About us
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We are Tom & Leslie Nelson located in Palm Beach County, Florida on the east coast between Vero Beach and Fort Lauderdale, South of city of Jupiter.
Our Goal is to one day have one of the best selections of English Spots and Havanas in the State of Florida and the South East. I love the diluted colors of all rabbits, the Blue & Lilac.
As of 2012 the Blue, Black, Chocolate & Broken are the approved varieties in Havanas and as of 2014 the Lilac gets it COD presentation in Fort Worth, TX. There is no COD (certificate of development) for the Red or White (REW) variety. Since the red is not a naturally occurring color I do not expect to see this variety ever approved by HRBA & ARBA.
I originally started with rabbits as a 4-H project, back in Indiana in the late 1970's My Grandfather had always had rabbits and raised Checkered Giants exclusively from the 1940's. So when it was time for me to raise rabbits,... Checkered Giants where a natural choice. My Grandpa had rabbits but few where what he thought where show winners, he had not shown his Checkers for many years. So we took a trip to a local legend Lester Wells, who was well known in the central Indiana circle for having the best show Checkers, at that time. Him being a good friend of my Grandfathers didn't hurt either. I got two Does one blue & one black, and named them Bugs Bunny and Road Runner.
I showed those two for the first year then we started breeding them. I had great success with them and their off spring. I remember my first BIS (best in show), mainly because it almost never happened. In Indiana at that time we had Township fairs, County fairs and then State fairs. Those where the main ones that 4-H focused on. That year, which was my second year showing, when it came time for BIS I wasn't going to bring my BOB (best of breed) Checkered up to the table. I had never seen a Checkered win BIS. Finally after some prodding from my 4-H leader I took my BOB doe to the table. After a few moments I was awarded the BIS and a really nice trophy...my first trophy! I had always won rosette's before. That year I got BOB, BIS in the County fair in both youth and open and BOB and BIS and the State fair in youth. It was quite a year for a 14 year old kid. I was always the highlight because I was 4'6" and 80lbs and had the biggest breed at that time.
A few years later my parents decided to move to Florida and I was forced to leave my rabbits with my Grandpa and he had them until his death in the early 1990's. Now fast forward to 2012 and my favorite time of year is when the South Florida Fair was back for it's January time slot. I always mention to my wife that I always love the rabbits as we go 2 or 3 times every fair and I have to go to the rabbit tent at least twice during our day there. She said "why don't you just get back into rabbits", this last year. Will I did my research and soon realized Checkered Giants where probably not the best choice for me to have here in Florida. I had our garage enclosed and air conditioned and started finalizing my breeds which I thought I could really enjoy. The final few breed choices were the Havana, Dutch, Tans, English Spots and Harlequin's.
I did not find any Tans, Spots or Harlequin breeders listed in my area and most quality Tans or English Spots where in the Midwest area and would require a serious road trip. I then decided my new breed would be a Dutch or a Havana. We took a trip to a rabbit show in middle Florida and made a day of it. We saw over 300 rabbits..wow what a nice surprise. We saw both Dutch and Havana's. It was a carrier show, where the rabbit are kept in their carriers for the day instead of a coop/cage. Not alot of people near the carriers, some were watching other breeds being judged, getting drinks or a snack in between shows. This was a triple show, where you could enter an A, B or a C show or all three depends on your travel time and finances. My wife asked what do we do now? So we made another loop. Then passing by the Havana rabbits again, we saw the owner of the Havana's and stopped by to speak to the Havana breeder.
We had an awesome conversation and learned even more about Havana's and finally, I asked if she would sell any of her rabbits today. She said I wasn't planning on it ..."But I could sell this Chocolate Doe if you like her." That was it... we went outside bought a carrier and came back and made the purchase. Cocoa was now ours. We decide the girls will be named after chocolate and chocolate bars and the boys will be named after cigars.
We have since added Havana lines from Joan Geisy, Nancy Volansky, Herb Kelso, Amanda Wampner, Joe Colucci, Tiffany Bohlmann.
As of 2014 we added English Spots from Ann Rooney and Mandy Schloneger. So we have English Spot superstar lines from : Redelman's, Sleepy South, Bunnies R 4Ever, Daybreak's, J&C's, and HMD's.
Don't hesitate to drop me a line, if you have a Havana rabbitry website I would loved to add your link- Tom Nelson
We are Tom & Leslie Nelson located in Palm Beach County, Florida on the east coast between Vero Beach and Fort Lauderdale, South of city of Jupiter.
