Muskrat Farming Techniques and Economic Benefit Analysis

The muskrat is a very cute small animal, named the muskrat because it can produce a secretion similar to musk. The musk secreted by the muskrat has high utility value and a wide range of uses, which has made muskrat farming a hot entrepreneurial project. So can farming muskrat really bring benefits?

Muskrat Farming Techniques and Benefits

Farming muskrats has the characteristics of small project investment, relatively low feeding cost, and good economic benefits.

Small project investment: Muskrat farming can be adapted to local conditions and can be large or small. They can be raised free-range in abandoned ponds and on river surfaces, enclosed in orchards and woods, or kept in cages in courtyards, on balconies, or on flat rooftops.

Good economic benefits: Raising a pair of muskrats, they breed 2-3 litters per year in the north, 4-5 litters in the south, and 3-4 litters in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, with a maximum of 6 litters. Each litter is generally 8-12 young, with a maximum of 24. During the estrus period (March-October), a male muskrat can have 6-7 grams of musk extracted while alive, and the current selling price is about 140 yuan per gram. The rats bred each year from each pair of muskrats can yield no fewer than 20 skins, and the current selling price per pelt is about 50 yuan.

Relatively low feeding cost: The muskrat is a herbivorous amphibious animal with a wide range of feed sources. It can eat more than one hundred kinds of grasses, vegetables, and grains, including Chinese cabbage, red radish, water peanut, and reeds. The feeding cost is low and the feeding method is simple. As long as you pay attention to feeding on schedule, cleaning and hygiene, and disease prevention and treatment, every one of them can be kept alive.

Feeding and Management of Muskrats

1. Spring is exactly their mating preparation and mating period. In southern regions, they roughly enter the mating preparation period in February and the mating period in March; in northern regions, they roughly enter the mating preparation period in March and the mating period in April. The management points for each period are introduced as follows:

Mating preparation period.

Conduct a comprehensive inspection of the animal group, check the body condition of the breeding muskrats, supply water to the pool earlier, provide enough bedding grass in the nest, and increase the temperature inside the nest cage (10-12 degrees Celsius) to promote estrus.

Check whether there is one male and one female paired in the nest cage. For male and female muskrats born the previous year that have not gone into estrus, place a light bulb 50-60 cm from the pool cover from 6-9 pm and shine it for several hours to promote estrus. At the same time, provide sufficient concentrated feed and roughage for the breeding period (mainly fresh poplar and willow branches, plus supplementary vegetable feed such as cabbage and carrots), and do a good job in disease prevention. At this time, before and after water supply, add olaquindox to the concentrated feed, mix well, and feed twice. In addition, add 1 handful of vitamin powder or malt supplement to every 100 kg of concentrated feed, continuing until the mating period.

Mating period.

In addition to the same management as the previous period, the main task is to place branches or green grass in the exercise area to provide a concealed environment for them, and to supplement roughage at any time for them to eat and use for making their own nests.

Birthing and lactation period.

In addition to supplementing and feeding the concentrated feed for the breeding period, according to local conditions, mix feed with soybean milk or cow's and sheep's milk to ensure normal lactation of the newborn muskrats and the nutrition needed by the female muskrat to conceive through mating. For the roughage fed, supply enough fresh tender grass and branches according to the season. Besides ensuring they have enough fresh tender roughage to eat, they can also carry it back into the nest to block the water hole tightly, avoiding young muskrats falling into the pool because of blindly crawling around.

Rearing period.

When young muskrats are 28-30 days after birth, they should be separated from the nest in time to facilitate the birth of the second litter and mating and conception for the third litter. Separated young muskrats should be raised together with their own litter during the rearing period, and sufficient concentrated feed and palatable roughage should be provided. The bath water in the pool should be refilled at any time to avoid drowning of young muskrats that cannot climb back home. After separation, young muskrats can generally be reared in 3 months.

