Why no market?

You wouldnt even need to co op if you could get a place like NAFA on board let me explain how it works. Say I trap one muskrat and that is all I have, I would ship my one muskrat to the NAFA auction and they would grade it and place it in a lot of 20-200 other muskrats that graded as mine did. When a buyer purchases the lot my muskrat is in I am paid for my muskrat and every muskrat in that lot is the same price. As long as enough rabbit growers were on the same page as far as color and harvest dates and put all the hides up the same way NAFA would have no trouble sorting them out no matter how many you sent. Here is a quick video showing basic fur handling, (not for the squemish) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD5gds4MYU4

Thanks for the vid. I thought it was pretty neat seeing them flip the rat inside out.
Quick question. After they stretch the hide do they plan on tanning it? I was under the impression the hide needed to be preserved somehow while leaving it out whether that be by salt or by immediately putting the hide in an acid bath.

............for rabbits, do they need the faces left on?

It makes it easier to stretch them with the face on, the nose is hooked onto the end of the stretcher

mystang89":1ww4s2es said:

Thanks for the vid. I thought it was pretty neat seeing them flip the rat inside out.
Quick question. After they stretch the hide do they plan on tanning it? I was under the impression the hide needed to be preserved somehow while leaving it out whether that be by salt or by immediately putting the hide in an acid bath.

Click to expand...

hides can safely air dry without putting anything on them.

The other point she was making is the hide is sold by the "inch" so a good stretch on the hide is desired.

The thing I was wondering more than anything was that if something is not done to kill the bacteria that grows on non-preserved pelts then hair starts slipping even after tanning. That is one of the reasons for salt or squeezing the liquid out of the hide then freezing. I didn't know what the end goal of those hides were going to be, just leather or coats.
At least that is my understanding of the mechanics of it. If I'm wrong, sorry, please let me know.

The mink farm I worked at just air dried the pelts after immediate fleshing and stretching. The pelts are tanned by the end buyer.

Hides are stretched and air dried and can be stored like that for months or if put in the freezer years. Salt is never used to dry and preserve hides but borax is sometimes used to get very greasy portions dry. Muskrats are used almost exclusively as trim on mink coats.<br /><br />__________ Fri Feb 22, 2013 2:16 pm __________<br /><br />

Kyle@theHeathertoft":2m6mm3gq said:

............for rabbits, do they need the faces left on?

Click to expand...

Skinning the face on a rabbit is extremely easy even easier than a muskrat.

If someone could develop a rabbit that looked like a bobcat belly I think you could command your price on the world market. It would take uniformity and enough quantity for the buyers to trust the source. If you could get enough people together to send the raw fur, someone would buy it. Maybe not for much, but you have to create demand. I've been a trapper for a long time and I haven't seen fur prices this high since the eighties. But just remember, a hundred dollar red fox pelt right now is not the same as a hundred dollar red fox pelt in 1985. The gas it takes to go find red foxes has changed price a lot! Sometimes a good fur market just means a weak dollar in terms of a global economy. Don't forget Fur Harvesters Auctions, they are the other big player in the world of fur auction houses, in addition to NAFA. I do remember, in the eighties, you could send off rabbit hides right with your other fur. The fur auctions even had directions for stretching domestic rabbit. I'm pretty sure that the wire stretcher that is sized for 'possum and skunk was the right size for domestic rabbit.

Domestic rabbits, like all wild animals, have a pelt that gets thicker in winter, thinner in summer.
I wait till mid December to start trapping most areas near me, a couple weeks earlier if I'm running lines north of the 40.
Why?
A good prime pelt brings a lot more than an average pelt, and when they're prime, its game on.
domestic rabbits are harvested continually, with little thought to the pelt quality.
Garment buyers want top quality pelts for their wares, and will pay out the nose for the best.
I've seen top quality bobcat pelts sell individually for $3500.00, but that's extremely rare.The question that really needs to be answered is, what can we offer the buyers that they can't get anywhere else, and how can we deliver a consistent quality, so that we can actually develop a market for the pelts?
I will be tanning my own hides, using the brain tanning methods, but i don't intend to be selling pelts anytime soon.
In fact, there's Bubba attempting to sell "lucky" blessed rabbit pelts on cl here right now... I read that and giggled my behind off...he wants $40 a piece for them.
If we can figure out a market, get some decent spin into the marketplace, and keep the volume even with or just scant of demand, prices will begin to rise, and out may become profitable.

You trappers skin all of your kills before bringing them in? The vast majority of trappers around us (myself included) never skinned, we would just drop them off frozen at regional sale. The prices skins vs unskinned were not high enough for us to ever bother with wasting time with skinning. I was just curious if our area (Iowa/Illinois) area was unique in that practice.

Axbowhunter, I agree, a winter pelt is sooooooo much MORE than a summer pelt!!! I just butchered two 5 mo bucks and their fur was so dense, I had to use kitchen shears to get through the neck skin LOL

I also processed one with the face on ... the extra time that took was annoying, but I didn't have too much trouble with the face ... do I leave the ears on? I did on this one. I did have a bit of trouble with the lower jaw and ended up with it being cut about the back of the lip area.

It was also a little weird when rinsing the hide to see the whiskers and nose LOL

I also slit the hide up the belly, but didn't know if I should slit it all the way up the neck, or leave that as a band for the stretcher to hold the head on. Now, I need to make a stretcher and fleshing board

The other question I have is about the length of the fur ... I cross breed a Satin doe with my English Angora buck which produces a bit longer fur, but also without the guard hairs, so very much softer than the Satin or other breeds of short haired rabbits. From this cross, I get white, black and some brokens, so consistency of color across pelts is not too much of an issue with the solids, and the brokens are nicely patterned.

@AnnClaire. Just for kicks I processed a cottontail with the face on and it took me probably a extra 20 seconds to skin so dont worry with practice you will get much faster. I dont think you should split the hides before going on the stretchers the hides should go on cased and are split after tanning. If you want to order any supplies for fur handling I highly recomend this site http://www.minntrapprod.com/ the Cavens who run that site are great people and very helpful.

@Phillinley Trappers typically skin out animals now before sale. There are alot less fur buyers than there used to be so shipping is typically the best way to get top dollar. I know the Iowa/Ill coon belt has alot more buyers so its probably more common to sell whole animals down that way.

Was looking at the price of pelts recently & was shocked to see Rex rabbit hides going for $33-$55 each while "normal furred" rabbits were much less - $5-$11.

These Rex hides are produced in Spain or South America.

Reviving an older thread. Has anyone been selling hides?

Joe