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About  Angora Fiber

What is Prime Angora Fiber?
Fiber length is measured by the length of the denser, crimpy undercoat, not by the longer appearing (awn) hairs and thick guard hairs.   Fiber must be dry (not damp or wet), and may not be contaminated with dirt, hay, food, or any other solids.
Prime grade Angora is at least 2.5 in. long, clean,  and with no webbing or matting.  This fiber  sheds almost not at all from yarn.  The fiber pictured is technically 3" as that is the length of the crimpy undercoat. Second grade Angora is 1 to 2.5 in. long, clean, with no mats.  This fiber is good for felting, and fulling (knitting oversized and then intentionally shrinking and felting the article).  It can be spun into a bulkier yarn, but will shed. Third grade Angora is shorter than 1in., can be stained, and may be  webbed or matted.   Most breeders throw this fiber out, but some people use it for novelty yarn slubs.  I am always interested to hear what other ways people have found to use it.  

Fiber   Grading   System
Gross Weight Adjusted Weight
Prime (First) Grade Second Grade Third Grade
= weight of P fiber  =weight of S fiber =weight of T fiber
Prime (First) Grade Second Grade   75% Third Grade  25%
P1=100% wt of P fiber S 1= .75 x wt of S fiber T1= .25 x wt of T fiber
 P + S + T = Gross Weight (GW) P1 + S1 + T1= Adjusted Weight (AW)
GW x 4 = GW yearly total AW x 4 = AW yearly total
Grams are used most frequently since they are more exact than ounces.     1 oz = 28.35gs. 

Texture and Color
Texture plays an important role in how much prime/second grade/usable fiber one can harvest off the rabbit.  A shiny silky texture with a good percentage of guard hair, typical of the German coat won't mat.   By the way, unless you brush it frequently, I have never known an angora not to mat a little at the base of the neck.   If a rabbit has poor cottony (frizzy with no shine to it) texture, they will tend to get mats in the areas on the underside around the legs.   Bucks are much more at risk for mats than does due to their lower percentage of guard hair and a tendency to have more cottony fiber.  
A note about Color.  People are often confused as to why a "black angora" looks silver.  As I understand it...The fiber all over the body of the rabbit has the same amount of color pigment.  The hair on the head  doesn't grow to the excessive length as the hair on the body does.  Therefore, the color is dispersed over a greater distance in the longer fiber, and so appears silver.  Also coming into play are genes for banding , and other color modifiers which can make some "black" fiber look almost platinum, and some look a lovely deep pewter.  These variations apply to all the color varieties.

Links

To visit a very informative site on the history and care of German Angoras by German Breeder Ulrich farmer go to http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr  and type  www.angora.de into the "translate this site" box.  There is an excellent section on the structural breakdown of  angora fiber.

Contact Carrie at ccculliton@earthlink.net for further information.