Fur Farming: A book of Information about Fur Bearing Animals, Enclosures, Habits, Care, etc.Harding, A. R. (Arthur Robert)
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Fur Farming: A book of Information about Fur Bearing Animals, Enclosures, Habits, Care, etc.
Harding, A. R. (Arthur Robert)
Fur-bearing animals
What animals offer the best inducement to raise? This is a question that
each individual going into the business must largely decide. The place
you have in view for the starting of the "farm" will have much to do
with this. Is the location one best adapted to skunk, mink, coon, fox,
muskrat or some other fur bearer? Again, your experience should be taken
into consideration,--what fur bearers you are most familiar with. If you
live near a large city which offers a market for coon and opossum
carcasses, this should be considered as these animals are easy to raise
and opossum especially are very prolific, producing from six to twelve
at a litter. While the fur of coon and opossum will never be very
valuable, yet, as both fur and carcass have a cash value, they will
prove greater money makers than many believe. Muskrat are another animal
that should not be overlooked as they increase rapidly and their flesh
is now being sold in many of the larger cities.
Marten and silver fox should not be raised in the south, as these are
animals that do best in the cold sections. Otter and mink are two
animals that the sun fades the fur and as the darker the fur, the more
valuable, it is important that as little sun as possible shines upon
them. For this reason it is advisable to have the enclosure for these
animals in the woods or thicket. In fact some trees should be in
enclosures for all animals. If raising coon or opossum, they will be "at
home" in the trees while other animals will enjoy the shade in the
summer and will make use of the leaves in the dens for winter.
[Illustration: Enclosure in thick woods.]
There are some animals such as marten, fisher, wild cat, weasel, badger
and wolves that do not seem promising to us to raise for various
reasons. Marten do best in the high mountain sections; fisher and wild
cat would be hard to keep in an inclosure; weasel and badger are not
valuable and would both be difficult to keep in; wolves are not valuable
for fur and would require considerable attention and food, hence, not
desirable to raise. In most states there is a bounty on wolf and coyote
scalps but the raising of them for the purpose of the bounty would not
work--the bounty would not be paid if county officials knew from what
source they came.
Among the animals promising the best for raising are the black, silver,
cross and red fox, skunk, mink, coon, opossum and muskrat. The otter,
beaver, bear and lynx under certain conditions may be well worth
considering, especially lynx at present value.
Do you think present prices for furs will continue? Generally speaking,
yes. In fact, some articles are liable to go higher. On the other hand
some furs may go lower but are sure to sooner or later react. The
chances are that raw furs will not soon sell at the low figures of past
years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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