Joining the Wooly Side?

[ZachsRabbits]

I have thought about breeding Jersey Woolies because REW is so abundant and they are usually good typed and REW's are easier to get into your litters too. Anyone have experience with JW's

 

[Easy Ears]

I've only had one for a short time, and am limited in what experience I can offer because the JW I had was apart of my "Rehoming Rabbits" project, so I basically fostered her for a short time. I can tell you one thing, the hair is crazy hard to get off of rabbit wire!!!! :x When I got her she was in pretty bad shape (fur wise) and I had to trim off quite a few matts. Other than that, from what I hear from others and saw from "Muffin" they seem like pretty sweet rabbits. Muffin tended to have a shy personality.....if I had her for longer she may have warmed up a bit though.
If you aren't used to wooly rabbits like JW or angoras the amount of fur clean up and maintenance make come as a shock to you. Hope someone with more experience can respond as well! Hope this helps a little!

 

[imajpm]

Go big! Go Angora. I don't know anything about JW but if your going to go into anything woolly I'd do some major research on breeders. You want to find one who breeds for easy care coats. There are tons of woolly breeders out there who disregard this and trust me, it's a nightmare to deal with, and totally unnecessary.

I don't know if JW molt but I had some molting angora once lol, and as Easy Ears said, my rabbitry was covered in wool! Every hutch managed to gain substantial wool somehow. Now I have non molting angora's and my short haired bunnies are the guilty parties.

Anything woolly you'll have to make sure they have a good deal of fiber. Gut stasis in woolled breeds can lead to wool block rather quickly so they do need to have a good deal of hay as part of their diet. Other than making sure they have a lot of hay to eat there really isn't that much difference to their care. If you end up with high care coats then there can be a considerable amount of grooming involved. If your not familiar with wool no doubt you'll end up with some of those before you figure it out. :groooan:

Jersey Woolly's are awfully cute.

 

[Deer Heart]

I agree @ go Angora if you can (even if that was in jest). If you're going to have a wool rabbit, might as well be one with wool that's not just for show. Jersey Woolies are very sweet but their wool isn't useful for anything other than wool block and making a huge mess (yes, they do molt and a lot, especially when first transitioning out of baby coats and that seems to be right when everyone wants to sell theirs or suddenly they get given away or dumped :roll: ). I wound up selling the ones I got to "dip my toe into wool breeds" because of the maintenance without an actual income. They almost ruined me to the idea of woolers entirely and I had to basically give them away in the end. :/

Sorry I'm so negative about it, I'd honestly love the breed if not for their wool simply because of how sweet they are. They would come to the door and nuzzle your hands begging for pets and are naturals at "pushing forward" into said hand.

 

[Random Rabbit]

3 1/2 years ago we added Jersey Woolies. Prior to that we had commercial breed rabbits.
What a Difference ! And the learning curve has been steep. The small breed rabbits with Wool are quite different from big meaty rabbits... in care... feeding... breeding and culling. ( at least in my humble opinion)
Having said that..... we now have only JWs. I luv them. Personality plus ! And there is a lot of Friendly competition at the shows.
We have found that most JWs have "easy care" coats. And now... if one doesn't... i do not even Try to keep it around. A good JW should be "Shake and Go" for the coat. ( again...jmo)
Other than a big Fall molt... we have not had that much problem with wool all over.
They are not the easiest to get bred. And there might be issues when kindling. Double Dwarf gene babies can result and those will not survive.
I've also found that many JWs need more time to grow and mature before being competitive on the show table. Especially bucks. They will develop a massive head and coat as they get older and are hard to beat. But the necessity of waiting a year or two to be competitive... is teaching ME patience.
I like the Jerseys !! They are a Lot of fun.

 

[imajpm]

Sorry I'm so negative about it, I'd honestly love the breed if not for their wool simply because of how sweet they are. They would come to the door and nuzzle your hands begging for pets and are naturals at "pushing forward" into said hand.

That's exactly why finding a breeder who breeds for good coats is important. Baby coats do tend to be more finicky though since I switched rabbits I've had little issue with that. Personally, I don't care for the molters since the hair goes everywhere, and when they start molting you don't have a choice, you just have to drop everything and start plucking.

