THE RECENTLY-CONCLUDED MINK BREEDING SEASON in North America apparently went very well with no major problems reported. According to ranching sources, the number of females bred was up slightly in the U.S., but down an estimated 5% to 10% in Canada, primarily in the important Nova Scotia region. Although labor shortages and increases in feed and other costs are common to ranchers on both sides of the border, such problems are described as more severe in Canada and were said to have led some smaller farms to cut back or pelt out. The recent strengthening of the Canadian dollar also has translated into lower incomes for those producers.

Current estimates are that it now costs a North American farmer between $35 and $40 to bring a mink to market, about $5 more than it did a few years ago. This includes raising the mink and processing it, as well as auction fees, with Canadians at the upper end of that range. The average price of mink (male/female) at last year's auctions in North America was $47.50, which was down 22% from the peak reached the previous year. Prices are up again this year and could return to the $60 level attained in 2006. But mink prices have never been constant, tracing a pattern of big peaks and valleys over the years.

THE PICTURE IS NOT MUCH DIFFERENT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ATLANTIC, in Finland for example, where similar cost problems are compounded by an ageing rancher population. Although prices have been satisfactory, the rate of attrition due to age also has been high. The Finns define young as under 40 and indicate that there are only "a handful" of them still around. If and when prices go down again, a significant number of the older generation is expected to pelt out.