Their docile personality makes them a good option for pets, however, they require frequent maintenance. Views of a farm where angora rabbits are reared for their hair wool. For the most part, it was fairly easy once i got the hang of it. The main use of angoras is for their fiber called mohair. The rabbit stretcher is a very humane way to reach those hard to get places on your bun. It will keep track of all the sitemaps you have added. Stretchers, shears and tiny bunny screamsmaking that. This video shows speed shearing competitions at the gilgandra show and dubbo show in the central west. Our german angora bunnies, angelica and apollo, have to be shaved every 3 months. Heart felt hares rabbitry on facebooklike our page. It starts to let go over the back and shoulders first.
Dont be afraid that you wear a pullover with angora fur. We are twentysomething, yuppie, adventurous newlyweds embarking on the journey of a lifetime. This video is a demonstration of how to shear an angora rabbit because im going to make a hat for my six month old neighbor, paolo. Because harvesting angora fibers to be spun into yarn inevitably involves removing the fur from live rabbits. The german angora do not molt their wool like the other breeds, so shearing the rabbit is common practice. Nelle, elle, and family live on a small parcel in eastern washington state on the palouse.
Your rabbit will usually surrender peacefully to their grooming time if you make it a regular practice. Angora rabbits are one of the oldest breeds of the domestic rabbits and are commonly known for their long fur which is harvested for highend wool. He has been pulling out his own hair, signifying he is done with it for some reason. The wool lets go over a period of days, and sometimes breeders pluck out the prime body wool and clip the rest. Shearing an angora is an important part of its care. The first picture shows an angora who clearly needs sheared. You may have seen the youtube video of a tiny rabbit herding sheep on a farm in sweden. Cruel truth of how angora rabbits fur is removed youtube. The rabbits were popular pets with french royalty in the mid 18th century, and spread to other parts of europe by the end of the century. I think that this may have been caused by her last shearing, maybe a few spots were missed then. Waitomo new zealand angora rabbit shearing youtube. A summary of how we handle and work with first time rabbits for easy shearing. This video is designed both for the beginner and for those who have already been shearing and are interested in improving their shearing technique to increase speed and efficiency of the job and to minimize stress to the animal. No rabbits were harmed in the filming of this video and this procedure is.
Here are the basics of raising angora rabbits for wool. One of the rabbits is brushed to keep its hair in good condition. Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. Rabbit hutch plans, free pdf download, cutting list, and shopping list. The heiniger mohair comb is the best thing ive used yet. An angora rabbit doe is typically productive until five years old. But angora rabbits make you smile with their panda cuteness and quirky ways and the final rabbit shearing shed of all might also be the last place where commercial agriculture is still fun. Without shearing, the rabbits tend to mat much more easily and they are also much more likely to get wool block and mites. You can shear your french angora using rabbit safe clippers. Giant angora rabbits are the only breed that require shearing.
Teamster december 17, 20 you mayve already seen petas horrific video of live angora rabbits being plucked in china warning this video is. But, i have always been able to hand harvest my german. Bucks must be replaced every three to five years, depending on their health and how extensively they have been used in the colony. I am a professional shearer and i shear alot more angora goats and llamas than i used to.
The video provides information on needed materials, tips and an actual example, tutorial of shearing an angora. English angora wool dying it, spinning it, crocheting it youtube. A full guide to caring for french angora rabbits as pets. Champis, the 5yearold mixbreed bunny, has become an online celebrity in the last two weeks. For prime spinning fiber we also choose to pluck our rabbits. A gang from piopiobased barrowcliffe shearing will perhaps do 1400 sheep here mostly lambs if they crack the whip, on a day when temperatures climb into the high 20s, maybe 35c in the shed. Angora rabbit shearing in new zealand this is one method of harvesting angora.
A swedish rabbit has become a hit with youtube viewers worldwide after a video displaying his impressive sheepherding skills was posted online. Farming angora rabbits with love and care farmers weekly. Our main herd now have a very large building from which they can free range, this was basically once a silage pit with 12 foot cement and dry stone wall, my husband has created a full roof and they have boulders lining the inside to sleep and relax on, these also. The fiber called angora actually comes from angora rabbits. Providing water via a hanging water bottle or via automatic watering system works better than using bowls because the water stays cleaner and it avoids the problem of the rabbit becoming matted and wet under the. How to shear a rabbit for spinning and knitting angora yarn. No rabbits were harmed in the filming of this video and this procedure is spca approved. Shearing your angora bunny dolly rock farm and fiber. Tips for harvesting angora contributed by pat glenn. German angora rabbits and giant angoras developed from germans, are distinct in that they carry three separate wool fibers. We separate cleaner fur which can be spun into yarn or used for felting. A look inside the angora rabbit wool industry peta. Cruel truth of how angora rabbits fur is removed dailyvideos. I use a sharp pair of embroydery shears, and just fleese them from the shoulderneck back.
