Why are there so few muskrats?

Groeny got them first!!!!

There was a bit of a revolt after the last sale of rats.

Groney must have got all the arctic fox too.

they both got layed off.

Ranch Mink
Mahogany M 340,000
Mahogany F 280,000
Sapphire M 17,500
Sapphire F 17,500
Blue Iris M 10,000
Blue Iris F 30,000
Unique Mutations 70,000
Demi Brown M 370,000
White M 100,000
Various Crosses 90,000
Demi Brown F 320,000
White F 155,000
TUESDAY, JUNE 4
Ranch Mink 7:30 AM
Pearl M 70,000
Palomino M 60,000
Silverblue M 125,000
Pearl F 95,000
Palomino F 45,000
Silverblue F 130,000
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5
Ranch Mink 7:30 AM
Pastel F 100,000
Pastel M 90,000
Violet 14,000
Lavender 8,000
Black M 530,000
Black F 470,000
Marble 30,000

thats the real answer right there.

Follow the money.

The pickup for this sale was mid march well before a lot of trappers even start rat trapping.

What happened to all the fur ranchers closing down shop and going belly up? That seems to be all that was talked about last fall lol no lack of offered skins ehh

When a fur farm pelts out you still get a supply of skins, next year will see a huge reduction in skins offered, world production of ranch mink is expected to be 25 million down from the peak of 82 million in 2015.
The problem for wild fur is not having access to the Russian market since Putin invaded the Crimea in Ukraine.

Only 90,000 rats, 225,000 some coon. Not lot of any wild fur, if I got my stuff there before last receiving date, it well be in sale for sure? Because looking at my online acct, the count on receipt , have not been verified, Lot ranch mink, over 3,5 millon

Thanks, Gibb. You provide a lot of valuable, usable information. It is appreciated by most of us.

How many layoffs did nafa have? Just concerned with layoffs about my fur I ship

I think they kept the coon graders.

Coonman, you worry too much.

Don't worry coonman! Next year all your coon will certified and traceable and sell for twice as much as this year to Macy's and Sak's in New York City.

80,000 coyotes? 17,000 bobcats? That seems like a lot. How many did they have at the last sale?

Because walleyed is saving his muskrat for seed until the rat prices go up.

w

That is way down on offering of coon an rats, it seems to me

There was no layoff of wild fur graders or agents. Most of the layoffs were for ranch mink personal.
In the last few years there have been some staff retire and or leave the company that have not been replaced. The present market with the reduced volume coming in has force the company to make further reductions.
On an average sale NAFA normally offers 3 million plus mink.

I don't know if the low number of rats reflects that they are offering only fresh goods since the last sale or if they are offering a limited number of say better or select pelts. I have 15 2xl-3xl-selects that were buy backs from the last sale. I will look to see if they are being offered or not.

Bryce

I would surely think all rats would be offered

80,000 coyotes is not a lot considering that the market is strong.

17,000 cats - could include some dealer lots.

This sale is offering all the fresh goods shipped in. The May sale is a complete offering. Including all the zoo articles like opossum, badgers, skunks weasels and squirrels.



The cats market is always a market that the supply of fresh cats develops late in the season. A lot of good cats are caught in Jan and Feb to late to make the first sale of the year plus some trappers will offer their cats in the country first before shipping to auction.

According to the updated nafa chart, the estimated worldwide production of ranch mink is a little over 35 million to be offered for next year. That is down from the estimated 55 million being offered for this selling season.

I have heard the trade uses about 40 million mink skins a year, so the gap is going to show once the excess is used up.

Or has fashion been changing and short-haired mink aren't as hot anymore...? I thought I've heard people say that this the past year or so. Maybe 35 million mink skins will do them just fine. When most of the remaining old growth Doug fir (at least in the U.S.) went off the market by the mid 1990s, the wood industry turned to more engineered lumber and could make larger dimensional lumber out of multiple smaller trees. After 25 years of doing this, would old growth Doug fir still be as valuable if they suddenly opened that resource up...?

There was 52k (?) yotes offered in the first NAFA sale and now anticipated 80,000 at the end of May so about 130,000 for the year. How does that compare to the past couple? There was talk earlier in the season that guys in some of the better yote areas weren't catching as many as they usually did. Maybe that's reflected in these numbers if 130,000 coyotes for the year at NAFA is low...?

Your math on the number of coyotes NAFA offered this season is not correct. Not all of the 52,000 coyotes offered at the February sale sold. There were Eastern and southern coyotes that were Bought Back and are being reoffered at this sale. I don't know the number but it is enough that the total offering is below 130,000. Probably more like 110,000.

NAFA is pretty good if they can predict the independant actions of fur farmers in ten or more different countries. Maybe they can garantee next years prices in advance?

I may be wrong but I think the chart nafa has is used by the whole fur trade and it of course is just an estimation. Meaning not just nafa put it together.

I just seen a presentation that has the number of mink pegged at 25 million for next year. If l could figure out how to post the graph l would do it the graph is in excel so l have no clue how to post it but the numbers are very accurate and the source had good information.

Where is all this wild fur coming from?

Gibb,stop referring to furskins as "the zoo".
This devalues the product,and is akin to referring to foothold traps as legholds.
Why not call ranch fur-factory fur.
Its no wonder the fur trade is struggling when people who are supposed to up market fur,denigrate it instead.
A much better term would be" exotics".

