By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN

Hays Daily News

It's been a long time since Bonnie Werth remembers seeing so many rabbits at the Ellis County Fair.

In fact, in her 35 years of being involved with 4-H, Werth said she never has seen all the cages filled at the fair.

This year, however, all 80 cages in the rabbit area of the rabbit and poultry barn at the Ellis County Fairgrounds were filled with one or more rabbits.

So it promised to be a busy morning as the judging and showmanship for 4-H and open class participants began early this morning.

"This is more than we've ever had," said Werth, who is co-superintendent of the 4-H and open class rabbit projects along with Richard and Tracy Quinn.

"Richard, we're going to have get more pens in here," Werth added.

Recruitment for rabbit projects has gone well this year, Quinn said.

Some newcomers include three members of one family.

Cheyenne Liester, 10, Austin Hayes, 9, and Destiny Liester, 7, all showed up early this morning to feed and water their animals before the rabbit show.

"I'm a little nervous," admitted Cheyenne, who, along with her siblings, is a member of the Gemini Juniors 4-H Club.

This the first year in 4-H for the family because they were waiting for Destiny to reach 7 years old -- the age to become an official 4-H member -- so they could all join together, said their mother, Tina Hayes.

Cheyenne also is participating in the cooking project, and Destiny is showing her pet cat in the cat show.

Austin stuck to just rabbits this year.

"But he's got a whole new list (of future projects) at home," his mother said.

Each of the siblings brought a rabbit, all named after former American Idol contestants Kellie Pickler, Bucky Covington and Jordin Sparks.

"There are a lot of responsibilities," Cheyenne said of caring for a rabbit, "but it's been fun."

Cheyenne especially liked this set of rabbits -- all siblings as well -- because they were born April 7, the day before her birthday.

"It's really easy for me to remember their birthdays," she said, proudly showing off her Rex-breed rabbit, Kellie Pickler.

Also new to the rabbit and poultry barn this year is a tarp along the west side of the barn, as well as more fans on the roof to draw the hot air out of the building.

Werth said the improvements came as a way to try to better the conditions for the animals. Last year, as temperatures soared above 100 degrees for several days in a row, there were reports of at least four animals in the rabbit and poultry barn dying because of the heat.

Another addition to this year's fair is a rabbit raffle, from which all the proceeds will go to more improvements and maintenance of the rabbit and poultry barn.

Those interested in winning one of three rabbits on the raffle can purchase tickets at the barn. The winners will be announced at Friday evening's livestock sale.

"We tried this at the Stockton fair last year, and it went over really well," Tracy Quinn said as she helped enter participants for the rabbit show.

Meanwhile, her husband helped youngsters clip toenails on their rabbits and explain the order of judging categories.

"The running breeds are first, and the bucks always go first," Richard Quinn said. "The running breeds are judged on how they run up and down the table, and (the bucks) won't run once a doe has been on the table."

* Also running at the same time as the rabbit show was the 4-H horse show at the rodeo arena. The shows kicked off Sunday with the open class horse and mule show in the morning and the 4-H and open class dog shows in the evening. Sandwiched in between was the annual public 4-H style revue at The Mall.

The 4-H visual arts conference judging was set for 2 p.m. today, also the day to check in all entries except for food, crops, horticulture and floriculture. Check-in for those projects is Tuesday.

Reporter Diane Gasper-O'Brien can be reached at (785) 628-1081, Ext. 126, or by e-mail at

dobrien@dailynews.net.