The expert revealed the secrets of rabbit breeding: how to do business on the symbol of 2023

It must be said that even before the fateful go-ahead of the authorities to keep small animals outside the city, many Moscow summer residents made such attempts. All predicted commercial success. Rabbits do not eat very much, including grass, vegetables and pasture. At the same time, they not only multiply rapidly, but also quickly gain weight. As for meat, it is generally considered delicacy and dietary, without fat, it is useful even for children.

Here’s how to avoid the temptation here and not try to switch to self-sufficiency, forget the way to the butcher shop?! There are financial savings.

Only it soon became clear that the undoubted advantages of rabbits are a continuation of their shortcomings.

– I bought second-hand cages, – says a familiar gardener, – at first it went well, rabbits were 4 times a season. Then the pestilence began. It turns out that there was an infection in the old cages, and almost all of the rabbits died. Moved them to new ones, to their own. And there they began to die, brought the old infection. No, this requires veterinary knowledge …

About how to work with rabbits, we asked the advice of an experienced “breeder” – Dmitrovsky farmer Oleg Yurko. In the best of times, he had 1.5 thousand of these animals on his farm. True, now there are only two dozen left.

Protected by a warm coat

An experienced rabbit breeder believes that the autumn and winter months are not the best time for breeding them in their country house. Temperature is their main enemy.

A mass pestilence from diseases, which novice farmers often talk about, can be avoided if veterinary rules are followed. Now different vaccines are being sold, they must be administered individually to babies at the age of one month. Keep the cages clean and keep other animals out of the rabbitry so as not to spread the infection.

“Kids often die from the cold, the decline can be up to 90%,” says the farmer. “Therefore, mating is best done in the spring and summer months, so that the young growth grows and gets stronger by the cold weather. By the onset of winter, the herd should be reduced, leaving only producers. Then the cost of maintenance and feed is sharply reduced. When we had a lot of rabbits on the farm, only once there was a case, and even that was small, one or two percent …

In the farm of a large and friendly Yurko family, even today, in cold weather, cages with adult animals stand in the courtyard. Some novice rabbit breeders keep pets in a warm room. In the opinion of our interlocutor, this is irrational. The costs of heat are immediately superimposed on the cost of cultivation. In addition, ammonia fumes accumulate in a warm room. Outdoors, rabbits become more hardy and grow faster. The animals have a warm fur coat, and they calmly endure the winter in the open air, they only need a canopy from snow and walls on the sides so that there are no drafts.

rabbit army

At one time, the farmer kept 1.5 thousand, the whole farmstead was filled with cages. Today he has only two dozen animals.

The main problem with a large herd is not the difficulties of keeping, as some believe, but the sale of meat. Therefore, summer residents and gardeners are not advised to get carried away and start a whole “army”.

– For a family of 3-4 people, 10, 20 rabbits at the most, is enough, – the owner explains. “There will be enough meat for both relatives and acquaintances. With such a quantity, in terms of profitability, a benefit is also obtained. A kilogram of rabbit meat costs about 600 rubles, like beef. But it is more gentle and dietary. A rabbit eats 150-200 grams of compound feed and 1.5 kilograms of hay per day. A bag of compound feed costs 1200-1500 rubles, it contains 40 kilograms. It will not be possible to mow hay from a plot of 6-10 acres, you need to buy it for the winter. But it’s also for sale. Good quality, from the southern regions of Russia, a 20-kilogram roll costs 150 rubles. Downhole weight begins at six months, when the rabbit reaches 4.5–5 kilograms.

Let’s think about what it comes down to. An adult rabbit of a simple breed costs 10 thousand rubles, with a female it turns out 20 thousand. Thoroughbreds are more expensive, up to 15 thousand, but they are larger, they have more weight. The difference is about like a regular soup chicken and a broiler.

Oleg has three species: a butterfly, Californians and rizena. They are more disease resistant. In the form of an experiment, these breeds were crossed with each other, the result was good.

Well, if the female is already of childbearing age (6 months), then in a month she can bring 10-12 cubs.

And then, if you do not stop, from each pair everything will go according to an arithmetic progression. The rabbit needs 1.5–2 months to feed the offspring and take a breath, so to speak. Then you can start it up again. Another month – and again replenishment for 10-12 rabbits – only from the first pair. But on the way their children and children of children …

During the season, from April to October, a married couple can bring about 50 rabbits: 25 “girls” and 25 “boys”, as a rule, they are born equally. Thus, next season, if this resource is used to the maximum, there will already be 250 rabbits, and at the next mating it will exceed a thousand …

In two years, a whole herd is obtained, this is already serious.

