Currently, there is a tendency (especially among large families) to move to the countryside. This is due to the fact that parents care about creating more favorable conditions for the lives of their children. This is fresh air and environmentally friendly natural products. Most often, such families begin to breed their farm. If the content of cattle and pig breeding for beginner breeders is not always possible, then breeding rabbits at home is quite real. Today in our article we will talk about where to start breeding, about raising and caring for rabbits, and especially about creating comfortable conditions. Such information will be useful to beginner rabbit breeders.
About rabbits
The ancestor of a domestic rabbit is considered a wild rabbit. During the period of the new Stone Age - approximately in the years 4500-2500. BC - the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula caught these animals and kept them in captivity. Then the Romans engaged in domestication, a little later - the French, who raised rabbits in special nurseries. In the XII-XIII centuries, rabbit breeding spread to the rest of Europe. Rabbits appeared in places where they had never met before - in America, New Zealand, Australia and other countries. Today, rabbits are distributed throughout the globe.
Methods and Features
Breeding rabbits is one of the most promising areas for the development of agriculture in Russia. Both small private firms and large livestock complexes deal with it. A huge number of rural residents raise rabbits in a private farm. Interested in animals and citizens who have summer cottages within the city, and now are engaged in breeding rabbits in the country. The popularity of these farm animals is due to many reasons. One of the main ones is that keeping rabbits does not require any special expenses, they are easy to care for, animals are unpretentious in nutrition, eat well and grow quickly, gaining excellent weight in a short period of time. Due to the fact that rabbits multiply rapidly, the livestock grows rapidly, which allows you to quickly recover all expenses and even make a profit. In addition, the delicate and tasty rabbit meat belongs to dietary products, and the fur is of excellent quality and much appreciated.
A large number of rabbit breeders raise animals according to the method of the famous scientist from St. Petersburg I.N. Mikhailova - the so-called accelerated livestock breeding method.
In rabbit breeding, two methods of breeding rabbits are used, which have long been known and have proven themselves well: pure-bred mating of rabbits and their crossbreeding. Purebred mating allows you to enhance the more valuable qualities of a particular breed in the offspring. In this case, mating is done only with the best individuals of this breed. When selecting a female and a male, their compatibility with each other and the compatibility of family lines are strictly taken into account, the so-called productive large group of animals that have one male ancestor. Groups with a common ancestor, the female, are called a family. Lines are the most important link in livestock work, as they allow individuals to be transmitted that transmit useful traits to future generations. The most effective pairing with this method involves pairing grandchildren and great-grandchildren, nephews and nieces. It is better to use this method when breeding work in breeding farms, since when using it at lower levels, you can get the opposite effect, which can result inbreeding.
In the second method, interline crossing (hybridization) occurs. In this case, the best representatives of highly productive lines are crossed among themselves. Do this in order to obtain and consolidate the necessary useful signs. This method allows you to breed a rabbit breed with high vitality, intensive growth, rapid weight gain and high-quality fur or down.
Crossing is divided into different types and implies a narrow use, which is suitable only for breeding. In breeding farms, industrial crossbreeding is used, where rabbits of two different breeds are mated. The significance of this type of crossbreeding is practical when animals are bred, for example, with a specific need: to get more meat or fluff, as well as to have early rabbits with a larger carcass and, which is especially valuable, large skins.
Variable mixing is also used at breeding farms, which means crossing up to three breeds, getting excellent results. The two methods described are closely related to each other and often complement each other when breeding breeds that differ in the best productive and breeding qualities.
Where to start breeding rabbits
First of all, I want to say that raising rabbits is a profitable business that does not require too much material investment from breeders. Here, livestock productivity, meat quality and other parameters directly depend on the conditions of detention and the absence of errors, and income depends on the smoothness of the market. People begin to breed rabbits at home in summer cottages, on small farms and even on balconies. Before you start breeding animals, you need to determine for what purpose you are going to raise them. Currently, a large number of breeds of rabbits have been bred. Therefore, you should first determine and then acquire the appropriate breeds:
- meat, which give meat more than other breeds;
- meat-skins from which both meat and skins are obtained;
- downy (hide), which are grown to obtain fluff or skins.
Breeding rabbits for beginners is best done in several stages. At the first stage, it is necessary to obtain theoretical knowledge, and then evaluate your financial and, no less important, physical capabilities. After you have completed all these conditions, you can begin to choose the breed. It must be remembered that animals cannot be bought until cages have been prepared for them.
How to choose a breed?
