COLUMBUS, Ohio – Mainly bred for their meat and fur, market rabbits are gaining popularity with youth who raise rabbits. Market rabbit varieties continue to gain favor as a 4-H and FFA project in Ohio. Only hogs are more popular.

“It’s a growing project,” said Ryan Lentz, president of the Ohio Market Rabbit Breeders Association (OMRBA) said. “Depending on the year, market rabbits or hogs is the most taken project – it bounces back and forth, but it’s one of the top two.”

Of the 52 breeds of rabbit recognized by the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA), New Zealands and Californians are the most popular market rabbits used as 4-H and FFA projects. They fall into the Commercial Rabbit category.

“There are quite a few breeds that can do it, but to be competitive, you’re talking New Zealands, and Californians,” Lentz said. “Those are your two main breeds; 90 percent of your market rabbits are those two.”

A quick growth rate and efficient feed to meat conversion make New Zealand and Californian rabbits excellent market rabbits. Both breeds share similar body types, with Californians being slightly smaller.

OMRBA is dedicated to promoting the highest quality market rabbit stock and advancing the standards of market rabbit production in Ohio.

“The club started mainly to provide awards to the Ohio State Fair kids who show rabbits,” Lentz said. “That’s the main goal because that was the one livestock project that wasn’t included in the Sale of Champions.”

OMRBA’s incentives to those who show market rabbits have grown. “I think in the beginning, they might have paid the top 10 kids, and now through fundraising and donations, we pay the top 30 placings,” Lentz said.

In addition to the state fair, OMRBA hosts shows throughout the year to promote interest in show-market rabbits.

New Zealand rabbits are bred in five colors: white, red, black, blue and broken. Californians are white with black points: ears, feet, nose and tail.

“Generally speaking, when you’re talking New Zealand, whites are the dominant variety,” Lentz said. “I will say, the brokens and the blacks are starting to catch up to them, but at most shows you’re going to see an abundance of the whites.”

David Moll and his brother Greg have raised New Zealands and Californians for over 30 years. It was something he got started with as a child. “I grew up in a subdivision, and we couldn’t do large animal livestock, and so it gave me a way to stay involved and do stuff at the fair, and it’s grown,” Moll said.

Moll, an ARBA judge, is passionate about New Zealands and Californians.

“I just love them. I love the muscle that they have,” Moll said. “We’re trying to breed them and produce the really good ones. It’s an art form to produce high-quality ones.”

ARBA has over 23,000 members in Canada and the United States. Members keep rabbits as pets, raise and show purebred rabbits, or raise them commercially. Most rabbits raised in Ohio are sold as breeding stock and, more significantly, for 4-H and FFA projects.

Moll is an example. “We show rabbits,” he said. “But we sell breeding stock, and then we also sell market rabbits to kids that compete in a lot of different county fairs and several different state fairs in Ohio and other states.”

Market rabbits are shown in four classes. Fryers: 3½-5½ pounds (8-10 weeks of age); Roasters: 5½-9 pounds (not over 5 months); Stewers: over 8 pounds (over 5 months); Pen of three.

A pen of three, or a meat pen, consists of three rabbits of the same breed and variety. They may be from the same litter. They are judged on their uniformity of weight, muscle firmness, and fur texture.

“All fairs are different,” Lentz said.  “Single fryers are probably the most popular because it’s the easiest – you have one rabbit. You don’t see a lot of Stewers, but I know a handful of fairs that do Roasters.”

Lentz sees fryers and the Pen of Three at most events. However, there are exceptions. “Some fairs tweak it and do a Pen of Two to make it easier on the kid,” he said. “They only have to find and take care of two rabbits.”

Moll, who judges all over the world, values the camaraderie of the rabbit community, “Although it’s big, it’s also still small,” he said. “We have friends throughout the world who do the same thing. It’s very unique in a niche kind of market and hobby, it’s cool.”