Grayrose Cavies

Fall Shows

I have been looking at the fall show schedule. After the NYSCF "Aloha" show on July 16, there is really nothing within reasonable driving distance for me until the fall. But then there are two shows. One is the Niagara Frontier Rabbit Club show in Hamburg, NY. The other is the South Jersey RCBA in Mullica Hill, NJ. They are both on Sept 17, and they are both about a four hour drive for me. What to do?

Leesport: Caution re Cavies and Heat

It was very hot yesterday at the Midnight Madness show in Leesport, PA. I brought four carriers full of pigs, all to deliver to folks who had previously purchased or reserved them. Plus I was picking up pigs for myself and others to bring home. I literally had no room for any show pigs. And I am glad. Pigs and rabbits were dying in that heat.

Heat is very hard on Cavies. They originally evolved in the Andes Mountains of South America where they graze on the grasses on the high mountain plateaus. This close to the Equator there is little difference between summer and winter. My dearest friend grew up in Colombia. She tells me temperature range is always very pleasant in the mountatins all year round, unlike in the jungles in the Amazon River basin. The humidity is also very low. Basically it is similar in some resepcts to the area of Northern New Mexico where I did archaeological field work. And I remember that no matter how warm it was during the day, I always needed a jacket in the evening.

To quote from David Hardesty

Ten of thousands of years of evolution have never placed a premium on the ability of the cavy to tolerate very hot temperatures, because they never had to deal with excessive heat. There was no environmental "advantage" for cavies would could endure high heat. There was, though, an evolutionary advantage for those cavy ancestors which evolved a compact, cobby body which could absorb heat readily and retain body heat when the temperatures in this semi-arid environment would get colder at night. Short, stubby limbs were simple to tuck the limbs under the body when laying down, to conserve body heat. Also these short limbs would have a greatly reduced surface area from which heat might radiate and be lost: The cavy has evolved with little ability to endure high temperatures, and a much greater ability to endure the cold by virtue of a short, cobby body which will retain body heat.

This in mind, what can we do to keep our cavies happy and healthy in the summer? Keep them cool! I brought a big tub of chilled watermelon pieces to the show. These worked great. Not only did they provide something cool for the pigs to eat, but they also provided moisture and sugar. I also took each one out of the carrier and made sure it drank some water at the show. During the ride to the show, we kept the AC on high. I had to wear a sweater in the car on the hottest day of the year so far, but our pigs stayed comfortable. As an added precaution I put a board on top of the carriers in the back to make sure that the sun didn't shine on them through the windows. We had a new mom with a litter of two day old babies that we brought down. They all did fine.

At home we put bricks under the water bottles. These stay cool and give the pigs a cool place to rest. I also have put a lot of big rocks into our largest pens to give the pigs something to lean against. Being herd animals, cavies tend to bunch together when stressed, which is very counter-productive at keeping things cool. So I like to give them other things to huddle against rather than each other.

The Cortland Show

We had fun, and our pigs did well. The kids stayed with grandma for the weekend, so my husband had a chance to do some exploring and antique hunting while I was at the show. He discovered some amazing architectural treasures in Homer, NY, the next town over.

I got to finally meet Shelley and her daughter, and deliver their new texel sow. Watch out the progeny of Grayrose's Moppet and The Shire's Tribble. They will be giving all us texel breeders a run. Shelley, get you website up so I can link to it.

Once again the best part of the show was the people.

And my wonderful husband, after he got back from his explorations, actually helped me bring pigs to the table. Thanks, honey.

The Broome County Show

First I want to say a huge thanks to my "personal trainer" of showing, Linda Wilbur, who showed me the ropes. (Linda, can you use the lasagna method for a new lawn ;)). I also want to thank my husband and boys for hanging out all afternoon in the blistering heat with nothing to do but wait in line for ice cream. Great job guys.

And Congratulations to all of the winners, especially to that glorious TSW texel who took BOB. I want some of her babies.

I love going to shows!

The family was great, but I think next time dad will stay home with the boys, and let me tackle Cortland on my own.

Going to shows is really not so much about winning, although winning is nice. My junior texel sow, Rosa Centifolia, did quite well. But even more important to me was making new friends and chatting with other breeders about tricks of the trade, everything from what to look for in a baby teddy to handling pet quality babies.

Best of all was the judging.

The standard of perfection is just that, and perfect pigs are few and far between. We all strive with our breeding programs to get close to the standard. But sometimes in selecting for one trait can diminish another desirable trait. For example, Pat Haefele (Pat's Pets) has years of working with Teddy Satins. She explained to me that in her experience when you breed for a harsh coat you will start to lose sheen to the point where a satin teddy is hardly different from standard.

