Rabbit farming is now becoming so popular, and many new farmers are joining daily. Rabbit meat has high demand, which is not easy to satisfy.
Also, apart from meat, there are many advantages to this type of farming. Doing value addition is one of them. Any farmer who is doing organic farming, rabbit farming is the way to go since you will get ready manure and pests repellant, which is rabbits urine.
Apart from keeping rabbits for meat, most people keep rabbits as pests. Rabbits are the most beautiful creatures to have around. This venture is also bringing in a lot of income.
Those who keep rabbits as pests do also make a lot of money.
To be successful in this venture, you need to know some of the critical factors below.
1. Do a lot of research before starting
In any business, analysis is fundamental. Also, here you need to do a lot of research. Ask yourself these questions:-
1. What do I want to keep rabbits for? meat or pets?
2. If for meat which breeds are possible to give me more weight in the shortest time possible?
3. What type of housing do I need to have?
4. Which food will I give them to give to me high returns in the shortest time possible?
5. What are the most common diseases in rabbits? Can I keep rabbits together with other animals, i.e., chicken?
6. If I am to supply a certain number of rabbits per month, what number of does do I need? Which breeding formulae should I use to maintain my supply?
7. What is my market? Do I have a ready market, or will I get a stacked lacking market after venturing into it?
2. Housing. You can see various types of Rabbit Housing system here.
Before starting, know the type of house you will need. Know which materials are likely to be used. Some materials won’t last for so long since rabbits’ urine is very acidic. If you don’t spend your time to research thoroughly on the right materials, you will end up replacing them after six months. Some people use deep litter kind of housing. It is ok, yes, but it is challenging to manage your rabbits.
Not easy to maintain high hygiene,inbreeding might occur. To avoid that, use a modern cage system. Your cages should be self-cleaning.The most crucial secret in rabbit farming is high hygiene. If you keep that, you shall have solved many health-related issues. Very important.
3. Type of Breeds
If you have decided to keep rabbits for meat, you must know which breeds are likely to give me more weight in the shortest time possible. You are in business, time is very vital.
The most preferred breeds for meat are the medium size rabbits. Why not the giants? In business time is very important, medium size rabbits are likely to be on heat as compared with giants, thus many numbers, medium size will mature much faster as compared with the giants ,at 4-5 months they are mature while giants takes 7-9 months.
Also research shows that giants give birth to fewer babies, and we are in business we need numbers, Giants are likely to consume a lot as compared with the medium. The best thing farmers do is crossing medium size rabbits with the giants.
4.Feeding
You need to know which food do rabbits eat. If you are keeping rabbits for meat, you must know which will give me much weight If I give my rabbits this kind of feed. Most common feeds in a commercial enterprise are concentrates and hay, of course, you must provide water too.
To cut the cost of feeding, the wilted vegetative matter is also given.Your feeding program should be able to provide you with the required weight in a certain period. If you are not keen on this, you might end up feeding your rabbits and not making a profit. Measure pellets you are giving your rabbits. Hay Is said to have no nutritional value, it is just given to help in digestion and to make your rabbit drink a lot of water, water makes your rabbits add weight faster, so give your rabbits a lot of hay.
4. Diseases
You must know which diseases are prevalent in rabbits. You must how to overcome them too. You must know which animals can I keep rabbits together with in the same roof. For example, some animals share the same diseases with rabbits, thus not good to mix with them.
For example, in poultry, they share the same diseases with rabbits .i.e coccidiosis. Be very careful about what you keep with your rabbits. If disease are not managed well, you will go nowhere with this kind of farming. Rabbits are very fragile, and you will just find them dead in the morning. They won’t give you signs if they are sick, so you must be very careful.Know your rabbits, know their behavior so that when there is a change, you can spot them quickly, and treat them.
If you have many rabbits, ensure to check them thoroughly one by one every two weeks or even every one month. This will help you to notice any hidden disease. An essential thing to overcome this is by using preventive measures .90% of rabbits disease are brought by poor hygiene. If you have high hygiene, you won’t have any issues related to a health condition. Rabbits have very few diseases which can be easily be managed.
NB Preventive measures is better than curring in rabbits. Most of the rabbits you treat won’t be able to recover, most of them will die even after treating, so take caution never to allow your rabbis to fall sick.
5. Management and record-keeping
With proper management, you will overcome challenges related to:-
Health
If you have right biosecurity measures and proper health management put in place rarely will you face challenges like diseases.
Feeding
With proper management, you can give your rabbits the correct amount of food thus able to get the right quality without underfeeding or overfeeding them thus saving on the cost of production
Record Keeping
By having good record keeping, you will overcome problems associated with inbreeding, as this is the big challenge in rabbit farming. Also, by having good records, it will help you market your rabbits well.
6.Marketing
Marketing is essential in rabbit farming. Before even starting it, make sure you know your market. Many people begin without knowing their market and end up getting frustrated at the end.
Rabbit produces very fast, and if you don’t have a ready market, you might end up making losses or quitting this business.
Some people are saying they can’t meet the demand while others are saying there is no market, so make sure you do your research well on the market before starting as this is very important. One source of the market currently is social media.
But from my own experience, there is a huge and inexhaustible market for Rabbit in Nigeria and that makes Rabbit Farming highly lucrative.
You can read my article here, on how I make millions from rabbit farming in Nigeria.
Why am I not seeing my rabbit breastfeeding?
If you don’t see your rabbit not breastfeeding, don’t say babies are not being fed. Rarely will you see your rabbit breastfeeding. They are mostly breastfeeding at night or very early in the morning, and some do breastfeed during the day.
This code is of importance mostly to the wild rabbits. It will help them not to attract predators to devour their young ones. To know if your rabbit is breastfeeding or not, follow the following procedure more carefully.
Before handling the rabbit, ensure
i)Wash your hands with any disinfectant; you can even use a bar of soap.
ii) Wash your hands using warm water. This will ensure that all bacteria in your hands are killed before touching the baby rabbits. Babies immunity has not yet developed; thus, not able to fight such bacterial if you don’t was your hands thoroughly and disinfect.
iii)Rub your hands on does fur for some time. Stroke her gently to her calm. Show love to her, and she will be calm and starts trusting you.
iv)Now you can reach the babies
*How to know if she is not breastfeeding*
If she is not breastfeeding them, you will notice by:-
i)Inspect the babies careful in their nesting box
ii)If they have a shrunken stomach which is so flat
iii)They are freezing
iv)If the babies are not wrinkled
v)They are crawling, looking for their mother instead of resting.
How to know if she is breastfeeding them
If she is breastfeeding them, you will notice the following-:
i)Babies have round bellies very full.
ii)They are very warm.
iii)They are sleeping calmly.
iv)They are not wrinkled.
If you will like to learn more, get trained and get quality rabbit to start rabbit Farming Business in Nigeria, you can call or chat me on 07066784204