Rabbits Suited to a Few Acres, and Capital Outlay Is Small

By H. Travis, R. Aulerich, L. Ryland and J. Gorham.

Rabbit raising is well adapted to a few acres. Capital investment and land required are small compared to other livestock enterprises.

About 200,000 producers raise 6 to 8 million rabbits in the United States each year. About 8 to 10 million pounds of rabbit meat are eaten annually, some of it imported. Laboratories use 600,000 rabbits yearly.

Before starting to raise rabbits, there are two points to consider how large will your operation be and what is your market?

If you intend to raise just a few rabbits to supplement the family meat supply, you can consider a unit of 3 or 4 does and a buck. One doe will produce 25 to 50 rabbits a year, or about 50 to 100 pounds of meat if they are raised to fryer size, more when raised to roasters. If you are interested in a part-time business, you might expect to establish a herd of 50 to 150 does.

The amount of space and cost of equipment are not great to start a small rabbitry. Breeding animals cost $15 to $25 apiece. Capital invested per pen for all-wire cages, feeders and automatic waterers is about $20 to $25. Cost of housing varies with the climate.

If you have no previous experience, start small with a buck and a few does.

Before making any commitment to raise rabbits, investigate Your Potential markets. There are three general markets--meat, laboratory supply, and breeding stock. There also is a small market for hides and Angora rabbit wool.

The opportunity to sell animals for various purposes varies with different areas of the country. Areas of concentrated rabbit production are California, the Ozarks, Florida and the East Coast. Processors are found in 14 or more states and Canada.

Animals sold for meat may be sold alive to processors or to customers who kill and dress the rabbits themselves.

Potential meat producers can obtain information on voluntary grading and inspection of rabbits by writing to the Food Safety and Quality Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Washington, D.C. 20250. State laws governing the sale of dressed rabbits vary, and you should be aware of the laws of your state.

If you plan to sell rabbits to laboratories, you need a license from USDA. You can only expect to sell breeding stock after you have become known as a producer of exceptional animals.

Market Income

In descending order, the price received for your product will be for breeders, laboratories, dressed, live retail, and live to processors.

Selling to laboratories requires an established reputation and the ability to supply numbers of certain types of animals at specific times. You may be able to start out by selling to a middleman or breeder who supplies laboratories. Prices for laboratory animals to the middleman are about a dollar a pound.

Retail selling of dressed or live animals calls for establishing a local market. Selling to a processor is the easiest way but will also yield the lowest return (about 500 a pound live weight). In selling to a processor, it is desirable to have a year-round contract.

Every two months the American Rabbit Breeders Association (1925 S. Main Street, Bloomington, Ill. 61701) publishes a list of commercial processors and current market prices for fryers (1-1/2 to 3-1/2 pounds, under 12 weeks of age) and roasters (over 4 pounds, over 8 months of age), along with the caution that any meat producer living more than 150 miles from a processor should investigate local markets to avoid expensive shipping costs.

Beware of buy-back schemes. These are deals in which people offer you breeding stock, usually at exceedingly high prices, and in return promise to buy back all the animals you produce.

Fryers weighing 4 to 6 pounds live weight bring 40 to 60 a pound, or about $2 for a 4-pound rabbit. Dressout percentage is about 50% to 55% so that you have 2 pounds of dressed meat. Feed costs about loo a pound, and it takes 12 or more pounds or about $1.20 worth of feed to produce a 4-pound fryer and maintain the doe.

This leaves you 80 to pay for labor, breeding animals, equipment, etc., for the three months from conception to marketing that it takes to raise the animal.

Selecting a Breed

There are about 38 breeds and many more varieties of rabbits raised in the United States. Breeds can be categorized by size. Mature animals of the smaller breeds weigh 3 to 4 pounds each, those of medium breeds 9 to 12 pounds, while adults of larger breeds weigh 14 to 16 pounds. Select a breed based on the purpose your rabbits will be used for.

Animals best suited in size and conformation for producing meat are the medium-sized breeds. These will produce meaty, fine-boned fryers weighing 4 pounds at about 8 weeks of age. New Zealand Whites are the most popular breed raised for meat, followed by Californians.

You can obtain information on where to buy rabbits from local breeders, rabbit clubs, ads in rabbit magazines, and the directory of the American Rabbit Breeders Association.

Before attempting to sell to a laboratory, determine its needs. Check with nearby hospitals, laboratories and health department offices to find out the type, age and size of animals desired.

Angora rabbits are raised for their wool, which is spun into yarn used for making garments. Usually hand spinners raise their own rabbits rather than purchasing wool from rabbit breeders.

Housing Equipment

Locate the rabbitry on a site with good drainage. Check local zoning regulations first.

Housing varies with the climate. In mild areas, hutches can be placed out-of-doors in shade, or provided with shade by open shed-type buildings. During very hot weather, you may need to cool the rabbits by overhead sprayers or foggers placed within the building.

In more severe climates, put hutches in buildings that give protection from the prevailing winds. During stormy weather, use drop curtains or panels. Where weather is extremely cold, extra protection is needed.

Rabbitries in the northern tiers of states usually supply supplementary heat with space heaters to about 40 F in areas where the young are kindled (born). Supplemental heat may also be supplied to the young by suspending light bulbs over nest boxes. Proper ventilation is important when the animals are raised in enclosed buildings.

Worm raising is often successfully combined with rabbit raising in moderate climates or indoor operations because worms will consume the feces and any spilled feed, thereby eliminating odor, waste and some labor.

Earth floors permit absorption of urine into the soil. Alternatively, concrete floors with drains will facilitate waste disposal and lend themselves to easy cleaning with a hose.

Where wire-bottom cages are arranged in double or triple tiers, metal collecting pans must be placed underneath all but the bottom layer of cages to collect both urine and feces. Empty and clean the pans at least twice a week.

Hutches for mature rabbits are about 2 feet high and no more than 2-1/2 feet deep. A length of 3 feet is recommended for small breeds, 4 feet for medium, and 6 feet for large breeds. All animals should be raised on wire floors of 1/2" x 1" mesh to reduce potential disease problems.

All-wire hutches are the most satisfactory, the most expensive, and are recommended for commercial rabbit raising. For smaller rabbitries, a combination wood and metal hutch can be used.

Cages constructed in units of two or three have better resale value. They may be arranged in single, double or even triple tiers if space is limited, although a three-layered arrangement makes cleaning difficult and interferes with observation of the animals. A few extra cages should be available to be used as hospital or isolation units for new or sick rabbits.

A nest box placed in the hutch prior to kindling will supply seclusion for the doe and protection for the litter. During cold weather, these can be insulated with bedding such as straw, wood shavings, or sugar cane waste, with two or three layers of corrugated cardboard on the sides.