Northern California Angora Guild: 6/23/19

Gifta Takes Her Kids to the Show

After having babies, Gifta is getting ready to go back to showing.

"Kids, want to go to Carol's summer show and party today?"

George says YES, YES, YES!

Chocolate Dream and Indigo Girl are a bit shy but they want to try showing too.

Michigan Angora Club's Great Summer Activity

Summer time is get-together time. While us Northern California Angora Guild members are excited to go to our summer show and party tomorrow, the Michigan Angora Club members just had a great day a few weeks ago. Here are some photos.

We thank Jackie McDonald for sharing the pictures and the report:

"The Michigan Angora Club held an Angora Fiber Frenzy on June 8th in beautiful northern Michigan. The day held a specialty show, as well as classes all about angoras and what they can be used for. There were classes on felting and dyeing Angora wool. New people learned how to shear angoras. There were classes in spinning and using a drop spindle. There was another class on using hand cards to prep your wool for spinning. We had a nice catered lunch.

There were about 50 angoras in attendance. A French Angora won Best in Show.

We also had a wool/skein/garment contest where a beautiful woven Angora shawl won Best in Show."

Henrietta and Rayna Enjoy Retirement Together

Henrietta had her time in the shows, she has won 19 legs of which 11 are BOB and 1 BIS. In addition she raised 10 babies.

Rayna is one of Henrietta's babies. She also won quite a bit in shows with 11 legs, of which 8 are BOB and 2 BIS.

Both are very sweet and gentle. After a recent haircut, mama Betty tries a cohabitation arrangement of the mom and daughter.

It works well. This is the first time two French Angora does are paired up. Maybe they recognize each other?

Both Henrietta (left) and Rayna love banana...

… they go banana for bananas. See

https://ncag.blogspot.com/2019/02/mom-and-daughter-love-banana.html

They are enjoying their retirement together.

New Cages Installed

I have this small barn since the early 1980s. It was originally built for my French Lops, see

https://ncag.blogspot.com/2007/08/remember-when-bettys-french-lop.html The upper right corner cage has the most history. It was where my first English Angora resided, see

https://ncag.blogspot.com/2006/09/how-to-start-wrong-way.html . In 2012 when I had my first French Angora Meara, she also went into that upper right cage, see https://ncag.blogspot.com/2014/02/meara-plays-mom-to-all.html

In the above photo, sitting in that cage is Rayna.

These old cages are still in OK shape except that the floors could use replacements. In 1980s, it's pretty common to hang the cages. These 8 cages were tied together and hung from the ceiling of the little barn. It's next to impossible to separate them to change the floor wire.

I got 8 new cages from Randall's.

After removing the old cages, the little barn is power washed then re-painted. Still wishing to hang some of the cages but wanting to have flexibility to remove the cages individually, 2x4s are installed in the little barn. The 4 cages in the bottom are hooked on the 2x4. Each cage is equipped with a peg board as a divider to avoid rabbits chewing on each other or getting boo-boos from shows.

The top 4 cages has legs and sit on the 2x4. The plastic trays fit in perfectly. The bottom trays don't need to fit because they are more for safety than catching poops and pees. The raccoons and skunks could reach the bottom wire if they try, the trays will prevent that from happening.

Six of the cages are occupied by French Angora and two in the upper middle are English Angora does that are no longer showing but ready to be mamas. This barn is cooled by a mister, French Angora wool can take moisture better than the English Angora wool. The English Angora with show coats are in the big barn that is cooled by a swamp cooler.

Here is a close up showing the bottom cages hooked on the 2x4s. There are 6 hooks for each cage. If needed, each cage can be unhooked and removed.

The top cages are installed with legs and sit on the 2x4s. Two chains hooking the 2x4s to the ceiling of the barn for stability. The line at the top is the mister hose when turned on can reduce the temperature by at least 15 degrees during the heat.

Hopefully this set up will provide more flexibility in cleaning and adjustment. Maybe another 30 years? A gal can always dream.

Carol and Kendall Teach Rabbits to Ag Teachers

The annual Agriculture teachers conference was held at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this past Sunday.

Carol and Kendall are in charge of a 4-hour session about rabbits.

The subjects included but not limited to breeding, tattooing, meat pens, grooming, etc.

Carol brought her American Fuzzy Lop, Mini Satin, ...

The ag teacher get a chance to do hands on handling of rabbits in addition to gaining lots of knowledges.

Sunflower under the Sun

Summer officially started two days ago on June 21, 2019; sunny days are here again.

As the name suggests, Sunflower loves the sun.

Bee loves the Sunflower.

Bees congregate at the Sunflower.

New Cages from Randall's Ranch

At the Stockton show in May, I was very lucky to have won a gift certificate in the raffle. It was donated by Randall's Ranch. I've been considering to replace 8 of my thirty some year old cages but procrastinated as they are old but still usable, the gift certificate gave me a push. With additional payment to go with the gift certificate, I ordered eight 30x30 cages and they were waiting for us when we arrived at Randall's Ranch in Manteca.