Bald Eagle Area students prepare rabbits for Farm Show

Bald Eagle Area sophomore Kya Gresh sat in a chair in an agriculture classroom at the high school and had a rabbit on her desk.

With a cut of a rug underneath the rabbit, she cupped it in her hands to help it form a specific sitting position.

She said it was a training technique used to help her Dutch rabbit stay in position for when it’s shown at the 100th annual Pennsylvania Farm Show this weekend in Harrisburg.

She and a handful of classmates from the Bald Eagle Area FFA chapter are showing variations of Dutch rabbits that students raised in school.

Agriculture teacher and FFA adviser Todd Biddle said students were given female, non-pregnant rabbits that eventually bred with male rabbits. The students were then responsible for maintaining them and helping raise the babies.

Junior Jessica Cain said students had to feed, water and change the rabbit cages on a daily basis.

The rabbits are kept in cages in a small room within another classroom in the high school.

The main purpose of raising the rabbits was to showcase them at the Farm Show, but Biddle said it’s a project that also comes full circle.

“In a way, it’s teaching them about reproduction,” Biddle said. “They’re at an age where they understand that kind of thing whether it’s with the animals or with them. It’s a way to teach it and put things into perspective for them, too, because they also have to raise the babies.”

The rabbits were born in October, the students said.

“There’s a lot that goes into producing a rabbit that can be judged highly,” Cain said.

But then again, a lot of it is out of the student’s control.

Sophomore Caleb Swartz said the rabbits are judged on color pattern, sitting position, body structure and fur type.

“We can’t make everything perfect; a lot of it comes from how they’re born,” Swartz said as he pointed to a Dutch rabbit that had an uneven black and white fur pattern.

The other traits are controllable.

Sophomore Emma Thompson said she and her classmates cup the rabbits in their hands to help them sit in a position that’s appealing to judges. They also communicate with the rabbits so the rabbits are not skittish during other human interaction.

“I think it helps them get used to it,” she said.

The rabbits are brown or black with white fur.

This story was originally published January 7, 2016 at 3:09 PM with the headline "Bald Eagle Area students prepare rabbits for Farm Show."