{"id":54707,"date":"2014-04-07T15:00:54","date_gmt":"2014-04-07T19:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=54707"},"modified":"2014-04-06T16:03:21","modified_gmt":"2014-04-06T20:03:21","slug":"morrisville-state-professor-selected-to-judge-rabbits-in-malaysia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=54707","title":{"rendered":"Morrisville State Professor Selected to Judge Rabbits in Malaysia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_7753\"<\/a>Corey Hayes holds one of his show rabbits, a Blue Pointed White French Angora.\u00a0\u00a0(Photo by Nicolas Murphy, public relations assistant)<\/i><\/p>\n

By\u00a0Franci Valenzano, Public Relations Associate<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

(Morrisville, NY \u2013 April 2014)\u00a0Morrisville State professor Corey Hayes\u2019 fascination with rabbits is taking him out of the classroom and into an overseas adventure.<\/p>\n

The rabbit hobbyist and assistant professor of agricultural business management has been selected to be a judge at the third Malaysian American Rabbit Breeders Association (MARBA) National Rabbit Show\u00a0April 12, in\u00a0Kuala\u00a0Lumpur, Malaysia.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn experience like this allows you to grow as a person and I am looking forward to this opportunity,\u201d said the Oneida resident about his trip to Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

Officially joining the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) in 1999, Hayes has been actively breeding and raising rabbits for more than two decades.<\/p>\n

Growing up on a family dairy farm in Canton, animals and agriculture played a significant role in Hayes\u2019 life, but it was a pair of cotton-tailed pets given to him and his brother when he was 5 that would develop his affinity toward rabbits.<\/p>\n

At a time when most kids his age were exploring comic books, Hayes was thumbing through the farm and garden section of the local swap sheet, seeking animals for sale.\u00a0 He purchased his first pedigree French Lop with money he earned doing odd jobs and started showing pedigree rabbits competitively by the time he was 8.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an easy hobby as a kid because they didn\u2019t take up much room and they were relatively inexpensive,\u201d he said. And as his interest took hold, so did his desire to breed and show his own herd.<\/p>\n

Today he is co-owner of Hay-Mou Rabbitry, located in northern New York, a business he runs with longtime friend Casey Mouthorp. The two maintain a herd of 100 rabbits including Mini Rex, English Spots and American Fuzz Lops. Hayes also raises Dorset sheep.<\/p>\n

A lifelong goal, Hayes earned his license to judge rabbits last year and has been judging all over the country.<\/p>\n

While he has raised numerous breeds throughout his lifetime, Hayes is partial to the Mini Rex. \u201cI\u2019m not sure if it is the striking look of the animal or the therapeutic feel you get when you run your hands over a perfectly primed coat just before putting your animal on the show table,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His life has been devoted to improving standards and quality in the industry. \u201cWe have worked diligently to improve the Mini Rex breed,\u201d said Hayes about Hay-Mou Rabbitry. \u201cWe strive for perfection and work hard on our breeding program.\u201d<\/p>\n

A collection of trophies attest to the fact that they have done well in the show circuit as reputable breeders. Last year, they represented at the ARBA Convention with top 10 and top five placings in Solids Sr. Does, Broken Sr. Does, and Broken Jr. Does.<\/p>\n

In Malaysia, Hayes will be judging different breeds at the open, all-breed ARBA-sanctioned show. Each breed has a different standard for judging, he explained.<\/p>\n

He plans to utilize his experience to open doors in his classroom, where he strives to instill critical thinking in his students.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing introduced to a new culture will also enlighten my students,\u201d said Hayes, who plans to talk to various farmers, get their perspective on agriculture and use it in classroom discussions.<\/p>\n

Active in the industry, Hayes serves as president of the NYS Rabbit and Cavy Breeders Association, District 7 director for the National Mini Rex Rabbit Club and is vice president of the Northern Lites Rabbit Breeders Association.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Corey Hayes holds one of his show rabbits, a Blue Pointed White French Angora.\u00a0\u00a0(Photo by Nicolas Murphy, public relations assistant) By\u00a0Franci Valenzano, Public Relations Associate (Morrisville, NY \u2013 April 2014)\u00a0Morrisville State professor Corey Hayes\u2019 fascination with rabbits is taking him out of the classroom and into an overseas adventure. The rabbit hobbyist and assistant professor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23679],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agfarming"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-een","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54707\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}