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On "monster" foxes


maktak

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I've seen some stories (not to use that sad old phrase, but it smells a lot like news of questionable veracity) floating around about "monster" foxes bred specifically for pelt size / volume.

 

All things removed from consideration (true or false, difficult or not), what do you think?

 

In a total vacuum, this is almost nice. We live in a world where sellers on eBay qualify their listings with "full pelts, not thin strips of fur" and we eagerly ogle double-sided collars. In a totally crazy fantasy world where we could harmlessly implant fox fur on cows, I'd be eager to see the results.

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Farmed or ranched foxes are frequently bred and fed for maximum size of the pelt. Although I would not use the term "monster", I have seen shadow fox pelts that were about 65" (165 CM) long from nose to tip of tail.

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I have a 58" custom italian blue fox on order from the base of the collar all the way to the bottom hem. And the pelts are still 4 1/2" wide so they aren't exactly any more or less wide than the average pelt used for a full length coat that is over 50" long. So I guess that makes the myth of huge foxes more than just a rumor.

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I have purchased 69 inch long dyed black blue fox pelts and 67 in. Shadow Blue Fox pelts farmed in Poland. These are what I used to make my gigantic stoles.

 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/648799890039840689/

 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/648799890039979079/

 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/648799890039840776/

 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/648799890039840744/

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There are several videos from fox fur farms in Finland which are the basis for these news stories. So no, they are not made up.

 

I was afraid of that. Thanks for clearing that up. Any chance you could message me some examples? My original post was written after a very shallow Google search that turned up little.

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There are several videos from fox fur farms in Finland which are the basis for these news stories. So no, they are not made up.

 

I was afraid of that. Thanks for clearing that up. Any chance you could message me some examples? My original post was written after a very shallow Google search that turned up little.

What are you afraid of? Sounds delightful!!!!

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well, they are bred, very well taken care of just the fanatics called themselves animal protectionists raised a farm at night and woken up the animals. How would you react if you sleep and are awaken with metal bats, bars while lights are flashing into your eyes?

I had to express myself because the way the activists represent anything they do not like...

just did you know that a cow was 1/3 of its current size several hundreds years ago? I guess with the correct treatment of the foxes, they can tripple their size from those "monster" beautiful animals within a decate

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well, they are bred, very well taken care of just the fanatics called themselves animal protectionists raised a farm at night and woken up the animals. How would you react if you sleep and are awaken with metal bats, bars while lights are flashing into your eyes?

I had to express myself because the way the activists represent anything they do not like...

just did you know that a cow was 1/3 of its current size several hundreds years ago? I guess with the correct treatment of the foxes, they can tripple their size from those "monster" beautiful animals within a decate

 

That's not even remotely true. Cows were domesticated from aurochs which were actually larger than cows.

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well, they are bred, very well taken care of just the fanatics called themselves animal protectionists raised a farm at night and woken up the animals. How would you react if you sleep and are awaken with metal bats, bars while lights are flashing into your eyes?

I had to express myself because the way the activists represent anything they do not like...

just did you know that a cow was 1/3 of its current size several hundreds years ago? I guess with the correct treatment of the foxes, they can tripple their size from those "monster" beautiful animals within a decate

 

Yes, most fur farms are well run and they take good care of the animals. But these are also exceptions. And in this case the animals were overfeed and became so much overweight that their legs grew to be misformed. To such extent that they had difficulties moving around. This is not to be taken lightly as you do!

 

Besides, you are missinformed regarding the ancestry of cattle and genetics in general.

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What are you afraid of? Sounds delightful!!!!

 

Maybe delightful in a vacuum, but seeing the news (heavily editorialized, to be sure) about this is kind of a pain to read and kind of intrusive to bear in mind. I have a thing for huge pelts, but the fantasy is easiest to harbor when I don't consider anything in real life Sorry if I can't explain this very clearly.

 

Interesting discussion about cattle genealogy in this thread.

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What are you afraid of? Sounds delightful!!!!

 

Maybe delightful in a vacuum, but seeing the news (heavily editorialized, to be sure) about this is kind of a pain to read and kind of intrusive to bear in mind. I have a thing for huge pelts, but the fantasy is easiest to harbor when I don't consider anything in real life Sorry if I can't explain this very clearly.

 

Interesting discussion about cattle genealogy in this thread.

 

Its a sad reality we all must confront at some point. The truth of the matter is that as fur lovers, animals have to pay the price. And we are the ones who have to live with the burden of that responsibility. Its not a pleasant reality to confront, but it would be even worse if we just ignored it all together.

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I was afraid of that.

If you are a fur farmer and you breed foxes for pelts, it's just natural to breed them for large pelts. Just as cows are bred for giving a lot of milk (up to 12.000 kg/year, which is about 15x the weight of the cow).

