We haven’t done a full cost analysis of the venture yet – there just wasn’t enough information on the web that I could find. We may be losing our shirts on this deal but if the worst happens, at least we’ll be warm.
36” Cage for a Doe runs about $30.
30” Cage for a Buck runs about $26. (Rural King)
My husband built a rack for the cages out of 2x4’s with a sheet of plywood and leftover shingles for the roof (actually one of them has a roof made out of slats from an old pallet covered in shingles).
I love my handy hubby.
During the Summer a 40 lb/ $7 bag of Rabbit Pellets lasts 4 weeks with 7 adult rabbits – that’s roughly ¾ a cup a day (some days they’ll eat more, some day’s they’ll eat less). With the addition of 2 juvenile rabbits I’ve seen that figure drop to 3 weeks and with cooler weather moving in it’s pulled back further to 2-2 ½ weeks. Hopefully it will go back to at least 3 weeks once they’re done putting on their winter weight. This is with no Hay as a supplement.
Hay helps extend your pellets a lot. I’ve seen some websites that are totally anti-hay because it gets in the fur and decreases the value of your harvest. I haven’t seen that with my rabbits. I only give them a handful at a time so it’s not like they’re rolling around it (which they will if they get bored enough!) And as long as you have a decent size cage they’re not going to wind up laying in it for lack of space. Also brushing regularly (which is a must anyway) keeps this from being a problem also.
I am fully pro-hay. The biggest health issue with Angora rabbits is Wool block – and the easiest way to prevent that is by feeding Hay. Wool block is when the fur the rabbit ingests while grooming itself gets trapped in the stomach – this makes the rabbit think it’s not hungry and it slowly starves to death. I read somewhere that the animal’s stomach can actually rot out with severe wool block. Rabbits cannot regurgitate like dogs or cats. Some sites recommend papaya tablets or pineapple juice in their water but I’ve read just as much stuff against those methods as for them – so I’ll stick to hay, it keeps everything ‘movin’ on through’ if you know what I mean.
I use ceramic crocks for water. I read about one lady who said water bottles were too much work for an animal that size when you take into consideration how much they have to drink while carrying that hot, heavy coat. I liked what she had to say and it seems to work very well for my guys. Also the bowls keep them amused when they get bored – they push them around the cages with their heads.
I also use the crocks for feeders – you have to use the big 3” deep crocks otherwise they’ll tip them when their annoyed or bored. The high sides also seem to cut down on them urinating in their bowls – something they’ll do when bored or annoyed – which equals wasted food and you have to wash them.
Washing the crocks is so much easier than a water bottle as well – a bucket of hot bleach water and a rag and you’re set!
The crocks were $1 a piece from the Dollar Tree (gotta love the Dollar Tree!).
Salt/Mineral blocks are $0.30 each (Rural King - $1.00 each at Petsmart!).
I have a slicker brush and a mat comb (for dogs – roughly $8 a piece).
I shear instead of pluck – plucking takes forever and the rabbits start giving me the evil eye after awhile; for that I use Fiskars Children’s safety scissors (with the rounded tips) – they only cost $1-$2 a piece. I may have to replace them after a full harvest but we’ll see.
I also bought plastic storage boxes to keep the fur in – and Ziploc freezer bags to put the stuff unsuitable for spinning in (keep it for felting!). The boxes were $3.50 each (next size up from a shoebox).
As for the animals themselves- I’ve seen prices on line all over the place, from $35 to $200. I bought my pedigreed animals for $25 each. The Amish auction bunnies sold for $7.50 each – a white animal at the same auction went for almost $60; although the auction route is iffier. You can’t tell the health of the animal (you couldn’t get your hands into the cages to check their build under all the fur) – you have no idea of the age of the animal or why the owner got rid of it (behavioral/genetic flaw/etc.). You can read about my trials with my Doe Gertie on my blog.
Market wise – you’re aiming mostly at Hand-Knitters and Fiber Artists in general. You probably will never be able to compete commercially with the Asian Market. (Of course there is always the Eco/American Made market…). Angora is 8x’s warmer than wool and is often utilized in the sports industry for hunting clothes and arctic wear. Cabela’s (sp?) sells 3 or 4 yard pieces of yarn for fly tying. Hubby wants some Angora knee warmers for hunting season.
For undyed/unspun fiber, prices seem to range between $4 & $8 per oz – although I’ve heard of prices up to $16 an oz. I don’t have numbers yet for the average weight of fur per rabbit yet – hopefully after our harvest in October I’ll be able to provide those numbers.
Handspun yarn seems to go between $16 and $30 a skein (I’ve not done any comparisons between dyed/undyed, yardage or gauge yet). I know a commercial spun 30 yard dyed skein (which is nothing – you could knit a single baby bootie out it maybe) was $16 – on clearance for $10 I think.
Wow – I didn’t realize this post was so long…
and every time I re-read it I add something else. Let me know if there’s something I didn’t think of! Getting all this down is actually helping me!
