Wool harvesting for beginners by Mrs Pratley

Introduction

This article was written many years ago by Mrs Pratley, a former President of the National Angora Club. For present day Angora keepers, some things have changed. Wool is stored in self seal heavy duty freezer bags rather than newspaper, tins and boxes, and the rabbit is often clipped sitting on the owner’s knee. Plucking is rarely performed nowadays, as to pluck ethically and correctly is extremely time consuming, as it is done over several weeks whilst the rabbit is moulting. Lakeland Mothstop is the product recommended now to protect wool from moths. Waste wool can be composted, or left out for the birds in Spring for nests.

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Coventry Stock Show May 2018 and AGM

National Angora Club Stock Show held at Coventry 27th May 2018 and judged Neil Robertson. We had a very good entry for our first stock show of the year, quite a few different colours on show too. Congratulations to Richard and Rob , Yvonne Hobbs Fothergill, Michell Campbell, Christine Hamilton, Dawn Caines, Janet Rhodes and Savanannah (our junior) who entered and well done to cope with the grooming which is needed to do these lovely creatures justice.

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National Angora Club badges

Our new badges have arrived. Anyone who would like one please contact Sally May through the contacts page and the price per badge £4 plus £1 postage. These are pin badges but sew on ones are also available.

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Sooty Fawn English Angora

Sooty Fawn breed standard – This has changed in 2021

Tortoiseshell (Sooty Fawn)

  • Black mask and feet, wool as for Golden, but with Black and Sooty shadings on lower flanks and ears
  • Belly creamy white

Chocolate Tortoiseshell

  • Chocolate mask and feet, wool as for Golden, but with Chocolate shadings on lower flanks and ears
  • Belly creamy white

This is a very attractive self coloured rabbit. When Sooty Fawn has been bred to Sooty Fawn for several generations, the genotype is aaBBCCDDeell

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Myxomatosis

Myxomatosis is not native to Britain, but was deliberately introduced from France in 1953 to control the wild rabbit population. It was rapidly fatal and over 99% of wild rabbits died. The virus has mutated and is now less severe, and to some extent wild rabbits have developed resistance.

Domestic rabbits are still very vulnerable, and the best protection is annual vaccination with Nobivac. The myxomatosis virus is spread by biting insects and rabbit fleas, with an incubation period of between 5-14 days. The rabbit develops discharging swollen eyes, causing blindness, swollen ears and genitals and a prolonged illness usually resulting in death. It is still possible for a vaccinated rabbit to get myxomatosis, but is much more likely to survive.

It is most prevalent where wild rabbits are common, but as biting insects can fly many miles, no domestic rabbit can be considered safe. It is strongly recommended that owners vaccinate against  myxomatosis and both forms of viral haemorrhagic disease. Nobivac protects against VHD1 as well as myxomatosis, but a separate vaccine is required to protect against RVHD2.

Breed standard for coloured English Angoras

The breed standard of the national club for English Angora rabbits

Judges are requested to judge the coloured Angora to the Breed Standard as laid down by the Specialist Club and not to confuse the colours with any other breed standard for short haired varieties.

Points are the same for Whites except that 5 points each are deducted from Quantity and Quality of wool and allocated:

Solid Colour: 10 points

Angoras are unique in the fact that they possess a multi-layered coat. The tips of each new coat are therefore darker than the previous coat which lightens as it gains length.

This produces Banding in all colours. Rabbits should not be excessively penalised for lighter bands of the top colour appearing in the coat, but the more uniform the colour the better. White bands are unacceptable, with the exception of the Golden, which is of yellow origin and therefore has a creamy – white band at the base.

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Siamese Sable english angora

Siamese Sable Light Shade

  •  A medium sepia colour similar to fur breed
  • Ears, face and tail a deep sepia
  • Body wool shaded from a medium sepia on back to lighter on chest and flanks
  • Under-colour fawn

Siamese Sable Medium Shade

  • As for light sable except for dark sepia colour instead of medium

Siamese Sable Dark Shade

  • Very dark plum brown, can be almost black on mask, in place of sepia
  • Often mistaken for a smoke, but coat colour of dark sable has distinct rusty tones in the wool
  • Eyes for all shades to glow ruby red in subdued light

Smoke English Angora

The Smoke Angora is a stunning colour with a rich dark coloured head and the breed standard is as follows:

Smoke Breed Standard

  • Head, feet and ears black
  • Wool dark bluish-grey without white base
  • Tips to match head
  • Nose and ears to be free of silvering
  • Eyes blue but brown acceptable

This is a self coloured rabbit, and when Smoke has been bred to Smoke for many generations, is genotype aaBBCCDDEEll

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Chocolate english angora

Chocolate breed standard

The breed standard for the Chocolate English Angora rabbit should be:-

  • Rich chocolate on head, ears, legs and tail
  • Body lighter shade with tips to match head
  • Under colour pale chocolate
  • Eyes to glow ruby red in subdued light, but brown acceptable

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The breed standard of the white English Angora

The breed standard of the national club.

Wool Quality

  • Texture as silky as possible
  • 30 points

Wool Quantity and Length

  • Even and full all over, clear to the skin
  • 25 points

Front

  • Full and prominent on the chest and sides of the neck
  • 10 points

Head, Neck and Ears

  • Broad short head. Short well woolled and tufted ears  
  • 10 points

Size and Shape

  • Round and snowball like
  • Weight at 5 months approximately 5½lbs (2.494kg)
  • An adult ideally not to exceed 7½lbs (3.402kg)
  • Type and quality always to be taken into account
  • 10 points

Feet

  • Thickly covered with long wool, well furnished
  • 5 points

Condition

  • Clean well nourished and well groomed
  • 10 points

Total 100 points

Eyes: Ruby, bright and bold

Legs: Straight, heavily woolled

Tail: Large and well woolled

Head: Wide across the nostrils, bold appearance, densely furred, wool to be long and thick between and behind the ears.

Serious Faults: Narrow wedge head, long plain ears, plain feet,matted coat, coarse coat, bad condition, lop ears.

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