Tulamore Farm & Rabbitry

We Wish You All A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

This is our 2009 Christmas Bunny -- "Baby Boy" at 4 1/2 weeks old

Here on the east coast, we got blasted with with a winter storm today. As of 5 pm, we had about 2 feet of light, fluffy snow. We spent quite a while preparing last night but still had a lot to deal with especially down at the barn with the wind blowing the snow right into the horse's stalls.

We put up the remaining plyboard to close up the lean-to where Nick and Shaun live in their hutches and it was snow free today. This is the first time we have had to deal with the ducks in extreme weather. After they came out this morning they headed under the house where it is protected by plastic and the pond is heated. The pen had to be shoveled out several times today. 

Annie works on the front walk

Fall decorations also work well for winter.

The driveway was a constant effort as well as paths to the barn.

Toasty inside - a chance to take some pictures.

A little, round snowbird jumping for the seeds on the ornamental grasses

Red Dancer ornament

The lalique bunnies with a holiday bow

It was quite a bit of work keeping the snow under control but the house was warm, I made a big pot of chili for lunch and we spent time looking through pictures and other "memory" items and had some laughs. After all the critters are tucked in for the evening, I hope to continue working on the alpaca I am spinning. Stay warm everybody!

"What Snow?"

Timing the birth of angora litters is very important in reaching your goals for your show rabbits. Plan ahead to have your seniors and juniors at their best for the big shows (Nationals, Convention, etc.) or, like in my area, the clusters of spring and fall shows. My juniors seem really start to develop at 4 – 4 ½ months and my seniors seem to be best from 8 to 11 months old. The whites and torts keep their coats the longest while the agoutis and dark colored rabbits will start to slip a little earlier. This past season has been pretty well timed as the angoras we have shown have granded with the exception of Helen and Anouk who just turned senior this month. Now if I could just convince my breeding does to stick to the schedule!

Delilah and brother Aspen at about 3 weeks old.

The most recent to grand is Tulamore’s Delilah with her BOB win at the Richmond RBA show. It took De a while to get there – she has had some very serious competition in the colored senior does classes this fall, including her own sister. She ended the season with 5 BOB’s, a 2nd Reserve in Show and several second place finishes to those other awesome does! She was born in early March, went to her first show at 12 weeks old and then spent the summer in air conditioning waiting for the fall shows.

Delilah with littermates Cadence, Caprice and Thai at about 8 weeks old

I took Delilah out for a good grooming in preparation for clipping. Her coat looked so nice and full of life I was wondering if I was making the right decision to clip her. But she’s done all she needs to do and the coat is starting to bother her – she’s not eating as well as usual. Our next show is the PaSRBA Convention in February and I will not attempt to keep her coat that long. So, goodbye to that beautiful show coat! Not a loss though – I just spun a bobbin of Lilliana’s wool and the agouti spins up so pretty. I love the heathering and am looking forward to spinning Delilah’s wool. If I ever get her clipped down – my schedule and a nasty cold have changed my rabbit plans for the past couple days. I’ll post a picture when she is clipped.

All blown out for nice, clean fiber to spin.

You can see her new coat coming through by her shoulders and her bangs

Finally, the hair cut

She spent the summer in the air conditioning in the basement and now she is back for the warmth.

The Richmond RBA winter show was this past Saturday and like last year, brought with it some nasty weather. It was rainy and cold throughout the day but the showroom was comfortable and the food excellent. Dru came down to Maryland on Friday and was dragged along with my crazy schedule for the day. It was nice having her to help take Soutine the Call Duck to Dr. Wendy Feaga. Soutine’s puffy cheeks that we have adored turned out to be indication of a sinus infection. Add ducks to the list of critters that I have had to inject with meds. The hardest by far are pigs – it’s like giving a shot to a football!

Last year at this show, a cold rain and snow mix made packing up after the show a chore. Snow continued through the 3 hour drive home but I did not have to worry about falling asleep – Lilliana’s double Best in Show wins had me ecstatic. By the time I reached Howard County, I-70 was closed due to ice and the roads were treacherous. This year Dru piloted us home safely and I was so comfortable with her driving skills that I could have fallen asleep. We had about 4” of snow at home. I did not bring my camera. I kept my baggage to a minimum as I already had the Flemish taking up considerable room in Dru's car. We could not have squeezed a parakeet in that car! No need to bungee the carriers!

The duck pen and barn with a coating of snow on Monday morning.

The work of Annie and Maura.

