Northern California Angora Guild

Saturday, August 13, 2016

ARBA Member Handbook





ARBA publishes a Member Handbook each year.   Members can purchase it from the office.   In the book there are constitution, history facts, and especially all the rules for the club officers/treasurers/secretaries to follow.    In the 2016 current edition, We see a cute little girl with a cute bunny, judge Jay Hreiz examining a Belgian Hare and also the previous convention Best In Show winners who attended the Portland convention last year.    There are four convention Best In Show winners from CA: Doug King with a Mini Rex, Chris Zemny with a Holland Lop, Betty Chu with an English Angora and Kassi Sieber with a Mini Lop.    All four live in No. CA.  




Friday, August 12, 2016

Pointed White: the Right Way and the Wrong Way





Betty says, I have some experience with pointed white English Angora, I shared it with our readers on 

http://ncag.blogspot.com/2007/08/pointed-white-english-angora-so-cute-so.html
 
In the above post, I mainly talked about the temperature sensitive points and the issue of toenail colors.   The point color is more intense during the winter than in the summer.      I did not touch the color genetics part, as I did not expect anyone would be putting the wrong genes together.  
There aren't that many English Angora breeders who work on pointed white today; as a matter of fact, the last time I saw a pointed white English Angora on the show table was some 20 years ago.   My personal experience with pointed white English Angora was between 27-31 years ago.     In today's post, I'm using French Angora pointed white as examples.



This is a blue pointed white French Angora, a well bred animal that won the BOB in the 2013 ARBA convention at Harrisburg, PA.  

As a blue pointed white, the color genetics are:
aaB-c(h)-ddE-

A black pointed white would be aaB-c(h)-D-E-
A chocolate pointed white would be aabbc(h)-D-E-
A lilac pointed white would be aabbc(h)-ddE-

In essence, in order to put together a correct pointed white, one needs to use the non-agouti gene aa, one can use either the black gene B or the chocolate gene b, the c(h) gene is responsible for the himi marking, one can use either dense gene D or dilute gene d but one needs at least one extension gene E.   To make more intense point color, it is preferable to have two copies of c(h): c(h)c(h) but c(h)c will still make an acceptable pointed white.  

This rabbit has the blue point covered all the way from nose to the face without any break in color, the ears are also solid in color.  Needless to say the wool and type are also excellent.


For sure one does not want to use non-extension gene ee, in essence, to breed pointed white, one should not use fawn or tort.   

For sure one does not want to use agouti gene A because pointed white is a self color, any agouti marking is a disqualification.

For sure one does not want to use a broken because the pointed white needs solid color at the points and ears.

(The broken gene is not as much an issue for the English Angora because broken is not accepted in English Angora).

The above rabbit in the coop has very light points with ears that are variegated in color, see the next photo.

The ears seem to have broken pattern or agouti marking or ???   Though the breeding program is unknown, it is obviously not put together well.   This rabbit was disqualified in both shows recently in the double shows.
 

If you are interested in breeding pointed white in English Angora, French Angora or Satin Angora (not accepted in Giant Angora), make sure you selected the parents with the correct color genetics.   






Thursday, August 11, 2016

It Takes A Group Effect to Create Nimbus





Carol W has not been to a show for a while, when she sees Nimbus, she says, "Ah, beautiful broken, I'm so happy we keep the broken going".

Carol W had an old broken buck Rhythm N Blue that sired a litter at 5-1/2 years old back in 2012, see https://ncag.blogspot.com/2012/08/dove-is-mom.html

The French Angora breeding has since taken a different direction but we still managed to keep the broken gene in the herd.    Betty is the breeder of Nimbus, Jill is the proud mom who keeps Nimbus in top shape.    

The group effort created such a beautiful broken French Angora buck.






Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Olivia Moves to So. CA



 
 
 
BCW's Olivia is a pretty chestnut agouti French Angora junior doe.
 

Olivia is a co-production of Betty and Carol W. thus acquires the prefix of BCW.
  

Mom, this sun is shining into my eyes.
 

New mom Jennifer M. comes to visit to take Olivia to her new home in So. CA.



Jennifer M.  is taking over the job of bunny mom to Olivia from Betty.




 

Tuesday, August 09, 2016

Satin Angora Wins All Breed Best In Show in SC

 
 
 
 
 
Is this a beauty or what?  It's a Satin Angora and she wins her first all breed Best In Show!
 


At Charleston Fanciers Rabbit club show B in SC,  judge Jacinta from OH picks two Angoras as the top winners: Sandra's black Satin Angora "Bobby Christina" as the Best In Show and Debbie's fawn French Angora as the Reserve In Show.
  

Angoras are having a great day, in show A judge Danny picks Debbie's English Angora "Spoonfull of Sugar" as the Best In Show.     The Reserve In Show is an English Lop.




 

Monday, August 08, 2016

Happy Birthday, Angelique, Emelina and Eugenia

 
 
 
Three pretty littermate sisters were born on August 8, 2015.  Today is their one-year-old birthday.
 

From left to right are Angelique, Eugenia and Emelina.

 

The table is too small to show off all the pretty big coats, it's hard to tell where the coats start or end.


Here is a throwback photo: It was taken on October 15, 2015 when the three sisters were 9 weeks old.   A grooming table was enough for the siblings but today a full size card table is too small to allow the show coats flow.




 



Sunday, August 07, 2016

Best In Show judging at Placerville

 
 
There are more than 20 breeds on the table, the interesting ones for the spectators are the Angora and guess what, the Checker Giant.
 
 
In show A, judge Josh closely examine the French Angora.
 

Then the English Angora gets a go over.
 

The Checker Giant runs on the table, visits other BOB winners and the spectators.
 

In show B, judge Bryant is checking the English Angora at the far end.

More checking on the English Angora.
 

The Checker Giant is having a good time.
 

Checker Giant is one of the "running breeds", it runs on the table.