How to make a rabbit pedigree for free

Make a rabbit pedigree in seven steps

These steps work on paper, in a spreadsheet or in the pedigree maker here. The maker simply saves you the retyping.

1. Gather the records you already have. Find the pedigrees that came with the rabbit's sire and dam, your own breeding notes, and any registration or grand champion certificates. A pedigree can only be as good as the records behind it.
2. Write the rabbit's own details. Name, ear number from the tattoo in the left ear, breed, variety, sex, date of birth, current weight, and the breeder and owner. Add a registration or grand champion number only if one has been issued.
3. Fill in the sire and the dam. The sire goes on the upper line of the chart and the dam on the lower. Give each a name (the ear number will do), the ear number, a variety and a weight, plus registration and grand champion numbers where they exist.
4. Work back one generation at a time. Copy the sire's pedigree into the sire's half of the chart and the dam's pedigree into the dam's half. Each box has its own sire above and dam below it in the next column.
5. Mark what you do not know. Write Unknown in any box you cannot fill, and leave the boxes behind it blank. Never guess an ancestor to make the chart look complete.
6. Check for repeats and for mistakes. An ancestor that appears twice is normal in a linebred herd, but the same rabbit in its own line is a copying error. Check every ear number against the source pedigree.
7. Sign, date and print. Sign the certification line as the breeder, date it, and hand it over with the rabbit. Keep a copy, and keep the sire's and dam's pedigrees for the next litter.

What a rabbit pedigree is for

A pedigree is the breeder's written record of a rabbit's ancestry. Buyers use it to see the line they are buying into, show breeders use it to plan pairings, and it is what a registrar asks to see before a rabbit can be registered. The rabbit registration instructions ask for a complete three generation pedigree in which every ancestor shows a name (the ear number will do), the ear number, a variety and a weight, and every ancestor is of the same breed.

A pedigree you write is a breeder's pedigree. It is not registration papers, and the page should say so. Breeder pedigree vs registration papers explains the difference.

Free ways to make one

• On paper or a printed blank chart. Quick for one rabbit, slow for a litter, because every kit needs the same ancestors copied again.
• In a spreadsheet or a design tool. Neat, but nothing links: change a grandparent's weight and you must find every copy.
• In the pedigree maker here, by hand. Type one pedigree of three or four generations and print it, free, with no account.
• From a saved herd in your herd. Type each rabbit once and link it to its sire and dam, and every pedigree it belongs to fills itself in.

Worked example: Clover, from the demo herd

Clover is a Mini Rex doe in the invented demo herd. Her sire is Bramble MR38, Castor, 4 lb 4 oz. Because every rabbit in the demo herd is linked to its sire and dam, her three generation pedigree fills 14 of its 14 ancestor boxes with no retyping, and the three generation check in the maker finds 0 boxes missing a name, ear number, variety or weight.

The same chart shows that one ancestor, Oakley, appears twice in three generations, once through the sire and once through the dam's dam, Hazel. That repeat is deliberate linebreeding, and it is why the maker estimates her inbreeding at 3.13 percent from these records. Open the demo herd in the pedigree maker to print it yourself.

Common mistakes

• Copying a grandparent's weight from a junior show card instead of its senior weight. Weights go in as the adult weight you have on record.
• Putting the dam on top. By convention the sire is always the upper box of each pair and the dam the lower one.
• Guessing an ancestor to fill a gap. Unknown is honest, and a guessed ancestor is how pedigrees stop being trusted.
• Writing a grand champion number for an animal whose certificate has not been issued yet. Legs are not a certificate.
• Forgetting to sign and date it. An unsigned pedigree tells the buyer nobody stands behind it.

Make the pedigree now

Type one pedigree by hand and print it, or explore the demo herd to see ancestors fill themselves in. Your herd stays in this browser; nothing is uploaded and there is no account.

Sources

Last reviewed 27 September 2026 against:

• How to Register a Rabbit or Cavy, American Rabbit Breeders Association, revised 17 July 2023, read 27 September 2026. Used for: What registration asks of the animal and of its three generation pedigree, the registrar's examination, the right ear registration mark, and typed pedigrees attached to the application.
• FAQs, American Rabbit Breeders Association, dated 14 February 2025, read 27 September 2026. Used for: What each ancestor on a registration pedigree needs, and the same breed rule.
• Official Show Rules, American Rabbit Breeders Association, effective 10 December 2025, read 27 September 2026. Used for: The permanent ear mark in the left ear for rabbits, ear marks or ear tags for cavies, and grand champion legs.

This guide is our own summary, not a registry's rule book. If it disagrees with the current documents, the documents win. Hutchline is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the American Rabbit Breeders Association, the American Cavy Breeders Association, The International Cat Association, the Cat Fanciers' Association or any other registry or breed club.