Kerstin Watson and daughter Elly with German Angoras, Emmy and Ayla.

Pets or pests? The mere mention of rabbits makes farmers fume. But not all bunnies are destructive pasture predators, as

With their soft fluffy coats, Kerstin describes her English Angoras as “round snowballs – all you can see is the nose.”

These show rabbits, in a variety of colours, are not pets for the faint hearted. Their fine coats become matted if not brushed daily. For showing, they need to be washed and blow-dried frequently.

“I start getting them used to the blower as babies, and they enjoy it,” says Kerstin.

More practical are Kerstin’s German Angoras. They require no brushing, but are shorn every three months and can produce up to two kilograms of fibre annually.

The light, downy white fibre with low micron measurement combines well with merino or alpaca to produce warm, soft garments. Said to have therapeutic qualities, in Germany Angora fibre is used in clothing to bring pain relief to arthritis sufferers.

New Zealand breeders, through the Rabbit Council of NZ combine to promote their high quality fibre and superior animal welfare over the cheaper fibre available from China. They also provide advice for prospective owners.

Cynics may recall Angora rabbits, along with goats, ostriches and ferrets, as one of the failed farming fads of the 1980s. But 60 years earlier they were a genuine agricultural option in this country.

“There was a booming meat and fibre industry in the 1920s but wild rabbits were such a problem that by 1950 rabbit keeping became illegal,” Kerstin says. “In the 1980s markets opened again, and imports were allowed. Many rabbit farmers made money until the market crashed. The Angora breed almost died out. Like sheep, they are prone to flystrike, and many people who took them on as pets had no idea how to care for them.”

The calici haemorrhagic virus introduced to control the wild rabbit population threatened any domesticated rabbits not vaccinated against the disease and remains a threat to them despite losing its efficacy among their wild cousins.

Now classed as a rare breed, only a few enthusiasts are willing to take on the high maintenance Angoras and producing these rabbits is no walk in the park.

“Only wild rabbits breed like rabbits,” says Kerstin. “Breeding Angoras requires lots of patience.”

Errant Angoras pose no danger to the environment.

“Centuries of domestication have made them dependent on humans and incapable of looking after themselves. They’re quite laid back and slow – an attribute shared by their breeders,” Kerstin reckons.