Rabbit Show Terminology

Showing Your Rabbit - The Basics!

Getting Started

...What does 'Breed', 'variety', 'Sex' and 'Class' stand for?

Breed : the actual breed of your rabbit, Ie: Mini Rex, Holland Lop, New Zealand, American Sable, English Angora.

Variety : Variety is the PHYSICAL COLOR of your rabbit. Some breeds lump colors together, like the Angoras, who show animals as either Colored or White....Cal marked Angoras are still white ;). Some other breeds like the Lops, show their rabbits as Broken Colored or Solid Colored. Breeds like the Jersey Wooly show under colored groups, such as Agouti, Self, Shaded, Tan Pattern or AOV. Others like the Mini Rex, New Zealand, Satin and Tan show under individual colors. They would be called Black, Blue, Broken, Chinchilla, Tortooise, Red, etc. And the netherland dwarfs show under both variety and group (variety first, then group) - but for entry sheet purposes you use the variety.

Sex : If you have a little (or big) boy bunny, he is called a Buck, and girls are called Does.

Class : Class is respective on breed size. There are 2 calssifications of rabbits for show, the 4 Class rabbits and the 6 Class rabbit breeds. 4 Class rabbits are ALL breeds that mature under 9lbs minimum weight, such as Netherland Dwarfs, Mini Rex, Rex, Americal Fuzzy Lops, English and French Angoras, and Polish . 6 Class rabbitsd mature over 9lbs at maturity, such as Cinnamons, Paliminos, Champange D'Argent, New Zealands Flemish Giants and Checkered Giants.
4 Class Rabbits have Senior Buck, Senior Doe, Junior Buck and junior Doe as their showroom classifications, hense the 4 Class name. 6 Class rabbits have Senior buck, Senior Doe, Intermediate Buck, Intermediate Doe, Senior Buck and Senior Doe, as you can see, they have 2 additional classifications, making them 6 Class rabbits. ALL juniors are rabbits between 3 months and not over 6 months of age. Seniors are all rabbits over 6 months of age. Intermediates are rabbits that are almost done growing, but still have a little bit of room for imrpovement. The 6 Class breeds can still be registered at 6 months of age like all rabbits but their showroom classifications are a little different. Intermediates are over 6 months of age, but not over 8 months of age as far as showing is concerned. occasionally you will see pre-juniors entered in a show, these are rabbits that are either too small and/ or too young to be entered as juniors. they are only allowed in breeds that list it (only certain 6 class breeds.) these animals dont get to compete for anything beyond their class. and are pretty much there only for comments.

Now that you know HOW to enter your purebred show rabbit into a rabbit show entry form, lets not forget that ALL important blank for the Ear Tattoo!
All rabbits entered in shows must have a permanent and LEDGIBLE marking in their left ear. There are many ways to do this from the battery operated or electrical pen style tattooers, and then there is also the clamp style tattooer. There is no limit as to what you can tattoo your rabbits, as this is for your OWN personal identification, and how the judge and yourself tell *your* White New Zealand Junior Doe appart from the other 25 White New Zealand Junior Does on the table.