Smart Lessons
The Rabbit Enterprise
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A Knowledge Management Publication
Research & Policy Cluster
National Youth Development Agency
Disclaimer: These are a series of opinion and discussion
papers produced by the Knowledge Management Unit of the
National Development Agency (NYDA) to stimulate debate
on key national priority areas on Youth Development in South
Africa. The content of this paper does not represent the views
or policies of the Management of the NYDA. Therefore the
NYDA cannot be held liable for the content, mistakes or
omissions presented in the paper.
© July 2012. NYDA, KM publications
[email protected]
Dr Louis Brown
National Youth
Development Agency
11 Broadwalk, Halfway
House, 1685]
+27-11-6517000
[24 July, 2012
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Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 4
What is a rabbit enterprise? ...................................................................................................................... 4
Why would people farm with rabbits?.............................................................................................. 7
More on housing rabbits ........................................................................................................................ 8
Breeding ........................................................................................................................................................ 8
Selecting breeding stock ......................................................................................................................... 9
Birth ................................................................................................................................................................ 9
Weaning ........................................................................................................................................................ 9
Feeding .......................................................................................................................................................... 9
Slaughtering the rabbit ......................................................................................................................... 10
Is a rabbit enterprise suitable for South African youth? ............................................................... 10
What support would be required by the young person? .............................................................. 10
References ...................................................................................................................................................... 12
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Introduction
Youth in South Africa is defined as the segment of the population that falls within the
15-35 age range. Young people make up over 40% of the population in South Africa,
which is quite high (Magongo and Motimele, 2011). Nevertheless, unemployment
amongst the youth is very high at just above 70%, compared to the older population
groups at about 25%. Youth unemployment could even be higher if unemployment
were to be broadly defined as to include discouraged work seekers, for instance. This
reflection is very important since it powerfully underscores the significant overrepresentation of young people amongst the unemployed. The high rate of youth
unemployment is more pronounced in the age group 15 to 24 years. This pattern of
unemployment has been consistent over a number of years. Black African youth and
Coloured youth are the main groups affected by unemployment.
Unemployment is not only a result of the economy’s failure to absorb people in the
labour market, it is also a function of the poor level of education and work experience
that young people have. In terms of demographics, a great number of young people live
in rural areas, where most of South Africa’s people reside. Though rural areas are
generally seen as suitable for agricultural production on varying scales, experience and
evidence suggest that mere sub-subsistence is often the only form of agricultural
production that is practiced in a typical South African rural area. Accordingly, efforts
must be directed at developing agriculture which can serve as catalysis for rural
development in these areas.
Since young people make up a great proportion of the population of rural areas, it is
important that they be included in efforts directed at developing agriculture so that
rural development can be realized. For the purpose of this paper we characterize
agricultural development as a planned and well-coordinated programme aimed at
developing the environment where agricultural operations take place as well as the
people who participate in such operations. Since a great majority of these people are
youth, this means developing young people who are behind agricultural activities in
rural areas as well as putting in place the infrastructure necessary for undertaking
agricultural activities in these areas. We are adequately aware of the fact that
agricultural activities are miscellaneous and occur on different environmental settings,
and that rural young people form a heterogeneous group. Consequently, facilitating
agriculture and rural development can be achieved on a case-by-case basis in which a
project approach is employed in a systemic, adaptive and facilitative mode. In this paper
the production of rabbits is used as a case to illustrate programming a youth
intervention that takes into account the aspirations of young people and nature of
agricultural operations in production in the structuring of support for young people’s
participation.
What is a rabbit enterprise?
Rabbits are very good stocks for the self-supporting young person to keep. They can be
fed largely on weeds that would otherwise be wasted, and they make excellent meals.
New Zealand Whites are a good breed to have because they provide good meat and their
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skins are very beautiful when cured. Californians are also excellent. Such medium
breeds tend to be more economical than very large rabbits (e.g. Flemish Giants) which
eat an awful lot and don’t produce much more meat. If you get two does and a buck,
these should provide you with up to 90-140kg of meat per year.
