Input please on the best choices for breeding a fiber fluffle

[manselej]

Hello, I'm new here and interested in raising wool fiber rabbits, that are also meaty enough (though I don't need to optimise size too much).

Here in New Zealand I think we have just English Angora and Jersey Woolies. What I really want is French Angora. I like the look of them with the clean face/feet, and the easy care reputation.

I suppose I'm thinking about breeding my own wooly fluffle, starting with Jersey Wooly (false dwarf) and crossing with Rex to improve size while maintaining coat density. A second generation crossing should produce 3/16th Wooly and one 1/16th Wooly-Rex. I'm not sure if Rex crossing will generally improve or worsen the wool. The wooly-rex combo could be quite interesting, possibly disastrous, possibly amazing. The only information I could find was from a 1950's publication, but it didn't really comment on the texture and quality of fiber. I'm excited by how interesting the experiment it might be. But if the goal is great fiber, should I instead just make friends with the English Angora or at least introduce some into the mix?

Note that the calcivirus is a real risk here so I don't want to over-invest. And the English Angora I've seen are expensive!

Any insights appreciated. Thanks!

 

[judymac]

I have never bred angora x rex, so I can't comment on that. I have raised and spun Jersey Wooly, and it worked fine for spinning. When you breed a non-angora x angora, the first generation is usually all non-angora. The second generation should produce about half longer haired rabbits. Usually, the fiber quality is not as good as angoras (which have been bred for generations for fiber quality). Keep breeding to angora, and choose the best-fibered rabbits from each generation. It won't take too many generations before you have just what you're looking for.

I've raised English Angora for more than four decades, and can definitely say that there is a ton of variation in the breed. You'll find some with clean faces and only a few tassels on the ears, and others with completely closed faces (the whole face wooled). Some are horribly prone to matting, and others rarely mat. I've been breeding towards angora that doesn't need all that grooming, with minimal matting, but still with soft crimpy coats. I still have rabbits crop up with poor furnishings (but you're looking for rabbits with clean faces, so those would be the ones you'd be saving as brood stock.)

English x Jersey Wooly will keep the recessive angora trait, and will introduce the clean face trait as well. Most English are small, but again, you can get some really large ones occasionally (I just worked with a junior today that was one and a half times the size of the other rabbits, no clue why other than a healthy appetite.) If you are choosing from show stock, the breeder may be delighted to sell a too-big bunny, here that would be a buck over seven pounds. More important would be the body conformation--English tend to be conformed more like bony dairy cows than meaty beef stock. There are always variations, simply select the next generation of brood stock from the kits that most closely meet your goal.

 

[manselej]

Thanks for the info, judymac. I'm thinking maybe I would introduce some 2nd generation Jersey/Rex into an otherwise English Angora breeding program. If I was to purchase an English Angora, what kind of things would I ask the breeder to ensure I got a good one? I think the ones I've seen are generally aimed toward the pet market and talk about needing frequent grooming, "are you up to it" kind of thing. What I have picked up from some of these threads here is that a well-bred English Angora should barely need grooming between moulting, is that right? Sounds ideal. But I'm not sure how I broach it. "Hi, I want to buy one of your rabbits but barely groom it, will any suit?" I think I'd be turned away as an unsuitable home. I've also never felt an angora's wool before. I would struggle to know what cottony felt like. The breeders might not know either.