Galfvensjös Rabbitry
Breeding Svensk Päls and Californian rabbits in Sweden
Rabbit breeding in the Nordic countries
Information about the Svensk Päls Danmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland use the same standard and judging system. But some parts are still national. So what's the Nordic standard? Currently 62 breeds are recognized by the standard. The breeds are divided into 6 different groups: We have 12 different show classes, the ones that are common are: All breeds are judged on the following areas: Below is a picture from the Nordic standard showing good and poor presentations. It also shows good and poor ear carriage: Below is another picture from the standard showing good and poor leg carriage: Some breeds have very different point scales in the Nordic if you compare to the American and the British scales. The French Lop as an example: British scale: American scale: Nordic scale (we have one scale for coloured and one for French with markings): The scale for white and coloureds: The scale for them with markings: If a rabbit recieves 95 points or more three times, you are entitled to apply for the rabbit to become a Swedish Champion (if you live in Norway it becomes Norwegian champion etc.). The Swedish Rabbit Breeders Association was established 1919. At the Great War and in the 20's Sweden exported very much rabbit meat to other Europe. The Swedish Rabbit Breeders Association have 21 local associations with local clubs. We only have some breed clubs, those are: The Swedish Rabbit Breeders Association gives out the monthly magazine "Kaninuppfödaren" (The Rabbit breeder). There are between 50 and 60 open shows (shows that are open for all members of the Swedish Rabbit breeders Association, other shows can for example be local shows) every year in Sweden. Every year are about 19000 rabbits shown in Sweden. The size of the shows are mostly between 250 to 800 rabbits (not included the National Convention, where there are up to 2000). The most popular breeds 2008 were: Sweden has four national breeds in the standard: The Norwegian Rabbit Breeders Association was established 1897. Under the World war two, rabbit raising was popular in Norway and the NRBA had 5500 members. Today NBRA has 22 local associations and about 950 members. They only have a few breed clubs, those are: The NRBA gives out the monthly magazine "Tidskrift for Kaninavl" (Magazine for Rebbitbreeding). Norway has one national breed in the standard: The Danish Rabbit Breeders Association was established 1895. 1898 the DRBA had 24 local associations with 1200 members. Today the DNRBA has 34 local associations and around 1300 members. They have a number of breed clubs, those are: The DRBA gives out the monthly magazine "Tidskrift for Kaninavl". Danmark has two national breeds in the standard: The Finnish Rabbit Breeders Association is the youngest rabbit association amongst the Nordic countries. It was established in 1989. The FBRA has 3 local associations and about 500 members. There are around 8-10 open rabbit shows in Finland each year. They are pretty small shows. In the biggest show there are around 300 rabbits. The FRBA gives out the magazine "Kanimakaziini" 4 times a year. In a Swedish rabbit show you arrive and put the rabbits in special showing cages (cooped show). Below is an example of a Swedish point card: In Sweden we have very different prize rules. Many shows give prizes down to 94 points, but then they mostly get a ribbon or a water bowl. They must give prizes to all who have got 94,5 points and higher. The prize tables contain a mix of useful things as electronic devices and cups. The prize list on a medium sized rabbit show use to be around 70-80 numbers. Pretty many of the exhibitors get a prize. It also very common that youth exhibitors that haven't placed in the prize list get an "encourage prize". Many shows also have challenge trophies. You can buy a show catalogue where you can see which breed the rabbit is and which color it has, if it's a doe or buck, who owns the rabbit, the left and right ear number. If it's in "own breed" rabbit or not, how old the rabbit is. You can also see which class it competes in. Many catalogues also write some infomation about the breed. Below is an example of a page in a catalogue: The entry fee is about 7-8$ (12$ for the National Convention) for one rabbit, so it's pretty expensive to show rabbits in Sweden. We have a National Convention each year in Sweden. But we call it "Landutställning" or just "LU". It use to be around 1700-2000 rabbits on that show. Most rabbitries in Sweden have about 45-55 holes. The largest have about 100 holes. Sweden has one of the worlds toughes animal husbandry laws. Wire floors in the cages are forbidden, all rabbits must have a shelf in the cage to jump on and other similar laws. Below you can see what the Swedish law statues about sizes for the cages: Small rabbits (below 3 kg), minium 0.5 square meters. The shortest side of the cage must be at least 50 cm. The minimun height is 50 cm. Medium rabbits (3-5 kg), minium 0.7 square meters. The shortest side of the cage must be at least 60 cm. The minimun height is 60 cm. Large rabbits (over 5 kg) minium 0.9 square meters. The shortest side of the cage must be at least 70 cm. The minimun height is 70 cm. All these rules don't apply if you have registred your rabbitry as a production farm (but that's pretty hard to do so it's just a few percent who does that).
Here you can read about the breeds I raise. You can also read about rabbits and rabbit breeding in the Nordic countries, particularly about rabbit breeding in Sweden.Information about the Californian
Rabbit breeding in the Nordic - the Nordic standard of perfection
*Weight
*Type and presentation
*Body tone
*Fur density
*Fur quality
*Condition
Other criteria are added for different breeds, such as the markings for the Dutch and quality of the wool for Angoras.
We have a very different sight on what a good presentation is, if you compare to the U.S. The ideal is that the rabbits pose as the "Full arch type". Even breeds as NZ, Mini Lop, Rex, Champagne d'Argent and the Himalayan. 
Comparison between the American, the British and the Nordic point scales
The associations - the Swedish Rabbit Breeders Association
The largest member numbers was in the 1940s when the Swedish Rabbit Breeders Association had about 10,000 members. But it was only so high during the World War two. The largest number of members in modern times where in the beginning of the 80's. Then The Swedish Rabbit Breeders Association had around 4.000 members. Nowadays the Swedish Rabbit Breeders Association only have about 2,200 members. But it's still the largest rabbit association amongst the Nordic countries. 
The associations - the Norwegian Rabbit Breeders Association
The associations - the Danish Rabbit Breeders Association
The associations - the Finnish Rabbit Breeders Association
How a show works in Sweden
Then you can go and do whatever you like until the show is over. Special carriers come and pick the rabbit from the cage. Then they take it to a person who weight the rabbit and then the carrier brings the rabbit to the judge. The judge judge the rabbit. He/she writes down the points (between 0-100) on a card and then the secretariat take care of the cards and finally a person goes around an puts the cards on the rabbit cages.
At a show, the rabbit will be judged according to how well it matches the standard. The rabbit recieves points between 0-100. When they should decide which rabbit won the BIS (or BOB etc.) and two rabbits got the same points, they then compare them to each other. %20kopiera_389x583.jpg)
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The Swedish National Convention
A Swedish rabbitry