06/13/2025
My velveteen lop fur journey:
As everyone knows, the fur struggle with velveteen lops is real. They lack density, they lack good texture, they lack real rex fur. I got tired of selective breeding after 5 or 6 years because it really didn't seem to improve. Some litters were actually had worse fur than their parents. I was always resistant to the idea of an outcross because I'm a purest. I like "purebred" animals with "purebred" traits and"purebred" pedigrees. I thought on it for almost a year before I put up my bat signal that I was looking for the runtiest, best furred, shoulder so long it would make a rex breeder want to barf rex buck. (Why not a mini rex? Because their ears are so small and tight together, I thought it would take too long to straighten back out.) It didn't take long before a judge local to me had something I could use. These are 16 weeks old today, have BEAUTIFUL FUR and weigh 4 pounds exactly. All of their ear at least lay down, even as a first generation cross. My experience tells me that just one cross back to a velveteen will get the ears back in order. I think I did it, Yall!
Side note: crossing in rex also gave them a fantastic commercial hindquarter. Not a pin bone in sight.
