Since Christina has been learning how to spin she has been thinking about getting some fiber animals for awhile. We may still get into sheep and/or alpacas someday, but for now we decided to start out small (and cute and cuddly).
Wikipedia has this to say about the wool fom these rabbits: "Angoras are bred mainly for their wool because it is silky and soft. At only 11 microns in diameter it is finer and softer than cashmere." The fellow we got the rabbits from had a box full of the wool to show us and it was amazingly soft!
There are several different types of Angora rabbits. Ours are the English variety.
From the Joy of Spinning website:
English Angora
This breed is probably the cutest and most distinctive because of its long heavy fur that covers its ears and face. In full coat, their bunny features are covered and sometimes they are mistaken to be small dogs (or a relative of “Cousin It”). The wool is silky and fine which makes it very soft. The English Angora comes in white and a variety of beautiful colors. The coat is characterized by having little guard hair in proportion to its wool, and wraps rather tightly when spun, with relatively minimal fluffing. It is the smallest breed of the four, weighing 5 to 7 1/2 pounds at maturity.
Angora wool comes from the angora rabbit, and is 7 times warmer than wool.
Characteristics:
• Natural, Animal Fiber (rabbits)
• Clean, directly from the rabbit
• Does not require washing, picking, combing, or carding
• Luxurious
• Very durable Hand-washable
• Not irritating to the skin like sheep’s wool
• Easy to dye
• Blends extremely well with other fibers
We got them for a good price because the owner was not being able to spend enough time with them and wanted them to go to a good home. We got all three rabbits, the two large cages, the feeders and water bottles, a bottle of liquid shampoo, a bottle of some special spray-on cleaner, a special brush and a special comb, all for $150! The cages alone cost $25-$35 each at Tractor Supply. The original asking price on Craigslist was $300, but the more we communicated with him the more resonable the price got. He first came down to $200 and then to $150 as we were looking at them. They have some matts in their fur that must be worked out, and don't look as good as they will after Christina takes some time with them, but they are healthy and we have the certified papers on two of the three from Thankful Valley Farms.
Christina has not yet named them. She might keep some of their original names, but she's not sure. The fellow we bought them from had named the male "Doc", the white female "Snow White", and the tan female "Callie". Right now we are just calling them "the rabbits". Matthew is thinking about getting into meat rabbits and raising them along with "the rabbits", so if we do that we will definitely need some special names for the special fiber rabbits!
On a side homestead note, it looks like Dandelion is going to calve after all! On Friday she had definite milk and was looking like a calf was really wanting to get out! When we bought her we were told she had been bred to calve in December, but maybe the guy had his records mixed up? He did have an awful lot of cows to keep up with. We had given up on the idea that she was really bred back in January! Now we are once again excited about the possibility of having our first new-born calf. I'm praying there will be no complications. Hopefully I will have some pictures of a healthy, happy new-born calf later today or tomorrow!
To God be the glory!
No comments:
Post a Comment