The judge is a second opinion, another pair of eye — in this case, very well trained eyes. I worry all about type on all my pigs, but according to this judge every pig I show had good type. So whatever I'm doing in that department is working. All in all I couldn't be more pleased.

One more thing I discovered. My five year old son really want to start showing his own pigs. He would probably do fine with the showing, but the shows are still too long for him. I'm going to let him get a bit older.

Our "first" show

If all proceeds according to plan in a couple of hours we'll be on our way to a Cavy show in Ithaca, NY. Judging doesn't start until noon, or thereabout, and they don't want cavies there until 11:30. Nice.

This isn't actually my first show. I've been to several including Specialty. But this is the first time I am bringing pigs with me to actually show at the show.

These are all juniors today. I want the judge's feedback on how my breeding is going. I can look at one of my pigs and see all kinds of flaws and all kinds of strengths, but I really want another trained set of eyes to do the same. It is sort of like writing. When I was writing garden columns for the paper, I would never send in copy without having my husband, a professional journalist, read it over carefully. He knows nothing about garden and would confuse Delphiniums with Muscari, but he does know good writing. I could read my column over a hundred times and still miss typos and confusing or misleading statements. He always caught them.

And it is the same with showing pigs. I need someone to "proofread" my latest crop.

Today I am bringing mostly abyssinians:3 black, 1 lilac satin, 1 lilac roan satin, and a brindle. Plus a teddy and a texel.

Cream Cavies: Americans, Teddies, and Abyssinians

Got an email last night from Leslie Freeland. If you breed creams, then check out her fantastic site. She has articles on creams, buffs and saffrons, genetics, comprehensive cream breeder lists, advice from top cream breeders on what to select for, and tons of photos. Millions of photos. If you like looking at pigs, then check her out. Leslie breeds lovely American creams. Someday I hope to have some of my own in that delicate color. I do have a couple of American creams myself, but I'm selling out of them. If I'm going to have enough room for the cream Abbies and Teddies, I need the space.

I am really proud to be included on Leslie's lists, and especially proud that my baby cream abby is there and is, apparently, the first cream abyssinian she's seen. The one on the left is the buff sow. The one on the right is the cream boar.These little guys are part of a work in progress. But I'm still proud of them.

Because there isn't anyone eles around here, or apparently anywhere, working with this great color in abyssinians, I've had to sort of start from scratch. Fortunately my first raw material initially were abyssinians: a chocolate, buff and white sow; a buff, agouti, and white sow; and a DEW boar. Unfortunately they were all essentially pet quality. I also had for a short time a PEW boar. From these initial breedings, I got a pair of broken cream and white sows, and a lot of other stuff that when right to the pet store. These two sows were close to having all the rosettes and ridges in about the right places. So it was time to start working with a pedigreed boar. The closest I had is my spectacular red roan satin Abyssinian that Claire and Rich Bragonje where kind enough to sell me last year. I bred the older of the two sows to him several times and finally got a fairly good self boar. I knew he had to carry either the "cd" gene or the "cr" gene. Turns out he carries "cd". I bred him to the younger of the two sows this spring and got these two.

Now I have a breeding pen with six red abyssinian sows in various stages of pregnancy. They all carry either the "cd" or "cr" gene. And they are all satin carriers. A very small percentage of the babies will be creams, I hope. And I'll just keep going, breeding back and forth to get the color I want, but also the rosettes and ridges that make a great abby. Check back in a year or two and see how I'm doing. What I would love to find is a great white aby boar. No luck so far.

I also wanted to share a picture of my latest cream teddy litter. These are all boys. The one on the left is a standard teddy cream. The middle one is a satin cream. The one on the right is a pink eyed buff, also known in some countries as a saffron.
–Did I get that right, Leslie? ;-)–
The satin will stay here. The cream boar and the buff will be for sale. If you want to breed creams and have a good white sow, then get this guy. Excellent teddies in PEW and DEW are readily available. He'll breed nothing but creams. A cream boar bred to a white sow will give you half creams and half whites. A cream boar bred to a cream sow will give you 25% buffs, 50% creams and 25% whites. Over time. My last cream to cream breeding with my americans yielded a pair of large, healthy, and hungry PEW boars. By the time they weaned, they were already too big for the pet store. I just don't have room for a lot of white boars. Anyway, my point is that if you want to build up the number of creams you have to work with, then start with a buff and a white. The buff won't be showable, but all his babies will be.

Waiting is the hardest part

I've got a solid satin teddy sow ready who looks huge. She was back-bred 70 days ago, so there should be babies in the pen when I go down in the morning. Fingers crossed for little sows. Last time she gave me all boars. I'm probably going to let her rest for a bit after this litter although she seems fine now.

