The Havana Story as told by Becky Stock.
Havanas have
been an interesting journey. Tim Johnson and I had a very successful 3
years showing Havanas
together. We won several Best in Shows, numerous Best of Breeds, and we
had Best Chocolate at the spring National.
In the fall of 2003 we decided to split the herd up. He kept the Blacks
and added some Blues and Brokens. I took the Chocolates home with
me. Then my son, Mike, talked me into letting him breed the does and show
the babies. Yeah, the Havanas
are now my son's. He loves them. His first two litters were all
named after the characters from the Simpson's TV show. His first batch of
babies produced some exceptional animals.
He won his first ever Best 4 Class and had a Runner-up 4 class with different
animals. One of those does, Maggy, produced a daughter named Dixie who won Best in Show for Mike. His first Best in Show Ever. He was SO excited.
I was SO proud of him. Second generation home bred out of the rabbits that Tim
Johnson and I had raised together. The future sure was looking bright.
Mikey loves showing his rabbits. One of his favorite shows of the year is
the Iowa State Fair. This show is held in August in conjunction with the
Great Iowa State Fair. This is an open only show. There is no
separate youth class. He entered his Havanas and was so proud to win Best
Chocolate with a doe named Iris. His other rabbits placed very well, and
he was awarded the Best Display plaque for earning the most sweepstakes
points of any exhibitor in the whole show. Boy was he surprised.
A couple months later we attended the ARBA Convention in Indianapolis, IN.
Mike was super excited to be showing his Havanas
for the first time at an ARBA Convention. As it turned out his blacks
were too young and didn’t place in the top 5. But His Chocolates did much
better. His senior bucks placed 2nd and 3rd. His senior does placed
1st and 3rd, his junior bucks placed 4th and 5th, and his junior does placed
1st and 3rd. His senior doe Iris won Best Chocolate and his junior doe
Megan won Best Havana Fur. He received Best Chocolate display He was
SO EXCTED!!!
Mike has many plans for his Havanas.
One of which includes adding some Brokens and working on improving the
color quality on his Blues. I wish him all the luck and give him all my
support. He is quite a rabbit breeder in my completely unbiased
opinion.
2007 has been an interesting year for us. It has had some huge ups and downs. We have had a very successful breeding year
with the Havanas,
raising over 70 babies. Recently we have had some bad luck with some mucoid enteropathy. We are thinking it is feed related, and are
now in the process of switching feeds.
Time will tell. Hopefully the
bunnies will stop falling over dead at 5-9 weeks old!
UPDATE! Mike won BIS at the Polk County
4-H and FFA Fair!!! Although it is not ARBA sanctioned we have a good group of
kids that show ARBA in our county. With
about 150 rabbits there is some stiff competition! Congrats Mike!
Now sights are being set on the upcoming Iowa State Fair 4-H and
Open shows. I’ll post updates on those
as they occur.
~Becky
