If you haven't visited www.truthaboutfur.com for some time, you're in for a pleasant surprise: North America's premiere fur website has been completely rebuilt to better answer the key questions that people are asking about the modern fur trade.

Truth About Fur was created to inform and reassure consumers, retailers, designers, teachers, journalists, political leaders, and anyone else interested in getting the facts about this remarkable heritage industry. Through expert interviews, media coverage, and in-depth articles, the Truth About Fur website is a fact-driven resource about the trade, hence the tagline All Facts, No Fiction.

In addition to a redesign, the website has new features and content aimed at dispelling myths about the trade and giving a human face to the people who work in it.

• A video, entitled “The North American Fur Trade in 2-Minutes Flat”, explains the processes from raw materials to finished products, as well as facts and figures about the trade.

• The new Ethics of Fur section shows clearly that the modern fur trade satisfies the ethical criteria generally accepted by society as the basis for when and how we use animals.

• The life cycle of fur production is explained in detail in the section How Fur Is Produced.

• The Fur Family Album features both archival and submitted photography of the people who make up the trade, including trappers living off the land, third- and fourth-generation farmers, and highly skilled craftsmen.

• The Q&A section covers those questions most often asked about the trade, with responses from experts including veterinarians, trappers, farmers and biologists. Questions include: Is trapping humane? Are animals skinned alive for their fur? Does fur-dressing harm the environment? The main activist criticisms of the fur trade are also analyzed and refuted with facts.

• The blog features weekly articles covering a variety of topics including current issues affecting the trade, profiles and interviews with key players.

• Two new Chinese-language versions of the site are now available (in traditional and simplified characters), and a French-language version will be launched soon.

• Now mobile-compatible, the site will be easily accessed directly from our social media platforms, including our Facebook page which now has over 45,000 followers.

“For much too long, animal activists directed and dominated the public discussion about the ethics of using fur. With our completely re-engineered website and social-media platforms we are giving a voice to the real people of the fur trade,” says Alan Herscovici, Truth About Fur’s senior writer and researcher.

“We urge everyone in the trade to visit the new fur website, and to use this powerful new tool whenever questions about the environmental, animal-welfare or ethical justification of the fur trade are raised.”

TruthAboutFur.com is produced in cooperation with the main North American fur trade associations and auctions, and with support from the International Fur Federation (Americas).

One of the most insulting and insidious lies spread by animal activists is that animals are “skinned alive” for their fur. The origins of this vicious lie go back fully 50 years, to the first seal-hunt protests, and those charges were soon proved to be false, as we will explain soon.

Ten years ago, the old myth was revived – this time about Asiatic raccoons. Since then, activists have become more and more extravagant, claiming (and, no doubt, believing) that rabbits, mink and other species are also treated cruelly, including being skinned alive.

One of the main goals of Truth About Fur is to debunk falsehoods about the fur industry, so let's make something perfectly clear: Animals are NOT skinned alive for their fur. Period.

Here are some of the reasons why it is absolutely ridiculous to even suggest it.

1. It would be completely inhumane

Contrary to what activists would have us believe, most farmers take great pride in what they do; they take good care of their animals and treat them with respect. After all, their livelihoods depend on these animals, and the only way to produce the high quality of mink and fox for which North America is known is by providing them with excellent nutrition and care. When you work hard to care for animals – seven days a week, 52 weeks a year – you certainly don’t want to see them suffer.

It is therefore completely ignorant (and insulting) to claim that farmers would treat their animals with cruelty. They certainly would never skin an animal alive!

SEE ALSO: Is PETA's Angora rabbit video staged?

2. It would be dangerous for the operator

If respect for the animals and normal compassion were not enough to ensure that animals are not skinned alive, the farmer's self-interest would be. A live and conscious animal will move, putting the farmer at risk of being bitten or scratched or cut with his own knife – creating a real risk of infection or disease transmission.

Why would anyone expose themselves to such risks by skinning a live animal? The answer, of course, is that they don't!

3. It would take longer and be less efficient

We've already explained the dangers of skinning a live animal – only common sense when you think about it – but let's also take a moment to consider how difficult it would be.

