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Mini Lop Breed Info

The Mini Lop is a breed with a rich history. It is the third smallest lop breed, after the Holland and American Fuzzy Lop. The Mini Lop IS the smallest non-dwarfed lop breed. The French and English lop are larger lop variations. Bob Herschbach discovered the Mini Lop breed at a German National Rabbit Show in Essen, Germany in 1972, where it was known as a Klein Widder. These first Mini Lops were originated from the German Big Lop and the small Chinchilla. These two breeds came originally in Agouti and ruby-eyed white..

German lops were about 8 pounds (3.6 kg), slender and large with thick ears. Herschbach, a Mini Lop promoter, achieved the first procreation of Mini Lops in the United States, mainly through breeding an agouti lop pair and a REW (ruby-eyed white) female lop in 1972. Their first baby lops were solid, self colors. A second generation came with broken colors. As a result of the breeding and culling process, they began to define the standard of the "Mini Lop."

In 1974, when Herschbach's Mini Lop rabbits made their debut in an American Rabbit Breeders' Association (ARBA) convention held in Ventura, California. The outcome was that the breed needed to be downsized to a more compact, attractive size. In order to achieve this, Herschbach enlisted the assistance of other breeders by letting them breed more of his Mini Lops. One final touch resulted in changing the breed name from Klein Widders to "Mini Lop" to make it more appealing to the American public.

In 1977 the Mini Lop breed was under new sponsorship; Herb Dyke was the person in charge of the task of refining the breed.

In 1978, Herschbach and Dyke created a correspondence club for the Mini Lops. Within a year, they had over 500 members who had contacted the ARBA with support for the Mini Lop rabbit. In 1980, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the National Rabbit Convention, this breed marked its success when it was recognized as an official rabbit breed sanctioned by ARBA.

Shortly after, in 1980, the Mini Lop Club of America was founded to promote the beautiful breed.