THE TEMPERAMENTAL LITTLE MINK

Te Ao Hou, Summer 1954, Page 43

THE TEMPERAMENTAL LITTLE MINK One of my most interesting experiences so far was when I had the opportunity of paying a short visit to a mink farm. This particular industry has now been operating for some 25 to 30 years in the States, and in the State of Connecticut there are three such farms. This particular farm that I visited was one of the larger ones, having about 2,000 animals. The farming of mink is not at all an easy occupation and requires very highly specialized knowledge to be operated successfully, but when such success can be obtained it becomes one of the highest paying forms of farming. The mink themselves are exceedingly temperamental animals and must be handled with great care at all times. They resemble in appearance a small type of fox, not much bigger than the average sized domesticated cat. In the United States, small farmers usually raise a variety of crops, including feed for their dairy and beef cattle. (U.S.I.S. Photograph)

The coat colours vary a great deal depending on particular breed, but wide variations of colours do exist within breeds. Varying shades range from jet black to sky-blue. The mink are kept in low-roofed houses with netting sides, not unlike a chicken or rabbit coop. One male is kept for about every 20 females, and litters range from two to eight young. At birth the young mink are very delicate, and compare in size with a person's thumbnail. The young mink are born during the month of May, so that this event was under way at the time of my visit. It is during this period that the famales are most difficult to manage, and are exceedingly timid. Once disturbed they become so aggravated that they start devouring their young. This aggravation may be caused by them being frightened by the presence of strangers or again if their food supply should ever become short. It is necessary, therefore, to supply as much food as the females can possibly eat, and to protect them from all causes of disturbances. Mink can be fed a great variety of foods, but strictest rules of hygiene have to be enforced. Cows' milk, ground meat, liver, meat-meal, and some corn and cereals are included in their diet, but mink have a particular fondness for horse-meat and mink farmers will pay big prices for well conditioned horses which, however, are at a premium. About Christmas time, when the young mink are about six months old, they are slaughtered and skinned, the skins are cured and packed in bundles, and sent to one of the many mink auctions in this country. Here the skins are graded (according to shade of fur and quality of skiri) and sold by auction to buyers from all over the world. Prices range from $16.00 to $100.00 each, depending on the demand of the market. At present phenomenal money is being paid for mink furs of the sky-blue shade, while the market for the more common black mink furs has slumped. Nearly every year a new breed or ‘mutation’ is developed, and farmers who develop these new breeds or who have animals of these new and desirable types make fortunes by selling foundation stock to other farmers. Some farmers pay as much as $1,200 for a male of some new breed of mink. The cost of raising these animals is around $11.00 each. In general the mink farmer is essentially a gambler. He never knows what the markets will be like in the following season, and fluctuations in the market are everyday occurrences. Speaking for myself, I would much rather pin my faith on the humble dairy cow than on the temperamental little mink and a temperamental market. New Zealand is just one of many countries sending farmers to the U.S. under the exchange scheme. Here Sir Datar Singh, of India, discusses dairying with a farmer in the State of Maryland. (U.S.I.S. Photograph.)