Angora Rabbits

I had forgotten how much I enjoy angora rabbits. I used to breed and show them, for a short time. This was back when my older kids were little and we had a lot of rabbit breeds, and they enjoyed showing their breeds, but were not quite old enough to take care of all their rabbits themselves. I had trouble finding time to work with my angoras, so I sold them and worked with mini rex instead.



Now that my kids are older, and my girls take care of all their rabbits themselves, I have time to focus on MY rabbits...so, I have angoras again.



French Angoras...I started with French. They are by far the easiest to work with (other than the jersey woolies and fuzzy lops- which are angora fibered, but don't generally produce enough of, or long enough of, useable fiber). I have French again. Two bucks and a doe. They are a very sweet natured breed. They don't matt as easy as some of the others. They naturally shed their fiber, so every 3 months you sit them on your lap and just gently pluck out the loose shedding fiber. I brush them on occasion, maybe once a week, maybe longer. They don't have wool on their faces and ears and are fairly easy to maintain. Definitely the breed for those starting with angoras, or children who are interested in angoras.




Giant Angoras...I have three French/Giant crosses. These, too, I am able to pluck, though in the summer I often shear them. They have much more fiber, I find, than the French. They do have wooly faces and ears. They need to be brushed more regularly than the French, as they will matt. One doe doesn't seem to matt much, but my buck likes to matt (well, I don't think he LIKES to, but he does anyway). My girls do work a little with them and show then at 4H, so for someone who understands the grooming needs of angoras, Giants are great.



English...I found out one of the does that my friend gave me is a purebred English angora. They are smaller, have wooly wooly faces. I am told they matt easily, but so far Honey Bunny hasn't been much of a problem there. She can be plucked or shorn.

German Angoras...I recently aquired three Germans. One is pure, the other two are hybrids. Germans are very different than the others, in that they do not shed out their fiber, you HAVE TO shear them. Okay, well, one of my hybrids seems to shed out a bit (Germans are naturally all whites, so they are crossed to get color- I'm guessing my Licorice has some French in him- as he does shed a bit). So, you shear them. They have lots of fiber. It seems to be a different consitancy than the other angora breeds. What I found really neat is the color in the hybrids- much deeper color than my colored French. The color is more consitant across the body, the wooly face fiber and the body fiber is all the same color. The fiber doesn't seem to have the same amount of fluff as the French...maybe it is a larger diameter? But, is still incredibly soft and I'm anxious to spin some. They do matt very very easily and need to be brushed very regularly, as the matts are not fun to remove and you lose a lot of fiber. I would not recommend Germans for someone beginning with angoras, unless they are really ready for lots of grooming. They are, though, incredibly sweet and docile.



I have to say, though, that I am thrilled to be back immersed in angora rabbits, their fiber and their personalities. If you can't find me one day...look in my bunny barn (different place than the kids' bunny barn ) that's where I probably am!

Mending Fences

I always wondered, when watching western movies, why the cowboys spent so much time mending fences. C'mon, you put the fence up and your good forever, aren't you? Oh, no, you never are finished. I hate fixing fences. It took me forever to figure out how to install this fence in the first place. While I use cattle panels at home for the goats, I couldn't afford to fence in 4 acres with panels. I bought a fence charger and a bunch of electric fencing stuff, and went to it. I made a few mistakes along the way- including finding out how strong the charge is when I, without thinking, touched the bolt coming out of the charger while the charger was on (prior to attaching the fence). I guess that is one way to find out the charger does work!

I found out that, yes, they do mean it when they tell you you need more than one ground pole, the ground pole needs to be long, and the ground pole needs to be somewhere where it is wet. I found out that you do need to trim the brush around the fence, branches will fall on the fence during a storm and you actually have to walk to fence line right after the storm, or your animals may go for a long walk and the neighbors will not be happy for the visitors.

I found out that sheep cannot feel the shock through their wool, horses don't like to be shocked and once is enough to keep them far from the fence and anything that resembles an electric fence for the next 30 years. Goats will be somewhat respectful of electric fence ( as I now know to introduce each new animal to the shock of the fence before setting them free). Teenage boys LIKE to touch the fence or dare eachother to touch the fence, all to see what will happen and show how "tough" they are.

I learned to turn off the charger before fixing the fence. I learned that llamas may go through an electric fence to get out of the pasture, but are not so quick to go through that same fence to get back in, no matter how loudly you shake the grain bucket. Sheep go both ways- out or in, if there is food involved, who cares about a little zap.

But, most of all, I found out that the cowboys were always mending fences because fences always need mending. I spent a lovely time out in the snow (with my leg in its imobilizer brace) hobbling around mending first the electric fence (which the llamas went out of but didn't care to walk across to get back in) as well as repairing the back up fence (cattle wire, going around the outskirts of the property) that keeps any fence skippers from visiting the rest of the neighborhood.

*I found that picture on http://fineartamerica.com/featured/mending-fence-cynara-shelton.html

Beware of Sheep!

Tuesday was not one of my better days, LOL. Oh, yes, I can laugh about it now...not so the other day. My mother is always giving me a hard time about going up to the barn alone at night. It is about 7 miles from my house, down in a gully, and not so close to any houses. There is no electricity there either. I don't listen though.

So, Tuesday night, Addie (my dog) and I head up there to feed the animals and unload some hay. All is going well, we get grain to all the animals, throw some bales of hay out there for them. Addie did a marvelous job moving the sheep to where I wanted them. I have a couple of horses, llamas, alpacas and sheep in the pasture. We are just about to switch to unloading hay, when I realize that a couple of the sheep have left the group and are trying to get into the horse's grain. So- I send Addie around the barn ahead of me to "get the sheep". Apparently one of the large ewes (the romney) got spooked (most of the sheep aren't overly intimidated by the dog, but this one is) and comes flying around the barn at full speed. At that very moment, I'm walking innocently around the barn to make sure everyone is back to their right spot.

It was dark, and the ewe being black...I didn't see her until the instant before she hit me. I had no time to react, though, and she slams head first (you know- those rock hard heads that sheep have-argh) into my left knee. I hear a pop, and feel my lower leg go in the wrong direction, and I go flying through the air. Sheep keeps running...without care that she just tried to kill her foodsource. (Okay- now, I know sheep aren't the brightest animals on a farm, but this one is especially dumb, and if she wasn't my sister's sheep she wouldn't even have been there.)

I could not believe the pain I was in- I thought for sure I broke my leg (which I didn't- but I did seriously sprain my medial collateral ligament in my knee- apparently an injury that football players get a lot- great). I layed there yelling for help for a good hour before someone heard me (like I said- there is not really anyone around there). A jogger heard me and with the help of a flashlight, found me and called an ambulance. I'm so thankful for the jogger. We were expecting an ice storm to start in another hour or so, which would have been horrible.

I did have my english shepherd dog (farm collie) with me. She was so good. Not as good as Lassie (wasn't my dog supposed to go to a neighbors house and bark in morse code to dial 911?) but, she did stay right with me, with intermittent runs to the middle of the pasture to bark for help, and then right by my side. She wasn't so sure she wanted to let the ambulance people near me, and went into protective mode, but once she saw they were there to help, she let them work on me, going back and forth licking them. But- I'm thinking next time I go up there late at night...I'll bring a human buddy as well!

Moral of the store...watch out for psycho sheep!