Hops'N'Lops Rabbit Stud

Home of the Sexy English Angoras..........

The English Angora Standard, Hops’N’Lops Style

Please note:  we mainly go off the BRC Standard for angoras, however, I believe the American Standard goes into more information on wool, so you would be best to read both.

I have summarised below, for what I strive to breed for in my angoras…. PLEASE NOTE:  THIS IS NOT THE BRC OR AMERICAN STANDARD.

Red Eyed White Angoras

points as per BRC standard

1

Wool Quality

30

2

Wool Quantity and Length

25

3

Front

10

4

Head & Ears

10

5

Size & Shape

10

6

Feet

 5

7

Conditon

10

 

Total

100

Summarised below as:

1 & 2

WOOL QUALITY, QUANTITY AND LENGTH – 30 & 25

Texture as silky as possible, smooth and glossy, showing signs of health.

Even length in body coat desirable.

DENSITY

The greatest density possible is desired. To be even all over including the back and the belly. Density should be determined by feeling several places on the body, top,  sides, rump and chest, as well as blowing into the wool. (The wool should separate all the way to the skin.) Neither length of wool, nor webbed, matted, or felted wool, should be mistaken for density.

Faults—Wool that is lacking density; bare spots.

LENGTH

Length of wool to be even over the whole body. Gradually blended length variation from the back and sides to the belly is permissible. Ideal length is 3 ½ to 5 inches. Wool exceeding 5 inches in length is NOT to be given any advantage, and not to be considered a disadvantage either. Wool should not be so long as to spoil the English type appearance of a round ball of fluff. Evenness of growth of wool is desired – remembering that a gradual decrease in length  will appear when looking at the underside of the animal.

Fault --  Wool not balanced in length.

Disqualification from competition --  Wool less than 2 inches.  This is the American Standard.

TEXTURE

The wool is to have a silky texture and should be alive, healthy, and fall free – not parting over the back displaying a flat appearance.  Although in longer coated exhibits it is acceptable, provided its not due to moulting or coat not having much density. Guard hairs are to be evident in separating and protecting the underwool. Underwool should be crimped. 

NOTE: A junior may exhibit a softer coat than an adult, but should have guard hairs evident. When a rabbit has the right texture and is in its prime, you should actually see the wool with a little wave which is the crimp, and the guard hairs are straight, lustrous.  The prime coat gives a silky, smooth and flowy appearance.

Faults—  Wool that is too soft or cottony.  Wool that is hair-like. Wool that parts over the back displaying a flat appearance.

KITTEN/JUNIORS

If a kitten/junior rabbit does not have enough guard hair, the chance of this Rabbit growing into an awesome adult is slim. There are some juniors whose wool looks like cotton candy. This is caused by soft and scaley wool shaft hooking on each other, without the help of guard hairs to separate them, forming a cottony texture. It is similar to people having hair with split ends tangling up with each other forming a frizzy texture. These rabbits with cottony texture tend to be difficult to maintain and almost impossible to groom. The ragged scales of the wool shaft cause the wool to tangle up into early felting. That is why some rabbits can keep the coat for 12 months and others can only stay in the shows for a short time.

3

FRONT - 10

Full and prominent on chest and sides of neck

Front to blend in with the body with short neck apparent.

4

HEAD AND EARS - 10

Broad short head, head to have abundance of furnishings.

short well wooled and thickly tufted ears, longer length desirable.

Ears to be erect and stand out appearance

Cheek furnishings to blend in with body coat.

Overall appearance of head to blend in with body, assisting in snowball shape.

5

SIZE AND SHAPE - 10

Round and snowball like. Weight at 5 mths ideally in the region of 2.373kg.

An adult ideally not to exceed 3.283 kgs.

Type and quality always to be taken into account.

Exhibits not to be long in body

Shoulders to be even with hips, assisting with overall appearance of snowball shape.

6

FEET - 5

Thickly covered with long wool, well furnished.

Bottoms of feet to also have long wool.

Sore hocks not desirable

7

CONDITION - 10

Clean, well nourished and well groomed.

 

EYES

Ruby, (as red as possible) bright and bold, if you can find them, lol!

