State role
Sarah Brandon's got enough to keep her hopping.
The Prospect teen is a senior at PA Cyber School and is taking three classes at Butler County Community College.
Sarah is president of the 4-H Bunni Bunch and recently was crowned Pennsylvania State Rabbit Breeders Association queen. She will fulfill her duties while planning to attend Slippery Rock University this fall to major in business administration and human resources.
Sarah said she had to compete in skills and rabbit knowledge.
“I had to identify rabbit breeds and judge herds of a rabbit class, placing them from first to fourth,” she said. “I also had an interview with a panel of judges, and had a speech presentation.”The rabbit identification must have been easy for Sarah, who has been raising rabbits her entire life and competitively for the past 11 years.She has about 60 rabbits.“I have New Zealands and Californians, Rhinelanders, English Spots and Silver Foxes,” Sarah said.“I raise them for meat, to train them to hop and for companionship,” she said.The daughter of Shannon and Charlie Brandon has taken her trained rabbits to nursing homes.“I would set up my mats and jumps, and they would jump as high as they can,” she said.“I would train them to wear a harness,” she said. “Some are more stubborn than others, but you can start training them as juniors, when they are under 6 months old.”Sarah competed against 11 others for seven statewide seats, according to Sarah Rager, of Harmony, the youth committee chairwoman of the Pennsylvania State Rabbit Breeders Association.As reigning rabbit queen, Rager said Sarah and the PSRBA king will take part in the opening ceremonies of the 2022 State Farm Show, should it be held, and attend the governor's dinner at the farm show.
“I've watched her grow up for the last 10 years,” said Rager. “She's always promoting rabbits and making people understand what rabbits are.”“I think she will be excellent as queen,” said Amy Metrick, 4-H educator for Butler County. “She's always willing to participate. She will make an excellent rabbit breeders queen.“She's excellent in helping the younger members, mentoring them and teaching them about how to use their rabbits,” Metrick said. “She's taken her rabbits to events such as the petting zoo and demonstration day at Sunnyview.”Rager agreed Sarah is very good at educating younger rabbit raisers.Ordinarily, Sarah would have been given the crown and sash of her office at a ceremony at the Lebanon Expo Center in Lebanon County, but the COVID-19 pandemic turned the association's annual meeting into an online one.Sarah competed and was crowned remotely.“The PSRBA meeting is the second-largest in the country behind the national convention,” said Rager. “Rabbits are kind of bigger than people realize.”Sarah said her duties will have her making appearances, conditions permitting, during her year's reign.She'll doff her crown at next year's association meeting, scheduled Feb. 6, but Brandon said she will raise rabbits for the rest of her life.
