How to Angora Rabbits

I want to get some Angoras in a few months, since I learned FG aren't really what I was looking for, I am looking into these for the fiber and possibly meat? Are they big enough to eat? (If they have more than one use, it makes a better excuse to buy more)

I guess what I really want though is how do you care for your Angora? Which kind would be best to spin and or felt with. Are they a meat and fiber breed or only fiber? Pros? Cons? Tips?

Hi bunny, I did some research years ago when I was deciding on which angora breed I wanted to "go with" my Silver Fox meat breed.

I found that the English Angora was originally developed as a dual-purpose breed, meat and fiber. Today's EA is not specifically bred for the meat attribute and you can get some really harsh responses if you mention that aspect in some forums! That doesn't bother me at all LOL However, the EA has always been a bit on the small size, but as they say, all rabbits are made of meat!!!

I do butcher and eat my culls from the Angoras, and they might be a bit smaller, but waiting until they are 16 weeks or so does give a bit more meat.

The deciding issue for someone would be the care and grooming requirements between the different angora breeds along with the relatively small size differences between the breeds you are considering.

I started with just French Angora and there have only ever two rabbits in my herd safe from the freezer. They're my preferred breed in that respect because they are the easiest to maintain Angora breed (heavy guard hair in comparison to the other breeds that mean less matting in the coat, though they definitely still can mat, and no wool on the head, ears, feet) and are built on a commercial body type with a breed standard of 7-10 pounds. I'm working off an old SOP book though and need to update, so if that weight is incorrect someone feel free to correct me. I do know they've been leaning towards making them smaller in recent years, but still most of the good show lines around me show them young when they make weight and then the rabbits continue to mature to 11-13 pounds.

The down side to angoras for meat is that if you want to keep and tan the pelt you might want to wait until they've got a good coat on them, and getting through al that wool for skinning and gutting can tend to be a pain compared to the short hair breeds, also, since they do put a lot of effort into growing all that wool, they do tend to grow slower than your standard meat breeds, but my old lines and definitely the new ones I just picked up still grow way faster than some other breeds out there, like Rex. <br /><br /> -- Sat Dec 24, 2016 5:57 am -- <br /><br /> Oh, and some of the largest kits I've ever seen in my Rabbitry have been Champagne x FA kits. 4.5-5 pounds at 8 weeks. And the coat was the texture of Silver Fox. (I'm sure you know this but the angora gene is recessive, crossed with short hair breeds you get more short hair, just less guard hair in the coat and it might be a tad longer than normal)

I actually haven't done any personal research on Angora rabbits yet (mostly because I know you guys have personal experience) I think French Angora might be what I get. I was wondering the entire time I was reading about breeding a FA to a SF but then you brought up the hair thing, so maybe I'll do that when I need extra meat. I love all the advice so far. About how much time do you guys normally spend on grooming? And what supplies do I need to do so?

I groom once a week usually, and the time depends on whether they're in molt and if I'm grooming with brushes or the blower. If they're not molting, I can comb out the little tangles in the dust ruffle and have the coat blown out in 3-5 minutes per rabbit. If they're not molting and I just didn't want to use the blower it's anywhere from 5-10 minutes per rabbit. I just use a dog slicker brush and an undercoat rake.

If they're molting you can kiss the blower goodbye, and I just sit with them and pluck whatever's ready to come out. Some molt all at once and some take a few weeks for it all to come out, so it can take anywhere from 15-45 minutes depending on the rabbit. Then it's a once over with the slicker so they don't eat a bunch of extra wool, and done.

I have had an English Angora for about six months now and I don't think I will ever raise them. They mat up pretty easily and I was grooming everyday when I was trying to maintain a show coat. I got a couple of French last week and am in love with the size, coat, and less grooming. I may end up raising French once I find a good buck.

So English Angora is definitely a no go 100%; French Angora is a go; But, my question is, what about German Angoras? There is a lady who lives on the other end of town from me and she has some that she would sell me. Anyone have any German?

It is my understanding that the German Angora are a heavy boned breed which reduces the meat to bone ratio in the carcass and that they are slower growers, so verifying that they reach butcher weight with an acceptable meat to bone ratio would be a concern for me.

I see, so from the sounds of it the French Angora is a go. I'll start doing research and looking into getting the grooming supplies.

I was wondering if you guys had any recommended grooming supplies, actually? I was also wondering if anyone felted? And if this fiber is useable for this craft? Thank you guys for all the help!

You will need a slicker brush, a large toothed comb, and a good grooming stand. You will also eventually need a blower.
Yes, you can felt with angora fiber. There are a couple groups on Facebook that I enjoy, specifically: https://www.facebook.com/groups/559536100809072/

There's a lot of variety within each breed as to how easy their coats are to take care of. I raise EAs and any that have a fussy coat get sold so now most of them are easy keepers as far as the coat goes. These are also kept for fiber production and not show. As soon as the fiber gets long enough to tangle very much and need grooming is about the time they get a haircut. Then they're totally coat maintenance free for about three months. The last month before a haircut, they can be groomed about once every other week to remove tangles with a long toothed comb and scissors, or just wait and cut the tangles off when the coat is harvested. Which pretty much leaves me with angora rabbits that don't need that much coat care. I still have a few that need more maintenance than others, but those don't get bred.

Not all angora breeds will molt and not rabbits within the breed that is supposed to molt will molt. EAs are supposed to molt, but there've been some bred not to molt. One of the new does here just molted entirely clean, down to about a quarter inch coat so I'll be breeding her to see if we get more of these easy molters. For fiber bunnies, the idea is to get the coat off the bunny so it can be used at some point, IMHO.

Haven't a clue as to how good of a meat rabbit they are. When I want to cull them, I can still sell the culls for enough to buy two lobsters and I'd rather eat lobster.