The Flemish Giant judging was intense! In the first show, under Judge Rusty Westhoff, Carolyn’s Shaun was BOV light gray and Jules BOSV both with excellent comments. Jennifer’s sandy 6/8 doe Abigail made the trip with me. She had excellent comments but BOV went to the sr doe who went on to be BOB. Shaun was in hot contention for BOS but it too went to the sandy. In the second show, Jules won BOV and Shaun was BOSV. Abigail pulled an upset and unseated the senior doe as BOV. Judge Joel Marshall had Jules, Abigail and a fawn senior doe up on the table for a heated contest for BOB. It went to the fawn – a beautiful doe owned by the lady who did an excellent job writing for the breed. Shaun again was narrowly defeated for BOS. Carolyn and Jennifer were very pleased with the comments on their Flemish. This is Jennifer’s first show rabbit and I think Abigail is an awesome doe.

Angus was again well represented by his offspring in the angora judging – sire or grand-sire of 5 senior does. Anouk was the only white which disappointed me as I thought she looked fabulous. She was strongly considered for BOB in both shows. Delilah earned her third leg to grand with her BOB win and Helen is moving up as she matures and should be a strong contender in the spring. Tinker Toy was brought out of retirement for the Baltimore & Howard show because I thought we needed more colored to compete. At Richmond, he won BOS in both shows. I am kicking myself for not scratching him and giving the other bucks opportunities for legs. Sorry!

Sunday was the day to meet Birgitta to present her with the two “foster” angoras that came back to me in October. I know they will receive excellent care and plenty of lovin’. Birgitta was at the Honeysuckle Pottery in Keymar, MD which was part of the Carroll Co. Artist Studio Tour. Birgitta along with her son Hans, make the most beautiful rag rugs - "All Strings Attached". I admired her work at a fiber festival in New Jersey last June but by the time I got around to shopping, she had packed and gone for the day. Sunday I came home with a beautiful rug handcrafted by Hans. A very unusual design that perfect suits my taste. I was so tempted to buy some lovely yarn that Birgitta had dyed – especially a lime green boucle. I better learn to knit first! Annie and Maura will teach me over the winter break. Birgitta also told me how to fix my spinning wheel so I can get back to all the fiber I have collected.

Penny has claimed Hans' rug as hers! 

All in all it was a good weekend although very exhausting. Carolyn came home to attend the funeral of a friend of ours but I hardly saw her. I went to the wake on Friday - very sad as Shay leaves behind her two young daughters. She will be greatly missed in the horse community.

It’s always nice having Dru visit – our house just seems “cheerier” when she visits.

I finally installed the new wireless printer/scanner/copier. I had been putting it off because usually those things don't go well here. But, surprise -- it works! My husband brought home a postcard from the Netherlands with different breeds of rabbits. I find it very interesting how different the rabbits look and their names. (The first time he went to the Netherlands we asked him to bring home a Netherland Dwarf. He says no one knew what he was talking about.)

So the postcard is the first piece to test the scanner. The names are a little hard to read - maybe try enlarging the page.

Slowly but surely I am working on my spinning skills. At the Shenandoah Fiber Festival in Berryville, VA, I bought some llama rovings - 3 different colors. I decided to start with the black llama and thought it would look good plied with black angora. The llama was fairly easy to spin evenly but I struggled spinning an entire bobbin of pure angora. I'm convincing myself (and my family) that the chunky yarns are more interesting and create a nice pattern when knit. It is very, very soft and a great color. Hopefully some day I will look back on these novice works and have a good laugh.

So why the name? Well, the black angora is from GC Tulamore's Thing One - "Tommy" and then there is the llama. Plied together, you have The Tommy Llama Skein.

Here are some other recent projects: l to r, cream alpaca/chestnut angora; some left over black angora; and some remaining black llama/black angora

We took the dogs to the Catoctin Kennel Club's AKC Rally Trials on the Friday after Thanksgiving and they both earned their 3rd and final legs for their RN Titles with scores of 95 and 94! They earned their first legs at this show last year. Our busy schedule does not allow for many dog shows so it has taken a whole year to get the 3 qualifying scores (70 or better) needed for the title. The next titles we will be going after will be Tracking and Agility. I've been messing around with my camera settings again so the picture quality is not what it should be.

Carolyn and Homestead's Red White and Bosco CGC RN on the course. Great example of how the dog and handler should work together.

Penny showing the attention and enthusiasm that is so important to Rally.

