Estimating the 10

The new proposed color standard on the broken Jersey Wooly will call for disqualification for color that is "less than 10% or more than 50% of the entire animal".

Currently, however, the requirement is for 10% and 50% color (sans the "entire animal" phrase) which most judges define as pertaining to the body area of the rabbit (as per other breeds with broken varieties).

This percentage is solely the judge's decision on any given animal, based on his perception of what constitutes 10% and 50%.

Estimating color that is more than 50% of the animal's body area is pretty easy. If you have a rabbit that shows so much color that the white areas are in the minority, you can easily see it. It seems to me that this will almost always be a "blanket" patterned broken, with a large area of solid color usually over the back and down the sides.

Estimating "less than 10%" of the body area is trickier. My rabbit has a few body spots, but how much is enough? Here is the method I have developed for myself and Anna to judge those lightly marked Jerseys. I call it the "two foot" method. Does your rabbit have two feet of color?

Okay, get your finger off the mouse and back away from the "back" button. There is a method to my madness. Stay with me a minute.

The following rule seems to hold true for most mature dwarf Jerseys, though it may not hold true for babies as they grow and change, and maybe not for non-dwarfs. If you look at the rabbit's overall body area, 10% of that area will correspond roughly to the size of his two hind feet put together. Let me illustrate:

Here is a dwarf Jersey buck. I hold a paper up behind him and trace his body profile. Then, I trace one of his hind feet.

Next I lay out the traced body profile and divide it in half. Remember that the profile itself is equal to 50% (one side) of the rabbit's body. I divide the profile into quarters, and one of the quarters in half. Each half-quarter is about 12.5%, right? That's close to 10%, close enough for our purposes.

I can see that the outline of one foot takes up about half of the 12.5% area. So, I cut up two foot outlines and rearranged the pieces inside that area, mosaic-style. You can see that two of his hind feet fit nicely inside the 12.5% body area. Thus, I say that our rabbits need "two feet" of color.

This is an easy way to look at any animal and estimate quickly whether or not you think they have the appropriate amount of color. I guess you could even trace the body spots onto a piece of paper and see how they fit into a couple of foot tracings.

Of course we have to keep in mind that it is all estimation, we are just "eyeballing" it and making a guess. A judge may approve a lightly colored rabbit in one show, and the next judge could disqualify the same rabbit for lack of color. It's totally based on one person's opinion, but at least this gives us a guideline to make an educated guess.

Now, if they succeed in passing the "entire animal" clause in the standard, that will only help us out, as we will then be able to consider the ears, the eye circles, the nose markings, and any head color in that percentage. Many more Jerseys will pass the color line then, than will as it stands now.