| The Dwarf Lop breed was the foundation
breed at this stud. At the time, Jane owned and ran a small chain of Pet
Shops in the Leeds area. Once her attention fell on this lovely breed she
decided that they would form the nucleus of a new hobby for herself with
the excess stock being sold in the shops.
It was not many years later that Jane sold her businesses and moved to her new home, chosen for its large outbuilding to house the stud. By this time Jane was showing extensively and had learnt a great deal about breeding and the various lop breeds. This is when the Upton Lop Stud was created and by then the beautiful Dwarf Lop had been joined by the Cashmere Lop and the French Lop with a few Netherland Dwarfs now and again. Jane's son, Tony, also had a small stud which included a variety of breeds including Satins, Dutch, Himalayans, Netherland Dwarf, Mini Rex. Jane also at this time begun several long term experiments with the breeds. The interest in genetics was becoming more important and the limited range of colours available at that time was seen as a challenge The Dwarf Lop at Upton Lops was soon seen in Fox and Otter, Sable and Smoke Marten and then the chocolate and lilac was created in the late eighties. Also at this time the Bluepoint appeared and was soon accepted as an integral part of the stud. Many champions have been bred at Upton Lops. You will see some of our recent beautiful bucks in the photo gallery. One of the more famous Dwarf Lop sons of the stud was King Steady Edward III from Upton, a sooty fawn, who won Best of Breed out of 99 other Dwarf Lops at the Bradford Championship Show (the Crufts" of the rabbit world!) in 1998. Edward's Gold Star Champion status was announced in the British Rabbit Council Yearbook of 1999. Upton Lops is proud to be able to claim to be his breeder and also that we helped a young fancier by letting him have Edward. This youngster is now grown up, back in the fancy and showing once again. Welcome Back Simon! In this the new century, the Dwarf Lops direction has now shifted. With more and more popularity going to the Mini Lop, it has been decided that Upton Lops will concentrate its smaller stud of Dwarf Lops in a smaller array of colours. We aim to concentrate mainly on the sable, sealpoint, smoke and bluepoint colours. However, we still retain a small number of tricolour and chocolate series rabbits with of course an occasional agouti, and perhaps a chin or two………. |
