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Page 12 • Country Acres | Saturday, January 21, 2023 Rabbit bb bba Ra rewards rewards

Larson family aims to be master breeders

BY JAN LEFEBVRE STAFF WRITER

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – When Sally Larson attained two rabbits in 2008 for her 4-yearold twins, Kallie and Courtney, she launched a new lifestyle for the Larson family.

Today, Larson’s Rabbitry houses 160 rabbits – New Zealands, Belgian Hares and Florida Whites. Hermes, a Holland Lop, and Oliver, a Mini Rex, live there as well.

The twins show New Zealands and Belgian Hares. They used to show Holland Lops but sold the herd when they graduated and moved from home.

Larson shows those breeds as well, but lately she has added Florida Whites to the rabbitry, which look like smaller New Zealands.

“But, do not call them that,” Larson said. “Breeders do not like that.”

Rabbit breeding is serious business, and breeders are protective of their breeds.

Every Larson rabbit has a pedigree and is offi cially registered with the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA), which means that the Larsons know the parents, grandparents and great-grandparents of each rabbit. The Larsons have gold star rabbits as well.

“It takes years for people to start producing gold star rabbits,” Larson said.

The reason is that all rabbits in a gold star rabbit’s pedigree (parents, grandparents and great-grandparents) are registered through ARBA and are grand champions.

“Everything we breed now with New Zealands will be gold star rabbits because we will only breed from them (gold stars),” Larson said. “We have 17 gold star rabbits in the barn right now. Anything born from this point on will automatically be gold star.”

So far in their rabbit showing career, the twins together have 32 homegrown grand champion rabbits and Larson has 31. However, they are not resting on their laurels.

When a rabbit wins a show, it receives what is called a leg. If a rabbit wins Best of Breed at three different shows (three legs), the rabbit is considered a grand champion. A breeder with 50 homegrown grand champions is considered a master breeder by ARBA, which gains the breeder a lot of respect and makes rabbits of that breeder more valuable. Each breed has its own national club that lists the top breeders with the highest showing points across the United States, and that means master breeders are the ones who make the list.

Rabbit page 13

PHOTO PH SUBMITTED SUBMIT Hermes, a Herme Holland Lop Holland owned by the owned by Larson family, is now Larson family, is n retired. He won many retired. He won m awards at shows awards at sh including in agility including in ag competitions where he became a competitionswherehebecam national grand champion.

“Every year the top breeders change, but there are some who stay on the list every year,” Larson said. Since rabbits often compete against hundreds of other rabbits, each win is a major accomplishment. Therefore, the goal to become a master breeder is a lofty one. Larson is keeping her herd separate from the girls’ herd until they are all master breeders. At that point, they will merge them.

Before Kallie and Courtney sold their Holland Lops, one of their Hollands, Zenks Alyson Felix, won Best of Breed at the ARBA convention in Springfi eld, Massachusetts, where hundreds of Hollands competed for top Holland in the United States. Lops are popular because of their miniature cuteness and fl oppedover ears, so there are high numbers of competing Lops at each show.

“The girls showed Lops all of their youth career,” Larson said. “In 2019 they became Top Youth Breeders in Holland Lop in the United States.”

They have shined with their other breeds as well.

“They placed grand or reserve in their breeds at the Minnesota State Fair every year since 2015,” Larson said.

Hermes, a Blue Iris Holland Lop, is also a national grand champion in agility.

“He jumps courses, does balance beams, goes through hoops and all that kind of good stuff,” Larson said. “He’s been doing agility for six years, but he is retired now.”

Larson said that rabbits are smart, knowing their names and seeming to settle down for shows as if they know what to do.

“Even though (within their breed) they all look alike, each one has its own personality,” Larson said.

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PHOTO BY JAN LEFEBVRE Sally Larson holds Sweetwater, a Florida White, Nov. 29 at Larson’s Rabbitry near St. Joseph. The Florida White, which looks like a small New Zealand but is an entirely diff erent breed, is the newest breed to be raised by the Larsons.

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“I really like the big, fat, cuddly ones.”

That doesn’t mean that they all behave. This was the case with one naughty Holland Lop that the Larsons at fi rst named Muffi n. Larson laughs when she recalls him.

“We thought he was a girl, but he turned out to be a boy,” Larson said. “So, we renamed him Sir Muffi n.”

He was Kallie’s favorite rabbit. At a show, a judge tried to take him out of his cage. Sir Muffi n demonstrated his love of jumping.

