French Angora Jr Coat Sr Coat question

I have 3 French Angoras that are just over 5 months old. They haven't molted yet. Early on I ran into problems with grooming and they got matted on me. I had to cut a lot of lower fur from my does and my buck I just cut him completely. The does fur is just so soft and it doesn't fluff up very well at all. Is this common for a jr coat? I was taking pictures of them tonight and oddly enough the buck that I had clipped looked the best. His fur while not very long had a lot of body to it. Does cutting the fur stimulate the Sr coat to grow? If my does don't molt soon I might consider cutting them if that encourages Sr coat growth. From what I have read the Jr coats aren't as nice to work with as Sr coats, is that also correct?

I am just getting into rabbit ownership, but I'm curious if anyone has an opinion about this as well. Some Asian cultures routinely shave their babies' head after birth with the belief that it will allow the hair to grow in thicker and fuller if you do so.

It may seem thicker because instead of a bunch of hairs at different lengths growing in (as an untouched coat would be), most of his hair is the same length due to the shearing which gives it a thicker texture.

Pure conjecture, but that is my guess.

Baby coats are screwy, depending on lines.

In Jersey Woolies, I cut all of the baby coats after 12 weeks. The coats are gorgeous, soft with some guard hairs and showable, then all the sudden they start to matt badly, and I have a tangled mess that will result in me cutting the sr prime coat cause it's matted in the jr coat.

The Angoras, not so much. I have not had to cut a jr coat. I let them go until the bun is 6 mos old, then I cut it just because it's 4-5 inches long.

For the show Angoras, I do cut the coat after the first showing around 12-14 weeks. These guys are not going to blow it by themselves, so it has to be clipped. Yes, it will force a senior coat, thicker and fuller and a different texture. But that is not the best coat either, it's the one after that.

And yes,you are correct, which is why I clip/shear my JW and Angoras, instead of plucking the pluckable ones. The coat will come back all at one length, and look thicker. And for the French, plucking does do some damage to the follicle, and the resulting harvests might come in more coarse.. <br /><br /> __________ Wed Jun 25, 2014 9:23 am __________ <br /><br /> Grooming, to a point, encourages growth, stimulating the follicles, like a massage.

French do blow coat every 4-5 months. Unless you have a reason to cut the coat, if it were mine I would wait until they blow it and just keep grooming. Because if you keep cutting, off-molt, it will never be right, JMO.

The second senior coat will be your best one. That would be the one that comes on at about a year old.

lonelyfarmgirl":2kjldkaq said:

French do blow coat every 4-5 months. Unless you have a reason to cut the coat, if it were mine I would wait until they blow it and just keep grooming. Because if you keep cutting, off-molt, it will never be right, JMO.
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Mines don't. The breeder I got mines from shears hers twice a year before the two biggest shows, Convention and Ohio Mini Convention. Her guys hold coats for months, with the sire of my avatar going for 8 mos. The longest I've gotten is 6 months, but I keep switching feeds. And when it goes, it takes 3 weeks to completely come off, in the process, a lot of fiber is lost as it starts to matt. Much easier to take the whole coat off at once. My Rew buck, I half plucked his, got off all that would come off, waited two weeks and still the rest had not blown, clipped all but the belly, which is still hanging on. I just got tired, lol.

The last REW doe I had, went from 12 weeks till 8 mos, and she was due to kindle so it seemed a waste of fiber to let her keep it, otherwise, I'm not sure how long it would have been till she blew that jr coat. <br /><br /> __________ Wed Jun 25, 2014 12:21 pm __________ <br /><br /> I had one pluckable French, the Himi who has Pas., what a joy that was to pull almost the entire coat in 30 minutes. But it sure bites for showing.

I have read that many have had problems with French Angoras not blowing their coats. I'm hopeful that they will but if they don't show signs at 6 months (2-3 weeks from now), I will likely be cutting them.

It very much depends on the lines, as I'm sure you've gathered by the varied responses here. I don't shear my juniors unless they start to mat badly (my lines start off very soft and don't get a coarser coat until they are in their first senior coat) or the weather gets too hot. I don't ever notice coats coming in thicker after shearing though.

My lines typically molt at three or four months and then again every three months for the rest of their life, but the person I started gettin stock from was breeding for fiber, not show, so she bred towards dense coated rabbits that were easy to harvest a lot of fiber from. I did have one doe who didn't molt until 5 months, and she was very dense at that point, but it wasn't something I wanted in my lines as they're fiber/ meat first and show second.

ckcs":1ze45s10 said:

I have read that many have had problems with French Angoras not blowing their coats. I'm hopeful that they will but if they don't show signs at 6 months (2-3 weeks from now), I will likely be cutting them.

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I don't consider it a problem, lol, more like a gift, if you are showing your rabbits. The coat stays longer. And I'm controlling the rhythm instead of working around it.

Fiberwise, the more Angoras I get, the more I dislike clipping, though I'm getting pretty good at it.

in the summer, it's down right deadly. Last year I clipped Ansels coat in May and he grew a full coat out all summer for Convention. I had to watch him like a hawk. This year I clipped it at the beginning of June for the November show. If we go into a late summer, I'll be in trouble.