Experienced rabbit breeders advise beginners to start breeding rabbits of medium and small breeds at first. Also, they do not recommend containing several different breeds at the same time, because this can be an overwhelming task for beginning rabbit breeders. Despite the fact that today there are about 60 rabbit breeds in great demand, among breeders no more than 13-15 breeds are most common for keeping at home. They are of particular value for the production of meat or fur. The most common breeds of rabbits for home breeding:
- silver;
- Viennese blue;
- white giant;
- Californian white
- flanders;
- gray giant;
- Angora down;
- Californian;
- butterfly.
Before buying rabbits, do not be lazy to find out which breeds are most popular in your region. This information can be useful in order to avoid further difficulties in the sale of animals, as well as products from them.
How to choose?
When breeding rabbits, it is especially important for novice breeders to choose a healthy animal that has the characteristic features of its breed. First of all, they include: the length of the body, the weight characteristic for this type of coat color. A healthy rabbit has a strong body, clean eyes and a shiny coat of fur. When making a purchase, pay attention to the behavior of animals - rabbits or adult rabbits must be active and mobile. It is not recommended to purchase for breeding animals with such defects:
- bent limbs;
- protruding hips;
- exhaustion or vice versa obesity;
- too long head;
- drooping tips of ears;
- sagging stomach or back;
- too crooked paws;
- sticking out in all directions or dropping out pile.
Rabbits: breeding and maintenance
Before doing rabbit breeding, it is necessary to create comfortable conditions, as well as properly build a home. The content of rabbits can be divided into two types:
- Closed rabbits - rabbits are used indoors.
- Open content: on the street - in cages, in aviaries or specially prepared pits.
Animals that grow on the street, usually healthy, seasoned, can tolerate frosts well. Many rabbit breeders use combined methods of keeping: in the cold season they keep rabbits in warm rooms, and as soon as warm days come, they take out eared pets to prepared rooms on the street.
It must be remembered that the cells, regardless of where they are located, must meet all the necessary requirements that are necessary to maintain the health of pets. They should be clean, bright and dry. For rabbits, excessive humidity and drafts are unacceptable. When breeding at home, rabbits, young animals and sexually mature animals are always kept separately. From 3 months old, rabbits can be placed in group cages, and a little later it is better to plant them in individual ones - in order to avoid aggressiveness from other animals. In the rabbit’s cage, which is going to become a mother, it is imperative to place the mother liquor, where it will happen. Little rabbits will live there one month after birth.
Cell selection
For breeding and keeping rabbits, cells can be purchased at any pet store. There are a huge number of different cells that are made up entirely of mesh. They have their own advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include the fact that they are compact, lightweight, easy to maintain. The main disadvantage is that the mesh floor can provoke a paw disease in rabbits - prodermatitis. Such a cage must be insulated when breeding rabbits at home on the street.
If you want material costs to be minimal, you can make the cells yourself. In this case, the following materials will be required:
- wooden planks or beams;
- plywood;
- metal grid;
- slats made of wood.
Experienced rabbit breeders recommend making the floor of wooden battens, the distance between which should be no more than a centimeter. This allows for a longer time to maintain cleanliness in the cells between cleanings. Bunny cages can be built for rabbits using a tree. Particleboard during construction is not recommended, since this material after a short time of use absorbs moisture, swells and crumbles. The internal corners in the cells are studded with iron strips, otherwise the rabbits can simply nibble them; the walls and ceiling in the cage must be made wooden. The floors can be made simply of wood or two-layer: the upper part is a grate (with such cells so that the rabbit's foot does not fall out), the lower one is a wooden pallet.
It is desirable to keep rabbits in the winter in insulated rooms, it is especially important to provide the female with rabbits with heat.
Feeding
Eating rabbits at home should be complete, balanced and arrive in sufficient quantities. Ready-made high-quality feeds that have enough vitamins, minerals and amino acids are considered the best option. You can diversify the diet of rabbits with juicy vegetables, tree branches, green grass and hay.
It is not recommended that animals be given freshly mowed grass; it is better to slightly wither it or silage it.
It is especially important to give animals only fresh feed. In the event that the diet is compiled by the owner of the rabbits, it is necessary to introduce cereals and legumes into it. Be sure to give meat and bone meal, fish meal, introduce whey or reverse into the diet. Rabbits should have clean, fresh water at all times.
Giants
Giant rabbits are considered the largest representatives of the rodent family. There are dozens of large rabbits in the world. The most popular today are:
- Belgian giant
- French ram
- white giant;
- white buscat;
- gray giant.
Let's consider these breeds in more detail.
The Belgian giant is considered one of the largest breeds of rabbits. Thanks to breeding, the weight of one animal can reach 12 kg, it is considered the ancestor of almost all large breeds of rabbits. It has several more names: Riesen, Flanders.
