We in Extension are not always about the big meeting, the formal programs that we offer or just the large producers. We are also, and maybe ultimately, about the one-on-one interactions we have with folks in our counties, or states.

An example is an ongoing interaction I have with a local lady. She is retired, lives alone on a fixed income, and breeds rabbits and ducks in her backyard which she sells to make a little extra money, and she loves her rabbits.

Since she lives in the city where it is against zoning to raise livestock, and rabbits and poultry are considered livestock here, I have gone with her to city commission meetings trying to get this changed. We have been unsuccessful at this, but they leave her alone if no complaints are logged.

She contacted me recently, in late October, with another issue. The rabbits she was selling to a local pet store to re-sell were having problems. Once there, they were bloating and dying within a week, and the store was wanting to blame her and her rabbits for this. So we discussed what can cause bloat in rabbits and how to combat it.

I suggested that the store was putting them on a high hay diet, as opposed to what she was feeding them. She checked on it and that was correct. They were feeding them almost exclusively hay. She told them what I had said, but the manager refused to back off the hay.

She just recently contacted me with an update. She has started slowly introducing timothy hay, which is among the worst to cause bloat in rabbits but is what the pet store was feeding them, and gradually increasing the amount until time to go, as we had discussed.

She said that she nor they have lost any rabbits since this gradual introduction started. She is very, very happy about this, and so is the pet store. So, again, it is not always about the large producers, it is also about the small backyard hobby producers just trying to make a little extra doing something they love.