LaReau Lops & Cavies French Lop Rabbits
My daughter, Kelly LaReau, used to raise these huge, gentle rabbits and was
quite successful breeding and showing them. She sold out a few years
ago now, but many of the memories live strongly -
Kelly's first French Lops were from Gary Smith's line, Creek Haven Lops. She purchased two broken does and a solid buck from Gary and started breeding and showing. LaReau's Max, a solid buck, was out of the one the first litters and was Kelly's first successful show rabbit - winning several legs. From there, the French Lop fever caught fire and she started adding stock from other breeders to improve her own French Lops.
She purchased a broken black buck from Paula Courtney - a rabbit bred by
Elaine Deitrick going back to Mair's Columbus.
This rabbit had spectacular bone and passed it on to our herd. She
bred this buck to some of her Creek Haven Lops does. The litters
produced from these crossings were some of her best rabbits - LaReau's
Thunder and several others did very well for Kelly on the show tables.
Knowing we were going to Nationals in 2005, Kelly saved up her money all
year just to purchased stock from around the country. She ended up
purchased some rabbits from the Garretts - two beautiful junior does.
The next spring, Kelly won best 6-class youth with one of the does and soon
after bred her to LaReau's Rufus, a very nice opal buck. This litter
produced some awesome show rabbits for Kelly and she won best 6-class youth
with a broken doe from these litters.
All these lines combined beautifully and Kelly enjoyed many wins and successes at the few shows we went to. We only could make about a dozen shows a year, but even with the low number of shows we attended, Kelly maintained high national rankings with her nice French Lops.
Late spring 2007, Kelly started planning for college and became increasingly busy with high school life. She made the decision to get out of rabbits and we dispersed all of her stock. It was a sad time for me, but she was just being realistic,
I
will always be proud of Kelly for not only what she accomplished, but also
for how she cared for her rabbits - she was completely dedicated and worked
hard. There was only ONE TIME in all those years that I had to do her
chores for her because she was ill, otherwise - she did everything with her
rabbits - she fed twice a day, cleaned cages, clipped nails, chose breeding
pairs and bred them and took care of the litters. She stood for what a
youth breeder really should be - they were truly her rabbits and hers alone
- her successes on the show table were hard-earned and entirely hers -
I just came along for the ride......
April 2009 - Kelly is showing a lot of interest in my new blue Americans.....perhaps someday you'll see her at a show with a few in tow, who knows?