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Show iBIaek Willow Miink i .Everything Yon Ever Wanted To Kmw About Miinkc, But Were Afraid To Ask . f lllllllll 9Um9mKiVMUMxS9$&M fill pMWMMnfflMnwwiawif ' -i ' , , , J r,-,; At , ' - v ' i - - 1 I; x ; . ' 4 i A 1 , , "- If ' ' ' , ' , i By Louise Page For the woman who has everything, the choice of fur. of course, would be Black Willow Mink. Recognised in the industry as one of the best patent names in commercial fur breeding, the beautiful Black Willow is sought after by buyers from all over the world. A full length Black Willow Mink coat, for the average size woman, will cost anywhere any-where from fifteen thousand dollars, on up. The more perfect the pelts, and the more perfectly they are matched and worked together, to-gether, the greater the cost-fifty cost-fifty thousand, a hundred thousand, the sky is the limit, depending on how much milady is worth. The Black Willow has rich, shimmery black fur. Sleek and lustrous on the surface, the fur is thick and dense at the skin, yet soft and silky to the touch. Small wonder these little creatures are a favorite in the industry. A very limited amount of Black Willow pelts are .produced annually, guaranteeing guar-anteeing the market and the quality. "We have established a 1 reputation for the finest grade of mink in our Black Willow breed." Ella Adkins explained. "We have to protect our reputation, we send only select skins to market under the Black Willow name." In the midst of pelting right now, Black Willow Mink Farm is preparing a shipment of skins for auction next month, in New York City', New York. The skins will be sent to market at the Hudson Bay Fur Company, the worlds largest and oldest fur auction, auc-tion, in business since 1680. Annually, Black Willow Mink Farm sends about 12,000 pelts to Hudson Bay for auction. Half will be sent, bundled and graded, and ready for auction the 24th of January, through the 29th. "We keep the better half for auction in June." Ella said. 'These are the very best, the select, number one skins. Trade people know they are coming in June and they look for them." Oh coarse, the most perfect mink are kept for breeding. Protecting the breed and the reputation for quality that Black Willow has established, has payed off. "Last year, we sold our pelts for more than the national average." Ella said. "In fact, we hold the world record for the most money payed for dark ranch mink. The only fur breeder who has ever equaled the record is us." "But, the credit all goes to my husband." Ella said. John Senior (affectionately known as Bus) died last month, following a long and courageous battle with cancer. can-cer. Bus started trapping wild-mink wild-mink on the Weber River, in Coalville back in the mid-twenties. mid-twenties. At that time, there were less than 24 mink farmers in the United States. Nobody was willing to believe that mink could be raised commercially. That is not difficult to understand when you see these little creatures. They are mean, aggressive and viscious. It is not uncommon for a kit to chew up his own tail, or limb. Worse yet, it is not particularly particu-larly uncommon for mamma to do the same, to the hapless youngster. Fortunately, what they lack in charisma, they make up for in sheer elegance and beauty. The mink fur offers the depth, denseness and sheen, I sought after in a warm fur coat, without being heavy, or i coarse, as so many furs are. j The pelts are the ideal size and weight for making an exquisite and warm, full-length full-length fur coat. When Bus began his operation in 1927, the addition of his farm made a total of three mink farms in the state of Utah. For the next 25 years, Bus, with the mink strain he had developed from the early wild mink he captured, and some mink he had imported from Montana, The Yukon, and Car Cross, in Canada; used selective breeding to ultimately develope the exclusive ex-clusive Black Willow mink of today. Late in the 50's he started to sec them come through, and kept them as breeders. He built up the strain until, in 1966, he was able to harvest 50 skins. He had the breed patented, under the i " j : nn-r nimrmwnn- 1 T'" : i t , f ; t 1 . i . , , . i ; j ! I i t t t I t I II I M H I i i'i t ' ,444 : j-i ; ' ' 44444.4 ''V4 ?-44 4" ' ; -- .is-" -" '...,, ; 4.4 -f .'44:'4 :": - ':''! :-:!- ' 1 'v 'N " .vk' .... . 4 ' s - ; v- 4 :-: :- ,N - v i! 4?W. -: ..-".iT. 4:V'4&y4 v.4 il-f5 -v,:: ..., ..is-;, v i .,: , v- v " " ' , A,,.:; X . v b VV ' 1 r ,tV -V. ;: X A4 : Ky i I : : I , . . c-.r; V ;.7 - " ' . ,V 4 .. 