Clear to partly cloudy. Low 68F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..
Clear to partly cloudy. Low 68F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Makinna Peterson shows her rabbit to judge Larry Rauert during the 4-H rabbit show Thursday at the Thayer County Fair in Deshler. The rabbit, a Holland lop, went on to earn Peterson the overall grand champion rabbit trophy.
Judge Larry Rauert inspects Braxton Peterson’s rabbit during the 4-H rabbit show Thursday at the Thayer County Fair in Deshler.
Judge Larry Rauert inspects a rabbit in the class for fancy senior bucks over 6 months of age Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, during the 4-H rabbit show at the Thayer County Fair in Deshler.
Makinna Peterson’s Holland lop endures praise from judge Larry Rauert before being named overall grand champion rabbit in the 4-H rabbit show Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, at the Thayer County Fair in Deshler.
Makinna Peterson shows her rabbit to judge Larry Rauert during the 4-H rabbit show Thursday at the Thayer County Fair in Deshler. The rabbit, a Holland lop, went on to earn Peterson the overall grand champion rabbit trophy.
Judge Larry Rauert inspects Braxton Peterson’s rabbit during the 4-H rabbit show Thursday at the Thayer County Fair in Deshler.
Judge Larry Rauert inspects a rabbit in the class for fancy senior bucks over 6 months of age Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, during the 4-H rabbit show at the Thayer County Fair in Deshler.
Makinna Peterson’s Holland lop endures praise from judge Larry Rauert before being named overall grand champion rabbit in the 4-H rabbit show Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, at the Thayer County Fair in Deshler.
DESHLER — While the fur was flying on a hot afternoon here Thursday, human participants in the 4-H and FFA rabbit shows at the Thayer County Fair kept their cool in front of the judges.
Young people from throughout the county brought their rabbits before one judge, Larry Rauert of Grand Island, to have them evaluated for ribbons and show placings.
Meanwhile, Larry’s wife, Donna, presided on the other side of the small-animal barn, judging the 4-H rabbit showmanship competition. Exhibitors slipped away from the rabbit judging when the schedule allowed so they could demonstrate their showmanship prowess.
“You have a great bunch of kids,” Donna Rauert told the audience when her work was done. “Absolutely great.”
While she noted a few areas for exhibitors to work on and recommended they check YouTube for helpful videos, she announced all had received purple ribbons in showmanship.
Midsummer heat and the stress of being at the fair can amplify the normal process of moulting, or shedding of fur, in rabbits. That’s why the fur was flying in Deshler, drifting through the air in the show area and sticking to exhibitors’ and spectators’ clothing.
While exhibitors brush and groom their rabbits often, keeping up with the need was difficult on Thursday, when the high temperature reached 90.
“The weather has not been kind to bunny rabbits,” Larry Rauert commented to the audience during a lull in the judging action.
The Rauerts, who raise rabbits and poultry among other livestock, have been to 20 fairs so far this summer — all close enough to home that they can make a day trip of it. Thursday’s show was Larry’s 36th to judge this season. He’s now preparing to judge static entries and serve as broiler superintendent at the Nebraska State Fair.
For exhibitor Makinna Peterson, Thursday was downright triumphant. In the 4-H division, she showed the overall champion and reserve champion rabbit, the champion and reserve champion fancy breed rabbit, the champion rabbit in the Home Bred and Fed class, and the champion market rabbit. She also was champion senior showman in both the 4-H competition and the much smaller FFA competition.
“Makinna is a queen of rabbits,” explained her friend Riley Farnstrom, a fellow member of the Big Green 4-H Club who won champion commercial rabbit and overall reserve champion rabbit Thursday showing a Californian-breed rabbit Peterson raised at her home.
Peterson, 18, graduated in May from Deshler High School, where she has been active in FFA. She leaves next week for Kansas State University in Manhattan, where she will study animal science on a pre-veterinary track. This week’s Thayer County Fair is her last as a 4-H competitor, as she is aging out of the program.
Peterson is the oldest of Shawna and Cody Peterson’s three children. Her younger sister, Jacilyn, and younger brother, Braxton, both were showing rabbits alongside her on Thursday. Jacilyn showed the reserve champion Home Bred and Raised rabbit and was senior reserve champion showman in both 4-H and FFA.
Peterson said her family had no background in working with rabbits when she received one as an Easter gift nine or 10 years ago. From there, she said, she “fell in love” with the rabbit project in 4-H.
“I’ve probably been involved for eight years now,” she said of the project. “I’ve been breeding rabbits for three years.”
She started with a Rex pair but built and broadened her operation.
“I found the best to breed the best,”” she said. “I think at one time I was breeding six different breeds of rabbits.”
In all, 22 of the rabbits shown by Peterson and others in Thursday’s show — a significant percentage of the total — were bred under Peterson’s watchful eye.
Her top winners on Thursday were two of her Holland Lops. The same small animal that won fancy breed and overall champion honors also was her winning entry in the Home Bred and Raised class.
“That was the icing on the cake,” Peterson said of the overall champion coming from her own herd.
Farnstrom, 14, said she was showing rabbits at this year’s fair for the first time, at Peterson’s encouragement. She showed five Peterson rabbits in all and took home reserve champion showmanship honors in the intermediate 4-H division. (Sonia Heinrichs was intermediate champion. Bentley Heinrichs and Nicolas Habana were champion and reserve champion junior showmen, respectively.)
Both Farnstrom and Peterson also show poultry and compete in the horse show at the fair. The poultry show is Friday, and the fair continues through Saturday.
“I’m a chicken person and a horse person, for sure,” said Farnstrom, who lives with her parents, Christy and Derek Farnstrom, just outside Chester.
Farnstrom will be a freshman this fall at Thayer Central High School and is a member of the Thayer Central FFA chapter.
Carrie Anderson of Deshler, the fair’s poultry superintendent and past rabbit superintendent, was busy helping with Thursday’s show. She said Thayer County is known for its large poultry and rabbit shows and just got a new small animal barn on the fairgrounds two years ago.
“We’ve already about outgrown it,” Anderson said. “It’s just so popular. Poultry and rabbits have always been real big here. Our judges always compliment us and say for being a small county we have one of the best (programs) in the state.”
While the new building is insulated and has overhead fans, a freezer and other amenities (other than air conditioning) to help in hot weather, Anderson said, temperatures during fair time always can pose a challenge.
Larry Rauert said there’s no doubt heat stress and moulting can hurt a rabbit’s chances before a judge on a given day, perhaps leaving an otherwise purple-ribbon animal with a blue instead.
While checking heads, ears, midsection rise, hip width and other attributes of each rabbit, he offered the competitors a tip to help with presentation.
“Get yourself some unscented aloe vera baby wipes,” Rauert said. “It will get rid of all those loose hairs. It’s not cheating; it’s called an edge.”
Peterson said it’s a fact of life that weather affects how animals look and act for a judge on any given day, and coming to grips with that is part of the personal growth that comes with participating in 4-H and FFA.
“You just have to remember you can’t control it,” she said. “The decision today could be a different decision tomorrow.”
“4-H has really taught me to just let it go,” she said. “Whatever happens, happens.”
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