The Rural Voice, 1999-07, Page 23Already Golem has provided
combings (fur combed out from
shedding breeding animals to keep
their fur in good condition) to local
spinners and weavers who blend it
with Iamb's wool. It's been used
enough that it hints there might be a
commercial market, he says.
"That's kind of exciting
because you can have two
industries competing for the
same product," Golem says.
"Not too many farming
commodities have that. It
may not develop as a major
market but I think there's
potential if it does."
The lure of chinchilla,
both for fur and potentially
for fibre, is the incredible
softness of its fur. Golem
explains that each follicle for any
other animal has one hair. Each
follicle of a chinchilla produces 80-
100 strands.
he fur is "so incredibly thick
T
no parasites, no mites or lice or
anything like that, can live in
the fur," he says. "There's not
enough oxygen in there for anything
to live.
"The fur is so incredibly soft the
human hand is not sensitive enough
to feel the surface of the fur," he
says, "so in a garment it has become
the ultimate of the high end of the fur
industry." Indeed, when you touch a
chinchilla about the only thing you
can compare it to is holding your
hand over a gentle stream of warm
air.
Though chinchilla is the high end
of the luxury fur industry, it still
fluctuates up and down like any farm
commodity. Fur has an international
market. A rancher can sell directly to
brokers who have clients all around
the world or can put the pelts on the
market at the North American Fur
Auctions in Toronto where mink and
fox and wild furs are also auctioned.
Either way the furs will end up in
some of the world's major fur centres
such as Milan, Paris, Copenhagen,
Hong Kong and Greece. Russia,
Korea and Japan have been big
markets in the past but with their
economies struggling are not major
players at the moment, which has
lowered prices. The North American
markets in New York and Beverly
Hills and Toronto and Montreal have
been surprisingly strong, he says.
"I think the optimism that we have
right now is because of China,"
Golem says. Each year the Chinese
buy more furs and with a very cold
climate in parts of the country, a
large population and growing
Chinchilla Breeders you can sell only
graded breeding stock and that stock
must meet the standards.
"Very quickly we found out how
and what to breed and then we had a
product we could market and
credibility in the fur industry,"
Golem says. "We've seen
some really good years. In
the last 25 years there have
been quite a few time
periods when we have
enjoyed some phenomenal
markets."
Currently pelt prices are
in between the highs and
lows the industry has seen.
Last winter all pelts offered
on the market were sold but
not at as high a price as
were recorded three or four
years ago when Korea was a big part
of the market. Back then an average
of all pelts offered, including
damaged pelts and culled breeding
stock, would be about $70 per pelt,
allowing a good profit margin
considering the low cost of raising
the animal.
Prior to that, in the early 1990s
when mink flooded the market and
undercut chinchilla demand and
created a surplus of pelts, driving
prices down and sending ranchers out
of the business. He guesses there
would be about 500 chinchilla
ranchers across Canada at present,
most part-time.
With 150 breeding females (with
capacity for 240 breeding females
and 1,000 total animals) Golem is in
the midpoint in the industry between
small producers with 40-50 breeders
and large operations with close to
1,000 animals.
For landowners with a small
acreage in the country,
chinchillas are an attractive
animal to keep. They don't need a
large land base or specialized
machinery, there isn't a smell
problem and they're a very friendly,
good-natured animal.
They do require a good clean
environment, however, and are not
something you want to keep in an old
bank barn or shed, Golem says,
because they don't tolerate moulds
and mildew. Chinchillas also don't
have a natural resistance to diseases
that North American birds, mice and
rats carry so the major investment for
Modern air-conditioned
building keeps chinchillas
comfortable, productive.
i
personal income, growth seems
assured. In a few years China could
become a dominant force in the fur
industry, Golem says. If Japan and
Korea bounce back economically at
the same time as China becomes a
major buyer, the chinchilla industry
could be in the embarrassing position
of turning away buyers, he says.
"We're not a huge part of the fur
industry," he says. At most there
might be two million chinchilla pelts
produced worldwide in a year, he
says, while the mink industry might
produce 20-30 million pelts.
Chinchilla ranchers have struggled
to repair the damage done by early
attempts to promote their industry.
When the animals were first
introduced in North America there
was so much demand for breeding
pairs and "if the animal was alive it
was a breeder". There was no
consistency in terms of fur density or
clearness of the fur's colour. It was
difficult for manufacturers to get
enough matching furs to make an
entire coat.
"Big money was spent on
breeding stock and when we came to
producing other than breeding stock
we really didn't have a marketable
product," Golem says.
To remedy the situation breeder
associations, such as the National
Chinchilla Breeders of Canada,
which instituted a grading system
through National Livestock Record
of Canada, as well as providing
information on ranch management.
To be a member of National
JULY 1999 19