In a posh boutique in Seattle, Washington, I discovered a rack of what appeared to be luxurious high fashion fur stoles, with a high fashion price tag to match. They turned out to be humanely crafted pure Angora wool garments.

How you can profit from the versatile wool of the Angora bunny

Wool from the Angora rabbit never seems to go out of style. Angora rabbits are the source of Angora wool (whereas Angora goat wool is called mohair). The special attributes of wool from the Angora bunny lend themselves well to a number of traditional and newer niche markets. The rabbits are sometimes called urban sheep because premium wool can be produced in small areas.

Unique, Rare Qualities of this Natural Fiber

The hollow structure of Angora bunny wool makes it the lightest known natural fiber. It reportedly has anti-static qualities, which repel dirt, and the Angora bunny has few sebaceous glands that produce grease. (This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site). The resulting fiber is very clean with no odor.

Although the rabbits must be groomed regularly, once the wool is harvested, some Angora rabbit owners even say that this harvested wool is "already carded."

Angora is comfortable against the skin, absorbing moisture while allowing the skin to breathe and helping the skin's surface maintain a steady temperature. Though reports vary, most research has found Angora wool to be three to seven times warmer than sheep's wool.

It is very durable and hand washable. Angora bunny wool comes in many natural colors including chocolate, fawn, charcoal, black, lilac, chestnut, copper, tortoise, chinchilla (a shade of gray), opal, blue and others including a snowy white wool that takes conventional and natural dyes extremely well.

Wool rabbits must be trained

If you plan to raise angora rabbits for their wool, they need to trust their handlers for regular brushing and wool harvesting. They have temperaments far different than cats and dogs.

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Harvesting the Wool

Most breeds shed their underwool naturally one to four times a year, which is when they are 'plucked' or hand picked, meaning the gentle removal of the long, naturally shed wool from their coats. Plucking allows more of the soft, fine fibers to be harvested rather than mixing it with the coarser fibers that are more often included in the sheared wool harvest, creating a rare and luxurious product for market.

Angoras can also be successfully shorn, however, especially the Giant or German Angora (see below). Wool from regular brushings in between shedding is also collected.

Choosing between shearing and plucking depends on what you plan to do with the wool. (This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site).

Thoughts from a successful Angora bunny micro farmer

Tulasi Kilgore, an award-winning handspinner and owner of Wooly Wabbit(T) Farm of Helena, Montana, prefers to work with three-inch to four-inch hand plucked wool. "Shearing creates blunt ends to the fiber, which makes the fiber hard to spin, plus the yarn will not stay twisted," she said. "Also, shearing produces 'second cuts' creating very short pieces of fiber that will not stay in the yarn." She said that if you are handspinning Angora, it's best to hand pluck the longest clean parts of the fiber, and shear the shorter spots.

Fiber that comes from combing, brushing, and shearing can be used for blending with other fibers for spinning, or felting. "Wools of other animals tend to have more of a 'bounce' or spring to them than Angora," she said, "which has a relaxed texture, so Angora can also be successfully blended with other fibers such as mohair or very fine lambs' wool to combine their attributes into a unique product."

Niche Markets: Old-fashioned hand-spun vs. machine and mass produced

The mass production of Angora bunny wool has had its peaks and valleys worldwide, but Angora wool seems to find ongoing success in local and regional niche markets.

Angora wool alone is usually sold by the ounce, with prices depending on the grade and other value-added components (such as hand-tending or allowing customers to visit the rabbit farm, which tends to add to the appreciation of the fiber). (This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site). Bred for centuries as a specialty and luxury wool, Angora wool products have long been considered 'boutique' because of the wool's high price.

Angora products created from hand-spun yarn are reported not to shed as machine spun yarn does, and create a "luxurious fur halo" that machine spinning cannot mimic. In the more luxury and fashion-oriented arena, sweaters are even custom-made in prices ranging into hundreds of dollars for each sweater, exalting the beautiful liveness of the fiber and soft, satiny halo and feel. Christening gowns, baby booties and artist-designed adult garments find niche markets.

Along with luxury, Angora bunny wool now claims the attention of those looking towards natural and humanely raised fibers and unique handcrafted arts and crafts items. The wool of the Angora bunny lends itself well to local or shared-interest groups such as catalogs catering to natural fiber unique children's clothing or local bed and breakfasts and country inns that not only utilize natural fiber blankets, but will sell them to travelers who value locally produced crafted goods.