For adequate meat supply to feed a household of four people rabbits can be kept in a
4.3-meter-by-5.2-meter housing structure and it should not stink at all. This means
good cleaning! About 140kg of meat per year can be realized from keeping rabbits in
this housing. A housing structure of this size could produce the same amount of meat
even if it were located in a big city.
It is not recommended to keep rabbits outside, because one would always worry about
bad weather, dogs, and other predatory animals. Indeed, it would be much more
convenient for one to check the rabbits if they are kept indoors as compared to keeping
them outside.
Rabbits can be kept in arks, cages, hutches or any suitably built housing structure.
Throughout the summer, rabbits can feed themselves perfectly well on grass alone. For
this purpose, one would need to position their housing on grassland, or move them
about on grassland in their arks, or release them to run loose in adequately fenced
paddocks. If they run loose in paddocks, the wire netting of the paddocks should be dug
15cm into the ground to prevent them from burrowing. In areas where foxes abound,
rabbits may need to be kept in hutches all the year round. To some extent, rabbits can
put up with cold but not wet conditions, and they do not do well in too much heat
conditions yet they need a cosy nest box.
To be simple and practical one would need to have simple wood, screen (chicken wire),
and 35-cm-mesh hardware-cloth cages for one mature buck and three breeding does.
The floor of the cage should be made of hardware-cloth, of course, since it supports the
rabbits and allows most of the waste to pass through. One should allow 56 square meter
of floor area for each cage. The rest of the rabbits would run loose on the floor. It is
better to allow sunlight to shine through so that the rabbits can meet their vitamin D
requirements.
Each doe may have four breeding sessions per year. The gestation period is about 30
days. Each doe's cage could have a wooden box with a hole cut in the top for nesting.
Five days before she's due, a pile of straw should be put in the cage. The doe will use it
to start building a nest. The nest will then be lined with fur the doe plucks from her
breast. If the doe produces a litter that has more young ones than she can properly
nurse, it is better to kill the puniest looking young ones. This should not be seen as
cruel, since some of them would probably die anyway. Alternatively, the additional
young ones can be “adopted” by another doe that has fewer young ones on condition
they have kindled at kindled at relatively the same time. In this case, it is better to smear
the “adopting” doe’s dung on the young ones so as to confuse her sense of smell.
Otherwise, she can reject the young ones to be adopted. The young ones are left with
their mother for eight weeks.
Carla (2008) and Schiere and Corstiaensen (2008) advise rabbit farmers to beware of
the fact that rabbits are often sterile during September and October in the tropics.
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Perhaps this is not so much of an issue to farmers in the subtropics (see Van Dijk, 2003
and National Department of Agriculture, 1998). Nevertheless, rabbits should commence
breeding at seven months of age and the breeder should be kept for three years. What is
also noteworthy is that incest is nothing to a rabbit. Therefore, one must choose ones
breeders on the criterion of how rapidly they grow to slaughter size, rather than who is
who's brother, father, or sister. A crucial family tree consideration to some farmers
might be the meat flavour, because some lines of rabbits taste better than others for
some reason, though the difference is generally insignificant.
Most rabbit farmers usually keep the New Zealand white breed for home meat
production. These rabbits are not as large at maturity as other breeds are, but they
attain the maturity size faster. If one decides to go into meat production, securing a
good stock to start with would be recommended. Basically, a good buck and good doe
are all that one would need to breed up a good herd of rabbits.