Farming is a business and, like in most businesses, it is important to be efficient. Clearly it must be faster to skin an animal after it's been euthanized. It is also important to understand that the skinning of a mink or other fur animal must be done very carefully, to avoid nicks and other damage that would lower the value of the fur.

So, again, why would anyone skin a live animal? Quite apart from the cruelty, it would make no business sense whatsoever.

4. It would spoil the fur

While activists like to accuse farmers of being greedy ("killing animals for profit!"), they don't seem to understand that skinning animals alive would work against the farmer's financial interest.

Today’s international markets are very competitive. The amount you earn for your fur is determined by a number of factors including pelt size, fur quality, colour ... and damage. But the heart of a live animal would be beating and pumping blood; attempting to skin a live animal would therefore unnecessarily stain the fur. Yet another reason why animals are not skinned alive.

5. It's illegal

In North America, Europe, and most other regions it is illegal to cause unnecessary suffering to an animal. Skinning an animal alive is therefore not only inhumane and immoral – it's clearly illegal. Yet another reason why animals are not skinned alive.

But what about that video?

Activists frequently cite a horrific video taken in a village somewhere in China as "proof" that animals are skinned alive in the fur industry. When this video was first shown, in 2005, fur industry officials contacted the European animal-protection group that released it. They asked for a complete, uncut version of the video, as well as for information about when and where it was filmed, so a proper investigation could be conducted.

Unfortunately, the activists refused to provide this information. Strange.

If animal welfare was really their goal, wouldn’t you think they would want a full investigation? And if this was really common practice, why has there never been another video showing this type of cruelty? (Even PETA now concedes skinning alive is not common practice, but still insists it happens on fur farms because workers are rushed. In fact, euthanized mink and other farmed fur animals are usually laid out on the wire tops of their pens to cool thoroughly before pelting; otherwise the fur can be damaged or fall out after tanning.)

Combined with the facts outlined above, the only reasonable conclusion is that the cruel actions shown in this video were staged for the camera. That would be a sick thing to do, but it wouldn’t be the first time.

The film that launched the first anti-seal hunt campaigns, in 1964, showed a live seal being poked with a knife – “skinned alive”, the activists cried! But a few years later the hunter, Gustave Poirier, testified under oath to a Canadian Parliamentary committee of enquiry that he had been paid by the film-makers to poke at the live seal, something he said he would otherwise never have done. [For more on this, see Alan Herscovici's book, Second Nature: The Animal-Rights Controversy (CBC 1985; General Publishing, 1991), pg 76.]

The moral of the story? No matter how you look at it, even from the perspective of self-interest and "greed", it is ridiculous to claim that animals are skinned alive. Now you know. And so do our activist friends who monitor these pages.

UPDATE: "Film denouncing fur deemed 'staged' by IFF investigators". Women's Wear Daily, March 5, 2019. Watch an IFF video exposing the fake here:

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Due to a large volume of comments received in September 2016 that contributed nothing to the discussion, we have chosen to close comments for this post.

Have you ever visited a mink farm? Would you like to know more about how farmed mink are raised and cared for? Senior Truth About Fur writer Alan Herscovici asked “Les”, a third-generation Nova Scotia mink farmer, to give us a personal tour and explain the work he does during a typical year.

In Part 1: Breeding, Les explained how the mink production cycle begins early each spring. In Part 2: Whelping and Weaning, we got an insider’s view of life on the farm through one of the busiest periods, from April to June. In Part 3: Growing Up, we saw how the mink kits are vaccinated and separated into smaller groups as they grow. This time, we learn about some of the final steps in producing the high-quality mink for which Canada is known around the world.

Truth About Fur (TaF): When we last spoke, the intense work of vaccinating and separating the young kits into pairs had been completed and life on the farm was somewhat quieter as the mink grew through the summer months. What happens next?

“Les” (Nova Scotia mink farmer): As the days become shorter and the weather gets cooler in the Fall, the mink are about full grown and start putting on their winter fur. By early November we are deciding which females to keep for breeding the following Spring.

The first step is to do some blood tests. We clip the tip of a toe nail to take a few drops of blood from each mink. This is placed into a small glass tube and spun in a special centrifuge to separate the blood components.