Rally, or Rally-O(bedience) is an AKC event that encourages interaction between dog and handler. In the regular obedience trials, every movement is judged on precision with the dog only to be given one command. Rally is a "looser" form of obedience. All the commands are incorporated but you can talk to and encourage your dog through the course but without touching your dog or tightening your lead.  There are over 30 exercises that are used (different number exercises dependent on the level)  to set up in a pattern on the course with varying degrees of difficulty depending on the level of competition (novice to excellent). Each course has an optimal time and points are taken off for exceeding the op. time.

We are very fortunate to have a rally instructor work with our 4-H club and the kids really enjoy it. I am working on having a rally competition added to our county fair this summer as right now, the 4-H kids only have one opportunity during the year to compete in Rally at the 4-H level and that is at the MD State Fair where entries are limited. I personally feel that Rally is a great way to keep the kids encouraged in the training of their dogs. They often "hit walls" with their obedience training and the interaction in Rally helps re-focus their attention.

"Yep -- Got another title!"

The stork has found its way back to our house! Lilliana delivered 2 chubby babies last Friday and so far all is looking good. I'm sure Dad Luna would be very proud (if he knew). I'm excited about these babies - Lilliana won 2 open BIS, an open B4C and retired with 5 GC legs. Luna was BOS at the '09 Nationals and earned 6 GC legs. Both Lilliana and Luna earned many BOB's. These babies have some great bloodlines behind them so let's see how they develop.

Two Days Old

Not exactly cute and cuddly yet, but I am so, so happy to have some new angora babies!

Photographing animals can be quite a challenge. It is even more of a challenge with a white or black animal. Over- and under-exposure are more likely with the amount of light reflected off those colors. A long topic of conversation at last night's photography class was the picture of Anouk as an alien - very over-exposed. It was very helpful as we discussed light metering and shutter speed and apperture.

Taking pictures of white rabbits that move at the speed of light is an entirely different issue. The two Dwarf Hotot babies like to romp on Carolyn's bed and I take pictures. I swear they sound like a herd of Shetland ponies galloping across the bedspread. They are rarely still enough for a good picture but it does make for some fun shots. This is what most of them look like:

or like this . . .

or this . . . .

Are they getting tired?

Close enough!

Slowing down . . .

They are just catching their breath - they'll be at it until they are put to bed! Electric Bunnies!

Here they go again!

Trying to catch up on the blogging! Most recently, we went to the Baltimore & Howard Co. RCBA show. We were in one of our rainy spells here in MD but it was only a minor annoyance at the show. We were able to set up grooming tables and blowers in the adjacent barn at the fairgrounds.

Annie was first up with the Flemish Giants. Shaun and Jules both placed 2nd in their good sized classes. We were very happy for friend Jennifer - her now 6/8 Sandy doe (from the great guys at The Hoppitry) won her class of 4.  Annie's wonder-boy Nick earned his 12th leg winning his Sandy Sr bucks class and was BOSV. Maura was the third set of hands helping put and keep the Dwarf Hotots on the table. Will and Spidey were hoping for their elusive 3rd legs but Ilene Funck took BOB & BOS. Her senior doe is one of the nicest DH I have ever seen. Ilene also had a good day winning BOS Holland Lop - a breed very new to their barn. Woo-Hoo Ilene and Margaret! I'm sorry, I don't know how your Silver Fox did.

This is my lucky pin - a very detailed depiction of my first EA doe, Severine. This beautiful enamel pin was made by Bev at The Horse Brooch. Check out some of her other work:  http://www.horsebrooch.com/

It was a good day for the Angoras - I wore my lucky pin! Delilah took BOB & BOV colored, Tinker Toy won his colored senior bucks class and was BOSV, Anouk won her white junior does class and was BOV white and Helen won her colored junior does class. BOS was Dru's GC Shepherd's Aslin. We've really been enjoying these recent close-to-home shows and love Dru's visits. She brought us some delicious apple cake that she made with apples from the week before. Yum!

We've packed in 3 shows since Oct 24th. It's been pretty exhausting but I think we will try to go to the Richmond show on Dec. 5th. I really enjoyed that show last year - everybody is so nice there.

I am hearing more and more stories of people losing rabbits to diseases picked up at the shows. I know how heart breaking this is after losing Aspen in September after the Delmarva show where he granded. My message to exhibitors: please, please, please - if you think your rabbit might be sick, leave it at home and take all the necessary steps to get that rabbit well, keep the other rabbits healthy and eliminate the source of the illness.

Nimwe, Will, Spidey and Mordred wait for DH judging

Nicky's right at home in the holding coops

Jennifer's 6/8 doe Adeline