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| Belgian Hare |
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| About the Belgian Hare: |
It is quite certain that the Belgian was originated in the early part of the 18th century by some students of nature, who set about producing a handsome and practicable domestic animal. Taking the wild animals they combined the good qualities of each, one variety for color, another for size and still another for shape, making it a point to avoid undesirable features. They produced an animal to their liking, which they called a leporine. From the time of its first production the leporine drops out of sight until the middle of the 19th century, when it made its appearance in England, presumably being taken there from Belgium. At first it was bred more for its meat, but later people began to admire it for its beauty of shape, and a discussion arose as to what the proper standard should be. In 1882 the English Breeders succeeded in agreeing upon certain points which were formulated and published as the standard. We will call that the original Belgian hare standard. The animal was not known as a Belgian Hare much before then. The real Belgian Hare fanciers date from this time and their stated object was to produce an animal with the appearance of the beautiful English hare and having the easy breeding qualities of the rabbit.
No sooner had the standard been formulated in 1882 in England than there arose differences in opinion which found their expression in continuous discussion, and before long all the fanciers were dissatisfied with the standard. The discussion was kept up for seven years, until 1889, when there occurred a revision. The revised standard called for a Belgian more like the English wild hare, more racy in shape than the breeders had been producing, and ticked more like the wild hare, the ticking being distributed in waves. Other points settled upon were a bold eye, greater length of limb, no ticking whatever on either front limbs, ears or hind feet and only a small amount on the head. The real life of the fancy, begun with the adoption of this standard, was stimulated by its revision and has grown constantly since 1889.
About 1888, Mr. E.M. Hughes of Albany, N.Y., now dead, brought the first Belgian hare to America and devoted the rest of his life to its introduction into the United States as best he could. Shortly after Mr. Hughes' importation there took place the first organization attempt at introducing the Belgian Hare into the country by formation of the American Belgian Hare association, with Mr. W.N. Richardson of Troy, N.Y. as secretary. From the best information, the efforts of the club extended over a period of only one year. Although started in a liberal spirit, and with the best of intentions it became disorganized on account of the wild scattering of the membership making it difficult to obtain a quorum at meetings.
The credit of the foundation of the fancy should be given to Messrs. Hughes and Richardson and Mr. G.W. Felton of Barre, Mass. Messrs. Hughes and Felton were the original exhibitors and Mr. Richardson the original publisher. The latter's publication was known as The Rabbit. These three fostered the fancy industriously and creditably. The Belgians which they bred and wrote about were exhibited at poultry shows in New York and Boston.
In 1897 occurred the second organized effort of the fancy at introducing the Belgian. It was in the nature of the formation of a National Belgian Hare Club of America, with the headquarters in Denver, Col.
Following a second attempt to organize resulting in the formation of the National Belgian Hare Club, with P.E. Crabtree, of Denver, Col. things started to happen.
To quote Mr. Wilkins, from his forward in The Book of the Belgian Hare; "Written in 1896, the third edition of 2,000 copies went to principally to America where they started the American boom, when thousands of the best Hares in the country left these shores for the states, many at fabulous prices. Personally, I sold one for 600 dollars (about 145 pounds then). Since then the fancy has ebbed and flowed. Quiet times were followed after the last war by another boom, this time at home, when Hares fetched 100 pounds each in several cases."
Just before the turn of the century, and extending over a period of some four to five years, the Belgian Hare came into its own, and newspapers, magazines, and particularly the Sunday supplements continually presented marvelous accounts of transactions in Belgian Hares such as without parallel in livestock history to this day. At the time labor earned 10 to 15 cents per hour, steak was 20 cents a pound, eggs 15 cents a dozen, and our dollar today would be worth at least four times as much. Yet listen to F.D. Guttery's account: "At the exposition in Los Angeles, February, 1900, the value of the winners rose at once. I was in the midst of the fray, and these are the facts. The owner of the doe winning International Champion refused $750, while the owner of the Champion buck refused all offers. Prize in each case was $100. Stud fee to the buck was boosted from $25 to $50 and dates booked months ahead. The owners of a buck scoring 3/4 point less than the winner, quickly boosted his price from $500 to $1,000. A lesser buck sold for $500, and several six-weeks young sold for $50 each. The best American bred Doe won a $50 prize, and her litter sister was sold for $340. A lady from San Jose took north $2,000 worth, and a man from there invested $900 in a few. These prices are not surprising, as often the animals were earning $200 to $300 per month, and the young of the Champion Doe were all spoken for at $100 each. Of recent date, I note the shipment from Los Angeles to Alameda of 400 Hares costing $7,000; two of the bucks bringing $600 each. They had a special car, with attendant.
Denver papers report large expansions, refusals of high offers, and notices of "No more orders filled at present." One Denver breeder made sales of $998.50 during May, 1900. Another cleared about $1,200 between October and February. Stock sold from one Denver Doe during 1899 brought $1,400. A famous buck has an earning rate estimated to be $4,500. And don't forget, their money had at least four times the value of our present day dollar.
