JUDA — Emily Makos of the Juda FFA Chapter was named Wisconsin Star Farmer. Wisconsin State Star awards are sponsored by Compeer Financial.
Makos also received first place in the Small Animal Production and Care Proficiency Award in the state. Both of these awards were a result of her Rabbit Production SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) Program.
At just 8 years old, Makos received a rabbit from her parents for her birthday. After showing her rabbit through 4-H, she decided to invest in three more rabbits and began raising meat rabbits on a small scale. When 2013 rolled around, Makos decided to attend her first American Rabbit Breeder Association rabbit show. This opportunity opened her eyes to all that the rabbit industry had to offer.
Makos joined the Wisconsin Rabbit Breeders Association and has grown her project to over 200 rabbits, including a variety of breeds such as New Zealands, Californians, Polish and Mini Rex. She chooses her best does to breed and with those does averages over 30 kits per doe in a year. Makos is able to be very selective when deciding which rabbits she will keep for show stock, which rabbits will be sold as therapy pets and which rabbits will be culled for meat.
Makos listed 20 different skills that she learned with her rabbit project in her state application. She talked about one of them being proper ventilation in the barn.
“Initially, I had issues with poor ventilation in my rabbit barn, which led to pneumonia when temperatures changed quickly or it becomes damp out. I talked to other breeders about systems they used and decided to add a small ventilation fan in my barn. I also run a 24-inch fan year-round to keep the air moving. The ventilation options I chose were low cost fixes I could afford and have significantly improved my herd health,” she wrote.
When asked what her greatest accomplishments were from her years in the rabbit production operation, the top three that she listed were improved evaluation/judging skills, improved show placings and marketing more rabbit meat.
Her project increased in size and efficiency through the years. In 2014 Makos had 32 kits (litters) born and weaned. In 2019, that number increased to 907 kits born and weaned. She was able to keep accurate records of rabbit numbers and feed efficiency as well as other data on her project because of a computerized recordkeeping software called EVANS. This recordkeeping software also kept track of the pedigrees of her rabbits.
Makos has been involved in various FFA leadership conferences, career development events and leadership development events. In 2019, Makos competed at the Wisconsin State FFA Convention in Prepared Public Speaking with a speech on the health of rabbit meat. The 2020 Wisconsin FFA Convention was just completed virtually during the week on July 6-10.
Makos has been accepted into the Accelerated Occupational Therapy Program through Concordia University and hopes to integrate rabbits into the therapy programs she will one day offer.
Her parents are Eric and Jody Makos and her advisor is Jenna Beitz.
Second through fifth place finishers were: 2nd Place-Everlah Riley-Waupaca FFA; 3rd Place-Carson Lobdell-Darlington FFA; 4th Place-Cortney Zimmerman-Spencer FFA; and 5th Place-Morgan Vondra-Mineral Point.
For more information about Wisconsin FFA and the Wisconsin FFA Foundation, visit http://www.wisconsinffa.org or www.wisconsinffafoundation.org. Become a fan of Wisconsin FFA or Wisconsin FFA Foundation on Facebook, or call 715-659-4807.
