IG meeting 2022 in Bad Saulgau · Franziska Sprenger

From 9 to 11 September 2022 our 34th meeting of the IG Englische Widder, the international English Lop interest group, took place at the Tyborski family’s in Bad Saulgau, together with a young stock show.

For the participants who had already arrived, Friday afternoon began with a visit to the Heuneburg Museum to learn about the early Celtic princely seat and the hilltop settlements. After that, the social evening was on the programme.

On Saturday morning we visited the Störk fish farm in neighbouring Wagenhausen. A tour of the business with a look behind the scenes of a professional fish farm, and an explanation of how the fish are fed and reared from the tiny fish egg to the fully grown table fish, made for an exciting morning programme. Unfortunately the weather did not play along as we had hoped, so we soon gathered for lunch at the neighbouring “Seestüble”.

Afterwards we went to the rabbitry of the Z142 Bad Saulgau club, where the judging of the English Lop youngsters was to take place.

A judge in a white coat examines an agouti English Lop on a judging box, a spectator in the background

Judge Gerhard Zimmermann of the Black Forest judges’ group led the judging with great assurance. A total of 33 youngsters in 11 colour varieties were judged. Six exhibitors from our IG took part in the show.

A judge in a white coat bends over a grey-and-white broken English Lop on a judging table

The judging was held in public and was followed with great interest by all the guests present.

The results:

Rating	Number
8/7	16 times
8/6	4 times
8/5	9 times
8/4	3 times
8/3	1 time

Awards went to the best buck (1.0) and the best doe (0.1) in each of the categories agouti, marked, self-coloured and broken, as well as “Best buck” and “Best doe” of the whole show.

Grey-and-white broken English Lop with a white chest sits on a table with a white cloth in front of sunflowers, one ear hangs down to the tablecloth — Best buck of the show: Phillip Fritz with an English Lop, agouti grey-and-white, 8/7

Dark blue English Lop sits facing the camera on a table with a white cloth in front of sunflowers, its long ears hang down at the sides to the table — Best doe of the show: Franziska Sprenger with an English Lop, blue, 8/7

Grey English Lop lies facing the camera on a table with a white cloth in front of sunflowers, its ears spread out to the sides — Best buck, agouti: Claudia Gerst with an English Lop, chinchilla, 8/7

Best doe, agouti: Phillip Fritz with an English Lop, agouti, 8/7

Light brown English Lop with darker ears sits on a table with a white cloth in front of sunflowers — Best marked animal: Mike Schubert-Groß with an English Lop, Thuringian, 8/4

Grey-and-white broken English Lop with a white chest and white paws on a table with a white cloth in front of sunflowers — Best buck, broken: Markus Tyborski with an English Lop, agouti grey-and-white, 8/7

Best doe, broken: Claudia Gerst with an English Lop, blue-and-white, 8/7

Red-eyed white English Lop sits upright on a table with a white cloth in front of sunflowers, its ears shimmer pink — Best buck, self-coloured: Markus Tyborski with an English Lop, white, 8/7

Red-eyed white English Lop sits on a table with a white cloth in front of sunflowers, its pink ears hang down to the tablecloth — Best doe, self-coloured: Claudia Gerst with an English Lop, white, 8/7

As host of the show, the Z142 Bad Saulgau club did a very good job, and besides decorating the hall beautifully it also provided excellent food and care for people and animals alike.

Our annual general meeting also took place in the clubhouse. The 15 members and 7 guests present approved the agenda.

First on the programme were the results and prize-giving of the young stock show; certificates and gifts were presented.

Phillip Fritz gave his report as 1st spokesperson:

As only smaller regional shows could take place in the 2021 show season, there is unfortunately not much to report. The only larger show was the lop club comparison show, in which some IG members also took part. At the next meeting (2023) there will be new elections.

This was followed by the financial report of the 2nd spokesperson, Claudia Gerst. The IG Englische Widder currently has 49 members.

Franziska Sprenger (3rd spokesperson, breeding and shows) gave an overview of the IG’s young stock census for the current 2022 breeding year. A total of 608 youngsters were reported by 31 members in 21 colour varieties (an increase of 34 animals). This was followed by a review of the 36th lop club comparison show (WCVS) in Neuenkirchen. A total of 16 English Lops in 7 colour varieties were exhibited by 4 IG members.

The breed champions were Heike Barck with yellow English Lops, 385.0 points, and Franziska Sprenger with blue English Lops, 385.0 points. Franziska Sprenger also exhibited a blue-and-white doe with 97.0 points, which received a club prize of honour. Further exhibitors were Frank Lettau and Claudia Gerste, also with very good ratings.

René Karpf reported on current events in Switzerland. The Swiss small livestock breeders’ association wants to ban the English Lop. He handed over to Petra Bader. Petra reported on a petition to limit ear size on animal welfare grounds. This would also have to be followed by changes to the standard. Breeders of English Lops in Switzerland are facing a great many obstacles. But you must not let yourself be beaten, otherwise the breed will die out in Switzerland.

On Sunday, the Day of Open Monuments, we drove together to Hundersingen to the Celtic city of Pyrene. There we had the opportunity to visit an excavation site and so experience history up close.

Reconstructed Celtic wooden houses with gabled roofs in front of a white-plastered defensive wall with a covered wall walk, a meadow in front under a cloudy sky

Afterwards we returned to the clubhouse for lunch together, collected the animals from their cages and headed home.

A warm thank you to the Tyborski family for organising this lovely IG meeting, and see you soon at this year’s meeting (venue to be announced).

3rd spokesperson
Franziska Sprenger