We then extract some of the clear whitish plasma and add a drop of iodine. If rust-colored clumps appear after adding the iodine, we know that some sort of disease or infection may be present. These mink will not be kept for breeding; the data cards on their cages are marked for pelting.

TaF: So are you choosing the healthiest mink for reproduction?

Les: That’s just the first step. Then we start the most important selection, hand-grading the mink for fur quality. We are looking for a number of crucial factors, especially the velvety short-nap fur that North America is famous for. But we are also checking for the softness of the fur and consistency of colour. If there are white hairs among the brown or black fur, for example, you want to eliminate that as much as possible from your herd. This hand-grading and selection is vital. It is what determines your fur quality for years to come.

TaF: So you are selecting for health and fur quality.

Les: Yes, but we also take into account the litter size females produced, and how well they cared for their young, as well as how calm and easy to handle they are. These are all factors in deciding which females we keep for breeding the following season. And each farmer makes these decisions somewhat differently, depending on how you are trying to develop your bloodlines and fur quality for the future.

TaF: So you have balanced all these factors and decided which mink to keep for breeding. Then what?

Les: By December the mink are fully furred - we say the fur is “prime” - and it is time to euthanize the mink we will be pelting.

We wheel a special, air-tight box into the barn; it is filled with the proper concentration of bottled carbon monoxide gas. The mink are not stressed because normally it’s the feeding cart we bring through the barns.

One by one, we open the cages and place the mink into the gas-filled box. They turn around a few times, lie down peacefully, and in a few moments they are dead. Carbon monoxide is an odorless gas that acts very quickly and humanely.

TaF: And then you pelt them?

Les: Not right away. First we place them on top of the cages or onto a wire shelf, to cool thoroughly. That’s very important because the fur can be damaged if it rests too long against a solid surface while the mink are still warm. We usually send them to the pelting facility the following day.

TaF: So what do you say to activist claims that mink are skinned while they are still alive?

Les: That’s complete nonsense, like so much that the activists say about us. It’s very frustrating, for sure: we work so hard all through the year to produce the best quality mink we can raise. It’s insulting and ignorant for activists to claim that we would mistreat these animals. We are proud of how we care for our mink. Our livelihoods depend on them!

TaF: What happens at the pelting facility?

Les: The mink are pelted by experts who have the experience to do this perfectly, without damaging the fur. The fur pelt is then cleaned and put onto a special stretching form to dry slowly in the proper size and shape. This has to be done at the right temperature and humidity. The fur will then be sent to the auction facility to be graded and prepared in lots for the next auction sale.

TaF: Is only the fur used? What happens to the rest of the mink?

Les: The fat from the mink is collected to make mink oil, which is used to waterproof and protect leather, or as a fine lubricant. The carcasses and manure are usually composted to make organic fertilizers. Here in Nova Scotia we also have a pilot facility to make methane from the manure to produce electricity. In Denmark they are already producing biofuels with mink carcasses.

TaF: So let me understand this: your mink were first fed by-products from our food supply – the parts of fish, poultry and meat animals that we humans don’t eat – and then, in addition to producing beautiful fur, their manure, soiled bedding straw and carcasses produce organic fertilizers to replenish the soil?

Les: That’s right, mink help to complete the agricultural nutrient cycle, while producing one of the most beautiful, long-lasting and ultimately biodegradable clothing materials in the world!

***

SEE ALSO: A YEAR ON A MINK FARM. PART 1: BREEDING, PART 2: WHELPING AND WEANING, and PART 3: GROWING UP

SEE ALSO: WHY IS AMERICAN MINK THE WORLD'S FAVOURITE FUR?

Hello 2016! Here's our roundup of the fur in the news from the month of December. While many of us were busy shopping and eating turkey, there were still a lot of news stories featuring the subjects that are dear to our hearts: trapping, farming, fur fashion, and cute animals. Let's start with farming!

This article, entitled You call it sustainability; I call it farming and ranching, explores how a "nation’s understanding of farming and ranching is shaped by polarized headlines, stereotypes and lack of information." We agree!