 

LEGS

Straight and heavily wooled, length desirable, no matting or knots to be found

 

TAIL

Large and well wooled, straight and blends in with wool on body

 

HEAD

Wide across nostrils, bold appearance, densely furred, wool to be long and thick between and behind ears.

Face furnishings to stand out, and the longer the better.  Eyes to be not noticeable, as wool should be dense.

 

SERIOUS FAULTS -         Narrow wedge head, long plain ears, plain feet, matted coat, coarse coat, bad condition, lop ears, bald spots, webbing in coat, white toe nails in coloured exhibits.

Disqualifications:  malloculded teeth, open sores or scratches, runny nose,


COLOURED
ANGORA

NOTE:

As there are no specialists clubs in Australia to use for standards on Coloured English Angoras, they should be judged as per above standard, however, 10 extra points awarded for a colour, and taken away equally between the other marks.

 

SOLID COLOUR

10 Points

Angoras are unique in the fact that they possess a multi-layered coat. The tips of each new coat are therefore darker than the previous coat which lightens as it gains length. This produces BANDING IN ALL COLOURS. Rabbits should not be excessively penalised for lighter bands of the top colour appearing in the coat, but the more uniform the colour the better. WHITE BANDS are unacceptable, with the exception of the GOLDEN which is of a yellow origin and therefore has a CREAMY-WHITE band at the base of the coat.

Angoras can have up to 5 layers of coat at any one time.

All coloured angoras have bands, the darker the colour (ie smokes), the darker the bands.

Some colours also are quite pale as Kittens, and darken up when they hit approx 6 months of age, ie the Sooty Fawn, for example, sootys as kittens can have a very pale, almost white belly, but I have seen in my stock, kittens with pale bellies, actually start to darken up with age, getting the correct sooty colour by about 6 months of age.

Due to the length in the coat, most coloured exhibits are pale, and not as obvious on, say a rex rabbit.  This to be taken into consideration when judging.

Not all coloured exhibits have prominent guard hairs, such as REWs have, the coloured angoras seem to have a finer coat than the rew’s, and the guard hairs can often not be as obvious on a coloured exhibit, or will appear finer and less obvious.

In my opinion, the colours accepted by the BRC in English Angoras are Limited, so I have included some other BRC accepted colours that are not included in the standard that Hops’N’Lops have successfully bred, or are working on reintroducing

 

COLOURS

Note, there are not a lot of colours available in Australia currently, so some of these colours have been left as per BRC standard as I cannot comment on something I haven’t seen before.

 

SHADED

SOOTY FAWN

Mask and feet brown black, wool as for Golden but with brown/black shadings on lower flanks and ears. Belly creamy-white, eyes brown.

Sooty Fawns tend to have a very light coloured belly as kittens and juniors, with the sooty colour coming in when they are adults.  No points to be deducted for an angora with a pale belly as kittens and juniors

BLUE-CREAM

Mask and feet blue. Wool as for cream but with blue shadings on ears and flanks, with the colour extended across belly. A blue tinge to the wool and blue tipping is desirable but NOT essential. Eyes blue-grey.  Blue Cream is a Blue Fawn in other Standards.

For the First time in 2008, Hops’N’Lops have produced this colour!

LILAC-CREAM

Mask and feet Lilac. Wool as for cream but with Lilac shadings on ears and flanks, with the colour extended across belly. A lilac tinge to the wool and lilac tipping is desirable but NOT essential. Eyes blue-grey.  Lilac Cream is a Lilac Tort in other Standards.

For the First time in 2008, Hops’N’Lops have produced this colour!

CHOC-TORT

Overall impression orange shading to dark chocolate 'points' and belly.
Back: orange shading to chocolate tipped orange on the flanks, undercolour white.
Belly: chocolate. Undercolour orange and white.
Smut, ears, feet and tail also chocolate.
Eyes brown
Nails light or dark horn.

NON BRC ENGLISH ANGORA STANDARD COLOUR STANDARD COLOUR

SABLE-LIGHT SHADE

A medium sepia colour similar to fur breed. Ears, face and tail a deep sepia. Body wool shaded from a medium sepia on back to a lighter on chest and flanks. Undercolour fawn.