 

So what are you afraid of? That the foxes were bred to the point, that they are handicapped in some way? Or that they are not raised in a responsible way?

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Of course the larger the pelt, the fewer that are required to make a given fur article. That said, so many women today want their coats to be feather light, and the larger the pelt, the heavier they tend to be, even accounting for fewer used. I think the bigger and fluffier the better, but I know I am not average in this respect.

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Of course the larger the pelt, the fewer that are required to make a given fur article. That said, so many women today want their coats to be feather light, and the larger the pelt, the heavier they tend to be, even accounting for fewer used. I think the bigger and fluffier the better, but I know I am not average in this respect.

While Lynxette's comments are generally true, I think it needs to be pointed out that much of the weight of a pelt is in the leather (or skin) holding the hair. This is why many tanners scrape (or flesh) the leather side of the pelt much thinner than need be to reduce the wieght of the pelt and thus the finished garment. The downside of this is that the pelts dry out and fall apart much sooner than if the pelts had not been scraped so thin.

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Its not a pleasant reality to confront, but it would be even worse if we just ignored it all together.

Amen!

That the foxes were bred to the point, that they are handicapped in some way? Or that they are not raised in a responsible way?

Bingo - that's what the Instagram posts were claiming. Far be it from me to suddenly go all Jiminy Cricket on myself, but my fingers are crossed that the news is either exaggerated or that the big fur brands don't typify these practices.

I think the bigger and fluffier the better, but I know I am not average in this respect.

I feel that no-one in this secret society is average. So chase the volume all you want - I think a lot of us are with you on that!

While Lynxette's comments are generally true, I think it needs to be pointed out that much of the weight of a pelt is in the leather (or skin) holding the hair.

Good to know! I feel like I've read that somewhere before (possibly from you actually). I wonder how the weight scales by pelt volume.

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Good to know! I feel like I've read that somewhere before (possibly from you actually). I wonder how the weight scales by pelt volume.
I doubt the size of the pelts makes much of a difference in the weight of a finished garment as a given garment will have about the same number of square inches (or centimeters) of pelts in the finished garment no matter the original size of the pelts. Larger pelts generally would mean a bit less work for the furrier (fewer seams joining pelts together).
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  • 2 weeks later...
well, they are bred, very well taken care of just the fanatics called themselves animal protectionists raised a farm at night and woken up the animals. How would you react if you sleep and are awaken with metal bats, bars while lights are flashing into your eyes?

I had to express myself because the way the activists represent anything they do not like...

just did you know that a cow was 1/3 of its current size several hundreds years ago? I guess with the correct treatment of the foxes, they can tripple their size from those "monster" beautiful animals within a decate

 

That's not even remotely true. Cows were domesticated from aurochs which were actually larger than cows.

 

I know that this is not related to the beautiful "monster" foxes. Well, actually it is true. In Europe the germanic and Celtic tribes domesticated cows and there managed that an ordinary cow at that time was around 1m (meter) tall. Similar with production of the milk. An ordinary cow has more milk than 20-30 years ago. The quality of milk and meat from nowadays cows is questionable.

 

So why not to have larger foxes supposingly they will have the same pelt quality.

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Good to know! I feel like I've read that somewhere before (possibly from you actually). I wonder how the weight scales by pelt volume.
I doubt the size of the pelts makes much of a difference in the weight of a finished garment as a given garment will have about the same number of square inches (or centimeters) of pelts in the finished garment no matter the original size of the pelts. Larger pelts generally would mean a bit less work for the furrier (fewer seams joining pelts together).

 

Pelt size matters because bigger pelts are more often than not more dense. They also tend to be more difficult to work with. This according to a local master furrier.

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My new blue fox has full pelt sleeves and a full pelt collar to match. Between those three pelts alone my coat weighs up to 40 lbs. So I can't imagine for a second how heavy a coat would have to be if it required quadruple the amount of pelts that belonged to animals that are twice the size of a normal fox in order to construct it. A coat that dense would probably be too heavy to even walk around in.

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My new blue fox has full pelt sleeves and a full pelt collar to match. Between those three pelts alone my coat weighs up to 40 lbs. So I can't imagine for a second how heavy a coat would have to be if it required quadruple the amount of pelts that belonged to animals that are twice the size of a normal fox in order to construct it. A coat that dense would probably be too heavy to even walk around in.

 

Did you get your new fox coat yet?

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My new blue fox has full pelt sleeves and a full pelt collar to match. Between those three pelts alone my coat weighs up to 40 lbs. So I can't imagine for a second how heavy a coat would have to be if it required quadruple the amount of pelts that belonged to animals that are twice the size of a normal fox in order to construct it. A coat that dense would probably be too heavy to even walk around in.

 

Did you get your new fox coat yet?

 

 

Not yet. I pick it up on the 9th

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