French
angora rabbits and angora mohair
goats
share our farm with the
alpacas also. Wonderful for 4H kids or for spinning fiber!
hand raised and home grown with love and care!
History: It is believed the Angora rabbit originated
in
Ankara, Turkey. It is also believed the longhaired goats and cats
also originated here. The French were among the first to raise the
Angora rabbit.
They were kept as house pets until after the Revolution. At this time
they were more noted for their beautiful wool.
The Angora was imported to England in 1777. Royalty had the
peasants raise the animals to spin their wool into yarn. The
English royalty regarded the Angora as a "fancy rabbit" or pet.
The English formed clubs that specialized in the Angora.
The Angora was brought to the United States sometime after World
War I. Here too, a specialty club was formed in 1932. The United
States considered the Angora rabbit to be a multipurpose animal.
It was known for its wool production, fancy show animal, and as
a pet.
French Angoras look more like regular rabbits. They have no wool on
their head, face, ears, or the front feet. The wool has a higher
percentage of guard hair to underwool, which makes it the easiest to
care for. It is valued for its fiber qualities, which are excellent for
handspinning. Its wool spins easily, and fluffs out nicely in the yarn.
Its mature weight is 8-10 lbs.
2 week old litter-below-dinnertime!
10 day old litter below-
silver and black litters due in the fall
to reserve any of these purebred french angora rabbits
email me at
notjustyarns@tds.net
Angora goats and the mohair they produce are
not major agricultural products in the United States and certainly not
in Minnesota where there are fewer than 3,000 Angora goats. Flocks are
small and often are owned by those interested in hand weaving.
Nevertheless, mohair finds a ready market.Angora goats are small in
relation to dairy goals or sheep. Mature Angora nannies (does) weigh 80
to 100 pounds and, if fed adequately, produce 12 to 20 pounds of hair
per year. Billies (males) weigh 90 to 120 pounds and shear 20 to 35
pounds of hair annually.
Angora goats are not as prolific as sheep. Occasionally triplets
are born, and possibly 15 to 20 percent will bear twins. A higher
percent of mature nannies than mature sheep are barren. Fewer than
50 percent of our Angora kids, while fed well from birth on, kidded
at 12 to 13 months of age. The kidding rate among our mature nannies
that did kid, ranged between 120 and 140 percent. We conclude that
Angora goats are much less prolific than sheep, owing to a much
higher percent of open nannies, fewer twin births, and a much lower
conception rate among 7- to 9-month-old nanny kids. However, nannies
give adequate milk, are good mothers, and have little difficulty
giving birth to 5- to 7- pound kids. Males reach sexual maturity at
about 6 to 7 months. We have successfully used a 7-month-old billy
as a sire.
Goats appear to live and continue to produce 2 to 4 years longer
than sheep.
Mohair is the product sold, and inherited traits
affect the amount, uniformity, fineness of grade, and lustre of the
fleece. Under the same environment and feed circumstances, the
amount of hair produced per goat annually can vary 6 to 8 pounds due
to superior breeding. The official score card used in evaluating
goats gives equal value to body traits and to fleece traits. Fleece
traits seemingly warrant 60 percent of the emphasis.
During the last ten years, several hundred Angora flocks have
been established in the Midwest. However, only some 25 flocks of
those are good sources of breeding stock.
When buying breeding stock to upgrade and enhance the
productivity of your flock, establish minimum goals. Select bucks (billies)
as yearlings with good size and conformation with fleece production
records for the first two shearings. Select bucks from the top 20
percent of the crop that have sheared a minimum of 12 pounds in the
two kid clips. In the fall, yearling does should weigh about 60
pounds and should have sheared a minimum of 10 pounds of hair in the
first two kid clips. Try to develop a flock that will produce 16 to
20 pounds of hair annually rather than 10 to 14 pounds.
Recognize that while big Angora goats produce more kids and more
hair, their hair is usually coarser, and is less valuable per pound.
In the last 2 or 3 years, coarse hair has been in less demand.
Therefore, a flock improvement program that includes the use of
bucks with finer hair (micron of 35 to 38 rather than 42 to 45) may
be in order.
**we have no angora goats
available for sale this year. to be added to our 2008 waiting list
email me at
notjustyarns@tds.net
