Baker Family Rabbitry

We had a great time at the American Polish Rabbit Club breed national show this weekend, hosted by our own Wisconsin Polish Rabbit Club right here in Wisconsin! The highlight on the show tables for us was actually someone else's win; a rabbit that we sold a year ago to a Michigan family came to this *national* show in outstanding condition and won the top prize in youth, BEST OF BREED / BEST IN SPECIALTY SHOW!!! It doesn't get any better than that! Congratulations to Stegink Family Rabbitry for the big win with Dot's Iroh!

Dot was over the moon excited when she told me that the kid who bought Iroh last year had told her he won BOB and thanked her. I assumed they meant he'd won BOB at some other show during the year, it wasn't until I saw the results sheet later that I realized it was here at the national show! 😆 They must be doing something right with the care of their animals over there... I handled that rabbit the next day and he sure was looking good 😎

We had a great week with old & new friends (not to mention 24,000 rabbits & cavies) in Kentucky at the 100th ARBA Convention & Show! We also earned some nice placings, including a variety win!

Open Havana:
6 of 21, Blue Jr Buck Timothy's GC1 (also 5 of 26 in the fur class)
4 of 17, Broken Sr Doe Timothy's Mischief Maker (GJ2)
2 of 5, Lilac Sr Buck Timothy's Maybe (WR3)
**BEST OF VARIETY** Lilac (out of 46) Jr Doe Timothy's WR4

Youth Polish:
4 of 16, Black Sr Doe Dot's Bella (BELLA)
2 of 7, Blue Sr Buck Dot's Chewy (CHEWY)
4 of 7, Blue Sr Buck Dot's Stormy Weather (STORM)
6 of 24, Broken Sr Doe Dot's Millie (MILLIE)
8 of 16, Chocolate Sr Buck Dot's Bean (BEAN)

With all the heat we've had the Himalayans were all in summer color, but still picked up a 4th place in Blue Jr Bucks (Della's Jim). No big wins this time in the youth contests, but both kids competed on Team Wisconsin and Della got a callback for the individual judging competition at the senior level, which is fantastic!

It's judging day...
100th ARBA Convention & Show

We had a great time, as always, at the Wisconsin Polish Rabbit Club summer picnic specialty show on Saturday! This is such a special group of people, a fun event, and after so much extreme heat this summer it was a relief to have a nice cool day to show some rabbits. Turnout was impressive, with well over a hundred Polish rabbits in open and 73 in youth.

Dot won BOV Blue & BOV Chocolate in both shows, BOV & BOSV Broken in show B, and Best Of Breed in show B with her Chocolate Sr. Buck, Dot's Cheeto (CHEETO)! Cheeto was also mentioned as a contender for BOB by the show A judge.

The 2023 county fair has ended, and we had a great time, as always! Della swept the Himalayan classes and went on to win "Best Fancy" (the highest available award!!!) with her Black Sr Doe, GC Della's Grace (GRACE). Reserve Champion Himalayan was Della's Mike Wheeler (MIKE), a Blue Sr Buck. In Polish, Dorothy won every variety and got an honorable mention for "Best Fancy." She also competed in showmanship and was Reserve Champion for her age group! Polish Champion was a Broken Sr Buck, GC Dot's Hot Chocolate (HOTCOCO), and Reserve Champion was a Blue Sr Buck, GC Dot's Chewy (CHEWY).

Thank you, Fox Valley Rabbit Club, for another great show last weekend!

Youth Himalayan:
Best Opposite S*x in show B, Black Senior Doe Della's Grace (GRACE)

Open Havana:
Best Of Breed in show A, Blue Senior Buck Timothy's All Alone (CR3)
Best of Breed in show B, Chocolate Senior Buck Timothy's Wait For It (RC1)

Saturday was the Havana RBA National Show! As always with national shows, it was fun to get together with old and new friends and spend the day with hundreds of beautiful Havanas. On top of that, our rabbits performed well in open competition on the table, earning Best Display (Chocolate), Best Opposite S*x Chocolate, and three 2nd-place finishes. In the Chocolate Sr Buck class, we had both 1st and 3rd place.

