Silver Fox

I see you have made it to the page about my favorite breed ever...the beautiful, wonderful Silver Fox! Let me give you a little background info on this wonderful, amazing breed:

The Silver Fox rabbit was created by Walter B. Garland of North Canton, Ohio in the 1920s. The Silver Fox is a multi-purpose breed, raised for both meat and fur. The breed was recognized and a standard approved with the American Rabbit Breeder's Association(ARBA) in 1925 under the name American Heavyweight Silver. In 1929 the name was changed to the American Silver Fox and later to Silver Fox. The breed was recognized in two varieties - blue and black. During the 1970s, however, the blue variety was dropped from the ARBA standards due to lack of numbers being shown. However, in recent years there has been a renewed interest in the blue variety and several breeders are working diligently to get them reinstated into the ARBA standard.

The genetic make-up of the breed is unclear. What is known is that Garland was one of America's earliest breeders of the Checkered Giant breed and kept Champagne D' Argents as well. Crosses in more recent years using Champagne D' Argents with self-colored rabbits have produced reasonably nice examples of a Silver Fox type rabbit. It is likely that Garland used self-colored Checkered Giants for the very large size; Champagne D' Argents for the silvering, fur length, and meat qualities; and perhaps an infusion of American Blue to improve on the meat producing qualities and the blue color.

The Silver Fox is a large rabbit with Senior does at 10-12 pounds and Senior bucks at 9-11 pounds. The body is medium in length with well filled shoulders and hindquarters. A high dress out percentage with a predominantly small boned carcass makes them a very desirable meat breed. Silver Fox rabbit is on the Slow Food Ark of Taste due to its unique culinary attributes. Does have large litters, produce plenty of milk, are excellent mothers, and make wonderful foster mothers. Silver Fox are known for their docile and gentle nature. They are easy to handle and they like attention. The black color gene is dominant over the blue color gene. So, you can breed black to blue and if the black is a carrier of the blue color gene, 50% of the offspring will be black and 50% will be blue. If the black is not carrying the recessive blue color gene, then 100% of the offspring will be black, but carries of the recessive blue gene. The young are born either solid black or blue and begin to show silvering of their fur at about 6 weeks. The silvering process takes 4 months to complete. The fur is one of the most attractive and unusual features of the breed. It is extremely dense and 1-1/2 to 2 inches in length. When the fur is stroked from tail to head, it will stand straight up until stroked in the opposite direction. This trait is found in no other breed and greatly resembles the pelt of the silver fox of the Arctic. The Silver Fox had been on the verge of extinction and are being successfully brought back. They are currently listed as "critical" on the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy with fewer than 50 annual registrations and an estimated population of less than 500. They are being worked on again to improve type and color and to increase their numbers. Anyone interested in raising Silver Fox should join the National Silver Fox Rabbit Club.

Please check out my "Links" page for links to these websites. This information all comes from the Whitemore Farm website. Now here is a little about my Silver Fox rabbits: I purchased my first pair of black SF on April 15, 2011 from Tony Maple of Maple's Rabbitry in Knoxville, TN. He just wanted out of the breed since he only had the 1 breeding pair so I buy them. After I get them home he contacts me and says the doe may be pregnant but he isn't sure and isn't sure when she is due. On April 22, exactly one week after purchasing them Moore's Callista gave birth to 6 very healthy, beautiful kits...5 black, 1 blue. I was beside myself with excitement as I had researched the breed after I found out she was pregnant. So was born my love and crazy obession with this wonderful breed. In August of 2011 I drove over 8 hrs round trip to Bristol, TN to purchase 4 does and 1 buck from Mr. George DeFrieze. 1 doe was the lovely blue Platinum's D4, aka Baby Girl. She is the mother to my 3 young kits I kept from Dreamer's first litter that was born on November, 24, 2011. I walked out into the barn on Thanksgiving morning and there was 8 of the most adorable babies in the world... and all blue! I was super excited! If you will scroll on down you can see pics of my wonderful SF herd!