All you need to know about feeding, cages and
care.
Raising rabbits for meat and fur is a
good way to make money but only if you do it on a large scale, and it should be
done as supplementary income only. The initial costs in setting-up is small,
rabbits breed quickly and frequently, they have large litters and grow to a
good marketable size in a very short time. However, it is a full time job with
daily rabbit care and good feeding needed.
Rabbit Raising: Determining a Market
Like any business, if you want to make a
profit with rabbits you really need to assess the market. Do your homework
first, before making an investment to see if there is a market and where the
market is. Is there a market for rabbit meat, rabbit fur or both?
Once you have established whether there
is a market or not, find out where you will be able to slaughter the animals.
Some slaughter houses will expect you to transport the live animals to them.
And sometimes you can find a local butcher who will be able to slaughter and
dress the rabbits.
Rabbit Raising: Choosing the right Rabbit Breed
Once you have established your rabbit
market and have found outlets to sell to, you will need to find the perfect
rabbit for your climate. Most rabbits will tolerate cooler weather, but those
who live in a more temperate area will be able to be bred 4 times a year if you
are keeping NZ
Whites. Chinchilla Rex rabbits, kept for fur,
usually give birth twice a year.
Although there are more than 60 rabbit
breeds and varieties, most of these can be divided into 3 different groups:
- Small Breeds that weigh little than a 2 pounds fully grown, such as
the Polish rabbit.
- Medium Breeds that have an average adult weight of about 10 pounds.
Rabbits in this category are the New
Zealand, California and Palomina.
- Large Breeds that have an average adult weight of 14 pounds.
Good profits really come down to starting
with a good breed.
One of the most popular rabbits for
raising rabbits on a commercial scale is the New
Zealand white rabbit, which is not
from New Zealand, despite its name, but from America. It has good white fur and
a good percentage of flesh to bone. Therefore the New Zealand White is a good
dual-purpose rabbit. Other good dual-purpose rabbits are the American
Chinchilla and
the Californian Rabbit.
Rabbit Breeds for Fur
For those raising rabbits for their fur
then the Angora Rabbit and the Rex Rabbits are breeds that are best suited for this
purpose and fetch good prices, especially the Chinchilla Rex and other Rex
breeds like the Castor Rex and the White Rex Rabbits.
One thing to remember though is that
where the turnaround time for meat rabbits is about 2 months, fur rabbits are
kept for 3-5 months before being slaughtered.
Rabbit Raising: Look for Good Rabbit Breeding
Stock
Your New Zealand white rabbit should have
a low set body, deep shoulders, and short neck, legs and ears.
Your rabbits will continue to make money
for you as long as you maintain good breeding stock. Therefore, not all your
rabbits will be sent to the slaughter house. Your breeders will soon need
replacing and your litters should be examined for breeding potential. These
then should be kept back and used as breeding stock when you need to replace or
increase your stock.
A good New Zealand white doe can be bred
at the age of 6 months and if conditions are ideal she can be bred 4 times a
year. Breeding does are usually kept for 2 years before they are slaughtered.
On average they can give birth to 80 young a year. The buck may be bred up to 7
times a week effectively. He can be used for mating at the age of 7 months.
The young are born within 28–31 days of
mating and a normal rabbit litter is around 6-8 kittens but can range from two
to twelve. The rabbits should be kept until they weigh about 1.8-2kg each
before being sent to be butchered. This normally takes about 2 months. However,
one should also be aware that by the time the rabbit is butchered and dressed
it will have lost about 33% of its original weight. The bigger the breed, the
more loss there will be, sometimes as much as 45%. Therefore a 3kg rabbit
before being butchered will weigh about 2kg after being butchered.
The other advantage of raising rabbits is
that they can be bred throughout the year bringing a steady income. A person on
their own with no extra help can easily manage to look after 500 does. However,
most people who raise rabbits for profit as a backyard venture operate much
smaller farms. However, even working with 100 does will bring in a healthy and
steady monthly income.
Just because you are raising rabbits for
profit doesn’t mean that you don’t have to give them the same treatment you
would if it were a pet. In fact, because these animals are the lynch pin to
your profit they should be given extra care and attention. The most important
is of course housing and food.
Housing will probably be your most
expensive outlay. There is always the possibility of buying second hand cages,
or making your own. There are some rabbit breeders who hang the cages in unused
sheds, and others who place the cages outside, under some old tree. However, if
you are serious about raising rabbits for meat and profit, then you should
think about raising them in a controlled environment, as this will give you a
better feed-to-meat conversion.
Rabbits need plenty of light and fresh
air. Their hutches can be simple structures of wood and wire. One problem with
wood however, is that many rabbits who have a close encounter with wood are
susceptible to ear mites.
Rabbits should have a roof that protects
them from the sun as a rabbit’s fur should not be exposed to the sun if you are
raising rabbits for fur. Also, there should be a canvas curtain that can be
dropped over the cases to prevent chilling winds and rain from entering. In the
hot summer months a sprinkler system can be placed on the roof to cool the
hutches down.
The rabbit hutches should be 10 feet
square in space for each rabbit. Individual hutches can be made using the
following dimensions: 4ft x 2.5ft x 2ft. If you live in an area where you have
cold winters then the top, sides and backs should be built of wooden board to
give added protection. If, however, you live in a warm climate you will need to
give your rabbits better circulation and to take advantage of any breeze.
The cages here can be made out of wire
netting on all sides. Using a 1 inch wire netting is sufficient. The floor of
the cages should be 1/2 inch metal hardware cloth that allows the rabbit stability
when walking and allows for the droppings and urine to fall through to the
ground. The smaller diameter holes is also important for rabbit safety, as
bigger holes can result in baby rabbits breaking their legs if they end up
slipping through the bigger gaps in the netting.
