Breeding Season Mink at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

As with fox, mink, and chinchilla, nutria became an item for breeding season mink-stock promoters. In the early 1960's, however, the ballyhoo subsided and the raising of nutria settled down to a serious occupation. The advantage of farm-bred nutria, as with other ranched animals, is the ability to produce uniform colors and qualities which facilitate marketing. breeding season mink and Pelting.—The usual breeding season mink season for mink is early March, when the females enter their estrous cycle. Mink reach sexual maturity during the first year, at the age of about 10 months. There is only one breeding season mink season during the year. A widely practiced breeding season mink system is to mate each female twice at an interval of 7 to 10 days. An analysis of ranch data shows better production obtained from those animals mated twice.

The standard dark mink is, in reality, a mutation developed by crossing and selective breeding season mink of the various geographical "races" of wild mink for the dark color. Dark mink usually are the same color over the entire body surface, but there is a greater concentration of pigment in some areas. As a result, the head, tail, and feet appear darker, and there is a dark dorsal stripe (also known as the "grutzen") extending down the back from head to tail. The eyes, nose, and claws are dark brown. Frequently there are white markings on the belly, chin, throat, and breast. The standard dark mink is the norm to which all mutations may be compared, and from which the other color phases have been developed.

These organizations had their beginning in the United States. Oldest of these was the United Mink Producers Association, formed in 1934 to handle dark mink. A competitor organization formed later was the Great Lakes Mink Association. The Emba Mink Breeders Association, which represents the majority of mutation producers, is an outgrowth of the Silverblu Platinum Mink Association, the group responsible for the launching of the first mutation mink produced on fur ranches in 1944. The principal counterparts of these groups are the Canada Mink Breeders (at one time part of the Emba group) and the Scandinavian (Saga) Fur Committee.