Ethan Harvill will present a program on rabbits at the meeting of the 4-H Companion Animal Project Group on Thursday, June 13, at 5:30 p.m. Hamilton County youths ages 9 to 19 (in 4th through 12th grade) are invited to attend and learn about rabbit care and showing rabbits. Mr. Harville will bring some of his own rabbits to the meeting.
The 4-H Companion Animal Project group meets monthly at the UT/TSU Extension – Hamilton County office, and there is no cost to join or to attend meetings. Parents/guardians are welcome to attend meetings with their youths.
4-H offers young people the opportunity to participate in agriculture. Increasingly, a trend to allow all youth to get an agricultural experience is on the rise. New innovative ways to introduce agriculture are being brought to the table, and one such way is with the use of rabbits.
Mr. Harvill is the American Rabbit Breeders Association youth chair. At the June 13 4-H meeting, he will share his experience of raising and showing rabbits. Mr. Harvill started raising rabbits in 2011 in Fentress county. He has won both the level 1 and Level 2 Companion Animal project at State 4-H Roundup, which led to him earning his trip to National 4-H Congress. Mr. Harvill is also a past regional and state 4-H officer, including being the State 4-H Council president. As a 4-H member, the rabbit project was a route Mr. Harvill took to have a tangible agricultural experience, because he lived in a subdivision and was not able to own more traditional livestock. The project originally was just centered around meat production, but after a short year into the project, he was introduced to the world of rabbit shows. He has raised several purebred rabbits during his time in 4-H and now he does this professionally. The primary breed in his barn is Netherland Dwarfs, which happen to be the smallest rabbit recognized by the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA). Mr. Harvill has several other breeds including Mini Rex, Britannia Petites, Holland Lops, Dutch, Californians, Havannas, Florida Whites and New Zealands.
Mr. Harvill has pursued this passion for raising better rabbits through attending shows almost every weekend, which involves traveling the country to exhibit his animals. While he currently is a student at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where he is majoring in Agricultural Extension, he still remains active in the rabbit project.
Hamilton County youth who are interested in learning about rabbit care or showing rabbits are encouraged to come and join the June 13 seminar. 4-H is open to everyone, and participants may join at any time.
The Companion Animal Project Group, which is part of the 4-H Citizenship Club, meets once a month at the Extension office, at 6183 Adamson Cir. (next door to the Hamilton County Tag & Title office off Bonny Oaks Drive). Future programs include a program on cats with Dr. Jim Hammond, veterinarian at Northgate Animal Hospital, on July 9 at 5:30 p.m. For more information, call the Extension office at 855-6113 or visit the Extension office website at hamilton.tennessee.edu and click on 4-H Youth/4-H Citizenship Club.