30 BULLETIN 301, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
COSTS. 
The cost of establishing a fox ranch varies according to the mate- 
rials used, transportation facilities, and the proportion of labor per- 
formed by the owner. The factor}' price of the netting described 
in the section relating to inclosures is from 1 to 2 cents a square 
foot, according to the mesh and size of wire, when sold in rolls 
containing 150 linear feet. It is manufactured in the various 
widths required for different parts of the fences. The cost of netting 
for a 2-pair ranch would thus be about $225. The posts, sawed 
lumber, and miscellaneous hardware to complete the ranch might 
cost S100. Ordinarily in a fur country the expense for lumber 
would not be great. A considerable saving can sometimes be made 
by building the guard fence of boards instead of netting. The 
average life of the netting is about 12 years, except when exposed 
to sea air, in which case it is only about 8 or 10 years. 
Feeding a fox costs from S5 to 815 a year. On a farm where there 
are cows and where grain and vegetables can be raised it is not neces- 
sary to buy very much fox food. Except on large ranches devoted 
exclusively to fox raising and where a special keeper must be em- 
ployed, the care of a few foxes will not entail much outlay. 
The present demand for silver foxes and their relative scarcity 
place them, as stock, beyond reach of the ordinary purse. In de- 
termining a reasonable price for a breeding pair, there must be taken 
into consideration the value of the skins they may be expected to 
produce, the cost of annual maintenance, the probable deterioration 
of stock, possibility of loss through death or otherwise, and the ques- 
tion of reasonable profit from the young produced. There is a tendency 
to overestimate the value of fox skins which is well exemplified by 
the following: The average minimum value of a pelt, as estimated 
for 133 silver tox skins of all grades offered in June, 1914, at a London 
auction sale was about $150, although at the sales they realized an 
average of only SI 18 each. The fixed annual charges against a pair 
of silver foxes will vary with the locality and value of equipment, etc. 
On some ranches it has been estimated about as follows : Interest on 
cost of yards, S10; depreciation of yards, S10: food. $20; and attend- 
ance, $50; amounting to $90; added to this must be a reasonable 
charge for interest on the original cost of the pair. Killing foxes at 
the age of 4 or 5 years, when their pelts are good, and breeding 
always from young stock may be practicable, but this point has not 
yet been decided. As a rule, one may expect to keep choice animals 
as long as they are productive: that is, about 10 years. Deteriora- 
tion, therefore, on the live stock will be 10 per cent; and to this 
should be added 10 per cent for insurance against loss by death, 
escape, or theft. Prolific animals belonging to choice strains, in 
which a superior color and quality of fur have been fixed, are worth 
