The BRC & Rabbit Shows
The BRC (British Rabbit Council) & Rabbit Shows
THE BRITISH RABBIT COUNCIL
The BRC is short for the British Rabbit Council (http://www.thebrc.org) . The BRC is the headquarters of the rabbit fancy. You must be a member of the British Rabbit Council to show in the main section of a rabbit show and to order rings. Rabbit rings will identify your rabbit/s to you and rings come in a range of sizes. Every year the British Rabbit Council have an AGM to make changes to any rules and vote for any rule they feel that needs to be altered, added or deleted.
RINGS AND TRANSFER CARDS
You need to be a British Rabbit Council member to show in the main part of the show, for adults at present it costs 15.00 plus 5 per household and for juniors 3.00. To be shown in the main show, rabbits must be rung and registered in your name. Rings cost 3.50 for a set of 6 rings and are purchased from the British Rabbit Council. Rabbit rings come in 11 sizes. To register a rabbit in your name, you will need to fill out a Ring Transfer card. On this you need to fill in the rabbit's breed, the rabbit's ring number, the seller/s name, your name and address, the seller and you (the purchaser) will need to sign the ring transfer card and then you will need to send the transfer card to the BRC.
RABBIT SHOWS
There are numerous rabbit clubs throughout the country, which will hold shows at various times during the year. Shows come in various ratings from 1* to 5* (1* being the lowest rating whilst 5* being the highest) - the two 5 * shows being London and Bradford Championship Show. Many regional championships, for example Southern Championship Show, are 4* shows. The most common rating for a show is 2*.
Many shows also have pet classes, where rabbits that are not quite up to the show standard can be shown. Rabbits don't have to be rung to be shown in pet classes. These classes are a great place to start, as a pet isn't judged to a breed standard but the condition it is in and how friendly it is. Pet classes normally consist of an adult pet class and a junior pet class.
To find out when shows are being held you can subscribe to fur and feather at http://www.furandfeather.co.uk or visit http://www.thebrc.org. Most shows are penned which means that the rabbits are shown in pens (cages), less commonly a box show is held, this means that the rabbit is shown from its travelling box. To be shown rabbits must be over 12 weeks old.
Why don't you help out at your local rabbit show? Most show secretarys will appreciate the help. From selling raffle tickets, to working in the canteen or helping to put/take down the showpens, it will all help with the running of the show. Rabbit shows are also a great opportunity to socialise with likeminded folk and have a great natter.
Most of all just enjoy the show and best of luck with what you decide to put in.
Shown below are some show wires that I use, these are from Avondale and are universal fitting in both my travelling box and show pens.
Booking In
When you want to show your rabbit/s you need to book in before the show (remember to check the closing date!) either by phoning up the show secretary or by sending off an entry form.
If you are showing a pet rabbit (many shows offer pet classes) you must state whether you are an adult or a junior (5 - 16 years) and the show secretary will put you into the correct classes.
If you are showing a rung rabbit it is a lot more complicated. For example, if you want to enter a Cashmere Lop Red Eyed White (REW) you need to state what breed it is. In this case a Cashmere Lop and also what colour it is, in this case REW. You will need to mention whether it is an adult or an u/5 so it can be put in the correct class. Sometimes there isn't a colour class for your breed of rabbit, for example if you have a Sealpoint Cashmere Lop and their is only a REW Cashmere Lop Class and AOC Cashmere Lop Class it will need to go into the AOC, remember to mention what colour it is.
The Day Before the Show
The Day before the Show
The day before the show, you need to present and groom your rabbits. You should clip your rabbits claws if they are an adult (you should not cut an u/5s claws as they give an indication to the rabbits age. However, English Lops are an exception to this rule as they can have their claws clipped as an u/5). You will also need to groom your rabbits (Cashmere Lop grooming is on another page of my website). I have found that short haired rabbits will need grooming around their vent area, as this area can get a little tangled. If your rabbits feet are a little dirty, I recommend that you use a little chalk powder to clean them. However, do not use too much as this can count as over preparation.
You will also need to prepare your travelling boxes and put in some clean shavings. If you are showing Cashmere Lops or other longcoated breeds I recommend that you purchase travelling boxes that have wire trays built in at the bottom (they can sometimes be versatile and fit in the show pen as well!) to stop your Cashmere Lop getting messed up on the journey there. If not just fit a tray at the bottom of your travelling boxes. You should also take some waterbottles for your rabbit at the show.
The Day of the Show
Use a suitable pet carrier to transport your rabbit to the show, I use wooden boxes. Leave home in plenty of time to get to the show allowing for any traffic jams or hold-ups. When you get to the show, go to the secretary to ask for your paperwork and collect it. Your paperwork will contain your pen numbers (do not confuse them with your class numbers) this is the pen that your rabbit will go into. Pens (show cages) are numbered, for example, if your show entry sheet had pen number 117 you will than place your rabbit in pen 117. Before you put your rabbit in his/her pen you should do any last minute preparation on them making sure that they have not get messed up from the journey there. Before the judging starts you will need to pen up your rabbit. You can help steward at the show this involves getting the rabbit the judge asks for e.g. if the judge says number 1 to 3 you can get any one of those numbers. Each rabbit breed is sat differently on the show table and by stewarding you can learn how they all sit. When your rabbit is judged, you should not let the judge know what rabbit is yours. A photo of a Cashmere Lop in his show pen is shown.