But how to regulate the demographic process if they, as they say, breed like rabbits?

Dating according to the scheme

Some owners keep their rabbits in a common area where the rabbits are free-range, running and jumping. There are a lot of shortcomings in such content. From constant movement, rabbits spend a lot of energy and grow more slowly. It is impossible to establish control over them, you can forget about individual vaccination against diseases. This is where various infections flare up.

And finally, they mate when they want. Males and females should be kept in separate cages. The males should have a separate “living space”, because they begin to “sort things out” with each other, to fight. And females can live with neighbors, 3-4 each. At the same time, for mating, the rabbit is launched to the rabbit, and not vice versa. For a female, a new place is a real shock, “and they may not succeed.” Alpha males look at this matter much easier. They say about them that they are giants in sexual terms, they can “produce” without any respite at all. Maybe this is so, only a real rabbit breeder develops a “dating” scheme in such a way that a male rabbit works every other day. Then the offspring will be complete.

Mating not three times in a season, but once is already an economic effect in terms of feed costs. They grew up in six months – they scored.

The problem is the cells. Already with a population of 400 heads, about 200 pieces are needed only for males and 70–100 for females. Cages are best made of wood or plywood, with a metal crate. It is warm in it, the paws do not freeze from the fact that they walk on metal. And animals don’t get hurt by burrs. The farmer recommends making the distance between the slats on the floor one to one and a half centimeters, then the litter does not accumulate in the rabbit house.

“The cage itself must be combined so that the sennik is on adjacent sides,” he advises.

Fur is not respected

As we have already said, now Oleg has about 20 adults, but the cages in the courtyard are in full readiness, on the siding. And at any time they can accept “replenishment”. Only this moment never comes.

There are many reasons for that. In Soviet times, private traders who kept rabbits had a good income from the sale of skins. After all, then the whole country went exclusively in rabbit hats and fur coats, the Soviet people did not know other furs. There were astrakhan, but expensive, not everyone can afford. Today, the choice is the widest, our women go to Greece for fur coats, and men proudly wear fawn hats – rabbit fur is not held in high esteem.

“When there was a large livestock, we were looking for a company that processes the skins for a long time,” the farmer says. “You can’t prepare it for sale on your own. There are such productions, the price for dressing is 300 rubles a piece. And they accept only huge batches, a ton and a half each. It is better not to mess with this, we simply burn the skins, as required by veterinary rules.

“It is completely unrealistic to sell meat from 1.5 thousand rabbits in six months,” he explains. – In the best case, when collecting all the necessary documents, veterinary certificates, etc., it is possible to sell 30 pieces in a week – and this is very successful, this happens only on long holidays. No one buys in large quantities, besides, everyone wants fresh, fresh. The meat is well stored in the refrigerator, with one freezing it does not lose its qualities. But you need to have a huge number of refrigerators. It turns out that almost all fifteen hundred need to be kept, fed and watered for another six months. And it doesn’t pay off in terms of costs. And 10-20 rabbits for a family is enough. Scored, put the meat in the freezer, and enough for the whole winter.

The arithmetic here is simple: the cost of meat of one rabbit, before slaughter, costs 5-6 thousand rubles for six months, a thousand rubles a month. 5 kilograms of beef will cost you 3,000 rubles, pork – 1.5 thousand. It takes 10 kilograms a month for a family, that is, 15 thousand rubles for pork. It turns out that your own rabbit meat is more economical. In addition, it is gentle, easily digestible and dietary. You can not feed with compound feed if you want to save. Add oats, corn and barley to the feeder. It’s even cheaper. But if the rabbit tastes compound feed at least once, then there will be no more grain. This must be kept in mind.

They say that rabbit meat becomes boring rather quickly, you can’t eat a lot of it. But if you eat red caviar every day, it will also bother you. And rabbit meat for the table, prepared according to various recipes, is a hefty savings on the family budget.

Menu from the symbol of the year

But, of course, not to the current New Year’s table. Here, on the contrary, you need to please the Rabbit. Cooks advise a lot of greens, which the herbivorous rabbit prefers. New Year’s meal can be varied with vegetable salads, fruits, carrot dishes.

And it is not necessary to follow exclusively vegetarian recipes. True, experts recommend excluding beef so as not to offend the symbol of the outgoing 2022 – the Tiger. But pork, lamb, poultry, fish and seafood will decorate your New Year’s table. And the new symbol – the Rabbit – will be pleased!