Holland Lop Rabbits Inro

Holland Lop Rabbits

GC The Nature Trail's Kirsten (our first show bunny we granded - 6 legs)

Cole Run is our ARBA registered rabbitry name and #X406 with member #COLEDA00 GC Cole's Carlie (our first homegrown grand champion)

GC Ormond's Platinum one of our foundation herd rabbits. She has retired to a great home in PA with a fine pet care taker Elizabeth! Thank you so much for giving her the Hilton to retire to!

What is a Holland Lop? Holland Lop Rabbits were originated by Mr. Adrian DeCock of the Netherlands starting in 1949. He crossed a French Lop (10lbs) with a Netherland Dwarf (3lbs), then he crossed that with an English Lop (6lbs) to reach his goal of a rabbit under 4.5lbs. This new breed was accepted by the Netherland's Governing Rabbit Council in January of 1964. Mr. DeCock called them Netherland Dwarf Lops. These lops appeared in the US in 1976 and were first presented to the ARBA Standards Committee at the Tuscon convention. They were accepted into the ARBA Standards for 1980.

General Rabbit Care
Rabbits are relatively low maintenance animals and make great pets. They can withstand cold temperatures but like dogs cannot handle the heat (above 90) too well. Rabbits do not need vaccinations but proper food, exercise, cleanliness of cages and daily loving will keep a rabbit healthy physically and mentally. Handling them daily will allow you to notice anything out of the ordinary and bring out a very affectionate pet. Rabbits can be trained to use a litter box. Some owners have them as house pets. Special care and supervision are needed for the safety of the rabbit if you choose to keep one as a house pet (for example: gnawing on electrical wires and outlets or curious small children). Toys or hay will help keep them from getting bored. We often let them out in a safe area for exercise -- if outside in the open, keep your eyes pealed for predators; hawks, owls, neighborhood dogs, your own dogs, etc. There are many books or websites out there on general care of rabbits. Try our search at Amazon.com or Wal-Mart link below for any of your rabbit pet needs. We will discuss briefly our methods of Rabbit care. Any breeder you talk to will have different workable methods that are successful in their barns. So there is not a one and only workable way to care your your animals.

Housing We house our rabbits in our old chicken coop. We insulated it and enclosed it with stackable 24X24 and 18X24 cages. We use air conditioner in the summer and heaters in the winter to maximize our breeding routines. We have building instructions for stackable and hanging cages. Rabbits need good lighting and well ventilated housing. Fluorescent lights on timers are the best recommendation for nice coats and uplifted spirits for shortened sunlight days in the winter. Holland Lops are a small breed (4lbs) so they can withstand a smaller cage 18X24. We learned the hard way that they need good lighting. Personalities actually changed and breeding success was low with dimmed lights.

Feeding We feed Blue Seal Show Hutch Deluxe pellets (fresh--not older than a month because it loses its nutritional value - the manufacturer says it has a 6 month shelf life). Original oatmeal (raw) and shredded wheat in moderation, and sweet Orchard Grass Hay daily. Each rabbit needs various amounts, for the most part we feed 1/2 cup in the PM only. All feed is kept in galvanized trash cans with lids to keep out any unwanted critters. Some breeders feed twice a day, we used to but found there was no need. Each cage has metal sifter feeders. Sometimes the dust may cause respiratory problems, so make sure they don't ingest too much dust through their nose. Make sure that the feeders are the wide mouth feeders for the Holland's large heads. Brood rabbits with their kits need feed more often, unlimited. Feeding hay daily helps their digestive system stay regular, keeps their teeth trimmed and keeps them from being bored -- they like to chew and their teeth grow very fast. We don't use the hay racks that you can attach to the side of the cages. We just put loose hay in the cages because since we have drop pans, the loose hay also helps buffer or absorb some of the urine odor (small amounts). We use Lixit wide mouth bottles for water, we change, clean bottles weekly and provide fresh water daily, changing their water daily is very important. See the Feed Bin for more information.

Maintenance and Care We clean their cages once a week or more. To buffer some of the urine smell we have used shavings and baking soda. Just add a little baking soda (3 tablespoons) to your pull out pans. We also use PDZ (similar to lime), we sprinkle a little of it in the bottom of each pan. I have also read that you can add vanilla extract to their water. That didn't seem to work for us. We bleach our water and food containers when ever needed. We have a magnet system (adopted from The Nature Trail Rabbitry) to help us with our daily chores. These magnets help us identify feeding amounts, breedings, 'for sale' bunnies, cleaned cages, medication needs, grand champion rabbits and more. We have a medicine cabinet with supplies needed in case we have a sick bunny, to store more feeders, waterers, hardware, and grooming supplies that we may need later. We worm, thoroughly groom and clip nails since we show our bunnies on a monthly basis.

Breeding We breed to improve Holland Lop confirmation and our goal is to acquire quality show rabbits. Monthly we have rabbits for sale. Our sale rabbits are pet ($40 - no pedigree), brood ($45-$65) and show (starting at $70) quality. Breeding is not as easy as people think. Lighting, weather, experienced brood mom's, health, environment (noise) are all factors of good breeding conditions. Our breeding success rate improved when these conditions improved.

Showing We show at least once a month. Travel is fun and judges let us know if we are on the right track with our rabbits confirmation. Our goal is to go to nationals and/or convention once a year and make Cole Run in the national standings. Since we are a very small rabbitry, we will try to be in the top 40 nationally. Not only do our winnings make us glow but the new people we meet and other rabbit breeders make the shows so much fun. Shows allow us to experience and acquire the knowledge of rabbits that books just don't do for us. The change of scenery and on looking of other show rabbits help keep us from barn blindness. If we don't get out of our barn and look at what is out there, we will think we are breeding for the right characteristics but we really are not. Find a show.