Best of luck!
SHOW TERMS & Classes
Here are some useful show terms:
CC (Challenge Certificate)
A CC or Challenge Certificate is awarded when a rabbit is picked the best representative of that colour of that breed. What I mean is that if you own a Sooty Fawn Mini Lop and it is an adult, if it beats the other sooty fawn adults it then goes against the winning sooty fawn u/5 month. If it beats it then a CC is awarded to the sooty fawn adult mini lop.
BOB (Best of Breed)
A Best of Breed is awarded when a rabbit is chosen as the best example of that breed, for example, if you have a REW Cashmere Lop and it wins the CC for the best REW Cashmere Lop it will than go against the other CC winners for the other colours of the Cashmere Lop. If the REW Cashmere Lop than beats the other colours it will be awarded BoB.
U/5 - under 5 months
Ad - adult
AA - Any Age
REW - Red Eyed White
BEW - Blue Eyed White
AOC - Any Other Colour
AOV - Any Other Variety
AC - Any Colour
AV - Any Variety
Dip - Diploma
COM - Certificate of Merit
FUR, LOP, FANCY AND REX
There are 4 show sections at a show these are Fur, Rex, Lop and Fancy.
Fancy rabbit breeds include - Dutch, Harlequin, Himalayan, Netherland Dwarf, Polish, Flemish Giant, Tan, Thrianta, English, Silver, Angora, Belgian Hare, Giant Papillion's, Lionhead and Magpies.
The Fur breeds include - Californian, Swiss Fox, Silver Fox, British Giant, Havana, Sable, Argente, Chinchilla, New Zealand, Satin, Siberian, Alaska, Sussex, Lilac and Vienna.
The Lop breeds include - Cashmere Lops, German Lops, Miniature Lops, Dwarf Lops, French Lops, English Lop, the new standardised Miniature Lionhead Lop and the Miniature Cashmere Lop.
The Rex group is a little different from the rest as they are grouped by colours. There are 2 main varieties of Rex, the Miniature Rex and the standard Rex. Less common breeds of Rex include the Astrex and the Opossum. Many Rex colours have their own specialist groups by colour, for example National Black Rex.
Many of the breeds listed above have their own breed club, but the rarer breeds like the Swiss Fox and the Thrianta cantered for by the Rare Varieties Club because they don't have their own breed club.
Challenge Classes & BIS - At the end of each section (Lop, Fur, Rex and Fancy) there will be challenge classes. There will normally be a challenge class for the Adults, u/5 months and the Any Age Challenge. For example, in the Lop Challenge Classes if the winning adult lop is a Cashmere Lop and the winning u/5 lop is an English Lop they will go against each other to find the Best Lop in Show. For example, if the Cashmere Lop beats the English Lop, it will become the Best Lop in Show. For the BIS challenge all the section winners will compete against each other for the ultimate award, Best in Show. Like for the section classes, there will be an Adult Challenge, u/5 month Challenge and an AA Challenge. The Cashmere Lop Adult will compete in the Adult Challenge, whereas the English Lop will be compete in the u/5 challenge. Even though the English Lop did not get the Best Lop in Show, it could still become the best u/5 in show. For example, if when the Adult Challenge is judged and an Silver Fox is best adult in show and when the u/5 challenge is judged and the English Lop wins best u/5 months in show, the adult and the u/5 challenges winners will go against each other for Any Age. The English Lop can not than beat the Cashmere Lop as the Cashmere Lop has already beat it. For example, if the Silver Fox went BIS, the English Lop can not be 2nd to it as this will mean cross-judging has taken place, the adult winners must be put on top of the English Lop until the Cashmere Lop has been placed than the English Lop can be placed in the AA challenge.
Junior COMS
A COM show is a separate show just for juniors (from the age of 5 to the year you reach 16). COM stands for Certificate of Merit. A COM show will often have a number of different classes depending on what juniors show in a particular area, ie, if there are a lot of Cashmere Lops shown in an area there will be a Cashmere Lop junior class.
A COM for Juniors is similiar to the CC and it is awarded to the class winner. In the Juniors many shows normally just have one or two classes for each breed ie. Mini Lop Self Mini Lop Non Self or just Mini Lop AC/AA.
A COM show is a perfect situation for juniors to compete against juniors of their own age. JUNIORS CAN ENTER BOTH THE JUNIOR CLASSES AND THE MAIN SHOW.
More recently the BRC has introduced Junior Diplomas for Best Junior Fancy, Best Junior Fur, Best Junior Rex and Best Junior Lop.
