Commercial Rabbit Raising

by Casady, R. B.; Sawin, P. B.; Van Dam, J.

• ISBN13: 9781410107671
• ISBN10: 1410107671
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-11-30
• Publisher: Lightning Source Inc

Summary

Americans eat 25 to 30 million pounds of domestic rabbit meat each year. The rabbits come from small rabbitries with three or four hutches and from large commercial producers. Rabbit raising lends itself to both types of production. Rabbit meat is pearly white, fine-grained, palatable, and nutritious. It is a convenient source of high-quality protein and is low in fat and caloric content. Rabbitskins also have some commercial value. Better grades of rabbitskins may be dressed, dyed, sheared, and made into fur garments and trimmings. Some skins are used for slipper and glove linings, for toys, and in making felt. Fine shreds of the flesh part of the dried skins, which are often left after separating the fur for making felt, are used for making glue. Because of the relatively low value of skins from meat rabbits, a large volume is necessary to market them satisfactorily. An increasing demand for rabbits for laboratory and biological purposes offers opportunities to breeders living near medical schools, hospitals, and laboratories. Rabbits have made large contributions to research in venereal disease, cardiac surgery, hypertension, and virology, and are important tools in pregnancy diagnosis, infectious disease research, the development of hyperimmune sera, development of toxins and antitoxins, and the teaching of anatomy and physiology. A recent development in the rabbit industry has been the increased use by scientific personnel of various rabbit organs and tissues in specialized research. The availability of these byproducts has greatly facilitated many basic research programs.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION	1	(1)
CHOOSING A BREED	2	(2)
SELECTING FOUNDATION STOCK	4	(1)
SYSTEMS OF BREEDING	4	(4)
THE RABBITRY AND ITS EQUIPMENT	8	(13)
Buildings	8	(1)
Hutches	8	(6)
Feeding equipment	14	(3)
Equipment for watering	17	(1)
Nest boxes	18	(3)
FEEDS AND FEEDING	21	(7)
Feed requirements	21	(2)
Hay	23	(1)
Green feed and root crops	24	(1)
Grains and milled feeds	24	(1)
Protein supplements	24	(1)
Miscellaneous feeds	25	(1)
Pelleted rations	25	(1)
Salt	25	(1)
Water	26	(1)
Preparing and storing feeds	26	(1)
Methods of feeding	26	(1)
Feeding dry does, herd bucks, and juniors	27	(1)
Feeding pregnant and nursing does	27	(1)
COPROPHAGY	28	(1)
REPRODUCTION	28	(5)
Germ cells and fertilization	28	(1)
Gestation period	29	(1)
Age to breed	29	(1)
Breeding schedule	30	(1)
Lactation	30	(1)
Factors that limit conception	31	(1)
Artificial insemination	32	(1)
MANAGING THE HERD	33	(19)
Methods of handling rabbits	33	(1)
Making matings	34	(1)
Determining pregnancy	35	(1)
Kindling	36	(1)
Complications at kindling time	37	(1)
Care of young litter	38	(1)
Causes of losses in newborn litters	39	(1)
Weaning	39	(1)
Determining the sex of young rabbits	39	(1)
Marking for identification	40	(1)
Castration	40	(1)
Care of herd during extreme temperatures	41	(2)
Preventing injuries	43	(1)
Preventing sore dewlaps	43	(1)
Sanitation and disease control	43	(5)
Fur-eating habit	48	(1)
Preventing fur block	48	(1)
Gnawing wooden parts of the hutch	49	(1)
Disposal of rabbit manure	49	(1)
Earthworms in the rabbitry	49	(1)
Records and recordkeeping	49	(3)
TYPES OF PRODUCTION	52	(3)
Fryer production	52	(2)
Roaster production	54	(1)
ANGORA RABBIT WOOL PRODUCTION	55	(3)
Equipment for grooming and shearing	56	(1)
Grading, preparing, and marketing wool	57	(1)
MARKETING	58	(5)
Slaughtering and skinning	58	(2)
Cutting and packaging rabbit meat	60	(1)
Crating and shipping live rabbits	60	(3)
RABBITSKINS	63	(3)
Curing	63	(1)
Marketing	64	(1)
Grades	64	(21)
Packing and shipping	85
ECONOMICS OF RABBIT PRODUCTION	66	(3)
Records	66	(1)
Labor	66	(1)
Investment	67	(1)
Returns and expenses	67	(2)
LITERATURE CITED	69