Built by a breeder, for breeders.
HerdMaster was built by Joe Kim, after 45 years raising and showing rabbits. Here's the story, in his words.
A kid who just wanted
to fit in.
I came to the United States at five, speaking only Korean and Japanese, and grew up in Terre Haute, Indiana. My parents wouldn't get me a dog, so I bred show guppies and bettas instead. Then I found Bob Bennett's Raising Rabbits the Modern Way, which led me to the Vigo County 4-H Rabbit Club. For the first time, I wasn't the outsider. I was just a kid who loved rabbits, surrounded by other kids who loved rabbits.
Forty-five years in the barn.
I got serious again in 2000 in Malibu, California, hence the Malibu Rabbitry prefix. Best in Show at the 2003 ARBA Convention, six straight Best of Breed wins, then a return in 2018 and 2021 with Tan and Mini Rex. But what I'm proudest of: four of the last five national and convention Mini Rex winners trace back to Malibu lines.
The tool I wish I'd had.
A health scare in 2023 left me slower, with less steady hands and fading eyesight. I started keeping breeding records on my phone because paper and memory weren't cutting it anymore. That habit became HerdMaster, a way to make record-keeping easier for the community that raised me.