Our British Giants
We feel very passionate about our British Giant breeding program. We started off concentrating on developing Blue and Black Self, but soon introduced brown-grey into our lines enabling us to work on opal. Due to extremely careful, selective breeding, we really feel our British Giants are 'second to none'.
Our very successful show record is living proof that Iona Stud British Giants are true-to-type and have not fallen fowl to the awful, and very sad trend of crossbreeding.
Martha is a lovely black doe,We feel very lucky to have her. She is a quiet doe, happiest munching away in her hutch. An excellent mother, she has produced us some wonderful show rabbits.
Al~ He's a wonderful, 'gentle giant'. His nature is so sweet-he is just wonderful. Having been awarded several Best Fur Diplomas and a Best in Show while at his prime-which resulted in him being made a BRC SUPREME CHAMPION, we have retired him from his show life now. He is very much a valuable stud buck and now enjoys his days laying in the sunshine and getting muddy feet!
STEVIE~son of Al and Annie. To anyone who doesn't know them personally, you would think Al and Stevie are the same rabbit-it's uncanny how alike they are! Stevie's a real character-he likes a 'tidy house' and gets quite annoyed if you move his litter tray or food bowl...he'll bang around and not rest until he has moved everything back again!
ANNIE~black doe, daughter of Bluebell and 'the original' Marvin Snr. Annie is a real love. She's laid back and very chilled out. Having proven herself to be a great mother, Annie is a real asset to our rabbitry.
CC~brown grey doe. CC is one of three we kept from the same litter-sister to Stevie and Candy. Kept for her excellent British Giant traits and the fantastic quality of her coat, she has just become a Mum for the first time (April '09) and the babies are looking very promising.
GLORIA~blue self doe. Sister to Marvin Jr, Gloria too is a beautiful dark blue colour. Blues tend to be smaller than the other colour British giants, but not Gloria! It took a while, but she's now as big as the brown-greys her own age.
CHERELLE~brown grey doe. Sister to Alex, Cherelle is the same, beautifully rich chestnut colour. Cherelle has matured very quickly and is already making a real impression on the show table(runner-up Best fur)...who knows, maybe another show champion in the making?
FINLEY~opal buck. Now here's a sweet fellow. Finley is a beautiful colour and has the kindest of natures too. He's so easy to love. We're hoping his lovely light opal colouring will reproduce into his offspring.
FREDDIE~brown grey buck. Now here's a chip-off-the-ol' block! Freddie is Stevie's son (Al's grandson) and another stunning buck. He has a calm nature and wonderful 'type'...a fantastic continuation of this strong British Giant line.
PICTURE TO FOLLOW SHORTLY
2007 was a very successful year for our British Giants-both in our breeding program and on the show scene. Al and Martha produced us some wonderful Opals, one of which-Dusty-won BEST U5 BRITISH GIANT-at London Excel, with her dad Al taking the adult title. Al and Lola produced the Best U5 at Stafford Stock Show, plus there were so many wins at the smaller shows we lost count!
2008 could not have started any better. We took a strong 'team' along to the 5* Bradford Championship Show in January and are very proud to announce that Al won his place on Victory Row (he's getting used to it now) gaining the title of Best British Giant from a large entry. It was a special moment for me as Eddie Hutchings was judging-the same judge that awarded Al his very first BIS title. Our wins throughout the year were strong and steady. We made the decision at the end of 2008 to retire Al from his show career-after all, he has some fantastic offspring to carry the torch for him!