It is not necessary to use commercial pellets as food for the rabbits. This will increase
costs unnecessarily. Ordinary feedstuff such as corn, windfall apples and pears,
soybeans, green or dry maple leaves, weeds and grass, and discarded fruit and
vegetables found behind grocery stores can be used to feed rabbits. When using weeds
as rabbit food, one should strive to give them a good variety, which includes plenty of
clover, alfalfa, flowering plants, and other high-protein stuff. If adequate greens cannot
be secured, it is better to grow alfalfa in one’s lawn. Incidentally, rabbits' instincts keep
them from eating poisonous plants; however, it is advisable to avoid giving rabbits
foxglove, pokeweed, and any exotic-looking ornamental shrubs. A self-supporting
rabbit keeper should watch what wild rabbits of his area eat in winter and then gather
that for his own rabbit herd. Since rabbits like chewing to “curb the growth of their
front teeth, it is suggested that a rabbit man gives his rabbits branches and twigs (such
as maple) to chew on. This will prevent them from chewing the wooden housing they
live in. The rabbit man can also grow sugar beets in the garden for the rabbits' winter
use. They normally thrive more on this diet as compared to the commercial diets.
Rabbits need clean water at all times. They should also be given some ordinary table salt
regularly. The rabbits will definitely do well if their nutritional needs are met
adequately. In general, rabbits are hardy and very healthy animals. They can tolerate
moderate cold, but should not be subjected to the rain since they can catch pneumonia,
because their bodies cannot dry off quickly. It is, therefore very important that their feet
should stay dry. One should avoid letting ones rabbits run around on the ground where
they might pick up roundworms or other parasites. Household pets such as dogs and
cats can also pass worms on to rabbits. Such pets must be kept away from the rabbit’s
feed. Rabbit housing (or shelter) must be built in such a way that dogs cannot gain
access to the rabbits’ shelter if they are kept outdoors. Ear mites are the only
ectoparasites that pose a health problem to the rabbits. If ear mites appear, an
inexpensive lime-sulphur mixture dissolved in water can be applied on the affected skin
of the ear every other day until it is healed.
Untrained children must not be allowed to handle rabbits since they can easily injure
them by mishandling. The rabbit must never be picked up by its ears. Instead, it must be
picked up by grasping its skin over the shoulders with one hand and then supporting its
assent with the other arm.
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Why would people farm with rabbits?
Rabbits offer an alternative to other meat-producing animals for the improvement of
protein supply due to the fact that rabbits do not compete with humans for food. They
can live on waste materials such as maize husks and vegetable leaves. Rabbit meat is of
good quality and tastes similar to chicken meat. The meat production per animal is
higher than in all other herbivorous farm animals. A doe can produce almost 10 times
its body weight in weaned kindling within a year and its kindling can double their body
weight in 6 days. Additional reasons for farming with rabbits include, but are not
limited to, the following:
•
Rabbits are kept for their tasty meat which is also of good quality, low in fat
content and resembles chicken meat. This is known in many rural, tropical
communities;
•
The consumption of rabbit meat is not surrounded by many religious taboos or
traditional sanctions of one kind or another;
•
Setting up a rabbit enterprise does not require a huge initial capital outlay. In
fact a cage, hutch or any suitable housing structure can be built with some scrap wood
or bamboo; consequently, one does not need a large initial investment to start a rabbit
enterprise. Specifically one doe (or few ones if means allow) and one buck are sufficient
to start a business. Once kindling begins, the rabbit herd size will increase at a very high
rate to put the business owner in a position to slaughter the young males for meat;
•
A young person can start a rabbit enterprise with borrowed rabbits, and soon
find himself (or herself) in a position to return (or pay back) those rabbits to the lender
within six months. Hence, there is no excuse to fold arms and “cry poor”;
•
Within the South African context, livestock has often been used as some form of
savings. A goat, for instance, would be sold for inescapable cash needs of the household.
