Breeding rabbits as a business: features and prospects

A business based on rabbit breeding requires the farmer to organize optimal conditions for keeping animals, depending on the preferred place for their breeding - in an aviary or pit, as well as the correct preparation of a business plan for a rabbit breeding enterprise.

To date, the development of rabbit breeding in Russia has not yet reached the peak of popularity and production efficiency. Although it should be noted that in rural areas, raising rabbits at home - as part of the household - is a fairly widespread phenomenon.

However, domestic breeding of rabbits does not usually occur in large volumes. In order to meet their needs for rabbit meat, people do not need large-scale production. Rabbit meat has a number of beneficial (in comparison with the meat of other animals) properties. Basically, rabbit meat is of interest to people because of its high calorie content with its digestibility by the body of 90%, the content of lecithin, nicotinic acid, and proteins in it. At the same time, the cholesterol level in rabbit meat is very low, so it is recommended for people with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, cardiovascular system.

Growing rabbits: features and subtleties

Despite the fact that rabbit meat has a number of advantages over any other, rabbit farms throughout the Russian Federation can literally be "counted on the fingers." Experts argue that the problem lies neither in the lack of climate and environmental conditions suitable for rabbits (moreover, it is believed that these animals are the most unpretentious to the conditions of detention, the most prolific), nor in the low demand for meat (according to a social survey, more than 60% of people claim that they are ready to eat rabbit meat on a regular basis, but they do not always find it on store shelves). What then is the problem of domestic rabbit breeding? After some thought, only one assumption remains: inability, an approach without due responsibility and preparation.

In fact, raising rabbits is considered far from being a difficult task. But this does not mean that you need to take it on without having any idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhat rabbit breeding is. Before starting any business, it is recommended to read literature about it in order to confirm your decision, or, conversely, to lose faith.

Rabbits are unpretentious to the conditions of detention - they can live both in specially equipped sheds or rabbitries, as well as in specially equipped rooms, even in cages or aviaries installed in an open space. Rabbits are unpretentious to feed: it is enough that there are three main types of feed in the diet of rabbits: coarse (hay, straw, tree branches), succulent (various herbs and root crops) and concentrated (nutritious feed: fish or meat and bone meal). Concentrated feeds are more effective in winter. It is also possible to feed rabbits with vitamin complexes in winter.

It is important to carry out prevention against diseases. In practice, this is often expressed in the fact that from time to time farmers give the rabbits "silver water", which disinfects the animal's body. As a rule, it is obtained by passing through silver electrodes that are in water, poured into a dielectric (non-conductive), for example, a glass container. As a result of the passage of current, a precipitate remains in the form of silver ions Ag + . Water with silver ions has a bactericidal effect, while it is absolutely non-toxic to animals.

To achieve maximum profitability of the product, it is recommended to buy exclusively meat breeds of rabbits. Rabbits of such breeds reach marketable weight already at the age of four to five months, while a female rabbit is able to give up to 10 births, each of which has at least four rabbits, per year. However, of course, these are approximate numbers. Depending on the conditions and breed, the rabbit can give, according to statistics, from 4 to 12 rounds per year. So, according to approximate calculations, one female and her annual offspring give approximately 100 kilograms of marketable meat.

Is the rabbit breeding business profitable?

The profitability of such a business is calculated quite simply. For example, if rabbits are slaughtered at the age of four or five months (with an animal weighing about three kilograms). On average, one kilogram of rabbit meat costs 300 rubles. From a three-kilogram rabbit, one and a half to two kilograms of meat are usually obtained. So, the wholesale price of one rabbit meat is approximately 450 rubles. But it is recommended to calculate the costs.

Thus, the cost of buying or renting land, registration, marketing and other organizational costs can be up to one million rubles. Also, the expenses include the purchase of feed, the cost of funds for the repair of equipment and premises. Basically, that's what the cost is. Let's say the farm has 1000 rabbits. Of these, 500 are rabbits. With proper care, the female can produce from 25 to 60 offspring, which will be from 40 to 120 kg of meat.

So, for a year you can get, on average, 80,000 rubles, which in the second year of work will cover the costs of starting production. Of course, it is worth considering that part of the young will die due to many factors, the main of which are: illness and uncomfortable conditions. You should not forget that in order to effectively increase the number of young, it is necessary to change females that produce new individuals. If one individual constantly produces offspring for a long time, it will quickly lose its fertility.

As soon as the female's fecundity fades, she is slaughtered, and another female produces offspring. As a rule, males are replaced every two years, while females are replaced once a year. Subject to all the rules for the care of rabbits, you can get about seven tons of rabbit meat only at the expense of the offspring of 100 females. Therefore, it is very important for an enterprise to establish sales channels and a sales market for products. It turns out that the rabbit breeding business is profitable if you follow a few simple rules.

Rabbit breeding as a business: from start to finish

The first thing to do when creating any business is to settle the legal and regulatory side of the issue. To do this, you must at least register your company. This is where the question arises of how. How exactly is a company registered? A rabbit farm can be designed in three ways:

Optimal conditions for keeping rabbits

Plot of land:

1. Location of the site: suburban areas, at a distance from residential buildings up to 2 kilometers.
2. The area of ​​the site should not be less than fifteen acres.

Room:

1. It should be possible to maintain a constant warm temperature in the room in the conditions of its decrease in the environment.
2. The walls, floor and roof of the room should be made so that there are no gaps in them: the room should not be damp, there should be no drafts in it.
3. The room must have electricity.
4. There should be a large water tank in or near the room.

Breeding rabbits in aviaries

Breeding of rabbits in open-air cages is carried out in open space. The aviary is a space fenced around the perimeter with a fence. It is not recommended to keep more than 30 individuals on the territory of one enclosure, and most often a female and her offspring are kept in enclosures. At the same time, males are not kept in enclosures: they are kept separately from all individuals in a special room, and they are placed in enclosures only during the mating period.

Aviaries are arranged on a hill to protect against drowning. The walls of the enclosure are made of any materials, while one must be made of mesh. The height of the wall can reach one or two meters. They should be buried in the ground at an average of half a meter. The floor in the enclosures is usually earthen, which allows the owners to rarely clean it, and the rabbits to dig holes and develop physically.

Breeding rabbits in a pit

Pit device algorithm:

1. Buy a plot for the arrangement of the pit.
2. When choosing a site, look at the number of hills, because it is on them that the pit is built.
3. The pit should be dry, there should be no rivers, swamp lakes nearby, there should be no groundwater.
4. Keeping a large number of rabbits in pits is undesirable. The maximum allowable size of the pit is 3x3 meters. Up to 300 rabbits can live in such a hole.
5. The pit should be square, three of its walls should be covered with durable material.
6. The fourth wall should have a recess at a height of up to 15 cm. This recess should be wide enough to accommodate at least two rabbits.