And speaking of not understanding, it always comes as a surprise to us when farmers have to explain that "smells" are part of life near farms. This Canadian mink farmer is proud of what he is doing, despite the smell (see photo above.)

An important story from the other side of the pond is this one from Denmark, where mink farmers are dealing with a scary outbreak of Aleutian Disease.

Cold weather brings lots of fur-clad celebrities, and we love the way singer Miranda Lambert showed off the fur coat her grandmother gave her (photographed above), despite upset from some of her activist fans.

Hockey player PK Subban looked amazing in the fur coat made for him by the sisters behind Montreal-based brand Eläma.

Boy band member Brian McFadden also looked great in a fox fur collar by Charlotte Simone, but he probably should have thought twice about posing for an anti-fur campaign for PETA. Hypocrite!!

Speaking of PETA, this family is suing them because they kidnapped and euthanized their dog. Let's send them positive vibes and hope they win their lawsuit! And PETA's Christmas fur campaign was offensive in more ways than one, it seems like PETA promotes violence against women (see the film still above) and that is not acceptable!

Huffington Post hired yet another poorly informed "writer" who penned a piece about Canada Goose. He eats meat and claims that it is ok for his friends to hunt, but somehow it is not ok for trappers to live off the land. Hmmm ... Sounds as ridiculous as it is. Although we can never count on activists to be very sane or smart, here's a story about one who is threatening to kill people who consume or use animal products.

Sounds like the Chinese are to thank for boosting the hunting and trapping industry. Here is a very interesting piece about how Chinese are the main buyers of polar bear fur, but the trade is no threat to the animal population.

And the seal industry is also benefitting from the Chinese consumers, as they are big fans of this beautiful, natural fur. Us fur people are all big fans of seal fur and we support the hunt, but not everyone does, so here's 10 facts to share with anti-hunters, just to remind them what it is all about!

Let's end the roundup with a list of some of the other fur in the news articles and graphics we loved this month:

• Santa wears fur - but that's no surprise, he is from the North Pole!
• Mali Mo, a Kuwaiti luxury brand, is making some very nice fur!
• Skunk fur: beautiful but not popular. One of our writers explores why: Skunk Fur, Why Have We Forsaken You?
• This awesome Canadian grocery store sells seal pelts.
• Don't worry if the lake is frozen, this guy has found a new way to use his boat.
• Bad news for vegans: plants can feel when they are being eaten!
• And of course we like to end our round ups with a cute animal: here is a lovely arctic fox on the hunt!

Let's start our September 2015 Fur in the News roundup with some fashion news because September sees the launch of the Fall and Winter collections and that means FUR SEASON!!

Usually, when we think about fur we think coats, scarves, jackets, or hats, but this year it is all about the fur shoe. There was uniform experiment's gorgeous sealskin loafers, the "loafur" trend, these kangaroo fur-lined shoes from Gucci and a pair of fur heels that appear to be quite difficult to walk in. If fur shoes aren't your thing, how about mink bikinis?

If you prefer more traditional fur pieces, then join us in salivating over the gorgeous furs in this new Blackglama video, and if you are super traditional, you might be interested in reading about these sealskin garments paired with caribou antler jewelry.

The last fashion story in this month's roundup is the blog post by Mark Oaten, CEO of the International Fur Federation, about Hugo Boss' hypocritical "no fur" stance.

Since we are full swing into harvest season, let's talk a bit about farming. Did you know it is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world? Here is part three in our series entitled A Year on a Mink Farm, now the mink are growing up and leaving the nest, literally. Ever wonder what happens to the rest of the mink after the fur has been taken? This video shows how 100% of the mink is used. And lastly, this blog post talks about the history of fox fur farming on Prince Edward Island, with some commentary from our Senior Researcher, Alan Herscovici.

It's a known fact around here that PETA is pretty evil (they won't even answer any questions about why they kill so many of their shelter animals) and almost all animal rights activists are kinda crazy, especially this one putting kids in cages. But we rarely talk about animal rights vs. animal welfare.

We believe that animal welfare should be a priority in the fur industry, and strongly support initiatives to develop ever better animal welfare practices. However, we do not think that animals deserve rights, like humans.

