Who says that when you raise livestock on the homestead, it should all be for feeding the family? Maybe initially, however with time you can afford to just enjoy raising different animals for fun. For example, we are already raising cows for beef, pigs for meat, chickens, quail, geese, turkeys and more. Now I want to explore the possibility of raising rabbits for wool.

Selecting Your Perfect Fiber Breed

As far as I have gathered, the Angora rabbit breed is the perfect choice for fiber. The four main ones I should consider are the English Angora, French Angora, Giant Angora and Satin Angora. The three major differences between the them are their size, the amount of wool they produce and how extensive the grooming they require. I personally think I will start with the French Angora, it requires less grooming but produces a relatively good amount of wool.

Feeding & Caring For Your Rabbits

The best thing about this whole experiment, is I already have experience taking care of rabbits. The feeding is pretty much the same as for other rabbits. However, the wool rabbits require more hay for their digestive systems and if available papaya tablets too. Another major difference, is the amount of grooming that wool rabbits demand. If you do not have ample time available, then select a less demanding breed, that you can handle.

Harvesting Your Rabbit’s Fiber

As long as you take good care of your rabbits, you should have enough wool available for harvesting every year. Harvesting can be done one of two ways, either by hand plucking or shearing. This can be done at least three times each calendar year, with each rabbit producing at least 8 ounces of wool and as much as 32 ounces. Don’t be afraid to harvest the fiber, your rabbits actually need you to do this in order to keep the fiber in excellent condition.

You can get more information on the Hobby Farms blog, here…

Raising Rabbits For Fiber

You can watch the video below on how to harvest angora rabbit fiber…

You can watch the video below on Angora rabbit breeding & raising….

You can watch the video below on spinning angora yarn right off the bunny!…

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