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.
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.
Suppose thousands engaged in the business of raising fox, skunk, mink, coon, opossum and muskrat, what effect would it have upon the market? Would they overstock it? How many hundreds of thousands of persons are today raising cotton and wool to furnish clothing to the millions of people and there has always been a market. The same will be the case with fur. In fact, unless thousands engage in the fur raising business, the demand is going to far exceed the supply at no distant day.
Furs in the north are a necessity as no cloth will repel the piercing winds. Teamsters and others much out of doors wear fur overcoats, caps and use fur laprobes. Farther south, say in the latitude of New York, Pittsburg, Denver, etc., while furs are not an absolute necessity, yet they are much worn for comfort. In all the cities of the north, furs are worn eight or nine months in the year; in the central sections perhaps six months; while in the south only a few months. In addition to this, American furs are worn in all civilized countries of the world.
The farmer or stock raiser, as a rule, who is making the most money, is the one who raises not horses, cattle, sheep or swine alone, but often two or more of them. The same can be applied to fur farming. Suppose an enclosure of a few acres is made for skunk, why not take in a pond and raise muskrat, coon, fish and frogs. There is a ready market in all cities for fresh fish and frogs.