Riverwind Rabbitry & Farms

   The Silver Fox's fur is more course than other rabbits, being one and a half to two inches long, and when stroked from tail to head, the fur stands up.  This is refereed to as the "no-fly-back" fur.  The guard hairs are white.  This combined with the length and coarseness resembles that of the Artic Silver Fox, for which is gets it's name.  The Silver Fox is listed as "Critical" by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, meaning there are less than 200 registered breeding adult SF rabbits in the United States, and a global population of fewer than 2,000.

    The Silver Fox Rabbit was the second truly American bred rabbit, the first being the American Blue.  In each of these breeds, a Checkered Giant sport was involved.  What is now known as the Silver Fox was originated and developed during the 1920's by Mr. W.B. Garland of North Canton, OH.  This man was energetic and had a tremendous knowledge of the essentials of breeding to develop a desired trait.  he was a pioneer in many phases of development of the domestic rabbit, it's care and breeding.

   Mr. Garland had a black self Checkered Giant doe.  She had the unusual quality of having a large number of white hairs scattered over her body.  He also had some English Silvers.  The Silver had a 6 pound weight limit for showing, its fur was coarse, and similar to that of a guinea pig, and it was a cobby and compact rabbit.  This trait was a feature that caught his fancy.  He envisioned a blocky "Hereford" type rabbit, similar in color to the English Silver, but with a desirable fur and more practical utility size.  He wanted the Silver type and the checkered size!  After considerable difficulty, and successful mating of the small silver buck and the large black doe was made.  From his first litter, the largest buck was bred back to his mother and the largest does were bred back to the father.  With about 40 hutches, and after 14 years of consistent culling, he had a rabbit that was breeding true to type and color and was the first rabbit of its day to dress out at a pound under it's live weight.  He developed both blacks and blues.  Please not that there are no Flemish Giant blood in the Silver Fox other than through the ancestry of the Checkered Giant itself.

   Today the Silver Fox is a large rabbit with senior does at 10-12 pounds and senior bucks at 9-12 pounds.  The body is medium in length with well filled shoulders and hindquarters  The two important features are its unusual long fur and evenly silvered coat, which does not appear generally until the 6th or 7th month of age.  The coat is longer than normal commercial rabbit fur, with slightly coarse texture that should resemble the pelt of a fox.  Silver tipped or white hairs will be present along the flanks and all over the body, including head, feet and tail.  The black color should run deep to the skin with a slate under color.  The most unusual quality of the fur is that when it is slowly stroked backwards from the tail to the head, the fur "stands up" and it requires another stroke from the head to the tail to return it back in place.  Another desired feature to breeders are "black" toe nails, rather than "white", this is a trait of the original Silver Fox, and is very desirable, it is an automatic disqualification for any serious show exhibit.

    Silver Fox are a gentle breed and have been dubbed the Teddy Bear of the commercial type.  The does are easy breeders and are excellent mothers.  They seem to adapt to any climate and sudden changes in temperatures does not appear to bother them.  They are easy to handle and they like attention.  A high dress out percentage with a predominantly small boned carcass makes them a very desirable meat breed.

   In September 1971 the National Silver Fox Rabbit Club was officially chartered with the ARBA, with 15 members.  The Silver Fox had been on the verge of extinction and were successfully brought back.. They are currently being worked on again to improve type and color and to increase their numbers.  Most breeders are hard pressed to fill the demand for this breed and waiting lists are not uncommon at the present time.  The black is the only variety allowed to show at present.  The blues are being worked on for presentation to be readmitted to the Standard.  Most of the blacks today carry the recessive for blue, so many breeders have them crop up in litters from time to time.  For more information you can visit the National Silver Fox Rabbit Club at the below furnished link.

National Silver Fox Rabbit Club

International Silver Fox Rabbit Club 

   Everyone has their own special way of "culling" their herd. I use the term culling, only as a way of defining the method of choosing the animals you want to keep for show and future breeding stock.  I have picked the brains of several of the top breeders of the commercial type breeds.  The following are some of their tips I have found to help me.

