Need some help

[TCRabbitry]

I am going to judge a 4H show for cavies and rabbits. I haven't done showmanship for years, and need some ideas on good places to look things up. What are the general questions? Especially for cavies? Thanks, Melinda

 

[Starlight Rabbitry]

The ARBA Standard of Perfection is a perfect place to look.

Sharon

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

What will you be judging? Are you doing showmanship, pet class or the individual breeds?
I don't think you would be doing the breeds and they would probably want someone who has studied the standard of perfection for all breeds and has the knowledge to do it.

There are some videos of people doing showmanship, so you could check some of those out. See if you can get someone to show you what is expected for the kids.

I assume that someone asked you, so you could ask them for more details on it. Get a list of the questions to ask. You might also want to talk with a local leader for some info on it. It could be a conflict of interest thing if you actually met the kids, so you might want to avoid that.

I found these websites which might be of some help:
http://www.rabbitweb.net/showmanship.asp
http://agbiopubs.sdstate.edu/articles/4H408R.pdf
http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~port/4-H/files/2006smallNMLleaderBOOKsection6.pdf (for cavies)

I basically just googled Rabbits (or cavy) 4-H Showmanship.

 

[TCRabbitry]

Not to sound rude, but that was harsh. I am doing both showmanship and confirmation. I have been breeding, raising, and showing rabbits for 15 years. I do know what I am doing. I just haven't done showmanship for about 8 years, and figured I would ask what someone would think would be good questions for showmanship. I know what to ask for handling questions. Also, I am a 4H leader, just haven't been active since I moved down to the valley. Thanks for looking the info up though. Melinda

 

[murph72]

I always like when they switch up the rabbits and have the kids ID the rabbit that they were just handed. It's most fair if they give each kid a different breed than the one they're showing, but in some cases it's not possible. Sometimes they just move them all down a spot, as in "everyone shift your bunny to the left." It's interesting to see if they know their breeds enough to answer questions on one they're not familiar with.

Usually they have them identify their breed and variety, have them check teeth, toenails, etc.

I'm totally clueless on the cavies...just not my thing. I usually don't watch after the bunnies are done.

Best of luck.

 

[TCRabbitry]

Thanks, I was thinking of doing that with the older kids. Melinda