When your show rabbit has finished being shown, its wool can be used to enter the products competitions held by the National Angora Club at London and Bradford shows. You can pluck some ripe wool from the back of the rabbit in stages you only need 7gms (1/4ozs).
Clipping a angora rabbits should be done approximately once every 3 months to ensure they remain healthy. Once you have all the necessary equipment ready put the rabbit on your knees and brush any debris out of the coat. I usually clip the top coat first. Have your bag ready to put the wool in. Start clipping at the neck, discard any knots and short wool. The wool you should be clipping will hopefully be over 2”, if not it can be bagged and sold as felt. Put all the decent wool in a bag from the top and when you have finished that close that bag and get another.
Most Angora owners clip their rabbit with hairdressing scissors, with the rabbit sat quietly on their knee. Injuries are extremely rare. In Britain rabbits are never restrained and relax into the positions required for clipping.
Before clipping
The clipping doesn’t hurt, and the rabbit is used to being groomed and handled from a very early age. It is done all over, with the exception usually of the main ear furnishing and the coat is cut above the surface of the skin to leave a light fuzz over the whole of the body.
During clipping the underneath
The underside is reached by turning the angora rabbit onto its back and working carefully with the scissors around the underneath of the body, legs, stomach, chin and around the tail.
After clipping
The wool is clipped off as evenly as possible to avoid leaving one section longer than another. The underside wool is often discarded as this is usually not suitable for use as a wood product.
Is there anything that Angora wool can’t be used for? It was a delight to see some recipients had framed their 1992 Christmas cards made from Angora wool and pulp. I thought you might like to have a go, so here is the method.
Wool@j13 is a relatively new craft festival, held at Lower Drayton Farm, Penkridge, right next to the M6 motorway, Junction 13! This was the second year that the National Angora Club had been invited to take part. Sally May and Lesley Hordon took the Club’s wool for sale, and Sally demonstrated clipping Bunny and Elijah for an admiring audience, whilst Lesley gave a talk on the Angora Rabbit. As usual, drop-in spindle spinning lessons were held on the Stand and proved very popular. A great weekend was had by all. Here are a few images of the event which we thoroughly enjoyed. If you missed Wool@j13, look out for the National Angora Club Stand at 3 other Craft Festivals this summer. We will be at Woolfest in Cockermouth in June, www.woolfest.co.uk, Fibre-East in Ampthill, Bedfordshire in July, www.fibre-east.co.uk and the British Wool Show, Murton, York in August http://britishwool.net . Come and say hello!
There can be problems with baby angora’s in the nest, so here is a quick post on what to look out for. Check for fur tangled around legs, or neck. This should be cut off as soon as you notice otherwise it could result in loss of a limb or death. It is important to check nests regularly, occupy the doe and have a quick look to see if warm and all moving gently. Over enthusiastic does can clean up too well and take off ear or tail of babies. Check when they appear out of the nest and see if they are damaged. Most will be ok with the damage it will heal, but they wont be showable.
If you are starting down the journey of owning an angora and want to start showing it is advisable to do some research before deciding to just turn up at a rabbit show to show your angora. You will need to be a member of the British Rabbit Council (BRC) and in order to find out where shows are, order a copy of Fur and Feather magazine, this lists shows and other information that will help you.
Sometimes if a rabbit is not clipped every three months, they can get fur balls. You will notice the dropping joined together with fur. To solve this problem clip the rabbit and give a dose of liquid paraffin, or pineapple juice. This should break down the fur and pass it through the rabbit. If you need help with any of these issues, contact your breeder and they will be able to advise you.
Winnie the sooty fawn English angora house rabbit
Our Angora rabbits are house rabbits. Josie is a smoke and Winnie is a sooty fawn. They are both from Sally May. They are real characters and we love them to bits.
If you are planning on showing an angora, you will need to have a large ceramic bowl, this is to ensure that their face furnishings are not covered in food debris when they are eating. This does not mean that you have to fill the bowl up. Plastic bowls tend to get chewed by rabbits and this will catch in their coat and damage them. If space is limited in the show cages then use a smaller ceramic or glass bowl.