   Most of these breeders pick their animals as very young bunnies, some even right in the nestbox. As far as picking babies... I always pick them at 4-6 weeks. What they look like then is what they will usually mature to be. First, tip them over and look at the hind legs. Are they straight and parallel? If they are the same distance apart at the heels as they are at the toes, they will not be undercut. Are they a wide short foot, or a long narrow foot... Keep the short wide foot! They will have better bone and better size. This length of foot will also give you some idea of the type on that rabbit, a short wide foot will usually indicate a short coupled animal, whereas a longer foot will tell you that the rabbit will be long through the barrel.

   Next, pose the rabbit. Slide your hand under the front legs, and check the breast area. Is it nice and flat? It should be nice and wide, and should feel flat or just slightly rounded. It should not be pigeon breasted. If they come to a "V" shape, then that is a DQ in any breed. Now pose them again... put your hand around the rib cage, like you are gripping their ribs... is it nice and round like a soup can, or does it kind of square off part way down and become slab sided... Keep the round ones! The slab sided animal will never fill out in the midsection.  Look at them posed,  do they start right at the base of the ears, with a nice even topline?  Are they nice and deep over the hindquarters, carrying good width all the way down to the base of the table?  Do they blend smoothly from the shoulders to the midsection to the hindquarters, or are do your hands catch at the hips as you go over them. Do they peak too early, or too late? This is what they will be when they are grown so look for type first, and worry about fur last. As far as fur goes, look for the longest and densest coats. Don't worry about silvering. That develops differently on each and every fox.

MORE ON JUDGING SILVER FOX... 

   With the increase of the Silver Fox being shown in most areas, there seems to be some question as to posing and judging them. I will attempt to give some common basis for judging the Silver Fox.
What body type does a Satin have, What body type does a Californian have?,What type does a New Zealand have?,  Are they posed the same way?

Now...

   What type does a Flemish Giant have?,What type does an English Lop have?,Or an American?
Are they posed the same way?, Are they posed like the commercial breeds?, The Silver Fox is a commercial breed, and should be posed accordingly. What sets them apart from all other commercial breeds is their Wonderful, Long, Thick, Plush, Heavy coat of fur, with it's Stand-Up quality. This can sometimes create a little bit of confusion. If they are a commercial breed, then they should be judged on type, right? OK, lets compare the Silver Fox with the New Zealand as far as the points go...

   The New Zealand has 60 points on general type. The Silver Fox has 45 points on general type.  Now if you were judging them exactly the same you might deduct 10 points for low shoulders on the NZ. Since the Silver Fox has only 3/4 the point value you would then only be able to deduct 7.5 points from it for the same fault.  With the type fault being worth less, you then need to go to the fur. There are 50 points on fur, coloring and silvering with the Silver Fox. Even though the standard calls for the same points on silvering as it does for fur, the fur is the more important feature. This is what sets the "Fox" apart from all other breeds. They must have "Fox" fur!!! If they have a flyback coat, they do not meet the requirements for the breed and should be given an "unworthy of award".

   Some "Fox" will have a roll back and should be faulted for that. They should also be faulted for fur that is too short. Ideally the fur should be 1 1/2 inches long, and basically, I like to see it a touch longer. A good rule to go by is double the thickness of your fingers when you slide them into the coat to check the length. This long Standup coat of fur does not need to be coarse, contrary to popular opinion, it can be very soft.  The silvering on the "Fox" should be about 15-20%. More emphasis is on the evenness, rather than the amount, as long as the animal is not so heavily silvered as to give the overall appearance of being gray, or so light in silvering that it appears uneven or incomplete in color. When considering the evenness, keep in mind that the fur on the face, legs, and tail is much shorter, and therefore will appear less silvered, even at the same percentage as the body. You also need to keep in mind that a younger animal will not usually be finished in silvering, with the last areas to silver being the face and ears. As far as the color goes you want a good rich color, the black being jet black, and the blue being a rich medium blue. The Silvering should highlight the base color, not over power it.  When taking a final look at the Silver Fox, pose them, and get a good look at the type, then the last thing you should do is gently, and Slowly stroke the fur from tail to head. This makes the pelt stand up as it is supposed to. When you get it standing, Please do not stroke it back down again as you would on a Satin coat... The breeders have worked very hard to get that stand-up quality, and feel that the fur should be shown to the best advantage, just like you would for the Rex coat, or Angora wool.