The mink COVID issue isn’t exactly breaking news. As at June 9:
“The first two mink outbreaks were reported on 23 and 25 April at farms holding 12,000 and 7500 animals, respectively. More mink were dying than usual, and some had nasal discharge or difficulty breathing. In both cases, the virus was introduced by a farm worker who had COVID-19. Today, it has struck 12 of about 130 Dutch mink farms. Once COVID-19 reaches a farm, the virus appears to spread like wildfire, even though the animals are housed in separate cages. Scientists suspect it moves via infectious droplets, on feed or bedding, or in dust containing fecal matter.”
I knew about this during Spring trapping and I went harder for muskrats after hearing about it. The value of muskrat goes up when there’s a shortage of mink. Remember 2013 with $12 muskrats? As a wild fur trapper I perceive any shortage of ranched fur as a bonus particularly when it comes to ranched mink and fox. The fewer ranched mink and fox the better imo.
As far as fur goes, I thought that they pretty darned good in the last auction. For example, my lowest DGD coyote pelt sold for $54.40 and my highest DGD sold for $74.80. I thought that was pretty darned good considering a buyer offered me $25 each. Obviously, I would have liked to see the higher grading coyotes sell but I don’t blame the buyers for not dishing out the big bucks for fur that they haven’t even seen.......totally understandable.
Why would a wild fur Trapper worry about a shortage of ranched fur? There’s more demand for wild fur when there’s a shortage of ranched......no?
|