This was before the use of a tattoo marking had been devised, and marking was accomplished by means of punch - hole ear tags, or by notching the ear - edge at certain points. No means of registration had been developed, but they did have an innovation for which Mr. Crabtree had great praise ie. THE SCORE CARD. The 29 points called for in the Standard were listed, and individually evaluated. To quote Mr. Crabtree: "By the score card system, the judge cannot depart from the standard without subjecting himself to criticism. To test a judge, give him the same Belgian two or three hours or days apart, after he has scored others. If he arrives at the same decision, (or figures), you will know he is competent. It is quite common for sharpers to have a competent judge score a good animal, then keep the animal and send the score card with a cheap Belgian Hare to the customer. There is no way to prevent it. i have known $10 Hares sold for $250 by substitution of score cards, and know of cases where my own score card was destroyed and the Belgian Hare sold at a fancy price on the strength of a high score card made by a judge of notorious incompetency, clear across the continent. Some score cards and pedigrees carry great seals, but the Belgians are usually poor. Properly used, the Score Card indicates the animal's good points and failings, through the eyes of the judge, and gives a better description than a lengthy letter would convey to a customer." His quarrel with comparison judging was that no judge in his opinion, however adept, could retain in mind the evaluation of all 29 points judged, with a large class on the table.
The lush market subsided and expired as supply over took demand* (see foot note) but even two decades later, when I bought my first stock, there were only two kinds in so far as the average person was concerned - - Belgian Hares, and other rabbits. It was at this time, 1920, that Mrs. Guggenheim, then of Babylon, L.I., N.Y., an avid fancier if there ever was one, went to England and purchased the entire stock of "Alvaston" Hares from Mr. George Allison, paying a record price of $1,000 for one buck "Alvaston Perfection." Some months before, this bucks sire, "Alvaston Supremacy" had been sold for the equivalent of $365 at public auction. Two bucks from a single litter by "Supremacy" had been sold for $500 each.
In the past twenty years or more, great progress has been made in eliminating faults which were common in the 20's. I refer to bars on front legs, splay feet, white nails, pale hind pads, and chopped off hind quarters. Dewlap has been reduced, length of barrel improved, width of chest and haunches narrowed, and fewer of the small squat "rabbitry" type are seen. Whilst chest and cheeks are almost free from ticking, color in general has suffered, and none of the sort you could "warm your hands on" seem to be around any more. Nothing seems to finish off a good one quite so well as a red hot shade of color, and breeders should not entirely neglect it, in their quest for perfection.
Perhaps no other breed of rabbit has withstood the exploitations of boom times, and the exactions of lean times, to come through it all with flags flying, as has the Belgian Hare. The Belgian Hare has always had the happy faculty of attracting to its banner, and fascinating beyond release, more than its share of the long term FANCIERS who enter the fancy. The roster of those who have carried its banner in the past, through good times and bad, includes many of the notable names the Rabbit World has ever known. It is no less fortunate at the present time, for it now has working in its interest undoubtedly the finest band of real fanciers it has ever owned. If we but each resolve to help all we can to further the good work, we can soon move our favorites up to the front row - - center, where they belong. Hats off to the Past; but - - Coats off to the future.
In June of 1972, enough Belgian Hare Breeders evinced interest in the breed to warrant applying for a Belgian Hare Specialty Club Charter to replace the now defunct National Belgian Hare Club of America.
By July of that same year, our present club, The American Belgian Hare Club, was established, with a working Constitution, sweepstakes contest and a bimonthly newsletter. Belgian Hares are being raised by about 100 fanciers across the United States and Canada. Our club is a small, but very active organization with a devoted group of fanciers who are not too busy to answer questions and letters from interested members. We try to give individual attention to the problems and questions of breeders; and although we attempt to keep members posted on where to locate or sell excess stock, we want to have no part in exploiting our beautiful Belgians, and discourage those interested in hares simply as potential 'money makers'.
Today, unlike some periods in its colorful past, the Belgian Hare is NOT a commercial rabbit in any sense of the word.
Footnote:
James Blyth in his article"King of the Fancy", which appeared in the October, 1973 issue of Countryside & Small Stock Magazine, has an interesting additional thought to explain the decline of the Belgian Hare interest. He says, "Until about 1917 Belgians led in entries. When the Hares were judged, the show was about over. The Hares were hurt when they came out with the standard for the heavy weight Belgian. Trying to make a meat rabbit out of this fine racy animal certainly was not for the good of the race horse of the rabbit family. At this time the Hare began to lose its place in popularity. Each breed has its own place and when you strive for meat type in a fancy rabbit, you have lost much of that alert and fine, clean cut appearance."
As further corroboration that not everyone was raising Belgian Hares for exhibition, this is what Small Stock Magazine, January 1962 quotes a Los Angeles pet stock journal published in 1900 as saying about the situation.
"No one but a fool will deny that the Belgian Hare industry has advanced at a more rapid rate than many other livestock industry. Unknown 2 years ago as a source of meat supply, it is now a feature of our markets.One butcher in Los Angeles told the writer recently that he killed all the way from 20 upward daily." Another predicted a good demand for Belgian Hare meat in the markets during the winter of 1900 - 1901 at prices ranging from 12 to 18 cents per pound retail.
It is well worth remarking that there was no mention of the rabbit industry as such. It was the Belgian Hare industry. The interest in Belgian Hare meat had one further side light - - the Southern California poultry industry suffered a slump about the time the Belgian Hare meat was getting under way, blamed the Belgian's and it got to the point where some of the Los Angeles butchers were conducting a boycott of Belgian Hare meat!
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| Information Provided By: The Belgian Hare Club |
| Photo Provided By: Rare Hare Rabbitry |
| Official Website: The Belgian Hare Club |
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