'4-H quality' is a term that many prospective rabbit owners will hear. Basically, in general what 4-H quality means is that the rabbit does not have any disqualifications. To many less-than-ethical breeders, 4-H quality is a pet quality rabbit that technically won't be DQed. A rabbit can technically have no disqualifications, but still be awful quality and place dead last in every class. What some people who sell 4-H quality rabbits think is that the kids won't mind since the level of competition at county fairs isn't that fantastic anyway. The thing is, selling 4-Hers poor quality stock discourages them from competing in the future, or from sticking with the hobby.
If you aren't familiar with 4-H, you probably don't need to know the information in this article, but you can always learn more from this article. But basically, in 4-H there are two main competitions that they can participate in: showing and Showmanship. Their showing is the same as regular showing for us. Rabbits that are good representatives of their breed place higher in class than those that are poor representatives of their breed. Rabbits that have disqualifications, i.e., do not look like their breed should look, are disqualified. DQs are worse than last place. The other competition is Showmanship. Showmanship is basically a competition in which a 4-Her does a complete health check on their rabbit like a vet would, then performs oral judging comments on their rabbit and answers knowledge questions. Any rabbit can do Showmanship, but the calmer and tamer the rabbit, the easier it is to place well. A DQ rabbit, or even a mixed-breed, can still do Showmanship.
Here's the thing though. 4-Hers and their parents think that 4-H quality equals show quality. Meaning, they will do well in ARBA showing. They're beginners, so you can't really blame them for not knowing! But still, you don't want them buying something that isn't going to do well for them. Personally, I don't ever sell rabbits as 4-H quality as it is an easily misunderstood term. I don't want someone (especially a kid!) buying something that they think will work great for what they are buying it for, but being disappointed later when it is the first off the table.
I strongly encourage 4-Hers to purchase show quality rabbits as their project animals. If they don't want to spend the extra bit of money on a show quality rabbit and only want to pay for pet quality, that's fine. They can still do Showmanship and do fine in that. But then they know what they're getting into, and it was their decision. The disappointment of a rabbit doing badly on the show table that you thought would do really well is a really horrible feeling. I believe that the more initial success that new 4-Hers have, the more likely they are to stick with the hobby. These kids can be ARBA's future exhibitors and breeders!! Also, it's a great feeling to hear from a 4-Her that they won a Best of Breed at their county fair with a rabbit they got from you!
If you aren't familiar with 4-H, you probably don't need to know the information in this article, but you can always learn more from this article. But basically, in 4-H there are two main competitions that they can participate in: showing and Showmanship. Their showing is the same as regular showing for us. Rabbits that are good representatives of their breed place higher in class than those that are poor representatives of their breed. Rabbits that have disqualifications, i.e., do not look like their breed should look, are disqualified. DQs are worse than last place. The other competition is Showmanship. Showmanship is basically a competition in which a 4-Her does a complete health check on their rabbit like a vet would, then performs oral judging comments on their rabbit and answers knowledge questions. Any rabbit can do Showmanship, but the calmer and tamer the rabbit, the easier it is to place well. A DQ rabbit, or even a mixed-breed, can still do Showmanship.
Here's the thing though. 4-Hers and their parents think that 4-H quality equals show quality. Meaning, they will do well in ARBA showing. They're beginners, so you can't really blame them for not knowing! But still, you don't want them buying something that isn't going to do well for them. Personally, I don't ever sell rabbits as 4-H quality as it is an easily misunderstood term. I don't want someone (especially a kid!) buying something that they think will work great for what they are buying it for, but being disappointed later when it is the first off the table.
I strongly encourage 4-Hers to purchase show quality rabbits as their project animals. If they don't want to spend the extra bit of money on a show quality rabbit and only want to pay for pet quality, that's fine. They can still do Showmanship and do fine in that. But then they know what they're getting into, and it was their decision. The disappointment of a rabbit doing badly on the show table that you thought would do really well is a really horrible feeling. I believe that the more initial success that new 4-Hers have, the more likely they are to stick with the hobby. These kids can be ARBA's future exhibitors and breeders!! Also, it's a great feeling to hear from a 4-Her that they won a Best of Breed at their county fair with a rabbit they got from you!