BOSV Chocolate, Sr Buck Timothy's Wait for It (RC1)
3rd-place Chocolate Sr Buck, Timothy's RI3 (RI3)
2nd-place Blue Sr Buck, Timothy's All Alone (CR3)
2nd-place Lilac Sr Buck, Timothy's John Jay (RI1)
2nd-place Lilac Jr Buck, Timothy's Maybe (WR3)

Thanks to the Great Lakes Havana Breeders Association (especially Tanya) for putting on a great show!

We were in Canton, OH for the Hall of Fame Classic Rabbit Show on Sunday!

Himalayan youth show A:
BEST OF BREED, black jr doe Della's Grace (GRACE)
BEST OPPOSITE S*X, black jr buck Della's Orphan Tessie (TESSIE)
Neither wanted to sit still for a picture 😜

Himalayan youth show B:
BEST OPPOSITE S*X, black jr doe Della's Grace (GRACE)
BEST JUNIOR, black jr buck Della's Orphan Tessie (TESSIE)

Havana open show A:
BEST OF BREED, blue sr buck Timothy's All Alone (CR3)
BEST OPPOSITE S*X, chocolate sr doe Timothy's RI8

Havana open show B:
BEST OF BREED, lilac jr buck Timothy's Maybe (WR3)
BEST OPPOSITE S*X, chocolate sr doe Timothy's RI8

We had a great day at the American Polish Rabbit Club National Show!

BOSV Blue, Sr. Buck Dot's Chewy (CHEWY)
2nd Place Broken Sr. Buck, GC Dot's Hot Chocolate (HOTCOCO)
3rd Place Broken Sr. Doe, GC Dot's Legend of Korra (KORRA)
BOSV Chocolate, Sr. Buck GC Dot's Cheeto (CHEETO)
3rd Place Chocolate Sr. Doe, Dot's Pop (POP)

It's always fun to gather with rabbit friends from around the country! Earning a little bling never hurts, either...

It's always a good time at the Badger Rabbit Breeders Association show!

Youth Polish, show 2 Saturday was another Best of Breed win for Dot's Cheeto (CHEETO), Chocolate Senior Buck

In the Polish specialty shows on Sunday, youth BOS for both shows was Dot's Legend of Korra (KORRA), Broken Black Senior Doe

As always, we thank the hardworking volunteers who make the show happen, and of course the judges, too!

Sunday was the traditional Lakeland RBA show in Elkhorn, WI.

Youth Polish
BEST OF BREED: Chocolate Sr Buck Dot's Cheeto (CHEETO)
BOV Blue, Jr Buck Dot's Chewy (CHEWY)
BOV Chocolate & BOB, Dot's Cheeto (CHEETO)
BOSV Chocolate, Jr Doe Dot's Pop (POP)
BOV Ruby-eyed White, Jr Buck Dot's Leonardo (LEOJR)
This is the third-straight show Cheeto has won BOB, he's on a hot streak!

Open Havana
BEST OF BREED: Chocolate Sr Buck Timothy's Wait For It (RC1)
BOV Blue, Jr Buck Timothy's All Alone (CR3)

Thanks to the judges, and to Lakeland RBA for hosting the show and for bringing back the BBQ rabbit sandwiches this year!

We had a great time at the Don Neumeier Memorial Show on Saturday! This is an annual Polish-only specialty show (double) presented by the WI Polish Rabbit Club.

BEST OF BREED / BEST IN SPECIALTY SHOW
Both judges chose the same winner: Chocolate Sr Buck Dot's Cheeto (CHEETO)

First Show, judge Rachel Pentermann
BOV Blue, Sr Buck Dot's Stormy Weather (STORM)
BOSV Blue, Sr Doe Dot's Marshmallow Peep (PEEP)
BOV Broken, Sr Buck Dot's Hot Chocolate (HOTCOCO)
BOV Chocolate & BOB, Sr Buck Dot's Cheeto (CHEETO)
BOSV Chocolate, Jr Doe Dot's Pop (POP)

Second Show, judge Theresa Christen
BOV Blue, Sr Doe Dot's Marshmallow Peep (PEEP)
BOV Broken, Sr Buck Dot's Hot Chocolate (HOTCOCO)
BOSV Broken, Sr Doe Dot's Scalene Triangle (SCAL)
BOV Chocolate & BOB, Sr Buck Dot's Cheeto (CHEETO)
BOSV Chocolate, Sr Doe Dot's Cake (CAKE)

Three of these rabbits finished their Grand Championships at this show (earning their third leg). Marshmallow Peep earned her 11th leg.

