Archie's Palomino Rabbit Lair

Mj and Archie pic "How I got started in Palominos"

Archie's Palomino Rabbit Lair Family History

Border Collies - Quinaby and Boomerang

About Palomino rabbits...

The Palomino (Pal for short) originated in Washington State by Mark Youngs.  Unfortunately he did not keep track of the breedings and is deceased so we will never know what breeds were mixed to get the Pal.  I can guess (this is only my educated guess) white or red New Zealands, Cinnamon, Creme D'Argent, or Silver.

The Pal is a meat breed so basically when you look at a Pal you want to see meat aka muscle under the fur.

Fur type is flyback (if you pet the rabbit's fur towards the head it will immediately fly back to its original position).

Palominos come in two varieties or colors Golden (I raise golden) and Lynx (have more tinting of gray or silver throughout their fur). Although not recognized by the American Rabbit Breeders Association Palominos will occasionally have a white with red eyes baby in the litter, this color is called Albino or I have even seen it referred to as roan or rewn.

Palomino Lynx rabbit pic New Zealand Rabbit pic

Lynx Palomino owned by Vern Palmblad        A litter of Golden Palominos with
Picture taken by Melissa Becker                  one Albino 

The average weight of a Pal is 9 lbs.

Pre-Junior bucks and does - under 3 months of age not exceed 5 lbs.

Junior Bucks - under 6 months of age, not to exceed 8 lbs but at least 4 lbs.

Junior Does - under 6 months of age, not to exceed 8.5 lbs but at least 4 lbs.

Intermediate Bucks -  6 to 8 months of age, not over 9 lbs.

intermediate Does - 6 to 8 months of age, not over 9.5 lbs.

Senior Bucks - 8 months of age and older, weight 8 to 10 lbs ideal weight of 9.

Senior Does -  8 months of age and older, weight 9 to 11 lbs ideal weight of 10.

Litter size is usually 8 kits but can range from 6 to 12.palomino rabbit pic chart

Palominos are generally a very docile breed.  They are great with kids of almost any age.  In 4-H a child has to be in the fourth grade to start showing rabbits as a junior showman.  That is usually the perfect age for a child to get a Palomino as they are able to handle the size of an adult Pal (the girl in the above picture is my sister Alex when she was in the fourth grade.  The kits or young Pals are great for the younger kids to hold and learn to care for.

girls with pal kits pictwins and kits pic

As docile as many of the Pals are they make excellent Animal Assisted Therapy animals too.  My buck Amos Moses was certified with Dove Lewis Animal Assisted Therapy and Education (DLAATE) program from September of 2004 until he perished in April 2007.  Amos and Boom pic

Archie's Family History








Cindi HintonSeattle Home and Living Dallas Small Farms Examiner Dallas Small Farms Examiner Add to favorites Examiner Bio The history of the Palomino rabbit January 3, 10:06 PMDallas Small Farms ExaminerCindi Hinton


The History of the Palomino Rabbit

Origin:
The Palominos were developed at the Lone Pine Rabbitry by Mark Youngs of Coulee Dam, in Washington State during the 1940’s and early 1950’s. Youngs began raising rabbits in 1910 and he always had this vision and desire to create a new breed of rabbit.
For many years Mr. Youngs purchased meat rabbits from the youngsters of the area. Mr. Youngs selected what appeared to be sports from some of these live fryers and would mate them together. Occasionally he would obtain in some of the litters buckskin or light yellow-brown youngsters. Youngs would also refer to this color as “tawnies”. These off colored yellow-brown rabbits were all saved and interbred. He would also introduce blood from other sources into his project that he termed “color-blen breeding”. Future generations would produce a fawn or golden colored rabbit.
In the early days of developing Mr. Youngs along with his co-breeders were faced with rabbits that were plagued with dark ticking, smut, heavy dark ear lacing, white toenails, large white eye circles, uneven color, white spots, the wooly gene, along with albinos. Those early pioneers trudged along in their goals that Mr. Youngs had envisioned for his new creation.
Note: “Presented” means that they are there on exhibit for the ARBA committee to see and vote on if they would like to accept the new breed.
Mr. Youngs, along with his wife Mabel, presented the new breed for the first time at the 1952 ARBA convention and show at Portland, Oregon, and dubbed the breed “Washingtonian”, however he did not like that name so he placed a coffee can next the cages holding the exhibition rabbits, which would serve as a suggestion box for naming the new breed. People offered such names as; Honey-Dew, Honey-Fawn, Golden Palomino and of course we all know the winning suggestion was Palomino.
The Washingtonians were presented at the 1953 Amarillo, Texas ARBA Convention when the name was officially changed to Palomino.  They were presented at the 1954 York, Pennsylvania convention, the 1955 Columbus Ohio Convention, the 1956 St Paul, Minnesota Convention. The Standards committee still had not approved the new breed because they felt they need further improvement. Then in Little Rock, Arkansas Convention in 1957 we would see the Palomino recognized as a new breed in America, with one variety, the Lynx. The most popular color of the breed is the Golden, which received final approval in 1958 at the Springfield, Illinois Convention. The first Palomino ever registerd was in the fall of 1957 by Francis E. Baughman of Findlay, Ohio.
Appearance:
The Palominos have always been known for their amazing hardiness, excellent production qualities along with their rapid growth for fryer size animal. It is a fine breed for either meat production or for showing. The breed has been introduced into Europe, Malta, and even South Africa. Adults weigh from 8 to 10 pounds. A Palomino Specialty club was formed in 1955, simply called Palomino Co-Breeder. It was all about the hand shake between Mark Youngs and a new breeder. The handshake remains as part of the emblem today.