History of Mini Lops

The origin of the Mini Lop began in 1972. Bob Herschbach first saw them in Essen, Germany at the German National Rabbit Show. They were know as Klein Widder, a cross between German Big Lop and Chinchilla. There were 2 varieties...White and Agouti. They had beautiful heads and good ears. Their bodies were long and narrow, and weighed 8 1/2 lbs. Only 20 existed at this time.

Bob Herschbach brought a trio...an Agouti pair and a White doe..to California and set about to produce more "dwarf" lops in other colors. He used a Broken French Lop and a Standard Chinchilla in his first breeding, that resulted in all solid colors. The broken color showed up in the second generation breeding.

The Klein Widders were shown in 1974 by Bob Herschbach at the American Rabbit Breeders Convention in Ventura, CA. They didn't create much interest because of their size and name. He changed the name to "Mini Lop" and continued to improve the breed and by 1977 gave the sponsorship of the Mini Lop Breed to Herb Dyke.

In 1978, a correspondence club was started...President-Herb Dyke, Vice President-Craig Carpenter, Secretary/Treasurer-Sherry Rollema, Advisor-Bob Herschbach. Within a year there were over 500 members who contacted the ARBA with support for the Mini Lop.

The Mini Lop was finally accepted at the 1980 ARBA Nationals in Milwaukee, WI and was chartered as the Mini Lop Rabbit Club of America that same year.