welcome!

Hello All
I am from Northern Illinois and I raise Champagne d'Argents. I show in Illinois,Wisconsin,Iowa and Mo.
I really enjoy the Champagnes with their striking silver color. I have been raising Champagnes about 3 years now. My starter rabbits were from Wayne Cleer's herd. I raised and showed dairy goats for a number of years. I wanted a hobby that was less labor intensive and have never looked back.LOL. Although the experience with the goats fits in well with the rabbits.

Tom

Hello Tom. Welcome to RabbitTalk!

Champagnes are beautiful rabbits. I think you will find others here to raise them. When you have time, we would enjoy it if you post some pictures, either in the Show Rabbits forum or in Random Rabbit Ramblings.

This is 24 pages long! Incredible

Well....My name is Peach and it's kinda funny how I got started on rabbits as of late fall 2011. I had started dating my current boyfriend almost a year ago coming February and when I met him I though he was this 6'3" tough guy with his Chinese Water Dragon. Little did I know...he had a soft spot for rabbits too! I started enjoying rabbits a bunch when I got my first rabbits in the middle of summer Jack and Smokey. Jack remains from the original pair and Smokey lives happily at the barn I ride at to run free with the other barn rabbits. She was just too much to contain and she hangs around just close enough to me when I ride to enjoy my company when I'm riding around. Never too close those She likes being a "wild rabbit" . With Jack remaining, I had the rabbitry as an idea,but after my baby cousins visited and just couldn't get enough of his awesome disposition and personality, I decided I'd like to breed mini lops with good temperament, but make it interesting by competing since I'm EXTREMELY competitive. I've always wanted to own a horse of my own but college funds think otherwise haha I enjoy having something I can hay,give pellets, water,and whatnot. It's relaxing and I enjoy it....PLUS rabbits are addicting! haha <3

Hey Everyone! New to the forum but not new to rabbits.

I come from 3+ generations of rabbit raisers. My grandfather raised hundreds of rabbits for a university and medical organization when my mom was growing up. So raising rabbits is in our blood.

I have a rabbitry called AZ Rabbits (http://www.AZRabbits.com) and focus primarily on American Blues and New Zealand Whites. We put our emphasis on selective breeding to improve meat producing qualities while maintaining breed purity. This includes proper rabbit size, litter size, good mothering qualities, breeding excellence and growth rates. We enjoy helping others get started and teaching the basics of raising rabbits.

We're members of ARBA and in the process of joining other important organizations. We also actively promote backyard rabbit meat production and offer to come speak to groups (within reason) about the benefits and even doing demonstrations. Besides that, we have side businesses and hobbies dealing with preparedness, self reliance, survival and whatever else goes with these.

I look forward to participating in this forum!

Welcome, AZ!!! Glad you made it over here from BYH!

Hi AZ!

You sound like my and my husband's kind of people. Welcome to RT- I look forward to getting to know you and hearing your input.

Annette

Hello AZ! Glad to have you with us!

Welcome AZ - nice website!

Greetings,

An invitation was graciously extended to myself from Maggie, while we were on another website. "Thank You, Maggie."

Information about myself: 61 years old, retired steelworker, father of 10, 6 boys and 4 girls. The youngest is going to graduate HS this upcoming year. Married (one would assume <hopefully>, given the previous information) We live on a small acreage just outside the city limits. I'm an elected schoolboard member in the CCR3 school district. Involved with the school, community, and young people of our area.

I am a published author of the fictional novel "Box of Dreams". I'm working on the sequel, which should be completed near the end of May or first part of June. Both are historical romance genre's. Please, feel free to visit my website: http://www.ekfelts.com for more information if you are interested. I've written for over 30 years. Mostly short stories, solicited articles for magazines, and my local paper concerning political and current events.

Rabbits: Presently, my youngest son and I operate a small, commercial 30 doe herd of NZW's. Plans for expansion are in the works to increase the capacity to 50 does, possibly more. Just yesterday, I had a solicitation/visit from a person involved with setting up a USDA approved processing facility, located not far from my residence. Who's goal is receiving 1000 head per day for slaughter. The group's main concern is finding and cultivating an interested group of breeders that will be able to meet their demands, while offering a profitable incentive to keep growers producing for them.

We are increasing production to become involved with the DeBruin group out of Iowa. It appears that the "rabbit-market" is expanding beyond the limited horizons breeders have been forced to operate within for the past several decades. I started my first rabbitry in 1974. A lot of "change" has occurred since that first 20 doe herd.

I operate a small greenhouse during the late-winter and early-spring, producing vegetable plans for resale to the public. During the summer, my sons and I cultivate a 15,000 square foot market garden, growing produce we sell to the public. Did I mention I was retired? LOL
Grumpy.

Hey, Grumpy! Nice that you found your way over here!

Sounds like there are big opportunities for rabbit raisers in your part of Missouri. I hope it's the beginning of a trend.

Welcome, Grumpy! Wonderful opportunities for you! Hey, doesn't retirement mean that you've stopped doing what you had to do in order to prepare for doing what you want to do?

Jumping in and saying hello. I have raised rabbits off and on for most of my life. I am in the middle of setting up my new rabbitry with hopes of setting it up as perfectly as possible using past experience and new ideas to make it as efficient as I can. I have located breeding stock and hope to have everything up and running soon. I am here to learn.

Welcome, WB!

It sounds like we will be able to learn a lot from you too! Be sure to post pics and tips on your rabbitry, and the bunnies of course when you have them!

What do you raise rabbits for, and what breed are you getting?

Glad to have you with us, WallyBear. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your rabbits and set-up as things evolve. Must be nice to be starting from scratch with years of experience to draw on!