With as small an animal as a rabbit, it becomes significantly much easier to get a buyer
as compared to a transaction involving a goat;
•
The amount of meat obtained from slaughtering a rabbit is sufficiently small to
require no refrigeration by a family. Nevertheless, this amount of meat can satisfy the
consumption needs of a family or a small party;
•
Since the does produce young ones regularly, a regular source of income can be
realized by the young person instead of a once-off large amount;
•
Feeding rabbits can be very cheap if the young person is willing to grow all the
feed required;
•
Caring for rabbits can be done by women, children or men. There is no need to
apply force required to restrain bigger animals;
•
Rabbit manure can be recycled in a vegetable enterprise;
•
Rabbit manure is not malodorous, and rabbits are peaceful and quiet animals
that will not make the enterprise a problem to the neighbours in terms of noise;
•
The skin available from slaughtering a rabbit is a valuable by-product if the
young person can develop a suitable market (such as handicrafts);
•
Children can be trained to care for rabbits; and
•
A dressed rabbit can be a welcome present on various occasions.
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More on housing rabbits
A big cage can be made of wire mesh or scrap wood. It should be supported by poles or
placed on old tyres or bricks so that it is lifted off the ground. Individual cages should be
80 x 60 x 60 cm high to house a medium-sized rabbit.
The cage should have a wire mesh floor with holes large enough for the droppings to fall
through (the holes in the mesh should not be big and allow their feet to get stuck). The
droppings can be used as a fertiliser in vegetable patches or flower gardens.
The cage should not have a ground floor because the rabbits will dig a way out. If a
wooden frame is used, the wire mesh should be placed on the inside of the frame to
prevent the rabbits from gnawing through it. The mother, however, needs a nesting box
to keep her babies warm. This box should be about 38 x 25 x 25 cm.
Clean the cage regularly and keep it dry to prevent disease. Protect the cage from sun,
wind and rain. It is not necessary to put the cages inside buildings such as sheds to
protect the rabbits against cold as they can tolerate cold better than heat. Rabbits need
plenty of fresh air. Their cages therefore have to be well ventilated. The cages should be
put in a quiet place where dogs, cats and rats cannot get to them.
Breeding
Female rabbits are ready to breed when they are 4 to 6 months old and males when
they are 5 to 6 months old. Keep the male rabbit in a separate cage. Always put the
female into the male’s cage. If the mating was successful the male will roll over. If the
female is not ready for mating, she will try to run away. When mating does not take
place, the female can be put into the male’s cage for the next 5 to 6 days. The female is
more productive during springtime, summer and early autumn. Breeding during the
winter months is not recommended as it is too cold. Pregnancy lasts about 1 month.
The rabbits can be left with the mother for eight weeks, at which age they will be ready
to be slaughtered. If the young person follows this rearing pattern, he (or she) needs to
remove the mother six weeks after she has kindled and put her to the buck to be served.
After she has been served, she is returned to her young. The young must be removed
from their mother’s cage when they are eight weeks old so that the doe can kindle again
17 days after the previous litter has been removed. The gestation period is about 30
days. If the young person decides to keep some young for breeding replacements, he (or
she) must separate the does from the bucks when they are three months old.
To find out what the sex of a rabbit is, is very simple: Just let the rabbit lay on its back
such that the head is towards you. Then do a gently exploratory palpation with your
fingers on each side of where its equipment seems to be located, and this will force out
and expose the relevant part. It will appear as an orifice in the case of a female and a
slight rounded protrusion in the case of a male. When a rabbit of the size of a New
Zealand White is ready for mating, she will weigh 3.5kg. She must never be kept without
being served (by the buck) until she gets much heavier since she will fail to conceive if
she weighs more. The young person should always take the doe to the buck, never the
buck to the doe to avoid fighting between the two. In addition, the doe must always be
put by herself when she is going to kindle. She does not need any company. In general, a
doe can rear from seven to nine rabbits a litter. Therefore, if the litter has over 12 young
ones, it is best to remove and kill a few. Another alternative is to foster them on another
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doe that has just kindled with a smaller litter. If this option is followed, it is necessary to
confuse the sense of smell of the adoptive does by rubbing the young (to be adopted)
with the adoptive doe’s dung and urine before being given to her.