The natural health movement can be approached with unique items such as Angora covers for neck rolls, slippers and heating pads, and all-natural cuddly toys, garments and blankets for babies and pets. With continuing advances in Internet marketing, specialty items can now expand beyond geographically close niche markets, including athletes worldwide. (This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site).

Because of Angora bunny wool's extra warmth, breathability, and comfort against the skin, it makes an ideal fiber for specialty sport and outdoor next-to-the-skin thermal wear. Boutique and specialty shops and catalogs offer mittens, gloves, socks, slippers, insoles, undershirts, leggings, wrist warmers, scarves and the like which are sold to customers across the globe.

Two more ways to profit from Angoras

Angora bunnies easily add to the appeal of farms that profit by allowing visitors. Everyone loves bunnies, and Angoras must be people-friendly livestock considering how often they are handled by their owners for grooming. Always kept clean and healthy, they create an animal for strong customer draw.

Their droppings make excellent compost or food for worm castings, and in fact, Merry Fischer of Washington State has made rabbit manure worm castings a sideline business. She sells bags of it at farmers' markets and larger outdoor plant sales, collecting the manure from other rabbit breeders in her area who are glad to have it removed.

Angora Bunny Breeds

English Angora

The English Angora is the smallest of the Angora bunny breeds and produces the finest fiber, which is very soft, long and thick. The long body fibers also grow on the face and ears of the rabbit. The English produce both white and natural colors with little 'guard' hair, which some fiber artists prefer. Owners report that this breed is more docile than the other Angora breeds. The guard hair helps keep the wool from matting, and so the English Angora tends to need more brushing and grooming than those with more guard hair.

French Angora

The French breed does not have the thick wool on the head, face, ears or front feet. The French Angora bunny's body, however, produces a fiber considered excellent for handspinning. The French Angoras have a slightly higher percentage of guard hair to underwool than the English, so they need less grooming. Their wool also comes in a wide assortment of colors.

Giant (German) Angora

The Giant Angora bunny was accepted as a distinct breed in the late 1980s and has similar characteristics to the original German Angora it was bred from, although some groups still consider the German Angora rabbit a separate breed from the Giant. The German and Giant Angoras are large, sometimes twice the weight of the English Angora. Their wool is white, and the densest of all breeds with a double undercoat that, unlike the other breeds, rarely molts naturally, sometimes only once a year. Therefore, it is more often sheared rather than plucked. (This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site). Colored Giants have been considered crossbreeds, but some breeders are working towards perfecting purebred colored Giants.

Satin Angora

The English, French and Giant (German) Angora rabbits are believed to have all originated from a common European Angora rabbit. But in Canada, a breeder named Mrs. Leopoldina Meyer noticed a slightly longish haired bunny among a litter of otherwise normal shorthaired Satin rabbits. She bred this Satin rabbit to a French Angora bunny creating offspring with a wonderful sheen to the wool. The breeding continued, and in 1987, the Satin Angora was recognized as a distinct breed. With wool that's considered rare, luxurious and premium, breeders do caution that the Satin Angora also produces the least amount of wool so far than the other breeds, and needs much grooming to keep it tangle-free. The rabbit itself is medium-sized.

The colors and shine of the Satin Angora bunny are quite brilliant, reportedly due to the structure of the hair shaft, which is translucent with the color pigments inside of the hair. The shaft reflects light making the resulting yarn look like spun glass. (This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site). The diameter of each hair is also smaller than some other Angora breeds, and users report it looks and feels like silk. Although it varies, some owners who specialize in this breed pluck the Satin Angora twice a year.
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In purchasing Angoras of any breed, successful rabbit owners feel it may be best to purchase directly from a breeder near you. Debbie and Skip Smith, owners of Iron Horse Farm in Sherborn, Massachusetts, raise English Angoras and explain that they do not ship the offspring due to stress on the rabbits. Another attribute to look for when first purchasing: they handle their rabbits from birth to get them used to human touch and handling, as the regular grooming, shearing and plucking requires a tamed and gentled animal.

-- by Barbara Berst Adams and edited for MEF online use by Amy Rose -

Resources for further information

The American Rabbit Breeders' Association, Inc.
www.arba.net
Phone: 309-664-7500
Fax: 309-664-0941
P.O. Box 426, Bloomington, IL 61702
e-mail: arbapost@aol.com
(This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site).

The National Angora Rabbit Breeders' Club
http://narbc.tripod.com
(This article from the www.MicroEcoFarming.com site).

How to Care For & Train Your Rabbit,

Rabbit Care and Training Secrets.