I wonder what that will mean overall.

They don't perform well on the average wolverines and wolves anyway. I never have sent one to a Canadian auction and I never will.

NAFA itself and all the buyers refer to certain pelts as "the zoo". It isn't just Gibb. It is 98% of the people involved in the wild fur business.

These pelts include

Wolf
Wolverine
Bear
Cougar
Possum
Skunk
Badger
Squirrel
Ermine
Nutria

You would have to change a complete mindset if you wanted to stop using the term "the zoo"

It isn't that big of a deal. Seems like the only person bothered by this is Boco. Why am I not surprised!?

i'm with Bobo on this one.

Exotics would be worse, then people would think it was some kind of endangered species or something
Jeez boco I'm surprised you disagree with anything nafa does or says. Lol

Exotics would be a terrible choice.

When I think of exotics I think of big cats - tigers, lions, cheetahs, etc.

It takes time,there are still ejits that call footholds "legholds"

Then there are those geniuses that call our product "Junk Fur".

LIONS and TIGERS and BEARS, Oh My !!!

w

I wish you were right, Jim. The graph I am going by was sent out yesterday and has the overall world production to be offered in 2020 set at a little over 35 million. This was in a rancher auction report so maybe you didn’t see it.

Yes l received that one too. Either way the number has dropped dramatically from the peak. The fur market will tighten up and start going the other way. I will be watch Kopenhagen this sale to see if the trend continues from their last sale.
Jim

In a normal year most of the fur for the first sale is mainly Canadian than on the second sale majority of the fur coming in is US. This is mainly because the Canadian season open earlier most season are fully open by Oct. 25th. The majority of the US season open for their Nov. Thanksgiving weekend.
I believe this is probably the smallest wild fur harvest in history.

Ok, is 110k coyotes offered through NAFA about typical, below average, or way low for NAFA over say the last 5 years or so...?

Cant change my puter to give Mandarin translation

X2

Exotic possums? Now that should spike the market.

Nafa say earlier that better coon that held back at last auction, that may be able to move at better prices in may auction, groenwold was saying last fall that better coon be up in price yet nafa coon sales were better a year ago

Stop worrying coonman. Next year Saks and Macy's will fight each other to get your certified and traceable coon. They will know they are buying BMP Iowa coon and that is what the consumer wants.

Sux dont it?

I was happy with my NAFA Feb coon sales, much, much better for me than in 2018. I have more smaller skins in the May auction so I'm expecting an average drop but if its not as bad as what I'm thinking, good deal. Of course, how many of the May offering will be bought back...?

What are predictions about sale coons?the better section or better grade an color coon that were held back unsold in last auction

I predict that they will join their brethren that were bought back in the last sale.

I predict nafa will work very aggressively at selling your coon for you. Good or bad. Because they aren't going to want to hold them over another year. Jmo

Hang on to them until there are no more ranch mink junk plugging up the market.

Anyone heard any fur news, just lately? Not to long till sale

Trump is threatening more tariffs. Think it will have any effect?

Which way do the "TOPS" spin, is the question to really ask.

I really praise that Twitter employee that took his account away, even if it was only for a day.

With 3 week away the sky can fall by then especially with foreign affairs in the state it is now on all the different fronts.

Yes

Dollar has strengthened some, will that have any effect?

The Chinese Yuan has gone down from 0.16 to 0.15 for the USD in the last year. The Euro has changed slightly = more expensive to buy this year.

but 3 weeks away and 5+ weeks for payment the dollar can move around a lot

What puzzles me is why there are so many more otter on the sales this year as compared to last year. What did folks see in the otter market last year that made them want to up production this year?

Maybe it is just carryover of unsold pelts?

Bingo

All of my bigger an better quality. An good color coon were brought back in the last sale, just wondering if nafa going hold line again on prices or try sell, rats sold 100 per cent, better mink sold ok, beaver is the real low priced item, caster is good, I set few traps out for beaver this spring for 5 days, u couldn't get ur gas money back on it,n it worth wear an tear on vechile an distance , an was for fun, decided just to trap beaver in fall when water trap coon, at bridges where they at, as not worth it, running around just for beaver , I am forgetting how the weaker or stronger dollar works? So right now, the Chinese have less buying power? So possibly less money spent by them an lower prices?

You have a Pres that has upset the " Apple Cart " especially for the Chinese buyers and duties and this whole thing has not played out by any means.

The Chinese Yuan(their currency) is pegged to the US dollar. Its value in relation varies little.

And the Chinese keep the yuan artificially low compared to what most people think it should trade against the U.S. dollar, but that's a different story...

I told a young Chinese scientist (who lives in the U.S. now) how people thought that the yuan should float higher in international currency markets. He just looked at me in horror, I suppose thinking what that would do for the price of living in China, especially in the cities. Even though China is the 2nd largest economy, the Chicom gov leaders likes the yuan to trade low vs the USD because their people can buy more stuff at home with dollars converted to yuan. Let the yuan float where it should in the world and the typical Chinese person can't buy as much at home and that may bring social unrest and potential gov instability. Trump's tariffs are probably the first time where the Chinese don't get exactly what they want, something new to them, at least since they joined the WTO. We'll see what happens...