Research Is Your Responsibility

4-H youth leaders are not always knowledgeable about your particular breed of rabbit, and especially angoras.  Angoras, at least in this area, are not popular, especially among younger children.  Most people fear the additional responsibility of grooming angoras.  This is completely unfounded, but that’s for another post.  

4-H youth leaders are always trying to be helpful, but there are 48 ARBA-recognized breeds of rabbits.  What is right for their rabbits won’t necessarily be right for yours.

French angoras are supposed to have a commercial body type and should be fleshier, but that is often overlooked by judges because wool is more important.  However, all of the French angora’s efforts are focused on wool production, and it can be really difficult to get their bodies in good shape. 

Anyway, I was advised by my 4-H president (youth leader) to switch to 18% protein to plump him up.  Many people think that because angoras produce so much wool, that they should have a higher protein content in their feed.  Because I was still learning and quite naïve, I took her advice.   

At a later show I learned from a judge that that was the worst thing I could feed my Indy.  In fact, our rabbits were almost disqualified.  A high protein feed gives sheen to the coat, giving the appearance of a satin angora.  Which is fine if you are a satin angora.  After being set right, at the next ARBA show two months later, Indy won a leg.