Having a floor like this on the cages
allows for the rabbits to be free from most diseases as they are in clean,
sanitary conditions.
Anything made to house your rabbits
should be strong enough to protect them against predators and the elements.
This is especially important when a doe has kittens. Any nervous doe faced with
danger may end up standing all over kittens and killing them.
Raising rabbits has an excellent
by-product for your garden and veggie patch! Rabbit manure is very good for the
compost heap and for growing vegetables and so it is advisable to buy or make
deep metal trays and place these directly under the cages. This then makes for
easy cleaning and easy transportation of the manure to the compost heap when
they are full. Cleanliness is vital for good rabbit raising.
When the young rabbits have reached the
age of 8-10 weeks of age they will need to be separated and placed in
individual cages. This is to prevent the rabbits from fighting, as they will if
you don’t separate them.
Rabbit Raising: Breeding Boxes
When raising rabbits your breeding does
should have their own nesting boxes. These rabbit nesting boxes should be 1 1/2
feet long, 1 foot wide and 1 foot high. There should be a 7 inch door cut in
the box which is cut 5 inches from the bottom. This then prevents the young
rabbits from falling out of the boxes.
You will know when your doe is needing
her nest box when she starts pulling the fur from her dewlap. She will also
take the hay that you are feeding her to create a nest.
When the kittens are born they are
hairless and born with their eyes closed. Fur begins to grow in by day 5 or 6
and after 10 to 12 days their eyes will open. At the age of three weeks their
mother will begin to wean them off milk and they will then begin to eat hay and
pellets.
Rabbit Raising: What and What not to feed your
Rabbits
Rabbits eat a lot of grass and leaves,
but any food given to them should never be placed on the bottom of the cages in
case they peed on or pooped on. A manger should be built for each cage that
would allow the food to be kept under sanitary conditions.
If you are not able to build managers,
then the food should be placed in bundles and then hung from the sides of the
cage, allowing the rabbits to help themselves when hungry. Any wire or string
used to do this should be in short pieces to prevent the rabbits from coming to
any harm.
They should be fed twice a day and greens
and water are the basis to your rabbit’s diet but if you introduce anything new
to your rabbits do it slowly, as their digestive systems can become upset.
Not all greens are good for rabbits.
Never feed them lettuce. Lettuce contains lactucarium, which can give your
rabbit diarrhoea so badly that it can become fatal. Other common foods to avoid
include cabbage, parsnips, swedes, potato tops, and tomato leaves.
Hay should be given as part of their
diet. It should be well dried and free of mould. Alfalfa, clover and even
peanut hay is acceptable. Oats, wheat, barley and corn can also be fed to give
a more balanced diet, with occasionally small amounts of sulphur, charcoal and
cod liver oil.
Watch rabbits though! They are very
crafty animals and will favour barley and wheat over corn. Rabbits also like
carrots and should be fed the odd one now and again. Finally, a block of salt
should be placed in each hutch so that the rabbit can nibble on it when needed.
Water is very important and they should
never be without. It must be replaced daily and using an automatic water
container is usually the best option which can be fixed to the cages.
Rabbit Illnesses
If your rabbit hutches are kept clean and
they are fed properly they will suffer from few illnesses, especially when
compared to other livestock. However, there are 2 illnesses that can occur with
raising rabbits and that is the snuffles and coccidiosis which is a worm
infection that chickens also suffer from.
Any rabbit that has either of these 2
diseases should be destroyed immediately and their hutches thoroughly sanitized
and sterilized to prevent the rest of your rabbits from contamination.
Rabbit Raising: How Profitable is It?
When you start with rabbits you will soon
realize that it doesn’t take long to increase your stock. If you started with
just 2 doe and 1 buck you could soon have 50 rabbits or more after the 1st
year. If you had 50 – 150 does, this would definitely mean a steady source of
income and would also take up a substantial amount of time during the day for
their care.
People are beginning to see that rabbit
meat is good for you. It may be firmer than chicken, but the taste is very
similar. Rabbit meat is high in protein and low in fat and calories.
Not only can one use these animals for
their meat, but another by-product is their fur. The pelts can be used to make
a number of items such as slippers, fur trimmed garments, hats etc.
Rabbit manure is also highly valued, and
can be bagged and sold to gardeners. It is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus. The
beauty of using rabbit manure on plants is that it can be used straight away without
having to worry about whether it will burn the plants after application.
At one stage, farmers in Europe were
getting 2 Euros a kilo for their rabbit meat, which they considered to be a
good price. When you have a dual-purpose rabbit like the New Zealand white
rabbit then the sale of those pelts can range from anywhere from 15-50 cents
depending on where your market is. However, the Chinchilla Rex commands the
most money. Next comes the Castor Rex and then the White Rex.
One has to remember too that when the
kittens are born you will also suffer losses. Many rabbit breeders expect
losses of 25%. Rex animals are more difficult to breed and their average litter
is about 6 kittens. Their conditions are different too. They have to be kept in
separate cages to protect the fur. They are sent to slaughter in individual
boxes and their slaughtering is done manually and slowly so as not to damage
the fur.
In the USA, meat is sold at various
prices, depending on where you live. On average, however, at 2013 prices,
rabbit meat can be sold retail for $6 -8 a pound, dressed.
Raising rabbits is a pleasurable
experience. Success to raising rabbits for profit are determined by 3 things:
- A good breeding program
- Proper equipment
- Good care
However, with all food products there are
rules and regulations that you will need to abide by set by your local council
body. Make sure that you know these before you decide to go into raising
rabbits for meat.
References
·
Michigan
University https://www.canr.msu.edu/resources/rabbit_tracks_feeds_and_feeding
·
Countryfarm
Lifestyles https://www.countryfarm-lifestyles.com/
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