Are allnyalls buyers back tongrading or are there still some paying by the pound?

Country buyer here in MN is by the pound.

Grading

Always been grading here

Our sale a few days ago the buyers did both ways. 4 buyers were grading, 1 was weighing the hides.

What value per lb currently? I saw that blanket hatters went for $43 on this last FHA sale.

Grading at our sale.

Two-three years ago I even saw George Kortum at a sale weighing beaver.

I've got some ready to ship. Is it too late to knock a few holes in them and get into the Gd Dmg grade?

Barnes was weighing all finished beaver 3 weeks ago here.
He did say his price per pound was a little higher on northerns and little less on southerns.
Be real interesting to know the percentage of the total beaver catch that go to hatters. The percentage is very high.

It would depend on the buyers orders. In other words who he is selling to.

It would appear that there is a resurgence in demand for beaver felt based on this last FHA auction result. $43 for XXL and $38 for XL gd dmg. That is just about where it was during that tiny many boom that lasted for a season or season and a half recently.

This result likely caught FHA off guard since they reported after the June 2025 sale that the hatter market was now at "normal levels" and expected to stay that way. If I recall right hatters on the June (2025) sale sold for about half of what they just now did.

Im gonna see Petska the 27, see if he brings out a scale!? As far as a "normal" price at FHA, I thought they were a trapper auction and the trappers interest comes first? That to me is the "normal" price on any fur!

Depending on your area some buyers may flip through the pile separating the shear-able from the hatters. Hatters at pound price and shear-able separately. Knowing how to grade beaver will help one immensely in a good market.

As per beaverpeelers question. 3 weeks ago, Oklahoma beaver @ $10 a pound.

Thanks Yarz. I heard elsewhere someone was at $11 so that seems to be what country prices are. Unless it was a one and done deal this last auction FHA is the far better proposition currently.

I never seen any buyers weighing beaver at the last ITA auction. But I wasn't in the grease fur room too much. I know I had never seen them weigh beaver out west until the last "mini boom" when they were just buying for hatters. Weighing actually rewards trappers for poor fur putup, the less well you scrape them, the more they weigh.

I'm guessing that the hatter market surge at FHA right now caught everyone by surprise. We didn't see any updates from FHA telling us to ship beaver for that market. Did for everything else that was on the rise.

....curious, how can you tell if they are hatter beaver? light damage on heavy beaver can be sheared and repaired same as rats.FHA western beaver averages were 25 and change.

That is because they average all the sizes. All gd dmg blanket beaver fetched $43 this last sale, every last one. $38 for XL's and so on and so on.

I suppose you could cut some of these beaver up into strips and do something but my money is on the felt market. I'm kind of an expert on gd dmg beaver since I harvest so many of them. My section of beaver never make shearable.