19 November 2003 - Dazzle kindled a litter of 5 out of Avispo. 1 peanut, 2 beautifully marked brokens, and 2 solids. On first guess they are 3 bucks and 2 does, one of the brokens appears to be a doe. We are so excited to see how they turn out. Dazzle is an awesome mommy! None of the other does bred to Rasp have kindled. He may have just been too young. We will try again.
27 September 2003 - We are thrilled with the progress of the meat pen prospects. We are also fairly pleased with the development of the Mini Rex babies. We will have some for sale. Sheriff found a wonderful home with a local Ag (FFA) student's family, in addition to one of the other Castor babies from that "batch".
13 September 2003 - Brenham was a good time. It was great to see many familiar faces, and get caught up on news after the summer. The girls did fairly well on the tables. Kate took many good comments with the cals, although impending molts kept her from placing higher than 4th with them. Emma's Jr. Castor bucks took 1st and 2nd in their class of 6, so one earns a leg. Not bad for 2 1/2 month old babies. Rosie got wonderful comments on her "beautiful red color." We just had to smile, because we know the truth about her castor lineage.
27 August 2003 - We are down to 10 baby cals. Unfortunately Sally broke her back the day after she delivered the 8. This meant a slow start and some losses for that litter, and Belle lost 2 as well as Lady Di. It is humorous to see the mixture of sizes in the boxes. It has been a rough start this year, and we can use the humor.
20 August 2003 - Harris County Meat Pen babies are here. On July 17, we bred all five Californian does. August 17, Belle had a litter of four by Flag. August 18, Sally had a litter of eight by Huck. August 19, Janet had a litter of two by "25". August 20, "31" had a litter of four by "15" and Cindy had a single kit by Bud. We are fostering two of Sally's kits to Janet and two to Cindy to even the nursing load.
12 July 2003 - Update on litters. We are down to 13 babies. 1 from Dazzle, he is a "boots and stars" over-mark, so he has been dubbed "Sheriff" by the girls; the other 2 were peanuts. 3 from SG, seems 2 of hers were peanuts as well. 5 from Dove, one of the 6 developed what seemed to be hydrocephaly, and stopped eating. 4 from "14"'s original 6 remain. She never made milk, and seemed terrified of the babies when they would come toward her to feed. On one attempt to leave her box she stomped the entire litter, and 1 was fatally wounded. There was also a fader in her litter. At that point all the babies were fostered to Dazzle, as her only baby was already fostered to SG, as we had considered rebreeding her for more broken possibilities. This has been an educational round of babies, with many firsts. There is a red from "14", and SG's babies seem slow to fur. Their agouti coat gives them a striped appearance until it comes in fuller. They still have almost bald heads. It is the most bizarre thing! What is even funnier is 2 of the remaining 4 from "14" are "baldies" as well with very thin hair on their heads and backs. We don't know if they are being over-groomed by the mothers, or if it is just a fluke. They are from different sires, are growing and developing fine other than their thin hair. Any ideas would definitely be welcomed.
29 June 2003 - Wow, things are "hoppin'" around here. We have had 4 litters kindle in our Mini Rex herd. A total of 20 babies born, but we have lost two, and possibly have 2 more that will not last. We got one broken castor that is probably an overmark, but fat and sassy. We are hoping it is a typey buck for our breeding stock. The litters are as follows: 25 June 2003 - SG x Lucky = 5 (2 peanuts); 27 June 2003 - "14" x Magic = 6, and Dazzle x Magic = 3 (2 overmarks, 1 solid, (2 peanuts)); 28 June 2003 - Dove x Lucky = 6 (fat and sassy at 32 days). We had 2 surprises in "14"'s box, there are 2 kits that are very light, maybe red or opal, we will have to wait and see. We will keep you posted on their progress, and are looking forward to some nice juniors for the fall show season. See ya' at the tables!
17 May 2003 - Ended the show season with a great show in Navasota. Emma had a great day with a bunny out of our nest box. We took 2 babies born in late January for "comments only". The little buck; nicknamed "Avispo" for little wasp, took 1st in his class and BOSV in show A. In show B he took 1st in Jr. Castor Buck class, BOV, and much to our thrill, BOB! Emma is trying to decide where to hang her first plaque! We met some new folks we had not yet met, and had a great time in spite of the long day! Thanks to everyone who had Emma jumping up and down in front of them telling them about her baby! See you next season.
29 March 2003 - Attended the 4 County Rabbit Club show in Brenham. We had some very tasty rabbit stew for lunch! Emma is thrilled, Lucky won his 3rd leg; therefore he is a "pending" Grand Champion! All three legs have been Best Of Variety. We are very Proud. In addition, Dazzle took 2nd in both shows, and Super Girl took 3rd and 2nd. They are coming along nicely. Emma also took "Little Boy", a Junior Castor buck born in our barn out of Magic and Dove. He has taken 1st in every show he has been entered in. Unfortunately, there have only been 3 Jr. bucks in each of those classes, and he can not compete with the seniors...yet. Kate took 4 Junior Californian Does for evaluation. There were 22 in the Junior class, and her 4 placed 10th, 8th, 3rd, and 2nd. We are proud of them as well. The Californian classes were very large, a lot of great competition.
15 March 2003 - Attended SARBA show in Seguin, TX. Lucky took 1st and BOV in Youth MR Specialty show. BM13 out of Dove and Tracy's T8 took 1st in Jr. Buck in Youth Specialty and general youth show. Belle took 2nd in Youth Cal Specialty and 4th in general Youth show. We are pleased to announce new additions to our herd! Lazy J's Dazzle a senior broken Castor Doe, and Lazy J's Super Girl a junior Castor Doe. Thank you to Jessica Henderson of Lazy J Rabbitry for these beautiful new additions.
04 March 2003 - Exciting day! Kate's first time to compete at Houston Livestock Show. She entered a meat pen, and was one of 129 on the table for judging. It seems this year there were 263 entrants registered, 146 showed up on the day of, and 129 made it to judging after DQ's. Kate's pen finished at 18th place out of 129. We are thrilled. The only other member of our 4H group entered also finished in the top 20 prize winners as well at 3rd place. This is the young lady who helped us with our foundation stock. We are so proud of both of them.
27 January 2003 - Dove kindled a litter by Kare Kedi's Dax owned by Jill Pitts, and Dove's sire. Dove is a BUD at 5 pounds, and delivered 11 kits, one on the wire dead, and 10 live kits. Truffles kindled a litter of 3, no peanuts, by Lucky, and received 3 from Dove to foster. All are doing well.
December 24-26, 2002 - Houston Livestock Show meat pen prospects arrive. Belle kindled four by Huck. Sally kindled five and Janet kindled four by Bud. Hopefully we will have a decent pen out of these adorable kits.
November 4-6, 2002 - Lady Godiva and Dove each had litters by Magic 8-Ball. Godiva raised four and Dove raised 8. We have sold some of these for pets, and continue to evaluate and sell others.
October 25, 2002 - Kate's meat pen from the Huck X Sally litter took third place at the Harris County Fair and went on to auction where it brought $500. Thanks to Black Cat Fireworks for supporting our 4-H and FFA youth.
This page was last updated on 04/06/08.