Reminder for our local Polish rabbit friends: this weekend's Polish Specialty is not to be missed! Today is the deadline for $3 entries; you can still enter right up to showtime but the price will go up to $4.50 (which is still a good deal, really).

Saturday in Fond du Lac was a double show, and we did pretty well...

First Show

Youth Himalayan
BOS (& BOV Black), Sr Buck MG Hector (HHM25)
BOV Blue & Best Junior, Blue Jr Buck Della's Mike Wheeler (MIKE)

Youth Polish
BOB, Black Sr Buck Dot's Easter Egg (EGG)
BOS, Blue Sr Doe Dot's Marshmallow Peep (PEEP)
BOV Ruby-eyed White

Open Havana
BOB & BOS (no competition)

Second Show

Youth Himalayan
BOB & BEST IN SHOW 🏆 Black Sr Buck MG Hector (HHM25)
BOV Blue, Jr Buck Della's Mike Wheeler (MIKE)

Youth Polish
BOV & BOSV Black
BOV Blue
BOV Ruby-eyed White

Open Havana
BOB & BOS (no competition)

🏆 BEST IN SHOW 🏆

MG Hector (HHM25), a Black Himalayan Sr Buck, was selected by judge Cindy Stelloh as Best In Show Saturday at the Fox Valley Rabbit Club Show in Fond du Lac, WI (youth show C)!

Friday night rabbit show! We had fun on a Friday night in Fond du Lac with the Fox Valley Rabbit Club:

Youth Polish:
Best of Breed REW Sr Buck Double UP's Leonardo (LEO)
BOS Blue Sr Doe Dot's Marshmallow Peep (PEEP)

Youth Himalayan:
BOS & Best Junior, Blue Jr Buck Della's Mike Wheeler (MIKE)

We had a great time at the WSRBA Members- Official State Convention! In addition to Dot's royalty competition win, we showed rabbits and took home some prizes:

Himalayan (youth)
BEST OF BREED, Black Sr Buck MG Hector (HHM25)

Polish (youth)
BOV Blue, Sr Doe Dot's Marshmallow Peep (PEEP)

Havana (open)
BEST OF BREED, Chocolate Sr Doe Timothy's PR4 (PR4)
BOS, Lilac Sr Buck Timothy's Unicorns (CH3)

At the Sunday "Day After" show, we won:

Himalayan (youth)
BOS, Black Sr Buck MG Hector (HHM25)
Best Junior, Blue Jr Buck Della's Mike Wheeler (MIKE)

Polish (youth)
BEST OF BREED, Ruby-eyed White Sr Buck Double UP's Leonardo (LEO)
BOS, Broken Sr Doe Dot's Scalene Triangle (SCAL)
BOV Blue, Sr Doe Dot's Marshmallow Peep (PEEP)

Havana (open)
BEST OF BREED, Lilac Sr Buck Timothy's Unicorns (CH3)
BOS, Chocolate Sr Doe Timothy's PR4 (PR4)

Thanks to the WSRBA Board, our fellow exhibitors, and of course the judges! Jill Schmitt, Maddie Pratt, Louis Potter, Erik Bengston, Joel Marshall, Scott Wiebensohn

Dorothy earned the title of 2022 WSRBA Duchess! This competition starts with a written application, then at the state convention there's a difficult multiple-choice test, an in-person interview, a breed ID test (identify the breed and exact variety of 25 live rabbits & cavies just by looking at them), and a judging competition (judge 4 classes of 4 animals each). Feel free to address Dot as "Your Grace" next time you see her...

Friday was Rabbit Show Day at the fair! Della didn't have any senior Himalayans in good show condition but she did win both junior classes. Dot won Reserve Champion Polish with Dot's Li'l Comf (LILC)! Fun fact: the Champion Polish was a full sibling of Li'l Comf, a doe that Dot sold to a friend last year and has clearly been well cared-for! That rabbit also went on to win Reserve In Show: Dot's Sun (SUN), owned and exhibited by Honey Oak Rabbitry

Dot also participated in Rabbit Showmanship, and was the Champion of her age group! Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to put on a great fair show, and also the excellent judges: Rachel Pentermann (rabbits) and Kyle Adams (showmanship).