“He jumped right onto the judge’s head, leaped over to the show cages and proceeded to jump on each breeder’s head all the way down the row,” Larson said. “Everyone was Larsons have come this far in 14 years after starting with two unremarkable rabbits, especially considering that the twins didn’t start showing those fi rst rabbits until 2011. That was when their brother, Dakotah, a teenager at the time, thought his sevenyear-old sisters should join 4-H so that they could do shows. He wasn’t in 4-H himself but said it would be something fun he could do with his much younger sisters. He had no idea his ripple would create a giant wave.

For the fi rst show, the judge informed the twins that their rabbits did not qualify because they weren’t purebreds. Their showing days could have ended there, but both girls had caught the showing bug.

“They each got a pair of New Zealands and

looking around, thinking, ‘What just happened?’”

However, Sir Muffi n was a great show rabbit. He just liked to jump.

“I actually think he still won that show,” Larson said.

Sometimes raising rabbits brings sadness too.

Fireball was a Belgian Hare who was Minnesota’s top rabbit of all breeds in the 2021-22 show season.

“In ten months, he made it to top rabbit,” said Larson. “That means he won more BOBs than any other rabbit who showed that year, but at 10 months old, he died of an invasive cancer. I lost him just a few months ago, and that was tough.”

Looking back to 2008, it is remarkable that the showed them the second year,” Larson said.

The pairs also began producing offspring, but it is a mistake to think breeding rabbits is easy.

“That’s a myth; it’s really hard to breed rabbits,” Larson said. “I’m trying to get some bred right now, but they’re just not interested.”

Once the girls started going to rabbit shows, they noticed other rabbit breeds.

“During one of the fi rst shows, Courtney saw Holland Lops and wanted to add them,” Larson said. “Kallie wanted the Belgian Hares.”

Even though Belgian Hares look like hares, and their offspring are born with fur and with their eyes open like baby hares, they are considered rabbits because they are domesticated.

The twins began accumulating and growing rabbits, concentrating on their favorite breeds but always showing together in junior class competitions.

Then Dakotah graduated from high school.

“He went off to college, so Mom took over,” Larson said.

Soon she caught the bug as well and began showing rabbits in the open class, for those 18 and over. The twins, now 19, show in open class as well.

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Rabbit page 15

PHOTOS SUBMITTED A 5-weekold Belgian Hare named Livewire is one of a herd of Belgians at Larson’s Rabbitry. Like with hares, Belgian babies are born with fur and their eyes open, but they are considered rabbits because they are domesticated.

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As the Larson rabbits produced more kits, housing became a challenge. That is where Larson’s husband, Jaime, stepped in with his construction skills. He built a rabbitry of indoor and outdoor hutches, including heating and cooling systems, and retrofi tted a trailer for transporting rabbits to and from shows across the country.

“His primary rabbit duty now is to stay home and hold down the fort when we go to shows,” Larson said.

That includes a lot of rabbit care. Larson said aid she appreciates the many ny ways he helps her and nd their daughters pursue ue their rabbit dreams.

Plus, the rabbits like ke Jaime. One New Zealand nd named Zenga prefers s him to anyone else and only comes to the door of his hutch if the visitor is Jaime.

Mostly, though, the rabbits are Larson’s project, and she y has turned her hobby into a fulltime career.

“This is what I do do now,” she said.

She sells rabbits for showing and breeding, and some she sells as pets. The Larsons also raise meat rabbits. Throughout the years, they have been advocates for all things rabbit.

Larson is the current president of the Minnesota Rabbit Breeders Association. She also started Riverlakes Rabbit Club in her area, which had its fi rst show last April and expects breeders from all over the state and nearby states for its second annual show in April 2023. 2023.

As Larson looks forward to the national show in Kentucky next October, which will mark 100 years of ARBA’s existence, she appreciates her fellow rabbit enthusiasts.

“The best thing about showing is not that you win,” Larson said. “It’s fun to win, but when you get to know the other breeders, it’s so much fun to go to the shows and talk with them. They cheer for our wins; we cheer for theirs. I have a huge rabbit family.”

PHOTO BY JAN LEFEBVRE Hardin’s SG Reno or “Reno” the Belgian Hare is held by Sally Larson Nov. 29 in front of many awards won by him and other rabbits owned by the Larson family. Reno’s name notes that he was born at and purchased from Hardin’s rabbitry, but his off spring born at Larson’s Rabbitry will have “Larson’s” at the front of their show names.

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