Belgian Hares joined our stud early in 2004 and as yet our breeding programme is in its infancy. They are extremely friendly rabbits. Belgian Hares are rabbits and are not related to wild hares at all.  They give birth to hairless, blind kits in nests unlike the wild hares who give birth to fully furred leverets with their eyes open in nests.                                                                                              This is Roxy a homebred doe at her first show. 

Belgian Hares should be long, fine and muscular, with a distinct arch in their back. Their heads are also long and fine, with bold hazel eyes and black lacing to their ears. Front legs should be long, fine and perfectly straight, they are a rich chestnut colour with plentiful black ticking although they should have no ticking on their feet.

Here is a photo of two baby hares tucked up in their nest.  They were born during a hot spell in June and mum  left the nest was uncovered so that the kits didn't overheat. I would never uncover kits in their nest to take photos but since the doe left these uncovered I grabbed the chance.

These are the same kits at three weeks old,  eating dried feed as well as grass and veg although they are still feeding from mum. The ticking is starting to come through on their backs but they will go through a lot of changes in the next couple of months.

The kits are now 7 weeks old and are both does. Their coats are changing and the black ticking is really coming through now. They are very lively and full of fun but we have spend time every night training them to pose for the judging table.

At 3months old and amost ready for her first show! We are still working with her teaching her to pose but she would rather explore her surroundings.  It takes a lot of time and patience to train them to sit.

This youngster is darker in colour and has a slightly larger head. This may still change as they have a lot of growing to do still.  She was a bit fed up with us trying to get her to pose!

We did a fair bit of travelling in 2006 have done well, being in the prize cards and to end the year we had a Best in Show with a young doe! Another great end to the year!  We travelled down to Stafford in June 2007 for another big show as well as stock shows and one of our does went best in show in the stock show as well as winning best adult doe in the open show.

We had a couple of young does who were at their first show in August 2007, where one of them went best under 5 mnths fancy rabbit under a Hare panel judge. Not bad for only being 13wks old. Since then, each of them has gone on to take best under 5 month fancy and best fancy (including under other panel judges) at other shows, with one going on to win Best in Show at the Scottish Rabbit Club show at Forfar in October 2007. These does will be bred from later in the year to keep our bloodlines going.