The English Lop is a large breed that takes some extra care. Where there are breeds that need more grooming such as the wooled breeds the English Lop has a noticeable feature of another kind. The English lop has incredible ear growth that make them distinctive from all other breeds but at the same time take care to keep those ears from getting torn or damaged.
This is an old breed of rabbit with indications of their existence in 1700. This is considerably longer than the French lop and in seeing each breed side by side there is no question which one is which.
It is not uncommon to have an English Lop with ears that are 24 inches from tip to tip, measured up one ear, over the head and down the other ear. In 1885 this was reached and today an incredible 30 inch measurement has been reached. These distinctive ears account for a third of the points on the standard of perfection.
This is a breed that has a minimum weight of 9 pounds for bucks and 10 pounds for does with no maximum size. As a six class breed there are classes in junior, intermediate and senior bucks and does. The English Lop should have a mandolin body type, arching slowly behind the shoulders to mid back. The ears should be loose and must be a minimum of 21 inches tip to tip. Whatever the length is the width should be one quarter of the measurement. The ears should also be of good texture, shape and condition.
The English Lop comes in a range of colors including the agouti, broken, self, shaded ticked and wide band
The breed club for the English Lop and French Lop is combined as the Lop Rabbit Club of America. If you are serious about raising English Lops it’s highly recommended to join the breed club as well as ARBA.
Of course rabbits that don’t quite have the ear or size for the standard can also make great pet rabbits but care needs to be taken in caring for the ears, something that is not a factor with the shorter eared lops and erect eared rabbits.
Like any other breed if you are considering getting into English Lops to show and breed your best bet is starting with good quality stock and learning from those who are already raising them. The daily care can be a little different when you have two feet of ears to navigate!
This is also a breed large enough to produce a respectable sized fryer, although they have not been developed as a meat rabbit. The English Lop can be confused with no other breed due to those massive ears.
