~A Little Bit About Us~

~A Little Bit About Us~

I started in Rabbits as a kid with pet quality Dutch from a Pet store around 1985. I moved on to Netherland Dwarfs a couple years later. I showed in 4-H along with my brother Andy. We began raising Dwarfs in 1988. We added some Mini Rex shortly after. Then I discovered Himalayans. I raised them with lots of success for several years. The Dwarfs were always my favorite. I was granted my rabbit registrars license in 1992 when I was 16 years old.

My son was born in 1995. Michael Hughes was born into a rabbit raising and showing family. He attended his first bunny show at 4 days old! Mikey traveled with us all around the country showing bunnies. His first rabbits were Jersey Woolies. He had his favorite buck named Piglet, a super Black Otter. As Mikey got a little older he really liked the Mini Rex so for his 5^th birthday he received COOKIE the BIRTHDAY BUNNY! She was an Opal Mini Rex doe. Later he received a nice pair of Mini Rex, named Pongo and Mother; from Lance Little to go with Cookie.

We have raised lots of breeds over the years. My mom, Carol, had some Polish and some Holland Lops. I had some Havanas. We had Jersey Woolies. As time went on Mikey started getting more involved in the Rabbit Barn activities. He has taken interest in the Dwarfs and we showed Dwarfs together in open under Stock/Hughes for the past couple years.

2008 brings some changes in the rabbitry. My good friend Amanda O’Gorman and I decided to join forces with the Dwarfs and we are showing together under Stock/O’Gorman. We have a couple color projects in the beginning stages for Tortoise Shell, Sable Point, Chinchilla, Squirrel and Silver Marten varieties. Two heads are better than one! I’m glad we are working together. Mike will still have a small group of Dwarfs for his 4-H projects.

My good friend Tim Johnson and I had partnered up on the Havanas to try to make a go of it. I had a nice group of animals, but couldn’t get anything bred and was debating on what to do with them. He took a buck and 2 does and said, “Ok, Becky, if they don’t produce a litter in 60 days they are gone” I agreed. 30 days later we had live babies. Two heads are better than one and we had a terrific time raising some very competitive animals. We split the herd up in ’04. Mikey expressed an interest in the Havanas, or “the brown rabbits that like their heads petted” as he called them. Ha-ha! He began breeding and showing the Havanas. He has been very successful with them. One of the most exciting events was his Chocolate Senior buck MT03 winning Best Opposite Sex at the 2007 ARBA Convention. I never dreamed that that was going to happen! What an exciting day that was!

Since I started out in 4-H I have always placed special focus on helping other 4-Hers. My mom and I run the Polk County 4-H Rabbit Club, mom is Superintendent of the Iowa State Fair 4-H Rabbit Show and we help out with kids and rabbits when ever we can. We love doing workshops and are always willing to help kids!

I was granted my all breed ARBA rabbit Judges License in 2002. I no longer hold the licenses for either registrar or judge. This can be a very sore subject for me. I pretty much try to avoid talking about it. I truly regret letting my membership and licenses expire, but at the time it seemed my only option. Life surprises us with twists and turns and forks in the road. You don’t always know when you go down one road if it is the right one or if you should have taken the other path. As my dad always says, “Hindsight’s 20/20”. I just think that I truly wasn’t ready for it. I know that I have all the skills, and knowledge still inside me that is needed to be a Rabbit Judge. I have the drive and desire for it. But what I didn’t have was the maturity and resources to deal with the stresses involved. It wasn’t that I was scared of other judges or exhibitors; that was not the case. All the other seasoned judges were nothing but helpful and respectful to me. The exhibitors were all nice and respectful as well. I have no horror stories to tell. My biggest fear was myself, my own fear of failure.

I have struggled with depression my entire life and I really think that at the time I let my license expire there were other outside influences in my personal life, work life, home life that I let get the better of me. I placed more importance on living day to day rather than keeping sight on the long haul which is where my sights should have been set. It was a very dark time for me. I almost got out of rabbits completely. It seemed a daily battle to just get chores done and not just cull the entire herd.

I judge some 4-H rabbit shows during the summer and it is almost like the real thing. The handling the rabbits, the picking the winners, the joy of sorting a class of animals; there really is no other feeling like it in the world. That is when I know that I made a mistake. So I sit here and type this out and I can’t help but think well I did it once, I can do it again. But do I really want to? Or am I just too scared to even try? Time will tell.