Selecting breeding stock
The young person must make sure that he (or she) buys healthy rabbits with bright
eyes, dry noses and clean ears and feet. The rabbit’s fur should be smooth and clean and
its teeth in line. A mature female should not be bought because it is always difficult to
know how old she is. She might for instance have reached the end of her productive life
and will be of no use. Long toenails indicate that the rabbit is older. Rabbits must be
selected from parents who have a good breeding record. A female that does not perform
well will also have poor offspring. Breeding stock must be bought at an age of six
months. Thereafter, breeding stock must be replaced every three years, culling poor
performers at each instance.
Birth
About 25 days after mating soft dry grass can be placed in a clean, dry nesting box for
the female. The female will add some of her own fur to the grass. Stay away from the
cage at this stage until the babies have been born. The babies are usually born during
the early morning hours. Inspect the babies carefully to see if they are alive and well.
Remove dead babies immediately. Try not to touch the babies unless it is absolutely
necessary. The female may reject the babies if she picks up your smell on them. It is
wise to put a strong-smelling nontoxic substance on the female's nose before handling
the babies (Vicks Vapo Rub). The babies should lie close together in the nesting box.
Make sure that the babies are suckling and well nourished. Females, who have babies
for the first time, may eat them. The female cannot always feed all the babies if there are
too many. Some of the babies can then be given to another female who only has a few
babies. The babies should be of the same age. Cow’s or goat’s milk is a suitable
substitute where the mother cannot rear the babies.
Weaning
The baby rabbits can be weaned from the age of 30 to 35 days. At this stage they can be
taken away from their mother. Put the young females and males in separate cages.
Depending on the feeding and management level, the female can be mated again from 2
to 3 days up to 1 month after having given birth. Young rabbits are usually big enough
to be eaten or sold at the age of 3 to 4 months. If you keep them for a longer period they
will eat much more and the males will begin to fight.
Feeding
Rabbits will eat almost anything that grows in the soil. A rabbit's diet can include
Lucerne, grass, green maize leaves, carrots, turnips, cabbage (not too much) and lettuce.
Cabbage should not be fed to the female while she is in milk as it can reduce milk
production. Rabbits also enjoy food such as maize meal, porridge, bread, samp, weeds
and leaves of fruit trees. However, potato and tomato leaves and rhubarb are should not
be part of the rabbits feed because they are poisonous to rabbits. Introducing sudden
changes in the rabbit’s diet must be avoided. It is also important not to feed the rabbits
greens that have become heated, or food that has been sprayed with pesticides, and
spoiled food or mouldy hay. Rabbits must always have access to clean water and they
must be fed early in the morning and late in the afternoon. The late-afternoon feed
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session should preferably comprise most of the rabbit’s food. One can also grow
vegetables and hay to feed the rabbits.
Slaughtering the rabbit
To slaughter a rabbit, hold it by its hind legs, in your left hand; grab its head in your
right hand and twist it backwards. At the same time, force your hand downwards to
stretch its neck. The neck bone breaks and death is instantaneous. Before the carcass
has cooled, nick the hind legs just above the foot joint and hang up on two hooks. Make a
light cut just above the hock joint on the inside of each rear leg and cut up to the vent
(anus). Peel the skin off the rear legs and then just rip it off the body. Gut the rabbit by
cutting down the belly and removing everything except liver and kidneys (known as
hulking). Remove the gallbladder from the liver.
Is a rabbit enterprise suitable for South African youth?
There is no doubt that a rabbit enterprise will be suitable for all interested South
African youth. From the analysis of the career aspirations of young people (see Brown,
2012a) in relation to the operations management of a rabbit enterprise, we can see that
the technical operations are not the “hard labour” often associated with farming. We
know that young people resent participating in agriculture because they are drudgeryaverse. Since hard labour features nowhere in the operations of a rabbit enterprise, this
is a perfectly suitable enterprise for our youth in South Africa. In fact, we have noted
above that even women and children can be trained to tender for rabbits, because there
is no need to exert strong restraining force that would be typical of handling large
livestock such as cows and goats.