SABLE-MEDIUM SHADE

As for light shade except for dark sepia colour instead of medium.

SABLE-DARK SHADE

Very dark plum brown, can be almost black on mask, inplace of sepia. Often mistaken for a smoke, but coat colour of dark sable has distinct rusty tones in the wool. Eyes for all shades to glow ruby red in subdued light but brown eyes acceptable.

MARTEN-LIGHT SHADE

A medium sepia colour similar to fur breed. Ears, face and tail a deep sepia. Body wool shaded from a medium sepia to lighter on chest and flanks. Undercolour fawn. The chest, flanks, rump and feet to be well ticked with white hairs, any extension of white ticking over sides and rump to be added beauty and not a fault.(It will be difficult to find the ticking in the longer parts of the coat, so it will not be considered a fault if not seen). Light nape of neck to be confined to the triangle behind the ears, and this should be as small as possible. Eye circles, inside of ears, line of jowel, inside of nostrils, inside feet and legs, belly and underside of tail to be white. White belly can have sepia undercolour.

MARTEN-MEDIUM SHADE

As for light shade except that medium sepia colour to read rich dark sepia.

MARTEN-DARK SHADE

As for light shade except that medium sepia colour to read very rich dark plum brown. Darker, almost black colour on face, ears and tail. Coat colour has distinct rusty tones in the wool. Eyes for all shades to be brown and to glow ruby red in subdued light.

SELF

CHOCOLATE

Rich chocolate on head, ears, legs and tail. Body lighter shade with tips to match head. Undercolour pale chocolate. Eyes to glow ruby red in subdued light, but brown eyes acceptable.  Also pale blue/greys eyes acceptable with ruby glow

SMOKE

Head and feet black. Wool dark bluish-grey without white base. Tips to match head. Nose and ears to be free of silvering. Eyes blue without white base. Tips to match head. Ears and nose to be free of silvering. Eyes bluish-grey.  Fault white hairs or white guard hairs

BLUE

Head, feet and ears blue, as dark as possible. Wool blue without white base. Tips to match head. Ears and nose to be free of silvering. Eyes blue-grey.

TAN PATTERN

SMOKE OTTER

Overall impression jet black edged with orange then white.
Back: Slate undercolour, jet black top colour.
Belly: Slate undercolour, white top colour, edge of belly orange.
Top of tail blue. Underjaw, eye circles, inside of ears, under-tail white edged with orange.
Nape of neck and groin streaks orange.
Eyes brown.
Nails dark or light horn.

NON BRC ENGLISH ANGORA STANDARD COLOUR STANDARD COLOUR

BLUE OTTER

Overall impression blue-grey edged with orange/fawn then white.
Back: Blue colour.
Belly: Slate undercolour, white top colour, edge of belly orange/fawn.
Top of tail blue. Underjaw, eye circles, inside of ears, under-tail white edged with orange/fawn.
Nape of neck and groin streaks orange/fawn.
Eyes blue-brown or brown.
Nails dark or light horn.

NON BRC ENGLISH ANGORA STANDARD COLOUR STANDARD COLOUR

LILAC OTTER

Overall impression pinky dove grey edged with orange/fawn then white.
Back: Pearly white undercolour, lilac top colour.
Belly: Pearly white undercolour, white top colour, edge of belly orange/fawn.
Top of tail lilac. Underjaw, eye circles, inside of ears, under-tail white edged with orange/fawn.
Nape of neck and groin streaks orange/fawn.
Eyes blue-brown or brown.
Nails dark or light horn.

NON BRC ENGLISH ANGORA STANDARD COLOUR STANDARD COLOUR

CHOC OTTER

Overall impression chocolate-brown edged with orange then white.
Back: Slate undercolour, chocolate top colour.
Belly: Slate undercolour, white top colour, edge of belly orange.
Top of tail blue. Underjaw, eye circles, inside of ears, under-tail white edged with orange.
Nape of neck and groin streaks orange.
Eyes brown with a ruby glow in the pupil.
Nails dark or light horn.

