MORE GUARD HAIRS

[concreteblonde]

I will try to get good picts. Guard hair is the same as it is in the Mini lops, the outer hair that carries the color. The undercoat, you know is the stuff that the does pull out when they are making a nest. Well Angoras grow long guard hairs and undercoat, and what we call wool is mostly undercoat. Very dense undercoats. Undercoats are usually slate gray, white, cream, dove gray, and that's the colors you will get with the wool. If you have an animal with a lot of guard hairs, the wool that comes out of it will be darker, because of the undercoat. This is why the colors are more vibrant with Satin Angoras, they have more guard hairs, with shiny hair shafts. You know you have wooler with more undercoat, because it's easier to care for and matts less.

I'd swear my JW's were produced from EAs not FAs, because they matt at the drop of a hat, at lease the selfs do.

This wool is from my black FA. At the bottom see the random black lines, those are the black guard hairs.

Thank you for posting that!

I just bought two angoras a while back. One is English and the other is English/Satin, I believe. I've got the papers on them.

Anyway, one matts up horribly. The wind blows and she matts up right after you comb her. But they are both beautiful and the only ones I could find within driving distance. As it was we had to go almost to the Gulf from Orlando to get them.

 

[PSFAngoras]

What's around here doesn't seem particularly hardy.

See, you do need some hardy mountain Frenchies!

I don't blame you though. That's how Rex were for me. I'd love to get some again when I get a larger barn simply for the pelts, but my guys were always very sickly and couldn't pull it together. Only the doe with the sparsest coat survived, and the people I sold her told me she has a bald spot on the back of her neck that's two by six inches. No mites, nothing she could be rubbing the fur off with, just a big bald spot. I almost wonder if that's her air conditioning for dealing with the heat at our elevation! needless to say, when I get into the rex again, I will be driving a long ways to get heat hardy stock! (Texas, watch out! )

 

[Pucksfolly]

I actually have a couple of Frenchies and they're some of the most resiliant bunnies in my barn. I've had issues with the satins and can't seem to get the rexes to breed, but those angoras are amazing every time. Great mammas, decent litters, easy breeders, good temperment . . . of course they are the ones who don't have papers because they came from the fair and an oops litter by a local breeder . . . I would breed them far more often, but there's just no demand for them around here. We've done several litters and ended up eating most of them because no one wanted them and we just don't have the space to keep so many rabbits. We got all the buns as primarily meat anyways, the Frenchies ended up here because my buisiness partner is an avid hand spinner and wanted another fiber to work with. I'll see if I can get a couple pics of them.

 

[skysthelimit]

My Rex are pretty much like that too, but when they do breed they have litters of 9-12 back to back, so I try to give them more leeway. I'd love to see more pictures of FAs.