It turns out the animal rights activists feel exactly the opposite, they hate animal welfare. Their entire history, nicely featured in this article by Protect The Harvest, has been about promoting equality between humans and animals. Well, that's just something we will have to agree to disagree on. And we also don't think that chimps are "persons".

Fur and hunting made the headlines in some great articles last month, including this New York Times piece on the Eat-What-You-Kill movement, this Evening Standard piece contemplating whether fur's controversy will ever fade, and this beautifully written piece by AA Gill questioning the hypocrisy of the anti-fur movement. And lastly, here are some other great reads from last month: a piece on sewing otter pelts, how to grade and size wild fur, and a very interesting piece suggesting humans are "super-predators" and hunting practices should be adapted to better reflect what happens in the wild.

Oh wait, did I just try to end a news roundup without some cute animals? I'm sorry! Click on this for your dose of cute from last month.

P.S. It involves baby bears and a hammock.

Have you ever visited a mink farm? Would you like to know more about how farmed mink are raised and cared for? Senior Truth About Fur writer Alan Herscovici asked "Les", a third-generation Nova Scotia mink farmer, to give us a personal tour and explain the work he does during a typical year.

In Part 1: Breeding, Les explained how the mink production cycle begins early each spring. In Part 2: Whelping and Weaning, we got an insider’s view of life on the farm through one of the busiest periods, from April to June. This time, we find out how young mink are cared for through the summer.

Truth About Fur (TaF): When we last spoke, you explained all the work involved in preparing and caring for the newly born mink kits. What happens next?

“Les” (Nova Scotia mink farmer): Most of our kits were born towards the end of April or beginning of May. At about one month old they start licking at the fresh feed we put onto the wire mesh of their pen, and a few weeks after that they are usually fully weaned. On our farm we install the nipples of the drinking water distribution system quite close to the nest box opening, to encourage the kits to explore the larger pen and become more independent.

TaF: Is that when you start breaking down the litters into smaller groups?

Les: Exactly. Around mid-June, on our farm, we start moving female kits into their own pens, in groups of four. If there are more than four females in a litter – say, six – we will take two female kits from another large litter to make two pens of four each.

TaF: So the kits are about six-weeks old when they’re separated from their mothers?

Les: On average. You are watching carefully to see when the kits can fend for themselves. If you move them when they’re too small, they may have trouble reaching the water nipples and become dehydrated. If you leave them together too long, they can quarrel and bite at each other to establish dominance.

TaF: What about the male kits?

Les: Some that we select for breeding next season are moved into their own pens in another barn. Most male kits, however, we usually leave, in pairs, with their mothers. Even when fully grown, the males seem to remain calm together with their mothers. And there is research from Denmark that shows they grow bigger and healthier that way.

TaF: So you are already selecting mink for breeding or harvesting at this stage?

Les: It’s a first selection. We do the same when we divide the female kits into groups of four: we are watching for the best fur colour and quality, size, vigour, and the ones from the largest litters. These are moved into a separate barn for breeding next season.

But the female kits don’t remain in fours for long. We leave the pens across the aisle empty, so we can divide each group of four into pairs a few weeks later. Some farms settle their kits into pairs directly. But we find that doing this in two steps – fours and then pairs – helps the kits to adapt with less stress. And because we have developed movable nest boxes (see Part 1), we minimise the need to catch or handle the young mink during the extra move.

During the move from fours to pairs we also vaccinate the young mink. In Canada a 4-Way vaccine is used, protecting against distemper, pseudomonas, enteritis and botulism. We try to get our mink settled into pairs and vaccinated by the first week of July, before the weather gets too hot.

TaF: What happens next?

Les: Through the summer, the mink eat and grow. We feed them at least twice a day, sometimes more. If we see that all the feed on the wire mesh of their pen has been eaten – or if the kits seem overly active – we increase their ration. Within a month, our feed order has doubled!

Traditionally, mink farmers had to source, store and mix their own feed every day – and many still do that. We are lucky because we receive our feed every morning, direct from a central kitchen that services a number of farms in the region. They have a vet on staff and professional nutritionists to ensure that the mink receive the right proportions of fat and protein and other nutrients for each stage of their development.

