Rabbit

Production
 A Rabbit p r o d u c t i o n
system
B r e e d s of
B rabbits
Topic C Housing
Outline Environmental
D r e q u i r e m e n t of
rabbit

E Breeding
 Rabbit
production
system
Zoological Classification:
Class: Mammalia
Super order: Glires
Order: Lagomorpha
Family: Leporidae (Hares, Rabbits)
Genus: Oryctolagus
Species: Cuniculus

All domestic rabbits originated from the European

wild rabbits. Today Europe accounts for 85% of total
world output. China comes next.
BENEFITS OF RABBIT PRODUCTION
1. Capital requirement is minimal. With some scrap wood or bamboo, a hutch can be constructed.

2. Spacing is minimal. It can be set up at the backyard.

3. A rabbit is a convenient ‘one meal size’, thus avoiding the need for storage.

4. Rabbit keeping is not restricted by any taboos or particular beliefs that prevent the eating of rabbit meat or its promotion as food.

5. Feeding rabbits is very cheap. Even though supplementation with concentrate or grain is sometimes necessary and definitely will increase growth rate,
roadside grass, kitchen offal, garden leaves, etc (feed of no direct value to humans) can provide the main feed at almost no cost.

6. Rabbits can be tended by women, children or men unlike bigger animals for it needs no force to be restrained.

7. Because they produce offspring regularly (gestation period of 28 – 32 days), they form a regular source of income instead of a large amount at once.

8. It matures for table between 5 -6 months, breeding (5 – 7 months)

9. Rabbit is a prolific animal.

10. Meat from rabbit is an all white meat product that is high in protein and low in fat, sodium and cholesterol as compared to other common meats, such as
beef, lamb, pork and poultry. Rabbit meat has been recommended for years by some physicians to their patients with coronary heart conditions.

11. It is not a smelly or noisy animal and can easily be kept near to school buildings or people’s houses.

12. It produces rich manure for gardening or flower beds.

 Rabbit
production
system
 Rabbit p r o d u c t i o n s y s t e m
It differs from country to country but there are 3 main systems of
production:
The backyard small scale rabbitry: A few female and one or two male rabbits are
kept in a house built rabbitry and are fed on greens, weeds and vegetables kitchen
scraps. It provides enough meat to supplement the family need.

The small commercial rabbitry: It may have the 10-50 breeding does in a purpose
built rabbitry. The aim of this type of rabbit production is to sell rabbit meat for
profit. Rabbits are usually fed on concentrate as well as bulky leafy vegetables.

Large commercial rabbitry: This type is more common in Europe & U.S. there are
some examples of large rabbit units in the tropics, but to support such rabbitry it is
necessary to have reliable market outlets for the carcasses, source of good quality
commercial feed and expert veterinary services.
B r e e d s of rabbits:
There are many breeds of domestic rabbits in the world and all have
different qualities. There are 38 breeds and 87 varieties of rabbits which are
recognised and well established worldwide. These breeds/varieties vary in
colour, size, type of hair coat and other characteristics.

For wool production: - Angora rabbit is reared for wool production. It is usually
white & albino but some coloured varieties have been developed for the utilization
of colour wool. Normally the main demand of Angora wool is of white colour and
long staple of uniform dying & processing. The following strains/breeds of Angora
rabbit are commonly being reared by Indian farms-
G e r m a n Angora:
Origin Germany, wool yield 700- 1000gm/year, white
fine quality, 2-4 % guard hair, adult body weight 3-
4kg.

B r i t i s h Angora:
origin U.K., wool yield 400-600gm/year, white
lustrous fine quality, guard hair 2-4%, adult
body weight 2.5- 4.5kg.
R u s s i a n Angora:
Origin Russia, 300-400gm/year, white, medium fine
wool, 10-2 0 % guard hair, body wt. 3.5-5.5kg.

