Happy New Year!

2011. The Year of the Rabbit! How fitting.

I am so excited for the coming year! 2010 brought Oak Ridge our first Best of Breed wins in both breeds, our first legs on homebred rabbits in both breeds, and even the granding legs on two of our starting herd rabbits in both breeds. "Both breeds" is getting a little redundant, but 2010 was a big year for our rabbitry; the best one yet! And I can only imagine was 2011 has in store for us.

I am not one to make resolutions; plans that I must complete before the new year in order to be successful. But I like compiling a list of goals. These goals are not always met, but they are plans that I strive for and whether I reach them or not within a year, I am still proud of the effort that I've actively put in all year to try and get there. With that in mind, I do like to keep it realistic. I sure would love to win a Best in Show this year, but I realize I probably need to start winning breed more consistently to have a chance at that. So what are my goals for 2011? What am I hoping to accomplish?

- Go to more shows! For many years, I was only making 3 or 4 shows a year. I want to travel a lot more this year and attend at least 50% of the shows in PA, and maybe some out-of-state as well.

- Win more legs on homebred rabbits. If I'm going to more shows, I want to really hold my own and be able to compete with the best!

- Keep more homebred rabbits. Right now, my herd sits about half and half. I have been progressing well in both breeds, but by the end of the year, I would love to be able to say that a majority of my rabbits are Oak Ridge.

- Help at least one breeder get started. Over the past two years, I have helped several local breeders get started, not only by selling them the best stock I could but also by sharing what I know about my breeds and rabbits in general. Part of the fun in this hobby is being able to do that, so I am hoping to continue to for 2011.

- Register and grand at least one rabbit. I have two rabbits who qualify for G.C. but have been lazy about getting them granded. I want to get them done and then hopefully grand one more in the following year as well. This is difficult with the amount of shows I attend to get enough legs on before does go into the breeding herd or before bucks are replaced by offspring. But along with my goal of getting to more shows- let's grand some bunnies too!

- Place in Jersey Wooly sweepstakes. This is going to be a tough one to pull off with a small rabbitry and limited shows but this is going to be my one wild, unrealistic goal. I'm going for it!

- Produce an orange Jersey Wooly. Orange woolies are unrecognized as of this time but so beautiful. I am working towards making one though, so here's to hoping!

Well, there they are for now! I may add some or modify the list as time goes on- I am really so unsure of where my herd will go this year. But I am anxious to find out and excited to spend another year showing with all my friends.

Happy New Year! I hope you're blessed with full nestboxes, many wins, and even more show friends in the upcoming year!