Black Diamond Kits

Black Diamond Kits
Sage's Kits, Nine Weeks Old

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Plucking v. Non-Plucking Angoras

As you know, at the Turlock show I recently bought a non-plucking French angora.  What this means is that his wool will get longer and that he gets sheared instead of plucked. 

Plucking angoras are those that get plucked, though sometimes you can over pluck and sometimes they won't be pretty for their next show. 

We originally decided to get plucking instead of non-plucking because we wouldn't be comfortable using sharp shears on our rabbits.  Also, plucked wool is the prime wool for spinners because it does not have a blunt end.  And I thought non-plucked might be more likely to get wool block.  I can't remember why I thought that, and it doesn't make sense now. 

Reasons for getting a non-plucking angora include being better for show because their wool stays in until you cut it.  Judges are not supposed to give more points to rabbits with wool longer than 4 inches, but nice long wool looks very impressive.  Some angora breeders have been able to grow the wool on their rabbits up to 10 inches long!  And I don't worry about wool block because that isn't a big issue with non-plucking angoras. 

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