Our Goal is to one day have one of the best selections of English Spots and Havanas in the State of Florida and the South East. I love the diluted colors of all rabbits, the Blue & Lilac.
As of 2012 the Blue, Black, Chocolate & Broken are the approved varieties in Havanas and as of 2014 the Lilac gets it COD presentation in Fort Worth, TX. There is no COD (certificate of development) for the Red or White (REW) variety. Since the red is not a naturally occurring color I do not expect to see this variety ever approved by HRBA & ARBA.
I originally started with rabbits as a 4-H project, back in Indiana in the late 1970's My Grandfather had always had rabbits and raised Checkered Giants exclusively from the 1940's. So when it was time for me to raise rabbits,... Checkered Giants where a natural choice. My Grandpa had rabbits but few where what he thought where show winners, he had not shown his Checkers for many years. So we took a trip to a local legend Lester Wells, who was well known in the central Indiana circle for having the best show Checkers, at that time. Him being a good friend of my Grandfathers didn't hurt either. I got two Does one blue & one black, and named them Bugs Bunny and Road Runner.
I showed those two for the first year then we started breeding them. I had great success with them and their off spring. I remember my first BIS (best in show), mainly because it almost never happened. In Indiana at that time we had Township fairs, County fairs and then State fairs. Those where the main ones that 4-H focused on. That year, which was my second year showing, when it came time for BIS I wasn't going to bring my BOB (best of breed) Checkered up to the table. I had never seen a Checkered win BIS. Finally after some prodding from my 4-H leader I took my BOB doe to the table. After a few moments I was awarded the BIS and a really nice trophy...my first trophy! I had always won rosette's before. That year I got BOB, BIS in the County fair in both youth and open and BOB and BIS and the State fair in youth. It was quite a year for a 14 year old kid. I was always the highlight because I was 4'6" and 80lbs and had the biggest breed at that time.
A few years later my parents decided to move to Florida and I was forced to leave my rabbits with my Grandpa and he had them until his death in the early 1990's. Now fast forward to 2012 and my favorite time of year is when the South Florida Fair was back for it's January time slot. I always mention to my wife that I always love the rabbits as we go 2 or 3 times every fair and I have to go to the rabbit tent at least twice during our day there. She said "why don't you just get back into rabbits", this last year. Will I did my research and soon realized Checkered Giants where probably not the best choice for me to have here in Florida. I had our garage enclosed and air conditioned and started finalizing my breeds which I thought I could really enjoy. The final few breed choices were the Havana, Dutch, Tans, English Spots and Harlequin's.
I did not find any Tans, Spots or Harlequin breeders listed in my area and most quality Tans or English Spots where in the Midwest area and would require a serious road trip. I then decided my new breed would be a Dutch or a Havana. We took a trip to a rabbit show in middle Florida and made a day of it. We saw over 300 rabbits..wow what a nice surprise. We saw both Dutch and Havana's. It was a carrier show, where the rabbit are kept in their carriers for the day instead of a coop/cage. Not alot of people near the carriers, some were watching other breeds being judged, getting drinks or a snack in between shows. This was a triple show, where you could enter an A, B or a C show or all three depends on your travel time and finances. My wife asked what do we do now? So we made another loop. Then passing by the Havana rabbits again, we saw the owner of the Havana's and stopped by to speak to the Havana breeder.
We had an awesome conversation and learned even more about Havana's and finally, I asked if she would sell any of her rabbits today. She said I wasn't planning on it ..."But I could sell this Chocolate Doe if you like her." That was it... we went outside bought a carrier and came back and made the purchase. Cocoa was now ours. We decide the girls will be named after chocolate and chocolate bars and the boys will be named after cigars.
We have since added Havana lines from Joan Geisy, Nancy Volansky, Herb Kelso, Amanda Wampner, Joe Colucci, Tiffany Bohlmann.
As of 2014 we added English Spots from Ann Rooney and Mandy Schloneger. So we have English Spot superstar lines from : Redelman's, Sleepy South, Bunnies R 4Ever, Daybreak's, J&C's, and HMD's.
Don't hesitate to drop me a line, if you have a Havana rabbitry website I would loved to add your link- Tom Nelson
Update: As of October of 2013 I am a director of the HRBA (Havana Rabbit Breeders Association). Going into 2014 we are starting a regional Havana Specialty club and I will be the Vice President of that club. SEHSC (Southeastern Havana Specialty Club). In the future I hope we can have a State Havana club too. I will not be going for re-election this year and hope the HRBA much success in the coming years.
UPDATED II: As of May 2014 I will be the coordinator for the rabbit tent at the South Florida Fair.
Jr Chocolate Doe