It's official, we have enough fiber to sell! Yesterday my mother and I bagged the first ounce of tort fleece that I will be selling to someone on our waiting list. We have a few things to do first, however.
This weekend my mother came to visit, bringing six bags of shredded newspapers, plus more shreddable paper! Our other business partner came to visit as well, bringing armloads of old newspapers, as she works for a newspaper about 3.5 hours away. I will not have a bedding shortage again for some time!
Yesterday my mother and I got some rabbit chores done. We shredded some of the newspapers our other business partner brought, we cleaned the cages, and we brushed and plucked the rabbits. The black buck is getting to the point where he has harvestable fiber, so we are starting to collect his fleece. The broken tort doe is coming along, with a fleece that is nearing the high point of harvesting. The tort doe, which was so full fleeced when we got her, is coming down from her high point now. We have harvested nearly all the fiber from her back, and one plucking session brings us two or three handfuls of fiber. Her sides and hips still have a good amount of fleece on them, so we will still be getting fiber off her for a while yet.
The most exciting part of the week was that we weighed the fiber yesterday and we had 1.5 ounces of tort fiber! That means that I can sell to the woman that is on our waiting list! I bagged one ounce and labeled it, now we just need to get ourselves in gear when it comes to business cards and colorway labels so I can send cards out with the product. As for the other counts, we now have .5 ounces of broken tort and .1 ounces of black. Don't forget, we're taking orders!!! Please feel free to email us or leave a comment on the blog if you're interested in our angora fiber!
Tip of the Week: We've continued working with our broken tort doe to work on her aggression issue. She's only aggressive when I try to take her out of her cage, so I've been opening her cage door all the way and putting food just inside the door. I remain standing by the door, and eventually she comes forward to eat and I try to pet her gently while she's eating. She's still jumpy, but it seems to be helping a bit. However, gloves are still a must, as she latched on to my mother's finger yesterday when we were trying to get her out to brush her. Thankfully the leather work gloves my mother were wearing prevented her from feeling a thing. I'm sure that if I keep working with the broken tort slowly but surely I can get her to the point where I can take her out of her cage freely.
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