Changes are happening here on the farm. It’s clipping time for the bunnies. Some of them really seem to like it. There are 2 ways to harvest fiber from fiber bunnies, clipping the fiber and plucking the fiber. It can depend on what breed of angora bunny you have I am most familar with french and english angoras. There are other breed the satin, german, and giant angora. Some breeds do not molt so they can only be clipped. Here are some pictures that show plucking and clipping.
Cocoa before pluck
As you can see the new coat is growing in under the old coat which loosens it up just like a cat or dog sheds.
Here is the same rabbit partially plucked.
Here is another rabbit in need of plucking or a haircut. You will notice that the main part of the color is at the tip of hair and it becomes white toward the root.
Here is after a clip sometimes referred to as the puppy cut. How cute!
After all that plucking and clipping I end up with this:
After I collect the fiber I can either spin as it is(it’s pretty clean except for the occasional piece of hay) or blend it with other fibers to spin.
Tags: angora rabbit fiber, angora rabbits, animal rescueanimals rescue maine, fiber animal products, fiber animals, raising fiber animals
