A rarely exploited source of income from fluffies is to sell their hides. Fluffy fur had become one of the newest materials to be used in the fashion industry due to its silky texture and naturally bright, vibrant colors. (Previously to get any of these colors required dyeing and would not come close color-wise to fluffy fur.) Even the colors that are less popular in pet fluffies (and among fluffies themselves) sell well as they are the more neutral colors that always have a place in fashion.
Fluffy fur can come from any type of fluffy including pillowfluffs. If you plan on using regular fluffies as your stock you will have to do extra fluff-proofing for their living quarters and restrict their time outside. One of the strongest arguments for the use of amputees is that they are immobile so extra fluff-proofing is not required and you will need less space to house them, the second is that it is easy to find pillowfluffs in a wide range of colors and low cost at your local pet store or shelter. Unfortunately unlike breeding fluffies to sell as pets, this is not something you can do on a very small scale with a handful fluffies, you will need to have a reasonably large stock to make the venture profitable. The easiest way to go is to combine your fluffy fur business with another fluffy based business. The best match of course is to combine it with a regular fluffy farm. Fluffy hides are a waste product of eating fluffy meat and it only takes a few additional steps to sell the hides and make additional money from your stock. The second is as an add-on to a breeding operation. In this scenario it is an easy way to dispose of poor colored fluffies that are not selling and any breeding stock that is past itss prime. In addition, you can add additional fluffies just for fur production, many breeders chose to add pillowfluffs as fur only stock.
One of the most important things to keep in mind is that damage to the skin will cause fur growth to be uneven and reduce the price you can receive for a hide, so you will need to find methods of discipline that will not cause skin damage on the main fur bearing parts of the body. In addition, this also means that your fluffies will need to be kept in clean living accommodations, bathed regularly and have a good diet to avoid any damage to the fur and hide. Due to the conditions they are kept in it is not recommended to use milkbags as for fur, even in the most humane milkbag set ups there is too much damage and degradation to the skin and fur for them to produce even the lowest quality fluffy fur. It is best to wait until fluffies are full grown to harvest them for hides to get the maximum amount of fur, and some recommend overfeeding the fluffies to get a larger hide, but this is not required.
When it comes time to process your stock to harvest their fur you have two options. The first and easiest is to make arrangements to have them killed and processed at a local processing plant, they have the skills to butcher and skin animals correctly which will maximize the amount of money you can get for your hides. The other option is to do the processing yourself. If you chose to go this route it is recommended that you go through training to learn how to skin and butcher animals correctly so that you can preserve the value of the hides. In this scenario you would not be able to sell the meat as it would not meet health and safety regulations. It may be still suitable for personal use based on your local laws. Regardless of how the fluffies were processed from this point you will need to sell your hides to a tannery. The tannery will then take the hides, remove any remaining flesh, clean them, and then tan the hides. After tanning is complete the hides will be washed again and tumbled to soften them so that they can be sewn easily. From there the tannery will sell the hides on to leather suppliers who will sell them to designers and craters. Fluffy hides are not strong enough to make the structural parts of a garment but are perfect for a flash of color or as a fur trim. Due to the color variations found among fluffies it is difficult to find hides that match exactly, so it is generally only used in small amounts as an accent although many designers have found they can create stunning stoles made from fluffy fur in varying shades of brown or create a one of a kind piece by laboriously finding matching hides.
Another way to profit from fluffy fur is to take part in one of the feral fluffy culls that occur in areas with high feral populations. There are several types of culls. One is to offer a bounty on dead fluffies or their hides, you are paid per hide presented to the cull management agent, your payment will depend on the colors and quality of the hides presented. This is similar to the programs run for other invasive species like cane toads and has been proved to be pretty effective. The second type of cull is an organized hunt, in those cases you would join the hunt and be paid a wage for each day of the hunt you work. Finally some areas apply regular wildlife management techniques, so there is a set fluffy hunting season and hunters purchase tags that allow then to hunt. If you are interested in any of these options check with your local game and wildlife management agency.
Note: Many people that are just starting out often ask about doing their own tanning. Yes, you can buy tanning kits but those are designed to only do a few hides at a time and generally leaves the hides stiff. They can be broken (softened up) but that is long, tedious, and back breaking work. Doing anything larger than that as an individual would really be more trouble than it is worth since tanning is a highly regulated industry. It’s just easier to leave it to the professionals.