The French Angora Standard

It is always a good idea to review the standard for your breed every 6 months or so to refresh your mental picture of what a good example should look like. As almost everyone knows who shows or breeds with the standard in mind, there are a total of 100 points allotted to each breed, and the distribution of points depends on the unique characteristics of each type of rabbit. In the French Angora breed, the breakdown is as follows:

GENERAL TYPE............35
Body.........................20
Head.........................3
Ears..........................4
Eyes..........................2
Feet and Legs..............5
Tail...........................1
WOOL........................55
Density......................25
Texture......................20
Length.......................10
COLOR.......................5
CONDITION.................5
TOTAL POINTS.............100

Of these categories, the two most important are clearly Body and Wool, with the heaviest emphasis placed on Wool. The French Angora's commercial body type is very important because it lends the correct shape and lay to the coat, enhancing it's "massiveness" and creating a sense of balance. A rabbit with extraordinary depth is much more impressive than a rabbit with a flat topline, because the lack thereof will cause the wool to separate over the back and stick straight out rather than rise up and drape down over the rabbit evenly. Lack of depth also affects the floor level/base of the coat, making it appear choppy and uneven.

Commercial type is also a great asset to the FA because it enhances it's versatility. Most French Angora lines nowadays are more than capable of reaching the 5 lb. mark at 12 weeks or younger and make excellent meat rabbits, furthering widening their appeal in the rabbit world.

The most important characteristic of the French Angora, of course, is the wool. Of the 55 points allotted to the various traits of a wool coat, density is awarded the most at 25, while texture comes in second at 20 and length is third at 10. While the FA is typically regarded as the angora with the "coarsest" wool type, it is important to note that excessive hairiness is NOT desirable in this breed and is even cited as a fault under the texture description for "an excessively hair like coat". Exhibitors and judges alike often make the mistake of viewing a superior FA as one with the highest percentage of guard hair, when in actuality it is underwool that creates density, and density which supplies the underlying support for a balanced coat and receives the greatest point distribution in the standard. It is critical for FAs to have a large amount of heavily crimped underwool to maintain the 'large' appearance of the coat. A good ratio to use for the percentage of guard hair to overall wool in this breed is 40:60. 40% of the coat should be guard hair, while the rest should be composed of a combination of guards with underwool (and is mostly underwool).

Only 5 points are assigned to color in the FA standard (and to the other Angora breeds as well, except for the Satin which receives 6). People often comment that color is unimportant in Angoras because of this, but this is positively untrue. First of all, a color that is not correct or worse yet, is totally unrecognized, will instantly be disqualified. Many judges skip over color in Angoras on the showtable because they are unfamiliar with the look of standard colors on a long wool coat, but breeders cannot use this as an excuse to ignore color in their breeding programs. The best judges in our hobby are keenly aware of color quality and also have a thorough knowledge of genetics. Unrecognized colors and color DQs rarely escape them. Also, in stiff competition at the National level (or just in a very large show), the difference between the 1st and 2nd place rabbit often comes down to tiny details such as color, condition, ability to pose (overall impression, etc.), and other minutiae. As a result, it is never a good idea to neglect any of the qualities that seem insignificant or may not carry as many points as something else.

Have a great week!:-)