DonnerSurvivor
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- Jan 30, 2013
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This has been bothering me for quite some time. Why is there no real market for rabbit pelts? The world wide demand for fur is high especially short fur but yet rabbit pelts are being consistently thrown in the trash. Muskrat pelts are superior to rabbit pelts but are selling for 12+ dollars some of the muskrat pelts I would consider to be equal to rabbit pelts are still bringing 5+ dollars each. I think there are a couple reasons why there is no market and I would like to share them with you guys in hopes that possibly we could start working towards a solution.
1. No consistent supply of good pelts. If you are going to make coats and use rabbit as trim you would probably want to buy 100+ matching rabbit pelts in one lot I have not heard of anyone producing large amounts of high quality pelts.
2. Price to produce. It could potentially be to expensive to produce good quality pelts due to the extended time it takes to grow out rabbits while their leather thickens enough to be used in clothing. Does anyone have a cost breakdown on how much it cost to grow a Silver Fox from 1 day to 6 months? Or how long it takes for the leather to be prime?
3. Foreign supply. Is the foreign market already flooded with rabbit pelts? It probably is but the demand for fur is very strong with ranch mink leading the way which is pushing up Muskrats to be used on mink items as trim and rabbits could possibly fill this same role.
I try not to bring up problems without potential solutions so here are some things I think we could work on. Contact NAFA they a large auction house and the the largest supplier of fur in North America in 2 mins they could make or break the whole concept. Currently NAFA has their biggest auction of the year going on so it would probably be best to contact them late Feb or early March. Teach rabbit growers how to stretch and and dry pelts. I honestly dont know how a buyer would prefer rabbit pelts but I would imagine you could stretch and dry them on small raccoon stretchers possibly modified raccoon stretchers. If stretched and dried they would be shippable and in a familiar form to buyers. I am not a member of ARBA (will be soon) but would ARBA possibly be interested in helping to find a market for something like this?
Does anyone else have any ideas or solutions? Has this already been tried and I am simply beating a dead horse? Let me know your thoughts.
1. No consistent supply of good pelts. If you are going to make coats and use rabbit as trim you would probably want to buy 100+ matching rabbit pelts in one lot I have not heard of anyone producing large amounts of high quality pelts.
2. Price to produce. It could potentially be to expensive to produce good quality pelts due to the extended time it takes to grow out rabbits while their leather thickens enough to be used in clothing. Does anyone have a cost breakdown on how much it cost to grow a Silver Fox from 1 day to 6 months? Or how long it takes for the leather to be prime?
3. Foreign supply. Is the foreign market already flooded with rabbit pelts? It probably is but the demand for fur is very strong with ranch mink leading the way which is pushing up Muskrats to be used on mink items as trim and rabbits could possibly fill this same role.
I try not to bring up problems without potential solutions so here are some things I think we could work on. Contact NAFA they a large auction house and the the largest supplier of fur in North America in 2 mins they could make or break the whole concept. Currently NAFA has their biggest auction of the year going on so it would probably be best to contact them late Feb or early March. Teach rabbit growers how to stretch and and dry pelts. I honestly dont know how a buyer would prefer rabbit pelts but I would imagine you could stretch and dry them on small raccoon stretchers possibly modified raccoon stretchers. If stretched and dried they would be shippable and in a familiar form to buyers. I am not a member of ARBA (will be soon) but would ARBA possibly be interested in helping to find a market for something like this?
Does anyone else have any ideas or solutions? Has this already been tried and I am simply beating a dead horse? Let me know your thoughts.