NON BRC ENGLISH ANGORA STANDARD COLOUR STANDARD COLOUR

AGOUTI PATTERNS

BROWN-GREY

Head, ears and feet wild grey, a mixture of black and gold. Wool blue, as dark as possible with tips to match head. Eyes brown. White belly with blue undercolour.  Brown Grey is Agouti in other Standards

BLUE-GREY

Head, ears and feet a mixture of blue and gold. Wool blue, with tips to match the head. White belly with blue undercolour. Eyes blue-grey.  Blue Grey is Opal in other Standards.

CHINCHILLA

Head, ears and feet similar to fur breed, a mixture of black and silver.Wool bluish with tips to match the head, definition of pearling etc of fur breed not essential. White belly with blue undercolour. Eyes blue, brown or blue-grey.

CINNAMON

Head, ears and feet a mixture of chocolate and cinnamon. Wool paler cinnamon with tips to match head. White belly with or without pale cinnamon undercolour. Eyes brown or glowing ruby red in subdued light

AOC

GOLDEN (formerly Golden Fawn)

Orange genetically.

Head, feet and tips a rich, clear orange gold. Wool lighter with colour carried down as far as possible shading to a creamy-white base. Belly creamy-white, eyes brown.

CREAM

Fawn Genetically

Head and feet cream, wool lighter cream with tips to match the head. Creamy-white belly, eyes a blue-grey

BROKEN

Overall impression white with coloured patches.
Back: White with large coloured markings.
Belly: White with a few small coloured spots over the teats.
Ears coloured, or with a small amount of white in the centre. Legs white. Coloured elbow spots.
Head white with coloured spots and eye cirles.
Eye colour according to coat colour.
Nails white.
NB: The colour of the patches can vary.

Brokens are being worked on in Australia, and are a work in progress.  Preferrable to work towards the Butterfly Standard

BUTTERFLY

Overall impression white with a regular coloured pattern.
Back: Coloured with white shoulders and sides.
Belly: White with a few small coloured spots over the teats.
Ears coloured. Legs white. Coloured elbow spots.
Head white with coloured spots and eye cirles, and a butterfly shape which covers the nose and top lips.
Eye colour according to coat colour.
Nails white.
NB: The colour of the pattern can vary.

 

FAULTS:            Silvered ears and noses in smokes and blues, putty nose. 

SERIOUS FAULTS:          White toe nails. White patches on any part of the body, but WHITE FLASHES ON UNDERTAIL OF AGOUTIS IS NOT A FAULT.

 

ANGORA STUD BUCK AND BROOD DOE

I personally think it’s a waste of time showing a clipped Angora, has anyone seem what a clipped angora looks like with a coat less than an inch in length all over!  Even up to 5cms for a coloured angora, they still look pretty funny!  This standard below is as per BRC, as I never intend to show a clipped exhibit.

1

Body Coat

15

2

Furnishings

15

3

Head

10

4

Ears

10

5

Body

25

6

Legs & Feet

10

7

Conditon

10

8

Carriage

5

 

Total

100


 

1

BODY COAT

Clipped down to a maximum of 2.54cm(1inch). pure colour, fine texture, even and dense all over. A coat of 2.54 - 5.08cm (1-2inches) maximum is permissable in the case of a coloured Angora.

2

FURNISHINGS

Head, feet, legs, ears and tail

3

HEAD

Broad short skull, broad flat nose, large eyes of correct colour, dense crest, long fringe, thickly wooled along line of jaw.

4

EARS

Erect, short, tapered, well wooled, fringed and tufted.

5

BODY

Short coupled, back arched, chest deep, broad and prominent, powerful shoulders and loins of good size.

7

LEGS AND FEET

Straight, good but not coarse boned, heavily wooled, with short nails.

8

CONDITION

Firm flesh, clean, well nourished and well groomed.

 

CARRIAGE

Alert and upstanding, masculine in appearance in the case of a buck.

 

WEIGHT

Ideally not to be more than kg3.283 (7.5lbs)

 

SERIOUS FAULTS

Narrow wedge head, low head or ear carriage, plain long ears, no furnishings, bad condition, patchy coat.