So some "business". Remember now my main goal in life is not the breeding and selling of rabbits..Nevertheless I DO have to interact with breeders because I have to buy rabbits sometimes.. I have a couple friends who raise German type angoras and I'm always happy to notify everybody when they have available litters...I have had three litters of my own in ten years, kept most of them, so don't look at me producing your next rabbit. My friends I mentioned got their start with offspring from my first German type angoras.
In any case I was called out for referencing a video Betty Chu put up publicly on You Tube I think it was or maybe one of the ARBA angora groups about ten years ago on grooming angoras. Point is Betty is famous, I know and have met the woman multiple times, attended the same shows and conventions and she is an expert on grooming English Angoras. One of the videos discussed dander and showed dander layering around which Betty noted is a good reason to blow out your angoras outdoors not in the house.
Well among other angora breeders I mentioned Betty's very public video from years ago and was told I was bad mouthing Betty. Well I don't think Betty was bad mouthing herself so that accusation just made NO sense. Suffice to say just as in the general population of the U.S., there is no guarantee that the rabbit breeder demographics do not shelter nuts as well.
But moving on I was then informed that all angoras produce dander. Well of course they do. Mammals with hair growth are bound to produce dander. The question in angoras is how much and why? I've had French Angoras and yes they produce dander. Too much for MY liking cause I have highly allergic people around. I wanted French because of the glorious colors available when at THAT time colored Germans were just not available. I have not owned English but I respect Betty more than I respect the moronic breeder who thought she was defending her and Betty says they DO produce lots of dander and need constant blowing out- outdoors.
I've never owned Giants and know very little about them so no comment.
I have owned Satin Angoras and in MY experience they produced very little dander but at the same time they produced very little hair so that might have something to do with it.
I'm mostly experienced with Germans, having them exclusively since 2013 when I bought my first breeding pair. (I did add a couple more Satins for color about eight years ago). My experience in that ten years is German type angoras have practically NO dander (notice the qualifier because yes they are hairy mammals with skin flakes). Why? Well all things being copecetic- no fur mites, environmental conditions are good, fed well- German type angoras have a synchronized fur growth that does not shed. It must be clipped or sheared, never plucked and they don't have secondary coats growing underneath the top coat. Or at least they shouldn't. If they do they aren't German type angoras. These factors ABSOLUTELY affect dander amounts. And it shows true in that my house is not full of highly allergic people grabbing their inhalers- instead they sit with fluffy bunnies on their laps. Are Germans hypoallergenic? Absolutely not. But low dander production is a real thing.
So then in contact with fiber mills, I was told my angora must be "washed" before it was carded because of dander. Ok. Um no. That will never happen with my bunnies. Ever. I do wash yarn to set it after spinning sometimes but...I have never ever had to wash angora to get rid of dander. Ever.
So the next thing. The advent of German Angoras in a variety of colors took the rabbit world into spasms of delight.
Breeders of course argue and fight and everyone has angle. Conservatives just want white and black. Sky's the limit optimists want blue eyed white and chocolates. My own attitude is lets have as many colors as we can AS LONG AS we don't lose synchronized coat growth and volume. Volume in the past has not been as high in colored Germans as it is in REW but it has seriously improved and I hear registrations are happening. I don't know if that is really a thing yet-you would need to contact IAGARB. Remember registration in IAGARB is not the same as in ARBA. Different meaning.
The NEXT thing- someone unfortunately told me Vienna marked rabbits are prone to seizures that angoras from imported lines don't have. I can say this- no Vienna marked rabbit in my rabbitry has ever had a seizure. Not one. But I have had rabbits from German import lines die in seizures- 2 of them. It was very shocking and traumatic.
So again this is personal experience. Maybe someday I will have a Vienna marked rabbit have seizures. Maybe. And maybe none of my German import line will ever have seizures again.
At this point I would never discourage anyone from having German type- colored, REW, or Vienna AS LONG AS the coat growth is synchronized, body types are good, and fiber production weights are going up.
And then finally this- artistry.
I handspin. I've looked into mills but my feeling is if your yarn is spun on a machine at a mill it is not a homespun, or handspun or handcrafted item any more than milk sent from your small dairy to a processor to bottle and sell is a straight off the farm product. No. You had a middle man. And what YOU did was raise and feed the rabbit then cut his hair off and the mill did the primary work.
And then you sell your yarn on handcrafted commerce sites.
Tsk tsk.
The End.