After the rush of whelping and weaning, and then separating the mink into pairs and vaccinating, the summer is also a quieter time for the mink farmer. We keep the mink fed and clean, of course, but we finally have more time to catch up on maintenance and paperwork ... and for some relaxation.

If you are lucky enough to have good people to help, there may even be some time for a vacation with the family. Which is just as well, because things will get busy again soon enough!

***

SEE ALSO: A YEAR ON A MINK FARM. PART 1: BREEDING, PART 2: WHELPING AND WEANING, and PART 4: FUR TIME

SEE ALSO: WHY IS AMERICAN MINK THE WORLD'S FAVOURITE FUR?

Have you ever visited a mink farm? Are you interested to know more about the care farmed mink receive? Senior Truth About Fur writer Alan Herscovici asked "Les", a third-generation Nova Scotia mink farmer, to give us a personal tour and explain the work he does during a typical year. In Part 1: Breeding, Les explained the beginning of the mink production cycle that takes place in Spring. Now we move on to the period April - June and Part 2: Whelping and Weaning.

Truth About Fur (TaF): When are the young mink born and what do you do to prepare for them?

“Les” (Nova Scotia mink farmer): Some of the first litters can come as early as mid-April. Most are born towards the end of April, beginning of May. Even before the young are born, however, the mink farmer has plenty of work to do.

First we prepare the pens to receive young mink, or “kits”, by covering the regular 1 ½-inch by 1-inch flooring mesh with a ½-inch by 1-inch plastic-coated mesh. This does not allow manure to fall away as easily, but it protects the small kits.

We also install a plastic funnel guard at the entrance of the nest box, to keep in the straw or wood shavings that will make a warm nest when the kits are born. We are constantly building up those shavings and forming them into a bowl shape, to keep the kits near the centre of the nest where the mother can nurse them and keep them warm. When you are preparing nest boxes like this for several thousand females, it keeps you pretty busy!

TaF: Is there anything special you do when the kits are born?

Les: Whelping is one of the busiest times on a mink farm. From first thing in the morning until late at night we are in the barns, checking to see who’s been born, ensuring that their bedding is in a good shape to keep the kits in the centre of the box.

We are also watching for any kits that may be born tangled in their umbilical cords. 99% of the time, the moms take good care of things themselves: eating the placentas, cleaning and nursing the babies. But sometimes you will have five babies wound together in the umbilical cords so tightly that the mother can’t free them. We take them to the little surgery section of the barn where we have heat lamps and scalpels. Once we’ve cut them free and cleaned them up, we return them to their mothers.

While we’re ensuring that the new-borns are safe, we are also watching the kits born over the past few days, to be sure they are warm enough and nursing well. We are also on the look-out for little ones that are not getting enough milk; perhaps there are too many kits in the litter. You learn to recognize their weak, hungry cries. If necessary, we may move a kit to an adoptive mother with a smaller litter.

TaF: Mink will adopt kits from another female?

Les: Often they will. You pick a female that is doing a good job caring for a small litter, and hold the tiny, young kit near her. If she snaps at it, you try another female. But if she sniffs and licks it, then you can slowly slide the kit beside her and usually she will care for it with the rest of her litter.

TaF: All this sounds like a lot of work with so many young mink.

Les: It is! During this whole period we are checking every litter several times each day. Newborn mink kits are tiny. At birth, their eyes are still closed and they have no fur, so they are very prone to hypothermia. In addition to a good bed of shavings, we keep a plywood cover over the nest box for a while, to keep in heat.

TaF: And when are the kits weaned?

Les: As the kits get bigger, we remove the plastic shield and move the food and water closer to the nest box. There is also a shelf in the pen area where the female can get away from the kits, to rest herself and encourage her young to fend for themselves.

At about one month, they will start licking at the fresh feed we put on the pens every day, and then it’s a few more weeks before they are fully weaned.

By mid-June, we can also start removing the small gauge mesh from the floor of the pens, to keep them cleaner. This continues through into late June for the litters born later. It is good that the litters are not all born at the same time; it helps to spread out the work!

TaF: It must be very satisfying to see the kits come out of the nest box and feed themselves.

