4-H rules

Question
I am a 4-H leader and we just had our fair.  I have 30 kids in my group and they all have at least one, and some 2 rabbits.  I encourage them to get their pet rabbits spayed and neutered and a good majority of them are.  I do breed rabbits occasionally and show them.  Most of these kids have rabbits that are pets and litter trained.  I have paid for the spay/neuter on most of them because they generally get their rabbits from me.  I only do a breeding once per year per rabbit and whatever comes up not to be in the standards for showing or my retired rabbits (after 1 breeding) are spayed/neutered.  Then the kids will adopt one of my pet rabbits for their 4-H project.

Well the judge disqualified almost all of the rabbits and said they can't be altered.  I am curious about something.  4-H is about showmanship and proper care of your rabbits, at least from my perspective.  I did convince the judge to give them all ribbons but I am curious as to why they are disqualified or if there is anything we can do to make this more fun but also teach the kids, who are all under 10 years old that carelessly breeding rabbits is not acceptable.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you

Answer
Hi Ash,

Bless your heart for teaching these kids how important it is to spay/neuter their rabbits.  Now for your question

First they should be judged on showmanship.  I personally think that teaching a child the proper way to handle a rabbit and to check for medical problems (such as malocclusion) early is extremely important.  The big problem is that most ARBA judges, if that is who you hired, must go by ARBA standards.  According to ARBA a rabbit must be sexually intact in order to compete.  I personally think it is a stupid rule for kids that have pet rabbits but I don't make them.

I am not quite sure how he was able to tell that any doe's were not intact.  It is very difficult to tell once the fur grows back.  You must have had a judge with X-ray vision or something.  Personally I think it is more important to teach the children the proper care of rabbits than it is to win.  The older kids may be able to learn some genetics and other stuff but I am not sure of your age group.

Again I am not sure where you got your judge but as a 4-H leader and secretary I know for a fact that unless the show is ARBA sanctioned there is nothing that says the judge has to be an ARBA judge.  Perhaps you could find someone you know that is experienced with most breeds of rabbits and hire one of them next year.  At the very least make it clear to the judge ahead of time that all children should receive ribbons no matter what place they get.  These kids work hard all year and I know from my own kids that they work their butts off.  If you can make arrangements with the judge to judge the rabbits equally even if they are fixed ahead of time then it should work out.

If your fair is an ARBA sanctioned show then perhaps you should have your own little 'mini show' at another time during the year.  Our group has 2 shows, 1 is the fair and then 1 is just a spring show that is only for our own kids.  In order to complete the project all they have to do is enter one show or the other.

These are just some idea's.  I do have a few more but if this doesn't help please let me know.

Ash you are a good person, and I am extremely pleased that you are teaching your children how precious an animals life is.

God Bless

Pam