C r o s s b r e d Angora:
Origin India, well adapted to Indian
conditions, wool yield 500-600gm/year, wool
is white, medium fine, guard hair is of 4-8%,
adult body wt. 3-5kg.
Dutch:
• The dutch is a small breed with a mature liveweight
of 2.5-3.5kg. It has a wide white band of fur around
its body at the shoulders as well as a white stripe
down the middle of its face.

New Zealand White:

• This breed is used most widely throughout
the world for meat production. It is all white in
colour and usually weighs 3-5kg when
mature.
New Zealand Red
• This is essentially red but has not been intensively
selected for growth rate. Mature live weight is 3-
4.5kg.

Chinchilla
• This breed is blue-grey in colour with a
white belly. There is a thick fold of skin
around the front of the chest which is very
obvious when the rabbit is in good condition
and sitting in a resting position. The weight
range for the mature Chinchilla is 3-4.5kg
C alif o rnia n
• This is the second most popular breed for meat
production. The colour is all white but with black
tipping on the nose, ears, feet and tail. The weight
range for the mature Californian is 3-4.5kg.
F o r meat/Fur skin production:
The most common breeds for this purpose are New Zealand white, White Californian,
Soviet Chinchilla, Grey Giant, White Giant, Black Brown, Dutch, Argente Champagne
etc. The adult body weight of these breeds ranges from 3-6kg in females & 2.5-5.5kg
in males.
F o r meat/Fur skin production:
The Rex and Satin breeds of rabbit are mainly raised for quality fur skin and meat
production. In our country, at the CSWRI, Garsa (Kullu) the following meat breeds
were experimented for meat & fur skin production.
F o r meat/Fur skin production:
I.New Zealand White- Imported from UK.
II.Soviet Chinchilla- Imported from Russia.
III.White Giant- Imported from Russia.
IV.Grey Giant- Imported from Russia.
• These breeds after adaptation and production performance were sent for various
research and development purposes in southern, western & eastern states of A.P,
Karnataka, T.N, Kerala, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Assam.
• For biological research and Laboratory purposes: - New Zealand White,
Californian, Dutch, Black Brown breeds are primarily being used.
 F o r meat/Fur skin production:
• For fancy/hobby purposes:
The most important breeds under this class are Polish, Palmino, Havana, Beveren,
New Zealand Red, English Spot white, Dutch etc. These animals are lighter in
weight and very fancy to look.
Housing:

The success of rabbit production depends on suitable site & design of houses. Rabbit needs housing
for protection and preventing them from running away. Rabbit is burrowing animal and has sharp
reflexes.

• Housing premises should provide adequate shade of trees & peaceful environment free of strong
winds.
• Shelter must provide protection from inclement weather and predators like dogs, cats, snakes,
bats etc. Rabbits can be housed in several ways depending on finance availability and climate.

Rabbits are reared individually or in colonies. An enclosed shed with hutches kept on racks or cages
hung from ceiling with wires are elaborate housing.
Housing:
• A hutch is small built up structure of wood and chicken mesh.
• The floor of hutch may be made up of stronger mesh or solid sheets bedded with straw
otherwise locally available materials like tree twinges and woven splits bamboo.
• The roof of hutch should be sloping made of asbestos sheet/grass thatch. Gunny bags or
mats should be kept hanging on sides of hutches without affecting ventilation to provide
protection from rain, wind and sun.
• Wire mesh floor is preferred over solid bedding materials as the droppings falls down and it
keeps cage clean, free from ammonia odour and fly.
>Rabbits can also be housed in thatch roofed mud huts with hard mud floor attached
with small yard.
Housing:
In colony raising, usually 10 or more in colony hutches or on floor in deep litter are reared.
The floor can be wire mesh or hard floor with bedding materials.
The floor space is 1.5-2.0sqft. or 0.45-0.65sq.m./adult rabbit.
However, advanced pregnant does, usually from 1 week prior to kindling until weaning of
bunnies should be isolated from flocks.
Major problem of colony raising specially on deep litter is higher risk of coccidiosis and
maintenance of hygiene.
In western countries cages or hutches are fabricated with wire netting.
They are installed in single, two or three tier system.
They are costly but space saving.
Such cages are usually in commercial rabbitary.
The wire mesh of 12.5x12.5mm size of 16 or 14 gauge specifically used for bottom of cages.
Housing:
Waterers: - Earthen ware, concrete, glass & plastic pots are commonly
used waterers in backyard rabbitries.
In modern commercial rearing inverted water bottles of
polypropylene materials are more popular.
The water bottle is big enough to fulfill 24 to 48 hrs of water supply.

