English Angora Rainbow

Cruising the internet when I saw this link and clicked it.

Bumblebee Acres - English Angora Rabbit, Colors of the Rainbow

http://www.bumblebeeacres.com/EnglishAngoraRainbowofColors.htm

This is an astounding pictorial of the many colors found in the English Angora Rabbit as seen in the USA. Many pictures of the kits and some adults display different types and lengths of wool to demonstrate the fabulous colors.

Go there! See it!

Bravo to Bumblebee Acres!

Have a good day!

Linebreeding

Line breeding is controlled in-breeding. It's used to reinforce genetic traits. So when you have a great rabbit, it's a proven way to almost "clone" that rabbit. But care must be taken to cull any rabbits that don't meet the mark since any undesireable traits will also be reinforced by linebreeding. Line breeding is common in many types of livestock.

Have a good day!

It Lives In The Bloodlines

The bloodlines are the important thing. Individual bunnies can be dear, but because rabbits have such phenomenal birthrates, the bloodline has a life of its own.

One of my favorite rabbits was a Blue Dutch buck named Schettlers Chevy. We picked him up in a raffle. We called him Baloo because he was big. He was a big Dutch with a lot of rabbit personality. Always glad to meet you when you came to feed or visit and he never bit
anybody.

Baloo never won a leg, too big, kept getting DQed for being overweight. But he did produce 3 Grand Champions among his offspring. A long line of offspring including Dust Bunny, Lulu, Shirley, Catalina, Blue Betty, Blueberry, and the last of his line, Blue Berry Bonds, a Blue Dutch Buck with 15 Grand Champion legs.

Blue Berry Bonds passed away in 2005, but we will remember Baloo and his children forever.

Have a joyful day!

Complete Angora Person

Looking at the Domestic Rabbits magazine from American Rabbit Breeders Association, the Nat'l Angora Breeders Club Club Report (Mar/Apr 2011), Betty Chu says:
"A show exhibitor is only half of a complete Angora person, the other half is the fiber artist who works with the Angora wool; and vice versa. It takes both showing and utilizing the wool to totally appreciate the beauty and functionality of Angora rabbits."

I have to agree with Betty. My lovely wife Tracy and I started as Angora exhibitors. We used to throw away the wool we gathered on the slicker brushes during grooming. Then we discovered that people will pay $5-$6 dollars PER OUNCE for raw angora wool.

So we started saving it. I learned how to spin angora wool on a homemade drop spindle which started me on a fiber adventure that continues to this day. I've spun angora, alpaca, and sheep wool. I learned about knitting and weaving.

My lovely wife Tracy would blend it with other wool on a drum carder. She would spin it into yarn and ply it with other yarns for "art yarn" or "novelty yarn." Then she'd knit it into hats and scarves.

I've met many competent and passionate Angora rabbit exhibitors at the shows. I'd say over half of exhibitors I've met USE the wool.

The reason the Angora rabbit exists is for the wool.

To fully appreciate the Angora, one has to use the wool. To understand the structure of the wool, one has to use the wool. To appreciate the differences in Angora wool, one has to use the wool.

If one does not use the wool, they are missing out on the full Angora experience.

Have a good day!