About Montana Rex Ranch, Rex rabbit breeders

Montana Rex Ranch is located in Kalispell, MT, just a short drive from Glacier National Park. It is a beautiful area with abundant wildlife. Our 1 ½ acre lot is nestled in the foothills of the Columbia Mountain Range. The picture of the mountains in the header was taken from our porch. My husband, Steve, our son, James and I enjoy the scenery here and the wildlife that visits our home.
We share our home with our 3 dogs, Autumn, Jazz and Spring. Our dogs work hard at training the rabbits not to be afraid of noise and things moving about the rabbitry. They also teach the rabbits how to play in the house! When all is said and done they will lie down and lick the bunnies. The bunnies don’t like it but they take it like troopers. In the spring of 2004 my husband and I started with a buck and two does purchased at a local feed store. One of the does was a Rex and the Rex fur was, in our opinion, far superior to the others. My husband and I decided that we had to raise Rex rabbits.
We joined the American Rabbit Breeders Association and began looking for some Rex rabbits. This search took us to a rabbit show in Hamilton, MT. We did not find any Rex for sale at that show but we did meet some Rex breeders that were very friendly and helpful. We enjoyed the show and had a wonderful time watching the competition. Thus began our quest for show quality Rex. This quest led us most notably to Joe Willoughby who got us started with some excellent show Rex. We granded that first doe as well as others we purchased from Joe in 2005. We decided that we wanted to raise Black Otter, Castor and Broken in those two varieties. We had a shoe-in with Joe and got several otters from him. Castor was a big problem though.We were blessed to get a nice pair from Mike Epema to begin our Castor and Broken castor lines. The rabbits enjoy being put out in the run to get some fresh air, sun, and new grass. What they do not like is the eagles soaring overhead, I can’t imagine why!! Each rabbit gets a turn to be out during the week as long as weather permits. It is so fun to watch them play and enjoy their (relative) freedom. We worked long and hard to come up with a rabbitry design that works well in our area and is sufficient to the needs of the rabbits. Although we are constantly coming up with new and better ideas the basic concept remains the same. Please see our Rabbitry page for pictures and a description of our little rabbitry.
James and our newest addition. Spring is a Tri Color Collie.	Autumn, our Collie is a beautiful Sable female. She is truly a great friend and companion.