Feeders: - Normally L or J shape feeders with bottom mesh are used

which eliminates dust in the feed.
These feeders are called self-cleaning feeders & used for feed
concentrate in the form of pellets.
Feeders are raised from bottom of cage to avoid spoilage &
wastage of food.
Environmental re qu ire m e nt of rabbit:
Temperature: - The comfortable zone of temperature for maximum production is
10° to 26°C if temperature is more than 28°C and above decreases feed
consumption and increases water intake. Due to which-
Growth rate slowed down in growers.
Productive efficiency in females adversely affected with reduced fertility and
temporary sterility in males.
Humidity: - Rabbits are sensitive to low humidity. Comfortable humidity ranges
from 55 to 70%.

Ventilation: - Ventilation requirement depends upon weather, cage type and

population density. Free movement of air is always needed in rabbitary especially
in hot weathers. Air must be free from dust and smoke.

Light: - About 8hrs in males and 16hrs in females exposure to light is must for
sexually active and fertile. For growing rabbits, 1-2 hrs additional artificial light is
sufficient.
Sanitation f o r disease prevention:
• Sanitation is the essential management to prevent disease incidence.

• Daily
cleaning of cages/hutches, feeders & waters should be done to ensure
sanitary conditions.

• Water supplied should be treated with common sanitizers to reduce microbe load.

• Removal
of manure, soiled bedding, contaminated food, or feed and supplying
contamination-free roughage/feed reduce disease emergence in the rabbitry.

• Isolation of sick animals and treatments is also equally important.

Breeding:
Selection of rabbits for breeding: -
Selection of Buck: - Buck selection is important or rather more important than doe
because it mates with no. Of does and its character will be inherited to many off
springs. Apart from individual selection bucks should be selected whose sibs and
collateral relatives have good commercial characters.

·A buck should be in good physical conditions with well-developed testes and

health.
·Its growth must be good & should not be fatty.
·Best time to select a buck is when they weight 2.8 to 3.0kg.

Selection of doe: - young does are to be selected to replace aged does.

A breeding doe should have minimum 8 teats.

·It should be in good physical condition, healthy & well grown.

·She should have good commercial characters.
·They can be best selected when their body weight is around 2 to 3 kg.
Breeding: - Inbreeding should be avoided by purchasing/exchanging bucks from other herds.
Mating of bucks and doe from different breeds is adopted to improve commercial character
of herd.

Patterns of breeding: - There are 3 basic patterns of breeding depending upon the frequency
of mating of does and bucks.