4' V- J ; 4 :k; V . J lv , 4 4'S:44 i L ."f ' ' ..:,,,., -TSiH-: I -r- -41 s s n s v :;Sfsff 4 s: .4.; liM;4, Ns s name Black Willow, and sold the 50 skins to Neiman Marcus, of Dallas. The males fetched $1,100.00 per pelt and the females a mere $580.00. ,4Bus knew good mink when he saw them." Ella said, "He had a genious for it." For a time, following the success of the Black Willow breed, the farm continued to raise and auction mutates. But, when it became appar-ant appar-ant that they were not making enough to pay for their own feed, they were all destroyed. From that time to the present, Black Willow-has Willow-has enjoyed a reputation unequaled in the industry. Today, the Black Willow Mink is the most imbred herd in the world. There have been no outside strains introduced into the herd for many, many years. "This farm has been a family project for us all our lives." Ella said. "The farm has provided work for everyone, our children, friends and relatives." Still a family business, now that John senior is gone, John Jr., (Johnie) will be in charge of the operation, working with Ella, who plans on retireing from the business busi-ness as soon as she can "gracefully get out", son in law Don Winters and daugh- ! ter Lori, and son in law Ken Dawson and daughter Mary. Today, the farm has 48 sheds, with a varying number num-ber of mink in each, ranging from a couple of hundred to several hundred. During the pelting season, the very best mink are kept for breeding, about 3,000 females and 750 males. The rest are graded, killed, skinned and prepared for auction. Those mink that are not good enough for coats, are sold for trim and trinkets. The better half of the harvested herd is held for the June auction. Meanwhile, the breeding stock produces a new crop of kits in early spring and the ! cycle continues. ; During pelting, the farm ; employs about forty extra people. There are four full time employees and usually four to five part time employees, to help with cleaning. These in addition to the family members who all work on the farm. A mink farm is no less demanding than a Dairy operation, or raising food crops. The little critters must be daily watered, fed and 1 cleaned up after. Every single one of them. They have to be coached and watched through the s ' breeding period, lest they damage each other. When the kits start to come, they have to be watched closely, lest mamma starts to eat them. And, if they are fortunate enough to survive the sibling period, they still have themselves to contend with. At about two and a half months, the kits are separated separ-ated from the females. Each requires a shot at separation. Their disposition does not improve with maturity. Their predilection to visciousness only tends to increase, which is probably just as well. Were the little creatures cute and cuddly, and thoroughly loveable, harvest would likely like-ly be more difficult. Attracted by the fragrant odor of the specially prepared prepar-ed mink feed, skunks can be a real problem, one that has '"tw ,,'"" ' r f ? i , '4 "4 ? j , ; i ' l; r (I ! , 4 ' , . ' MikswZ1 I , 'ysii: ' ' " f f v&25ir vv 4 s , iff i to continually e dealt with. Some mink farmers put traps out for them. The more hardy ones simply shoot them, and take their chances. But, the demanding hours, the extremes in weather, the hard work and the unpleasantness, unpleas-antness, like the smell, (mink farms have an odor all their own, quite unique to the industry.) have their reward. As Bus used to say, "Smell? I love that smell! That's the smell of money!" One employee told me, "It's hard work, but we can't complain. Ella is always working with us. In fact she works four times harder than most of us." v' I'm told Bus was the same way. In addition to running one of the most successful mink farms in the country, Bus was also President of the National Association of Fur Breeders for three terms, a leader in developing a sports program for the youth in the area, a sponsor of an adult softbill team, and an active supporter of the Miss Utah-Miss Utah-Miss America program. Active Ac-tive in church, civic and community projects. Bus was in fact, something of a living legend. Everyone who knew him loved him. Everyone who knows Ella loves her. Everybody loves a good success story. Of it BMiilH Ill wWxmW9KlkWSM 4 '-llMWK ;F4 '44s'::.:;4i4i'.-:SMMWi 4 8:44:4:4; . ':'-gS?i r i 9 K . :-:y-:-. . .. ,,v . fcv---i:.1.-,vy:-.v..:(., " " ' ? s; ' t ; 'w.. ( t 1 i t I i r t f i s t f ; i ( r 'j n i i ! i .' I " M i I U ! ! ! i ; i ; i . 3 r.-nrtf n iiwwwwpiiiiMMiiiiwiMWirtMMMMiriWiitii ii m'fnrrf iSfitil"'""" T . feaiiiiittaal """"" "" Facing Page: Lower left hand corner. Ella and long time helper, friend and Mother-in-Law, in common, Veltna Judd. Top. John Senior. Bottom. Getting ready to pull the skin. This page: Top, Johnie and helpers grading mink. Center, graded mink laying lay-ing in pens waiting to be skinned. Bottom. Ella skinning mink, pelts lie in forground. |
