Blue Ribbon Rabbitry

In general, Tans are easy to raise. Tans tend to be very good mothers with 4-6 rabbits on average in each litter.

All four varieties can be bred to one another without concern for getting an unshowable variety out of the breeding.

Generally speaking, Blacks are bred to Blacks or Blues. Blues should always be bred back to blacks every other generation (at least) to prevent the tan factor and blue color from becoming too light. Blue is simply the dilute of black.

Chocolates are often bred to chocolates or lilacs. Just as blues need to be bred back to blacks, lilacs need to be bred back to chocolates. Lilac is the dilute of chocolate.

That being said, any breeding combination among colors can be made, once again without concern for getting a rabbit that will be unshowable.

Also, most often all Tans in a litter will be showable. This is not true with many marked breeds such as Dutch or Checkered Giants.  With a Tan you will never have a "mismarked" rabbit.

Tans are a "running breed" which means they are allowed to run freely on the table rather than be posed during examination. The video above on the page demonstrates this.

Judges that poke or push the rabbits in order to get them to run will often see that the rabbit does not respond. The Tan should be allowed to freely explore and move naturally.