1. Extensive breeding: -
In this system weaning is carried out at 7 week and mating is done in the week
immediately after weaning.
This breeding cycle takes about 85 to 90 days.
2. Semi intensive breeding: -
Rabbits keepers in this system aim to get 5 to 6 litter/doe/year.
Weaning is done at 5 weeks and breeding cycle is completed within 65 to 70
days.
3. Intensive breeding: -
Large commercial rabbitries follows this breeding systems.
In this system weaning is done at 2 weeks.
In the third week from kindling doe is mated and within 45 to 50days breeding
cycle is completed.
This system can produce more than 7 litters/doe/year.
It should only be practiced by professionals maintaining skills, quality nutrition
and standard management.
Mating: -
The sign of oestrus in doe includes red & swollen vulva, restlessness, raising of
tail and acceptability of buck.
First mating should be done at 20-24 weeks of age.
For mating doe should be taken to buck cage to avoid fighting in herd.
After successful mating buck falls off to the side with scream.
P re gnancy , kindling a n d c a r e :
Pregnancy: - the gestation period in rabbit is 30-32 days.
Pregnancy diagnosis: -
1. Test mating: It is also called layman’s method in which doe is subjected to mating and
acceptability of buck is tested.
Usually pregnant does will not accept the buck.
2. Palpation: Developing embryos in pregnant doe can be easily felt after 12 to 14 days of
mating.
The embryos beads are around 1 to 2 cm at this stage. Embryos can be felt by exerting
gentle pressure with thumb and fore fingers on either side of uterus.
Further during late pregnancy i.e. 4 th and 5 th week, abdomen of doe gets swollen with
teats.
False pregnancy:
In case doe doesn’t conceive after mating. Sometimes she may develop false pregnancy. She
will refuse to accept male. After 15 to 20 days she will start pulling her fur to built nest which is
observed at the stage of 24 to 28 days in actual pregnant doe.
P re gnancy , kindling a n d c a r e :
After delivery mother licks them & dries.
If bunnies are delivered outside nest box then they should
be put together in the nest to avoid mortality due to cold.
For two kindling and if the vices persists, they should be
culled.

Cannibalism: -
In some cases it can be observed that doe, eats her young
rabbits, which is called cannibalism.
The reason may be shortage of water before kindling,
improper bedding or disturbance during kindling. In such
cases does can be watched.
 Fostering: -
Taking bunnies to another doe for rearing is fostering. This is because of following
reasons-
1. Real mother of bunnies may die or abandon young ones.
2. In exceptional cases, if litter size is more than 8.
3. Sometimes, two or more does may kindle at the same time with unequal size of
litter.

Proper method may increase chances of success of fostering with following

techniques
1. Bunnies should be taken to another doe for fostering within a week.
2. The age of young rabbits to be fostered should be nearly same as that of foster
mother’s own litter with not more than 3 days difference.
Hand r e a r i n g : -

In case of non-acceptance of young rabbits by foster mother.

They can also be reared by feeding cow’s milk.
The protein content of cow’s milk is raised to 10% by adding calcium
casemate with proportion of 1:20.
Bunnies can be fed this warm milk with bottles @ 5ml/day/bunny
during 1 st week, 15ml & 25ml in 2 nd& 3 rd week.
Total quantity should be divided into two times daily.
 Feeding of rabbits:

Rabbit is real herbivore and continuous eater taking one to two meals /hour.
It is caprophagious animal.
They produce dry hard pellet faeces during daytime and softer and small pellets in the
night. Feed stuff for rabbits can be classified into following categories
1. Roughages: Which includes hay, bamboo leaves, banana leaves, cesbania leaves and
some equal type stuff.
2. Greens: Grasses, vegetables scrap, legumes, Lucerne, Berseem, Clover etc. tubers
sweet potatoes, onion, guinea, Napier, Para grasses.
3. Concentrate: Most of cereals, animal products and agro industrial by products.
4. Compounds: usually complete pelleted feed.
 Feeding of rabbits:
Nutritive requirements: - Rabbit prefer high fibre diet offered as hay or
greens. Around 15% roughage in the form of greens is adequate.

Nutrients required as laboratory animal:

Daily feed a n d w a t e r r e q u i r e m e n t s :
Water:
Adult rabbit: 150-500ml/day (Approx. 10ml/100g body weight)
Lactating Does: 1000-2000ml.
Feeding care:
1.Any feed, whether concentrate or roughages should always be fresh to possible
extent. Succulent greens should be fed with minimum gap or delay.

2. Concentrate and hay should be stored in dry and cool environment. Hay can be
stored up to 1 year but concentrate should not be stored more than 1.5 to 2 months.