Les: It is, because we have been working very hard to ensure that they make it. It is so strange - insulting really - when some activists claim that we are cruel to our animals, because we work so hard to ensure that they are healthy. We are watching for signs of dehydration, of hypothermia; it takes so much experience and concentration to watch for all the things that can go wrong with young animals. If you don’t love working with animals and caring for them, you probably shouldn’t be a mink farmer!

TaF: And how did you become a mink farmer, Les?

Les: I am the third generation of mink farmers in my family, and before that there were two more generations who were trappers and early experimenters with breeding mink in captivity. So I guess mink farming is in my genes. I enjoy working with animals, and I enjoy working with mink. It’s a passion, for sure!

***

SEE ALSO: A YEAR ON A MINK FARM. PART 1: BREEDING, PART 3: GROWING UP, AND PART 4: FUR TIME

SEE ALSO: WHY IS AMERICAN MINK THE WORLD'S FAVOURITE FUR?

Have you ever visited a mink farm? Are you interested to know more about the care farmed mink receive? Senior Truth About Fur writer Alan Herscovici asked "Les", a third-generation Nova Scotia mink farmer, to give us a personal tour and to explain the work he does during a typical year on a mink farm. In this first installment, Les explains the beginning of the mink production cycle: breeding. Welcome to Spring on a mink farm!

Truth About Fur (TaF): What does Spring mean for you on the mink farm?

Les (Nova Scotia mink farmer): Like most farmers, our production cycle begins in the Spring. As the days get longer in the first half of March, it’s breeding season for the mink.

We will have selected our breeding stock back in November/December. In choosing breeders, we take several factors into account. We are looking for size, fur colour and quality, for sure. But we are also watching for females that produce larger litters and take good care of their young.

We also want mink that are easy to handle and that thrive in the farm environment.

Not least important, we select for resistance to disease; we use blood tests to help identify the most disease-resistant animals for reproduction. We are constantly working to improve the genetic quality of our herd, for health, temperament and fur quality.

SEE ALSO: A YEAR ON A MINK FARM. PART 2: WHELPING AND WEANING

TaF: How are mink bred?

Les: It’s all natural, there’s no artificial insemination. For breeding, we bring the females to the males because they are easier to manage.

On our farm we have done something to make this much easier: instead of catching the female to move her, we developed removable and interchangeable nest boxes. When the female is in her nest box, we can close the door to her larger pen with a sliding panel. We carry her nest box, with the female in it, to the male’s pen and insert it there in place of his, after shooing the male into his pen. Then all we have to do is open the sliding panel and the party begins.

After mating, the female will return to her nest box, which is her territory. We close the sliding panel and bring her back to her pen. The whole operation is completed without handling the animals, with no trouble or stress for either mink or people!

TaF: Do males breed more than one female?

Les: Yes, each male is usually mated with about five females. When we introduce a female into a male’s pen, we watch to be sure that mating occurs and record that date. The female will be bred with a second male about a week later, because ovulation in mink is provoked by intercourse. The second mating also provides insurance in case the first male was infertile. We try to breed our females three times, for maximum assurance.

TaF: What happens next?

Les: It is important to disturb the mink as little as possible during the period when the fertilized eggs are implanting. Some producers will increase the hours of light in the barn during this period, but we find that the natural lengthening of the days is sufficient for implantation and gestation. We will also decrease the fat in the females’ diet and increase the percentage of protein during gestation.

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SEE ALSO: A YEAR ON A MINK FARM. PART 2: WHELPING AND WEANING, PART 3: GROWING UP, AND PART 4: FUR TIME

SEE ALSO: WHY IS AMERICAN MINK THE WORLD'S FAVOURITE FUR?

If you've never visited a mink farm before, now is your chance! Zimbal Mink Farm is in Wisconsin, the largest mink-producing state in the US (though Utah is not far behind). The farm is larger than most, but has one thing in common with almost every mink farm in the US: it's a family affair. Now let's meet the third and fourth generations of this mink-farming family ...

BOB ZIMBAL, third-generation mink farmer: So we’re located on the shores of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin, and Wisconsin is actually a great place to raise mink.