My first pair of angora were English/French crosses, which I later came to believe was a terrible cross to sell as a first generation. A non molter crossed with a molter? Whew what insane coats they had. One of them I thought, as many people do, was a neglect case. Fully felted to the skin, over his entire body. I took him anyway thinking I'd fix it and with good care he would be fine. Nope, he wasn't neglected, he just had the most awful cottony coat I've seen so far. But at that time I had no idea what that was. If I were not so stubborn and had not tried different rabbits I would have kicked angora to the curb. And I am very glad I didn't.

I expect it may not be possible to avoid those types of wooled rabbits until you have had both types. Now I can tell the difference. Asking breeders detailed questions about grooming will help filter those rabbits out. If someone tells me to groom every few days, or once a week, or anything more than keeping cheeks and furnishings combed out then I walk away. Grooming for shows is different of course but for general maintenance they ought not to need much if any.

I don't mean to scare anyone off. They are wonderful rabbits. But getting hit with the bad coats ruins people for the breed so I do like to shout from the rooftops, that they don't need to be that way, and there are plenty who are not

 

[Deer Heart]

@imajpm I think it was even you who tried to steer me away from JW at one point. I wish I'd listened! It wouldn't have been such a bother to me really if their wool actually was workable/salable, but it isn't. Heaven knows I tried pretty hard to spin it. Their fur honestly wasn't THAT bad after they molted their baby coats, but the fact it took that much effort at all to clean them up of it in the first place put me off quite a bit. I may be biased though as I'm not particularly fond of plucking, I'd much rather shear.


EDIT: Heh, we have had the same # of posts.

 

[imajpm]

I just saw a really nice looking rew JW doe for sale. But all the woolies can hide massive stuff via photos. Poor bodies, poor wool. Rather disappointing when you drive 5 or 6 hours to find that out. Better to get them at nearby shows if possible. JW is good for showing and pets but yeah not so much for spinning. Angora is more versatile, you can show (most of them), have them as pets, use them for wool, and eat them too. Though, I admit, culling angoras is more difficult for me than my meat buns.

I like them. I thus far lol, have made several overnight trips to pick them up. I've got, what I call a hand spinning line of, Germans. They have health issues, genetic ones, but I should have my first litters in a week from my new healthy buck so onwards, to good health! Their wool though....*drools* I just want to shear a couple of them, then roll around in it

Edit: lol now we have the same number of posts :lol:

__________ Sun Nov 29, 2015 1:10 pm __________

3 1/2 years ago we added Jersey Woolies. Prior to that we had commercial breed rabbits.
What a Difference ! And the learning curve has been steep. The small breed rabbits with Wool are quite different from big meaty rabbits... in care... feeding... breeding and culling. ( at least in my humble opinion)
Having said that..... we now have only JWs. I luv them. Personality plus ! And there is a lot of Friendly competition at the shows.

Oh I see I have forgotten some details such as breeding. I generally do that after sheering, so the coats are not so long. I like them to be about an inch long for kindling. Helps reduce them dragging kits out of the nest box. They can really hang on to that wool. Have you ever tried to breed dense woollies in full coat? The chase is in slo-mo lol, and my bucks can't hit the target with their own wool and the does wool holding them back, so to speak hehe.

Then there is the temp shock of the sudden loss of all that wool. Occurs for me in winter and summer. Spring and Fall are all right. I have two in a hot box hutch configuration right now and am delaying sheering my last two until the ones in there clear out. Funny how you get so used to things you forget you even do them.

Thanks for all that JW info. That's great. I did not know they molted and it's good to hear they generally have easy care coats. I have a German doe right now who is a touch too soft. Some matting so she is either not going to be bred, or will be bred to a coarse buck once I re-evaluate her.

 

[skysthelimit]

The Jersey Woolies are a mainstay of my herd. They are what made me want Angoras.

They are the friendliest rabbits here. Mine are generally shake and go, require little grooming and only molt once or twice a year. But it's a mess when they do. Living on a bed of hay makes clean up easier. Baby coats-- either I pluck them or clip the coats after the first show.

I chose my lines carefully, and the wool gets long enough to spin, at least 3 inches. But only jrs and certain colors. Otherwise it's not worth the time to try to spin.

My JW also have 5-7 babies, and raise each one. Until I recently added a new buck and bred back to him, I had never had a peanut. Whole herd of false dwarfs. Woolies are also the only ones I sell as pets.

I will never be without a JW in the barn.

 

[AprilW]

I am friends with several Wooly breeders who swear by their breed. As stated before, you have to find someone who breeds for correct wool. Correct wool on a JW is easy to care for. In some areas, Woolies can be very competitive. Depending upon where you are located, I could recommend someone to contact for stock.