3. Feeding should be done in most clean conditions with specific timing.

4. Wastage should be controlled by filling feeders to the half of their depth.

5. Feeders should be scrapped and thoroughly cleaned by applying disinfectant at least

once a week.
Weaning

Weaning simply means taking the kits away from their mother. After weaning, the young will no
longer have access to milk. Kits may start nibbling on solid food soon after their eyes open and
should be eating by the 4th week. Usually, it is best to keep them with their mother until they are
6 weeks old and some breeders even allow them to go 8 weeks before weaning to maximize
their nutrition and growth.

At the time of weaning, you should sex the kits and separate the males and females into their
own cages. Before they are 3 months old you should separate each rabbit into its own pen. Make
sure that growing young rabbits have access to a sufficient amount of high protein feed to
support their rapid growth. Monitor them carefully as young rabbits are prone to digestive upset.
Rabbit Diseases

Coccidia
Coccidia are protozoa, the most primitive phylum of the animal kingdom. They are
sporozoa, i.e. parasites with no cilia and no flagella, which reproduce both sexually
and asexually. The main symptoms are: diarrhoea, weight loss, low intake of feed and
water, contagion and death.

Typically theyform oocysts, a parasite mechanism for dispersal and defence in an

external environment. And at least 11 coccidia species are rabbit parasites. One
infests the liver, the other ten the intestine.
Rabbit Diseases

Ear Canker and Skin Mange:

External parasites such as mites can cause a variety of skin and ear conditions. With ear
canker the entire ear may become filled with crusty scabs.

Mastitis:
This is a bacterial disease is not common but is occasionally seen in rabbit. It occurs
when there is an infection and inflammation of the teats, which become hard and
sore.
Antibiotic (75,000-100,000 units of penicillin) will clear up the condition but as it has
a tendency to recur; it may be unwise to continue breeding from that doe.
Bacterial enteritis
two other classic types of rabbit diarrhoea.

Mucoid enteritis
A special kind of diarrhoea sometimes affects growing rabbits and nursing does:
very soft pellets are mixed with a translucent, gelatinous substance called
mucus. It is now universally considered a particular expression of enteritis
which can have many

varied causes: bacterial (E. coli, etc.) or nutritional (not enough water and / or
not enough roughage).
 S n u f f l e s ( C h r o n i c Rhinitis):
• It is a bacterial infection of the respiratory system similar to cold in humans.
The symptoms are sneezing, noisy breathing, a runny nose and wet and
matted fur on the face and inside of the front legs as a result of the rabbit
using its front legs to wipe its nose and face.
• Antibiotics may appear to be effective but mortality is usually high and

those rabbits that recover are often affected again if exposed to some new
stress.
RESPIRATORY DISEASES
Respiratory ailments are common among domestic rabbits. In a farm young
rabbits can also be affected. Respiratory diseases usually remain endemic, but
abrupt epidemics, which candecimate the stock in a few weeks, sometimes break
out in farm rabbitries.

Pasteurellosis-
is the primary respiratory disease affecting domestic rabbits, but other bacteria
are significant opportunistic pathogens. The primary manifestations are upper
respiratory disease (e.g., rhinitis, sinusitis, conjunctivitis, and dacryocystitis).
R e s p i r a t o r y disease control

Tetracyclines are pneumotropic antibiotics well tolerated by rabbits.

Chloramphenicol and sulfadimethoxine are also often effective. Dosages vary
according to the preparation but treatment should always be for three to four
days. The medicine is best injected intramuscularly.
Thank y o u f o r
listening!
Don't hesitate to ask any questions!
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http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/4h_rabbit_RG.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2_-cjgDi-9NRfeqWD7WfZ0AqE2TBB-
6H9y_wIV08KW3qn4PFDo802ZSLY

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,

THE RABBIT Husbandry, health and production