Our kids also raise Call Ducks. The county fair opened with poultry judging this morning; our kids swept the Bantam Duck classes and also won Champion and Reserve Champion Ducks (all breeds)! Rabbit judging is tomorrow (Friday) morning starting at 8:00.

We had a great time this weekend at the Friendly Rabbit Club shows in Galesville, WI. Dorothy showed her Polish in 4 all-breed shows plus a WI Polish Rabbit Club specialty show, winning BOB in 4/5 (with the same rabbit), plus BEST IN SHOW in show D, and several BOV/BOSV wins in black, broken, blue, and REW. We even had a cousin come hang out with us and join in the victory pictures! Thanks to the clubs for putting on a great weekend of shows, and to all the judges!

🏆 BEST IN SHOW 🏆

Dot's Li'l Comf (LILC), a broken blue Polish senior buck, was selected by judge Mike Avesing as Best In Show Sunday at the Friendly Rabbit Club show in Galesville, WI (youth show D). This capped off a big weekend for this rabbit, who was shown 5 times and won Best Of Breed in 4 out of 5 shows!

Dot's Polish did well at the Lakeland RBA show in Elkhorn today. In show 1, she won BOB with a black senior buck, Dot's Oreo (OREO). In show 2, she won the two biggest classes plus BOV Black (Dot's Avatar the Last Airbender AANG) and BOV Broken (Dot's Li'l Comf LILC).

Dot's favorite spring junior was BOS in show 1 and BOB in show 2, making the most of his show debut today at the Central WI RBA show in Marshfield (Broken Blue Junior Buck, Dot's Li'l Comf LILC).

Our Himalayans and Havanas didn't have any competition today 😒 so we won BOB and BOS in both breeds...against ourselves.

While Dad and Della were away for Himalayan Nationals, Dot showed her Polish (and Dad's Havanas) at the Tri-County show in Jefferson, WI. Best of Breed Polish on Saturday was a broken chocolate senior buck, Dot's Hot Chocolate (HOTCOCO). Best of Breed Havana both days was a lilac senior buck, Timothy's Unicorns (CH3). These bucks are both expecting to become fathers next week, fingers crossed for some kits to take after their sires!

We went to the Himalayan Nationals last weekend, despite none of Della's Himalayans being in show condition, and had a good time. The show included a fun class for "Best S**t," which Della won with a doe who developed an awesome s**t spot on the chest after her last litter. The prize was a Best S**t Cone of Shame!

(For those who don't know: Himalayan markings are affected by the weather, with markings coming in darker in cold, wet conditions, and coming in lighter when it's hot. Sometimes this includes dark spots in the white areas, which is a disqualification ("s**t"). Once it's there, we have to wait for the fur to molt out, hopefully during better weather to get us the balance of dark markings and clean white pelt that the standard calls for.)

You probably know that we went to Louisville, KY in October for the ARBA National Convention, but you probably don't know how we did because I never got around to posting any results. Oops. Best thing first: our kids were in the same age group for youth contests this year, and represented Wisconsin as two members of the four-person rabbit judging team...and they won first place! That's right, half of the National Champion team lives in our house!!

We also showed rabbits, of course, and all of our entries placed. Best placing was 2nd place Himalayan Blue Senior Buck, and all of our entries made the top ten except an 11th place Havana Black Senior Doe (in a huge class that included the Best of Breed winner). We're pretty happy with how well we did, and can't wait to go do it again next fall in Reno, NV!

Della earned 1st place in Wisconsin youth Himalayans last year, and Dot earned 2nd place in youth Polish. The Wisconsin Polish Club maintains a separate sweepstakes based only on breed and variety wins, and Dot earned 2nd place in that competition, too!

* In rabbits, "sweepstakes" is an annual award for which club members earn points all year every time their rabbits place well (the higher they place and the more competition they beat, the more points you get).

Before the spring show season starts up, let's brag a little about the fall season! We posted some of our successes as they came last fall, but some we didn't. Here is the bling from the 2021 fall shows we did not post about before:

All packed up and ready to go home! Thank you Crossroads Rabbit and Cavy Shows for hosting the 98th Annual ARBA Convention in Louisville, we had a great time!