Nutria supply!

[Walt]

Too bad all these critters couldn't have been processed to make fur felt bodies for hats, but it looks to be a little too late now!

The story about the hurricane flood and the nutria is at http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...ia-pile-up-on-mississippi-beaches-after-isaac

I think all of us that have Nutria felt body hats love that felt (I have two 50's/early 60's Stetson campaign Nutria quality myself)!

Maybe there is a business opportunity somewhere in this story. I'm a little to far away from that part of the country but maybe you guys who are closer should look into it. Assuming there isn't some law that prevents harvesting those invasive critters. Sounds like there is still lots of them to trap!

 

[Dixon Cannon]

All that nutritious meat gone to waste!

-dixon cannon

 

[David Conwill]

Every time I hear what a nuisance nutria are in the South, I wish someone would start trapping them on a commercial scale for felt. Seems like a better option than rabbit all around.

 

[johnnycanuck]

I know a few farmers and you can still trap and skin beavers for money but when you kill the thing skin it and dry the hide it’s not really financially worth it.
Just what I have heard.
Johnny

 

[Landman]

Just last night I watched some TV show about trappers in Alaska. One trapper said he gets about $100.00 for one beaver pelt. After watching what he had to go through to trap a beaver I can see why it is not very profitable.

 

[Walt]

The report linked to in the article says this about Nutria:

Deliberate Introduction: Other
Fur Industry—Historically, native mammals, including muskrat, beaver, wild mink, fox, and bobcat,
have been trapped for fur in the Gulf South. In the 1930s, fur interests and others introduced nutria to
Louisiana, primarily to offer a new fur resource to the state, and secondarily as a biocontrol for the
invasive plant water hyacinth. Although legend says that Tabasco Sauce™ tycoon E.A. McIllhenny
was responsible for the escape of 20 nutria held at Avery Island, recently discovered documents
indicate that fur trappers or growers deliberately released nutria at several other locations in coastal
Louisiana in the 1930s and 1940s.50
Until about 15 years ago, nutria harvesting was so profitable that harvests exceeded 1,000,000
individuals every year between 1961 and 1980, when the price per pelt hovered between $7 and $8.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, in Louisiana, nutria fur harvests were a $15 million per year
industry. In 1988, a few years after the price of nutria fur peaked, and the number of animals
harvested annually fell, landowners began noticing an increase in the nutria population and in
damage to vegetation occurring on their properties.51
A variety of factors contributed to the decline of the nutria market, including a series of mild winters in
Europe and Russia, previously the largest importers of nutria furs; an overproduction of ranch mink,
which lowered the price of mink fur; a saturation of the fur market among people most likely to
purchase fur coats; and an increased preference for leather coats, particularly for women. Contrary
to popular belief, the animal rights movement caused, at most, a minor impact on this decline.
Despite concerted efforts to increase demand, the demand for nutria never rebounded.52
Over the last 20 years, this South American rodent has become one of the Gulf South’s most
notorious invasive species, wreaking ecological havoc on native wetland vegetation and contributing
to coastal erosion problems.

 

[Walt]

All that nutritious meat gone to waste!

-dixon cannon

Have you heard anything about how they taste? Like chicken?

Might be a hard sale in the US but I was thinking since Asian cultures seem to like "exotic" cuisine it might sell there.

 

[Walt]

After some further research I found that there has been attempts to popularize it is a food, but with limited success apparently. The Louisiana government has a web site with recipes and info on how to cook them.

Some States are also paying small bounties on them.

Does anyone know if any of the custom hatters out there are using Nutria felt bodies to make hats these days?

 

[Hoyt Clagwell]

Have you heard anything about how they taste? Like chicken?

Might be a hard sale in the US but I was thinking since Asian cultures seem to like "exotic" cuisine it might sell there.

I have never eaten nutria, but if they are anything like muskrat they would be very good. Rich dark meat, nothing at all like chicken. I prefer it to rabbit.

 

[splintercellsz]

If I knew how to make hats, and had the money, I would use the Nutria!

 

[Walt]

I have never eaten nutria, but if they are anything like muskrat they would be very good. Rich dark meat, nothing at all like chicken. I prefer it to rabbit.

The Louisiana web site has pictures of the steaks and they are very red. I was joking about chicken.

 

[gtdean48]

...
Does anyone know if any of the custom hatters out there are using Nutria felt bodies to make hats these days?

Art Fawcett's Hicthhiker & Journeyman models are Nutria blend felt bodies.

 

[Rudie]

Nutria is actually very delicious. I remember that a friend of my dad's used to have a nutria farm for a while. We were visiting him once and had a nutria roast. Very yummy.

BTW, do you still believe the fairy tales about animal fats and cholesterol being harmful? That misinformation is scientifically proven wrong over and over again. Processed carbohydrates like sugar and white flour as well as excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils (e.g. corn, soybean or sunflower) are the killers. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease

 

[danofarlington]

A custom hatmaker I know says that nutria fur is hard to work with.

 

[Rabbit]

A custom hatmaker I know says that nutria fur is hard to work with.

We have covered this topic before, haven't we?

Nutria fur has many sides to it. Good for spiffing up rabbit felt to make it tougher (for certain purposes), also good for more expensive fur felt blends with beaver. Generally not a good choice for pure felts - a 100% Nutria would be too coarse a felt.

Nutria meat really is quite delicious, not unlike a suckling. Many Farmers in the European countries continued raising small numbers of Nutria after the market for Nutria fur went down, just for their meat.

 

[Rudie]

Rabitt, I have a vintage Borso Nutria, and the felt is gorgeous. Do you happen to know if these Borsos are pure nutria or blends?

 

[Rabbit]

Rudie, I have a Borso Nutria from the 1950s or very early 60s at the latest myself, and the felt is beautiful. It takes dry creases anywhere, and holds them.

I don't know whether they're blends or not. Personally, I believe they're blends as the surface of the felt has properties of the other (non-Nutria) vintage Borsalino felts as well as the distinct, coarser texture and at the same time lustrous surface of Nutria.

The best vintage felts were not necessarily pure whatnots. As a matter of fact, the thin, lightweight Borsalino felts (especially the ones up to the 1950s) so cherished by Loungers were almost certainly blends with rabbit in them.

Here's a few shots of my Borsalino 1950s Nutria Homburg Gulaita - Torio c. Nero:

 

[Grizzly Adams]

Just last night I watched some TV show about trappers in Alaska. One trapper said he gets about $100.00 for one beaver pelt. After watching what he had to go through to trap a beaver I can see why it is not very profitable.

Trapping is, and always has been, labor intensive. However, it has, and still does, provide a source of income for many residents of rural Alaska, who live a subsistence life style. The price paid for fur, like any other commodity, goes up and down depending on current fashion and demand. I spent 25 years in rural Alaska, and heard lots of stories from old timers telling how it took a stack of beaver pelts as tall as a Winchester is long in trade for a rifle. They considered it a bargain for such a tool, as they had no other source of income.

 

[alanfgag]

Nutria can be silky.

 

[RBH]

Nutria is actually very delicious.

Granny had it right all them years ago....





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