Raising mink is a lifestyle as much as a job and when we come out in the morning we look forward to caring for the animals and feeding them and taking care of their needs.

Sixty years ago my grandfather and my father started Zimbal Mink. Mink were just being domesticated, so there was a learning process how to care for the animals and feed the animals. As I child I always helped on the farm, and my father taught me to pay attention to the animals and look at their health and each individual mink’s needs.

My grandfather and my father were kind of pioneers in the industry, teaching and learning what it takes to raise a good-quality mink. And now we’re trying to pass that also the next generation of my sons and my nephew, as they come on to the farm.

The year really begins in the fall of the year where we select the breeders, and it’s all natural breeding on the farm. Breed them in March. And the end of April, beginning of May they have their litters. We are continually monitoring each female to see how she’s caring for those young ones. If there’s some difficulty, we can help them along, or sometimes if a mother can not take care of them, we can move them to the next animal.

SEE ALSO: A YEAR ON A MINK FARM. PART 1: BREEDING

We have a computer system which we use, and that helps us track each individual animal. Years ago when my father did it, it was all done by hand, but now it’s a computer system where we use a bar code, and we’re able to select and look for the genetic traits that we want to keep in the mink.

We look for size; size is important because it’s material that it takes to make the garment. Also we look at the quality of the hair. We’re looking for fine, soft hair on the mink, rather than coarser-type hair. And the thickness and the depth of the underfur is important.

We raise seven different colors, from black to white. There are browns, there are greys in between – lighter greys, darker greys – but we have distinct, different breeds.

Healthy Diet, Healthy Mink

A healthy mink starts with a healthy diet, and in Wisconsin we’re fortunate to have a diverse agricultural community. We have things available to us like beef, cheese, eggs, poultry.

JIM ZIMBAL, fourth-generation mink farmer: The better food helps them grow a nice thick coat, and silky. If we didn’t feed them as well, they wouldn’t turn out as well.

BOB ZIMBAL: I’m not a formally trained nutritionist, but I do work with nutritionists, and at different times of the year, the mink’s needs are different. So when a mink is reproducing, its requirements are different than when it’s growing or furring. So our food is weekly sent in to a laboratory to have it analyzed to make sure that we’re meeting the needs of the mink.

SEE ALSO: A YEAR ON A MINK FARM. WHELPING AND WEANING

The great thing about us taking these animal proteins that are not used for human consumption, we’re recycling that back into the mink industry and using that to feed the mink. So all our food is produced on our site, in our feed kitchen, keeping that food as fresh each day as possible.

We have a brand-new, state-of-the-art facility. We can open the roofs and sides and the air will flow through the building, to keep it cooler in the summer. But also we can close it up in bad weather in the winter to protect the animals from the environment.

Also this facility uses the natural light which the mink are accustomed to.

This facility is designed to make the mink comfortable, but also make it efficient for the people that are caring for the animals. So the way the bedding is put into them, the way the boxes are kept clean - things like that are designed with what’s comfortable for the animal but also what is efficient for the employees.

This facility is really a state-of-the-art facility that is going to be copied by other farmers throughout the world.

JOHN EASLEY, DVM, ranch services veterinarian: Zimbal Mink management techniques are always being developed on the farm here. They are always looking for different ways for them to produce and handle and care for these mink in a better way.

From a health standpoint, as a veterinarian, I look at how the animals are being taken care of on a daily basis.

The Zimbals are an active participant in Fur Commission USA’s Humane Herd Certification Program. During the herd certification process we look to see that the mink are being housed, cared for, fed, managed, to the criteria that are prescribed within the guidelines. By meeting those standards, they consistently produce some of the best-quality mink in the world, and that reflects on their caretaking abilities.

BOB ZIMBAL: My daughter, my son and my nephews and nieces travel the world, like Moscow, London, Milan, Hong Kong, New York, to keep up on the latest trends in the fashion industry. Really, what are these manufacturers and top designers looking for in the quality of the mink?

Buyers throughout the world expect consistent quality from us, and they’re expecting the highest standard in the world. Our quality exceeds their expectations, which makes Zimbal Mink the most sought-after brand in the world.

And it all starts here, on the farm, with our attention to detail.