Fur needs to be rendered per frame. Forget about baking and stuff, fur is and will be time consuming.
Reduce the segments, lower the amount of furs and compensate them with more base width.
Use the proper settings with lights, do not use shadows (very expensive), but self shadowing (good). Use less lights.
Check the books "The Art of Rigging". One of them covers fur, and gives pretty good tips and workarounds.
Good luck
JPM