The Next Chapter....: Trinity County Livestock Show

The Trinity County Fair and Livestock show was this weekend. Colt has been raising Californian Rabbits for the show. We got the rabbits when they were 6 weeks old and they are now 10 weeks old. They are raised for meat and he showed three of the best rabbits. The goal was to get three rabbits that were as identical as possible and as close to five pounds as possible. Colt's rabbits weighed in at 4.4 pounds each. Everyone was impressed that they all weighed exactly the same! After we arrived at the fair grounds we set the rabbits up in their temporary cage. The show was later on that afternoon so we just walked around and enjoyed looking at all of the animals. This is a very small county livestock show. There is not a fair! Time came for the show and Colt looked awesome! We carried the rabbits to the judging area along with 21 other contestants. Once in the arena, Colt was left to meet the judge. The judging was a slow process and I must say a very nerve racking process! All rabbits were examined and then the judge announced that he would start sending rabbits home. He SLOWLY started sending kids and their rabbits home. He got down to the last five contestants and again the judge spoke to the crowd. He explained that all of the kids had great rabbits. The last five kids all had two exceptional rabbits and one that was a little different. He then examined all of the rabbits again and then Colt was selected to go home, making him the 5th place winner. We were so excited! We have never participated in a livestock show or raised rabbits! The judge told Colt that his rabbits were great just a little light. They should have been a little fatter! Colt was beaming! He said he was so nervous being out there! We stayed and watched all of the other judging that night. The next day we didn't have to do much except for take care of the rabbits and wait for the auction. All animals go to auction regardless of their place. We honestly had no idea what to expect, my biggest fear was that no one would bid! I didn't want to have to buy our own rabbits! Colt was super nervous about going up on stage. He had to carry one rabbit with him and stand in front of the crowd. He did great and even though the rabbit was clawing him, he smiled the whole time! The rabbits sold for $600!!! I couldn't believe it! Yea! The Friday Buyers Group bought the rabbits. They are a local group that hold fundraisers just to help raise money to buy kids animals! Colt was exhausted! We headed home because the other requirement of the show is that all kids help clean up on the last day. We had to arrive very early to start shoveling pine shavings and poop! Colt worked super hard for 4 hours cleaning up! I think he was worn out but in the end he would tell you it was worth it because the Friday group ended up giving his rabbits back to him. He had cried about having to sell them but most often the kids do get their animals donated back to them! So now we have FIVE rabbits! YIKES! We have them in several cages and we think we only have one boy so he is alone. I sure hope we haven't made a mistake in determining the sex and we end up with lots of baby rabbits! This was a great first experience and Colt is super excited to raise more animals next year. He wants to raise a goat but we are going to encourage him to raise rabbits for one more year.