Chocolate Champagne or a Brun?

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TroubleMakerAcres

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I just had my first Champagne litter and there are a couple chocolate kits in the box. Are these chocolate Champagnes? Or are they now Brun’s because they’re chocolate?
They are considered separate breeds, so I’d be inclined to call them chocolate Champagnes, thoughts?
 

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I'd call them chocolate champagnes, especially for pedigree purposes - you really need to keep those accurate.

Bruns and Champagnes are not only separate breeds, they do have slightly different standards. Most notably, they are different sizes:
Champagne Senior buck 9-11lbs (ideal 10 lb) Senior Doe 9.5 -12lbs ideal 10.5lbs
Argente Brun Senior buck 8-10 lbs (ideal 9 lbs) Senior Doe 8.5 -10.5 ideal 9.5lbs

The points on the standard are arranged a little differently, too. Champagnes have 20 points allotted to Color; Bruns also have 20 points on Color, plus an additional 10 points on Evenness of Color (the extra 10 points were drawn from the points for General Type and for Condition).

However, as far as showing them, there are no pedigrees required, and of course you can't show a chocolate champagne. But I have had several ARBA judges tell me, "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, we might as well call it a duck." (I'm not suggesting cheating or lying, at all. At All-Breed shows, animals are judged solely on their conformation to the breed's description in the ARBA Standard of Perfection, as they appear on that day.)
 
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I'd call them chocolate champagnes, especially for pedigree purposes - you really need to keep those accurate.
Hello, thank you so much for your well written response. I agree and am going to stick with chocolate Champagne if I keep any of them.

I didn’t know you didn’t need a pedigree to show? There aren’t any near me so I don’t show anyhow, even though I’d like to, but I like to know what the rules are incase I’m selling breeding stock to a potential show goer.
 
Hello, thank you so much for your well written response. I agree and am going to stick with chocolate Champagne if I keep any of them.

I didn’t know you didn’t need a pedigree to show? There aren’t any near me so I don’t show anyhow, even though I’d like to, but I like to know what the rules are incase I’m selling breeding stock to a potential show goer.
Too bad you can't make it to a show - they can be a lot of fun!

Often people are surprised that no pedigree is needed to show a rabbit in an ARBA sanctioned show, but it's true. The rabbit show world does things very differently than how it's done in some other species.

To be shown, a rabbit needs to be healthy with no physical deformities, have a permanent ear tattoo, and match the ARBA Standard of Perfection (SOP) as closely as possible. There are very few "perfect" rabbits that match the SOP exactly, so the ARBA sets certain upper and lower limits to some things, including weight, variety (color and pattern), fur type, and some other details particular to certain breeds. Any individual rabbit which fills these criteria can be shown, more or less successfully depending on how well they typify the breed.

For Champagnes D'Argent, that means being black - in fact, the SOP doesn't even list any varieties for Champagnes, as there is only one color allowed in the breed. That doesn't mean that off-colored rabbits can't be used as broodstock to produce showable animals. In many breeds and/or varieties (Blanc de Hotots, or Blue-eyed White Mini Rex, for example) some breeding programs actually rely on some off-colored stock. But it is important to include that information on the pedigree, so the buyer knows what he or she is getting genetically.

If you want to sell show stock, keeping accurate pedigrees will make your animals more valuable. First, so the buyer knows what they're getting; second, because a person who shows their rabbit successfully may end up wanting to register their rabbit with the ARBA, and for that, a complete 3-generation pedigree is needed. To be complete, the rabbit's ear number, variety and birth date must appear on the pedigree; and each of the parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents must be listed with a name and/or ear number, a variety (in a Champagne pedigree that would be "standard" or not noted at all unless they were another color, e.g.brown), and a senior weight. Don't forget those weights! (A "senior" in Champagnes is 8 months or older, but once a rabbit reaches 6 months of age it can be registered as long as it already has reached the minimum senior weight.) Again, even if your rabbits don't make senior weight themselves, be sure to include their adult weight accurately - it won't hurt their offsprings' chances to win or be registered, because each animal is judged on its own merits, not its heritage.

When selling show stock, you should also check to see that the rabbits do not have white toenails, blue-gray eyes, white spots, or other disqualifications. It's ultimately the buyer's responsibility to verify this, but it's embarrassing to sell a rabbit to someone and hear that it's been DQd because of a DQ someone should have noticed. The rabbit should also be reasonably expected to reach the minimum senior weights of 9.5lb for does and 9lbs for bucks.