French ram is the most common breed among amateur rabbit breeders. The weight of individuals varies from 6 to 7 kg. The breed is especially famous because of its appearance: among the representatives of this breed hanging ears, animals are sometimes called lop-eared rams. Most often, such rabbits can be found in the household. Farms consider this breed of giant rabbits for breeding not promising.
The white giant is a breed bred in the Soviet Union by selecting albino rabbits from a breed of the Belgian giant. The average adult weight of this breed is 8 kg.
White Buscat - the ancestor of this breed was also a Belgian giant and several more breeds. The average weight is from 6 to 9 kg. This breed is most popular in France, in other countries it is almost not grown.
Gray giant - the Belgian giant and outbred rabbits were taken as the basis for this breed in order to improve the resistance and adaptation of the new breed to the place of residence. The breed was obtained in the Soviet Union. The weight of an adult animal is about 7 kilograms.
Features of breeding large rabbits
When purchasing these rabbit breeds, the following facts should be taken into account: late-rabbit rabbits, puberty occurs at the age of 7-8 months, and sometimes after one year of life. Such breeds are most demanding of the conditions of detention. From the females of these breeds, almost no winter showers are received, since they poorly mate in the autumn-winter period.
Giant Rabbit Feeding
These animals are more whimsical in terms of feeding. When caring for them, there are two main ways of feeding. The first method involves the manufacture of feed by the owner. In this case, the animal’s diet includes hay, vegetables, crops, succulent feed. But this method has a number of disadvantages: without the availability of special skills and knowledge, it is difficult to create a balanced, nutritious diet. There is a difficulty in arranging various types of feeders. There is an urgent need for additional facilities for storing different types of feed.
The second method is considered the best, because in this case the animals are fed with special prepared food, which is considered more professional. In addition to other ingredients, it contains herbal flour, which contains a large amount of vitamins. Special types of feed are also provided for different ages: for example, feed start is intended for feeding young animals, compound feed for young adolescents and before slaughter, feed uterus is used to feed female producers, and male feed is used for feeding male producers.
Aviary
Let us dwell in more detail on breeding rabbits in aviaries. First, what is an aviary? An open-air cage is an open space that is surrounded by a fence on all sides. Its size directly depends on the number of individuals that will be there. For example, on an area of about twenty-five square meters, a female with offspring of up to 20 heads or 30 young rabbits can be placed. In order to exclude flooding of the aviary, it must be arranged on the hills. Walls are made of any available material: it can be wood, slate or metal.
It is better to make one of the four sides of the grid - so that there is good air circulation, as well as the sun penetrates unhindered. The height of the walls should be at least one meter, and it is better if it will be one and a half meters, since rabbits can jump high. To reduce costs, the floor of the enclosure can be left earthen, but then it is necessary to take some measures so that the rabbits do not undermine and escape. , 40-50 . 10 . : , , . , , , , .
Fattening for meat
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Animals are divided into three groups:
First: this group is divided into the first and second subcategory. In rabbits of this group, the muscles are well developed, the processes of the dorsal vertebrae are practically not palpable, the hips are round and well developed. On parts of the body such as the withers, stomach and groin, fat deposits are well felt.
Second: the muscles of this group are slightly less developed muscles, the spinal vertebrae protrude slightly. In animals of the second group, more taut hips, a flatter ass, there may be a lack of body fat.
Third: the rabbits have poorly developed muscles, the vertebrae protrude strongly, the animals are considered lean and are not suitable for meat.
Meat breeds
The following rabbit breeds are most suitable for fattening meat:
- New Zealand white - the weight of the rabbit is about 6 kg, in one round the female of this breed can produce from 7 to 12 cubs;
- New Zealand red - males of this breed are inferior in weight to females, rabbits are premature, very quickly after birth they gain the weight necessary for slaughter;
- gray giant - adults usually grow up to 5-6 kg, the female brings from 7 to 8 cubs, which quickly grow and gain good weight. From these animals, good large pelts are obtained during slaughter;
- Californian breed is characterized by rapid growth and great weight; during the year, from the female you can get offspring from 30 to 35 rabbits, meat has a high taste;
- European silver - animals of this breed are unpretentious, they have a calm character, eat little feed, tolerate frost well, have excellent quality skins.
Winter content
There are different ways of raising rabbits in the winter. Owners breed rabbits in cages, in pits or cages. In order to make rabbit keeping and breeding more successful in winter outside, rabbit breeders must follow certain rules. Full information on such content can be obtained from the video presented below.
Of course, breeding rabbits in such conditions is quite troublesome, but if you follow all the recommendations received, you can get good results.