The Rural Voice, 1979-12, Page 8pound by mail from the southernU.S.A.
Twelve years ago a 2 -pound package
containing a queen and her retinue cost $5
- now the same package is $25 to $30.
"Inflation has affected us too", he said.
"I remember when honey sold at 2 pounds
for 45c and now the empty pails alone cost
45c."
When people come to purchase honey,
they are also interested in how that honey
was obtained. Rosemary Ferguson con-
ducts an average of one group of school
children or other interested parties around
the apiary every two weeks. She is also
receiving more and more invitations to
speak at schools and women's meetings
about honey, the earliest sweetner known
to man. Thank you notes from the children
are displayed on one wall in the honey
house. "I enjoy those notes," Rosemary
smiled, and pointed to one which said
"Thank you for the honey, it must have
cost a bit of money" and another that
proclaimed "Roses are red, violets are
blue, but your honey isn't as sweet as
you."
The Fergusons are quite content with
Bill's chosen profession, which keeps them
as busy as the proverbial bee.
Mink
A luxury fur
BY ADRIAN VOS
When driving from Mitchell to St. Mary's, many prosperous
farms line the county roads. The well kept houses and barns
show pride of ownership.
On several of these farms there are odd-looking buildings.
They are lowsided and the sidewalks are open to the air, and
without windows. These are mink sheds where the cousin of
weasel, polecat and fisher is raised for his valuable pelt.
John Nairn, 36, and his wife Gail, with their three sons,
Danny, 10, Brent, 8, and Greg 4, own two of these sheds, each
containing cages for 1975 mink. The cages are in long rows with
one mink in a cage.
John Nairn is visibly proud of his mink and has reason to be,
• for last year one of his mink drew the top price of $66 at the
auction sale of the Hudson Bay Company at Pointe Claire, P.Q.
All his mink are beautiful black aleutians. There are many
other colours in mink, from the natural brown mink, that is
marketed under the trade name "Majestic" to a pure white.
Mr. and Mrs. Nairn have just completed a week of grading the
mink to determine which ones are to be kept for breeding stock
for next year. In this they have been assisted by a grader from
Hudson Bay, who provides this as a service to mink ranchers. It
is a big job, for every potential animal must be taken from its
cage and the fur examined. The underfur must be thick and the
outer fur, or guard hair, must be long and glossy. It takes an
expert to do the grading. After all possibilities have been
determined, they must be compared with the breeding record.
PG. 6 THE RURAL VOICE/DECEMBER1979
John Nairn handles his mink with leather gloves
The mink are handled with thick leather gloves and even then
a big male may bite right through it.
Since they are related to the skunk, they do have a gland that
excretes a musky odour. The smell is readily detected when
entering a shed.
The Nairn sheds are 250 ft. x 30 ft. and cost $10,000 to build
three years ago. Adding the cages at approx. $3. - a piece, makes
for the cost of a shed and its furniture about $16,000.
In addition there is a feed room and a pelting room needed.
The feedroom contains a walk-in freezer, a large grinder, a feed
auger, a mixer and a feedcart.
The pelting room has a skinning bench; a fleshing machine
that scrapes the fat off the inside of the skin with rotary rubber
scrapers and a vacuum pump; cleaning drums to clean any
outside grease off the fur; and different sizes of stretching
boards where the skins stay until the leather has sufficiently
dried.
The breeding begins in March, when most females come into
season. One male is kept for every four female mink.
Breeding appears to be a violent affair, for the female fights
wildly against the male. This excitement is need in order to
release the ova for fertilization.
In April the young are born. Everything around the sheds is
kept quiet during that time for it has been reported that in a
panic of startled fear some females have killed their young.
The average litter size at the Nairn ranch is 3.7 kits. John said