If you find you are going to be selling to show breeders (or even if you're not!), it might be worth joining the ARBA if you haven't already, and/or buying a copy of the SOP. A membership in the ARBA is pretty inexpensive, and with it you get a copy of their guidebook to raising rabbits, as well as a color magazine full of very interesting and educational articles. You can find more information here: Join the ARBA

We actually just picked up our first trio of young Champagne bunnies this afternoon. They have silver feet and silver eyelashes. :) I am smitten with their sweet, mellow personalities!

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Too bad you can't make it to a show - they can be a lot of fun!

Often people are surprised that no pedigree is needed to show a rabbit in an ARBA sanctioned show, but it's true. The rabbit show world does things very differently than how it's done in some other species.

To be shown, a rabbit needs to be healthy with no physical deformities, have a permanent ear tattoo, and match the ARBA Standard of Perfection (SOP) as closely as possible. There are very few "perfect" rabbits that match the SOP exactly, so the ARBA sets certain upper and lower limits to some things, including weight, variety (color and pattern), fur type, and some other details particular to certain breeds. Any individual rabbit which fills these criteria can be shown, more or less successfully depending on how well they typify the breed.

For Champagnes D'Argent, that means being black - in fact, the SOP doesn't even list any varieties for Champagnes, as there is only one color allowed in the breed. That doesn't mean that off-colored rabbits can't be used as broodstock to produce showable animals. In many breeds and/or varieties (Blanc de Hotots, or Blue-eyed White Mini Rex, for example) some breeding programs actually rely on some off-colored stock. But it is important to include that information on the pedigree, so the buyer knows what he or she is getting genetically.

If you want to sell show stock, keeping accurate pedigrees will make your animals more valuable. First, so the buyer knows what they're getting; second, because a person who shows their rabbit successfully may end up wanting to register their rabbit with the ARBA, and for that, a complete 3-generation pedigree is needed. To be complete, the rabbit's ear number, variety and birth date must appear on the pedigree; and each of the parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents must be listed with a name and/or ear number, a variety (in a Champagne pedigree that would be "standard" or not noted at all unless they were another color, e.g.brown), and a senior weight. Don't forget those weights! (A "senior" in Champagnes is 8 months or older, but once a rabbit reaches 6 months of age it can be registered as long as it already has reached the minimum senior weight.) Again, even if your rabbits don't make senior weight themselves, be sure to include their adult weight accurately - it won't hurt their offsprings' chances to win or be registered, because each animal is judged on its own merits, not its heritage.

When selling show stock, you should also check to see that the rabbits do not have white toenails, blue-gray eyes, white spots, or other disqualifications. It's ultimately the buyer's responsibility to verify this, but it's embarrassing to sell a rabbit to someone and hear that it's been DQd because of a DQ someone should have noticed. The rabbit should also be reasonably expected to reach the minimum senior weights of 9.5lb for does and 9lbs for bucks.

If you find you are going to be selling to show breeders (or even if you're not!), it might be worth joining the ARBA if you haven't already, and/or buying a copy of the SOP. A membership in the ARBA is pretty inexpensive, and with it you get a copy of their guidebook to raising rabbits, as well as a color magazine full of very interesting and educational articles. You can find more information here: Join the ARBA

We actually just picked up our first trio of young Champagne bunnies this afternoon. They have silver feet and silver eyelashes. :) I am smitten with their sweet, mellow personalities!

View attachment 32671View attachment 32672
Thank you again for that thorough explanation.

I’ve dabbled with a few breeds over the last year and I really like the personalities of the Champs as well, but Rex is still my #1 fave. Especially since they are “allowed” to be a much larger spectrum of colours. The Champ pelts are still lovely though and I’ve heard they are an excellent meat breed, so I’ll probably keep a few around.

The ARBA wanted $45 dollars shipping for the SOP when I went to buy it a few months ago and I just can’t justify that right now when you can find most information on the internet, even though I would like to have a copy.

I already keep track of my rabbits colour genetics, I’m kind of the local colour genetics nerd, I love teaching other rabbit breeders about it. I’ve noticed a high instance of Vienna markings in people selling purebred Rex stock, usually they seem obsessed about a pedigree but have no clue about their rabbits genetics.
 
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