The recent advanced price for skunk skins has caused a revival in their raising. This time, an entirely different class of people are taking up their raising, and they are going to succeed, why? Because they know something of the animal and are going at the business in a calm and business-like way.
Mink, at present prices, look good to the fur-farmer. They are small animals but yield a pelt worth from $3 to $7, depending upon the size and color. Raccoon and opossum are compared with many fur-bearing animals as producers of cheap furs. This is true, but at the same time, they offer the most promising future for the fur-farmer in many localities. They are easily raised, and in addition to their fur, the carcass finds a ready sale in most cities.
Opossum and coon will not dig deep seeking escape, but are good climbers and considerable precaution should be taken to see that the wire netting is either extended in several feet at the top, or that a strip of tin a couple of feet wide is fastened to the posts some three feet from the ground.
The "fur-farmer," should the market be low for certain animals, can keep over; or the better plan would no doubt be to kill off the surplus males and perhaps some females. At such times do not make the mistake of killing off too closely, as some will do, claiming that the fur is low and that there is no need of trying to increase. Nine times in ten, this is the time to raise as many as possible, for by another season, that particular article is apt to be in demand.
To illustrate: skunk were low in 1907, yet had the raisers gone ahead, they would have had a supply to kill during the Winter of 1908-9, at prices that were indeed satisfactory.
Had the opossum raiser, during the low prices for this fur in 1907 and 1908, sold off his breeding stock at low prices, as he would have been compelled to do, he would not had a supply when the prices advanced in January, 1909.
Some farmers make the mistake of selling off all their stock when prices ease up, expecting to go into the raising again when a reaction takes place. This is not the way to make the most money; when a reaction comes, other farmers who have continued raising this certain animal, reap the harvest, selling to the market or to their neighbors at high prices.
The prices paid for the various articles shows about what the grower may expect for his "crop." The demand, of course, will have much to do with the price. Fashion is constantly changing but indications are that owing to diminishing supply and increased consumption, prices will be on a fairly high level always. Trappers and hunters often catch fur too early and as a consequence have blue pelts which are graded down. In the spring shedders and rubbed skins are secured which are sold as No. 2 or lower. With the "fur farmer," there will be no early caught blue skins or late caught spring and shedders. The animals will be killed when "prime," and will bring best prices.
Some reports from those that have experimented in a small way at raising fur animals is to the effect that they do not fur properly. This is true in regard skunk, when kept in a box or a small enclosure for weeks and fed largely on meat. The writer when a fur buyer has bought skunk that had been kept in a "pen" or small enclosure for weeks and in addition to being thinly furred, the hide was much thicker than it should have been.
Indians and professional hunters and trappers of the north say that they can notice a difference in the fur of foxes, lynx, marten, etc., when the food supply is abundant. The fur is thicker and has a healthier, silkier and glossier appearance. The secret, no doubt, is to give the animals plenty of room and feed should be varied. Here is where the person who knows the habits of the animal or animals he is raising is valuable. When cattle, sheep and hogs are fed properly they take on fat readily and produce a healthy coat of hair or wool. The same applies to the fur bearing animals.