Second, we have noted that running a rabbit enterprise does not require vast hectares
of land. In fact, the operation can be run indoors within a rabbitry. For rural young
people, there is certainly no restraint as far as land is concerned (Brown, 2012b).
Moreover, a rabbit enterprise is relatively easy to start because there is no need to huge
amounts of initial investment. We have noted, above, that a young person can make as
much as 90-140kg of meat per annum from merely keeping a buck and two does. If we
regard as meat to be consumed within the young person’s household, we could further
assume that the breadwinner would appreciate the assistance brought about by the
young person to save on buying meat for the household. That being the case, the
breadwinner is not likely to be opposed to the young person’s request for assistance to
expand the scale of production tenfold, for instance – yielding up to 700kg of meat. This
would set the young person free to sell processed rabbit meat from a braai stand at the
nearest “meeting place”. Where the young person can go with this enterprise is left to
your imagination!
What support would be required by the young person?
The main support required by the young person is marketing of the idea of a rabbit
enterprise to motivate him to take action. The young person must be motivated to see
rabbit farming as an opportunity to participate in rural development. Rabbit meat has
high protein value and will ensure food security within the household. Running the
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rabbit enterprise does not involve abominable drudgery, neither is it malodorous if
proper hygiene measures are followed.
The young person will also require support in respect of training to operate and manage
a rabbit enterprise. Learning how to go about in managing this enterprise is merely
intellectual, rather than “hard labour”. It will be important to the young person to learn
how to use local materials to build a stable, cage, hutch, or ark for his (or her) rabbits.
Next he (or she) needs to learn how to feed the animals. By far, the best thing to do is to
note what one can grow to feed ones rabbits since the feed management can be very
technical. We have already stated that rabbits will eat any greens or edible roots. Failing
which, detailed management of supplements will have to mastered and implemented
along the following lines: Rabbits need a supplement of meal. In this respect any kind of
ground grain will do, but a pregnant doe should not have more than 115g of meal a day
or she will get fat. Assuming that rabbits are not on grass and that you are not giving
them a great quantity of green stuff, feeding should then be in the order of 85g of
concentrates a day for young rabbits over eight weeks old, plus hay ad lip. Then, 18 days
after mating, the doe should be given no more hay but fed on concentrates. She should
have these until her eight-week old litter is removed from her, and at this time will eat
up to 225g a day. Young rabbits can have a meal as soon as they are two weeks old.
The above details on the provision of supplements can be avoided by simply learning
how to operate a small garden that will ensure that your rabbits get all the nutrients
that they need from the natural grass since they are herbivores. Enriching the garden
soil to produce what is required would rely on rabbit manure, i.e. no fertilizer needs to
be bought. Therefore, a rabbit enterprise is a self-sustaining operation that is suited to
our South African youth.
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References
Brown, L. R. (2012a). “Exploring aspirations for youth’s involvement in agriculture and
rural development in the African continent”. KB Knowledge Brief of the National Youth
Development Agency Halfway House, 11(2):1-3.
Brown, L. R. (2012b). Land Reform in Relation to the Economic Participation of Youth in
Agriculture in South Africa. Smart Lessons June 2012: National Youth Development
Agency, Halfway House.
Carla, E. (2008). The Encyclopaedia of Country Living. Sasquatch Books, Seattle.
Magongo, B. and Motimele, M. (ed.) (2011). South African Youth Context: The Young
Generation. National Youth Development Agency, Halfway House.
National Department of Agriculture. (1998). Keeping Rabbits. Resource CentreDirectorate of Communications, Pretoria.
Van Dijk, L. (2003). Rabbit production guidelines: for the Malawi Prison Service. Penal
Reform International, Lilongwe.
Schiere, J. B and Corstiaensen, C. J. (2008). Backyard Rabbit Farming in the Tropics.
Agrodok 20 – Agromisa foundation, Wageningen.
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