2. Summer feeding and management

Summer management techniques are almost the same as in spring, but attention should be paid to hygiene and disease prevention, disinfection of the site and tools should be done well, and diseases should be prevented and treated promptly when found. In the plum rain season, feed 2 mg olaquindox tablets per 10 animals, once every 10 days. Because the muskrat is a herbivorous animal, antibiotics should be prohibited to avoid digestive system diseases caused by intestinal flora disorder. In summer, mating, birthing, and rearing of muskrats can proceed at the same time. Because it is a multi-litter animal, it can accept mating again within a few days after giving birth, while also nursing young muskrats well and possibly raising more than two litters of young muskrats to maturity. Therefore, the site must be kept quiet and sufficient, clean bath water must be provided.

3. Winter management

Winter management mainly consists of having sufficient grass for warmth, timely feeding of feed and vegetables, and persistent observation. The main methods are: fill the pool with dry grass and let the muskrats make their own grass holes and live in an orderly way. Feed and vegetables must be fed once a day, and their activity should be observed and recorded well.

4. Autumn feeding and management

Autumn management should prepare sufficient overwintering feed and reserve overwintering dry grass. In addition, select and pair rearing muskrats by choosing different litters and matching males and females, then enter overwintering feeding. If there are not enough nest rooms, they can overwinter together in the same nest as a group, and selection and pairing can be carried out when the mating preparation period arrives. From late autumn to before winter, the pool water should be changed with fresh water every other day or every few days until it freezes.

Muskrat Farming Requires Market Awareness

Muskrat farmers should strengthen their market awareness, not be confused by some false appearances, and even less follow the trend of farming. In particular, those seed-copying units that use low-priced seed sales and high-priced purchases as bait to deceive farmers must not be trusted. Generally, seed-copying units have no farming experience and no farming techniques, and their farming history is only 1-3 years. They merely exploit the tight market for muskrat products. According to reports, seed-copying units have appeared that use low-priced seed sales and high-priced purchases as bait to deceive many farmers. Whether to raise muskrats, and how many to raise, should be based on market sales as the basis for decision-making. Farmers operating muskrat farming projects should hold to the idea of normal profit and should not have the idea of huge profits. Getting rich overnight is unrealistic, because farming income must have costs subtracted to be pure profit. Under normal circumstances, the annual economic benefit of farming 100 pairs of muskrats is about 100,000 yuan. Operating muskrat products in muskrat farming is originally highly profitable, so only by being down-to-earth, hardworking, and enduring hardship can high benefits be obtained through large-scale farming.

Muskrat Farming Costs

The economic benefits of muskrats are very ideal. The monthly farming cost per muskrat does not exceed 4 yuan, and musk can be produced in 5 months, with a total feed cost of 12 yuan per animal; each male muskrat can produce an average of 10—15 grams of musk, and young muskrats can secrete musk when they reach four months. Female muskrats born that year can breed one litter of young, and male muskrats born that year can produce more than 2 grams, with some yielding 5 grams of musk. Each male muskrat can generate income of about 800 yuan per year; each female muskrat can produce about 20 young per year, and the income from the young produced by each female muskrat per year can reach about 1,600 yuan. This is a very clear account: calculated at the lowest figures, the income from raising one pair of muskrats will not be less than 1,000 yuan.

Muskrat farming is relatively simple. One laborer can raise 500. Whether it is a professional farm or an ordinary farmer, they can all succeed in farming. Because the muskrat also belongs to the rodent family, its immunity and resistance are very strong. Generally, during farming, as long as prevention is carried out in advance, it rarely gets sick.

The musk produced by muskrats also has a very good market. On the international market, the price of musk is as high as 41 US dollars and demand exceeds supply. Muskrat skins are also a commodity in short supply. The muskrat skins produced in our country only satisfy 30 percent of the market, and a large amount still needs to be imported. In recent years, muskrat farming has seen an upsurge in the world. In countries such as South Korea and Japan, the seed price per pair has already sold for 2,800 yuan, and domestically it has also reached 1,200 yuan, with a trend of further increase.

After analyzing so many related issues about muskrat farming, I believe everyone has gained a certain understanding. Although muskrat farming can bring certain benefits, the preliminary preparation work for muskrat farming must be done well. Learning more about muskrat information is very beneficial for muskrat farming.