At the shearing shed in waitomo, an angora rabbit is sheared clean. The precious angora fibre proved to be popular, with many commercial rabbitries springing up across the country. Indeed, even peta accepts that when done on a very small scale angora production can be ethical. Shearing an english angora bungalow of bunnies dutch. A clip of the fiveyearold swedish pet rabbit in action has had more than 700,000 youtube hits since surfacing on a blog a week ago.
Angora rabbit wool will also fetch a higher price than the wool from many other fiber animals. Tips for harvesting angora contributed by pat glenn after having achieved good grooming habits, you now have a beautiful coat on your rabbit and it is ripe to be harvested by either plucking, pulling the fibers out, which doesnt hurt the rabbit if youre not over zealous. Stretchers, shears and tiny bunny screamsmaking that angora. The video provides information on needed materials, tips and an actual example, tutorial of shearing an angora rabbit. Among the various types, german angora is the best and annually yields to 1200 gm of wool under ideal management. English angoras for sale bungalow of bunnies dutch. The most of angora rabbits fur more than 80% are sheared with scissors or electrical scissors instead of cruel pulling out in china. The microfarm is a home office, school, and craft center for nelle and elle. You will see my very big buck and how gentle and wellbehaved he is. Angora rabbits can be combed or gently sheared for their fur, and the price for their wool is high due. The person who removes the sheeps wool is called a shearer. When you buy a sweater, hat, or other product that contains angora, the angora wool most likely originated in china, even if the finished product was assembled elsewhere. In each of the two groups some animals were exposed to simulated shearing or shamshearing. The home is host to dogs, cats, chickens, fish, tortoises, and of course, rabbits.
The mohair is clipped or sheared twice a year on average producing 5lb per goat per shearing. This is angora rabbits by patrick russell on vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them. Strong demand has prompted doug rathke to put together an instructional sheep shearing called sheep shearing made easy. The video provides information on needed materials, tips and an actual example, tutorial of shearing an angora rabbit, beginning on the back and. Hi there seems to be a dirth of definitive information about keeping angora goats, but ill try and pass on what we have learnt. The undercoat is heavy, finely crimped, silky, and needs to be suitably long the awn fluff are intermediate fibers, longer than the undercoat, a bit crimped and always with a curved tip. Satin and french angora shed around every 4 months. Its a labor intensive process using electric shears and a scissors. Ninety percent of angora wool comes from china, where there are no penalties for abuse of animals on farms and no standards to regulate the treatment of the animals. The difference is mainly in wool produced and the percentage of guard hair in the wool. Waitomos the shearing shed have been specialising in german angora rabbit products for more than 19 years something of a tradition in new zealand, the first official imports of angora rabbits were made as far back as 1928. A 3 month old german angora doe is shorn for the first time. Ace wide super a cutter vat included 1 x box 10 cutters from r 495. Angora rabbits are mainly raised for their wool which is known for its quality.
Free sheep stock video footage licensed under creative commons, open source, and more. How to shear an angora rabbit with electric clippers. Capacity 5000 angora rabbits farming, 2 mt rabbit feedhr. Shots of rabbits of various ages held in the hands of a farm worker. Therefore, you need to take the time to trim or shear your rabbit s wool 34 times a year. Shearing angora rabbits must be sheared or clipped every three to four months to minimize the chance of getting wool block or mites. But a talented bunny in sweden is giving sheepdogs a run for their money. I have pictures on my website of a giant in process of being clipped. A cottage industry of crueltyfree angora has sprung up, with smallscale angora breeders who recommend either gentle brushing or careful, slow shearing. Angoras are typically shorn every three to four months unless the rabbit is a show bunny then they are typically shorn at about four to six months and great care must be. A french angora s coat can grow as much as 6 inches per season. This is the method i use, either to harvest wool for spinning, or just to remove the wool for the sake of good grooming, health, and hygiene. Rosemary and filia plan to prevent inbreeding by replacing bucks with different bloodlines from other angora rabbit breeders. Shearing an english angora, stepbystep angora rabbit.
Sheepherding rabbit finds fame online world news the. The angora rabbit is a variety of domestic rabbit bred for its long, soft wool. You must groom your bunny before removing his wool. The objectives were to separate the effects of shearing from those of normal handling procedures during shearing and to determine if the experienced ewes hormonal systems adapted to shearing. Should we switch to a different blade number or are we doing okay. Sheep shearing training garden state sheep breeders. Using electric trimmers is the fastest way to remove rabbit fur. The angora is one of the oldest types of domestic rabbit, originating in ankara historically known as angora turkey, along with the angora cat and angora goat. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year a sheep may be said to have been shorn or sheared, depending upon dialect.
We shear our english angora rabbits with a pair of scissors in the summer so that they are more comfortable. The electric shaver is getting a lot of second cuts, and the scissors sometimes cut the rabbit. Harvesting most angoras will naturally shed their coat 34 times a year. Sheep shearing competitions are held throughout australia. How to shear an angora rabbit for spinning and knitting yarn. This allows you to view a sitemaps roles and editroles in a. A 20t is safe, but slow and har to get through cerrain types and conditions in angoras. You will notice the wool looks a bit dull and will come out very easily if you pull on it. Pictures for reference i only keep 23 english at most and only occasionally have anything for sale.