My rule of thumb on back-breeding. Do as much as possible without risking the health of the sow. Actually, I let young pigs rest for a while after their first litter. And if I notice any hair loss or if the sow looks thin to me, then I don't back-breed. On the other hand if the sow runs toward fatness, has only one or two babies and is otherwise doing well, I back-breed. Sometimes it is the best and only way to get an mature sow to accept a younger boar.

I'll check in tomorrow with baby pig update.

New to Cavy Shows

I saw this article on the Guinea Pig Breeder's group I belong to. Good Stuff

Advice for New Fanciers
by David Hardesty

Cavy shows are a long, labor intensive effort on the part of the sponsoring club members running the show, the judge and the comment writers.  Even if things run perfectly, the show will last from early morning to dinner time.

·        The table superintendent must insure that comment cards are laid out properly by class for animals that are destined to be shown. 

·        The ramrod, as they are referred to, must ensure that fanciers bring animals up, they have entered, in a timely manner so that the judge is not left waiting for animals to judge

·        The judge must handle, examine, place, and give comments on every animal in the show.

·        The comment writer must capture the judge's comments and all variety and breed honors onto the comment card.  They must ensure that animals are sent back with the proper comment card, and retain cards and animals that will compete further

A new fancier would do well to refrain from any activities close to, or around, the judging table that may interfere with this process.  Comment writers and fanciers both will be trying to hear the judge's comments.  Conversation should be kept to a minimum, and if possible out of ear shot from the judging.  So a good rule when close up at the judging table is to listen, but do not talk.  Be aware that there are other fanciers that need to get through to put up their animals to be judged.  Try not to be an impediment to this process. 

Ask the Show Superintendent what the judging order of the 13 breeds will be.  Also ask what order the varieties, within the breeds, will be judged.  A well run show will have a list of breeds posted and the order they will be judged.  Try to anticipate, and be near your animals, when your breed and variety will be given the call to be brought up for judging.  Nothing is more frustrating to show officials than to repeatedly call out for animals that need to be up to the table.

Prepare to wait.  Understand that if you only show a select breed and color that you will be waiting, and waiting, and waiting for other breeds and colors to be judged first.  When your animals are finally judged, should your animal win variety honors, you may be waiting, and waiting more for the rest of the animals in that breed to be finished to see how your animal does for breed honors.  Should you really do well and win Best of Breed, you will be waiting, and waiting even more to see how your animal does for Best in Show honors.  Are we sensing a theme here??  Have a strategy for how you will fill the time while waiting. 

That strategy should include keeping any children that may attend with you, entertained and preoccupied.  If you have young children that may have behavior issues, in group settings, the show room is no place for them.  Arrange to leave them at home.  Nothing will make you unpopular, faster, than your screaming children terrorizing the show room.  For those children you do bring, think to bring the hand-held video games, cards, or a favorite past time for the kids to entertain themselves. 

Looking at other breeders animals and talking to fanciers is a good way to fill the time.  Veteran fancier will be glad to talk with you, but may not be too receptive to conversation while they are watching their animals being judged.  If you aren't good at introducing yourself to new people, ask a show official, prior to the show to introduce you to a veteran fancier to be a sort of cavy buddy.  Ask your new cavy buddy to introduce you to other more seasoned fanciers.   Ask them to explain the colors and breeds they raise, and why they like them so much.  No question is too silly, or small, when you are brand new to showing cavies.  Most fanciers are highly gregarious and love to show off their animals.  But there are only so many animals to look at and fellow fanciers to talk to.

Knitting, crocheting, a book are other ways to occupy yourself when your all talked out, and need to withdraw to a neutral corner.  Catch up on those pedigrees you've been meaning to send off.  Study the ARBA Standard of Perfection.  Compare and contrast the point allocations from one breed to the next.  When you see a term you don't understand, ask your new cavy acquaintances.   

Think about your physical comfort.  Think to bring a cooler with treats and cold drinks, comfortable, collapsible seating, and a collapsible table.  Wear comfortable shoes.  Show rooms, in many, many cases have concrete floors that are a terror on the feet.  Have a backup pair of shoes, should those you started out the day in, beginning hurting your feet.  Remember that in a vast majority of the shows, your day started very, very early, to drive to the show, and will be a very long day.  Chances are good you probably didn't go to bed as early as you should the night before, because you were bathing or getting carriers, feed and water bottles ready.    I travel with an inflatable air bed so that when staying at a motel the quality of the mattress isn't left to chance.  One show I actually inflated the air bed, laid it out in a corner of the carpeted show room, and took a nap while waiting for my breeds to come up.  You could see envy in everyone else's eyes, the short time I was awake to see them.

All-in-all preparation is the name of the game to having an enjoyable time at a cavy show.  If you do prepare properly, chances are good that you, and yours, will return tired, but exhilarated, after a long day at the show, eager for then next show to be held.