How to Increase Efficiency in Angora Rabbit Farming? A Full Breakdown of Practical Measures
Angora rabbit: formerly translated as Angola rabbit, originating in the Asia Minor region, its name comes from the city of Angora, which is now Ankara, the capital of Turkey. The Angora rabbit was brought from England to France by British sailors in 1723, and then spread to the world. Later, four different strains were formed: French, English, German and Chinese. Angora rabbits come in many colors, including white, black, chestnut, blue, gray and yellow. White rabbits have red eyes, while colored rabbits have black eyes. White rabbit wool is good for dyeing, so raising white Angora rabbits is the most common practice. Below we introduce the measures for increasing efficiency in Angora rabbit farming.
I. Superior breed selection
1. Choose improved breeds. The main improved breeds of Angora rabbits in China are the Chinese strain, German strain and French strain. Since the mid-1980s, China has also carried out breeding work on Angora rabbits and has successively developed several new strains. For example, the Yimeng Angora rabbit passed the review and naming of the Shandong Provincial Livestock and Poultry Breed Approval Committee in 1999. It has characteristics such as high wool yield (annual wool yield of 1830 grams), high coarse wool rate (average coarse wool content of 18.2%), high reproductive rate (average litter size of 7.86), strong adaptability, strong disease resistance, uniform body type and appearance, and stable genetic performance, and is recognized as a new strain of Angora rabbit. When introducing breeding stock, attention should be paid to selecting these excellent breeds.
2. Choose a reliable source farm for breeding stock. There are now many breeding rabbit farms, but some do not produce breeding rabbits according to standards, making quality difficult to guarantee. To avoid being cheated and to obtain pure improved breeds, breeding stock should be introduced from breeding rabbit farms with a long history, strong technical force, a certain production scale, standardized management, and a "Breeding Livestock and Poultry Production and Operation License" and "Breeding Livestock and Poultry Qualification Certificate" issued by the local municipal or higher animal husbandry authority.
3. Choose excellent individuals. Whether for introduction or for animals kept for breeding in one's own rabbit farm, Angora rabbits must have typical breed characteristics. Careful selection is required, closely observing the external morphological characteristics of the Angora rabbit, such as body type, physique and coat density (especially the density of belly hair and leg hair). Any rabbit that does not conform to the appearance characteristics of the breed must not be selected for breeding. Those with physiological defects or deformities, whether congenital or acquired, likewise must not be selected for breeding.
4. Strictly select and pair breeding rabbits. A certain degree of blood relationship must be controlled, and inbreeding must be eliminated. To prevent the emergence of inbreeding depression, a certain number of foundation animals should be maintained. Generally, a scaled rabbit farm should have at least 10 breeding bucks from more than 6 bloodlines with relatively distant blood relationships. When necessary, breeding bucks can be introduced from other places for bloodline renewal, so as to slow the rise in the inbreeding coefficient and obtain high-quality offspring.
II. Scientific management
1. Build good cages and housing. Farmers can use an outdoor rabbit housing structure combining cage and house. The rabbit cage faces south, with a single-slope roof, high in front and low in back, with the eaves long in front and short in back. The roof uses cement precast slabs or asbestos tiles. The rabbit cage is assembled from concrete precast parts, with dimensions of 70 cm long, 60 cm wide and 45 cm high. The cage door can be made of perforated iron sheet, thick iron wire or wire mesh. The cage bottom uses bamboo strips, with the smooth side facing up, spacing of 1 cm, strip width of 2 cm, and the direction of the bamboo strips parallel to the cage door. The manure-bearing board at the bottom of the cage should also be made of cement board and must not leak manure or urine. For ease of management, generally 3 tiers are suitable. It is best to plant trees in front of and behind the rabbit house for shade, and in winter cover the front and back with plastic sheeting for warmth. The advantages of this kind of rabbit house are low cost, cleanliness, good ventilation and sufficient light.
Other rabbit houses include indoor single-row, indoor double-row, outdoor double-row, indoor multi-row and other forms, depending on the scale of farming and family conditions.
2. Raise breeding rabbits well. Breeding rabbits should be fed at fixed times and in fixed amounts to better control their body condition and keep them at a suitable level of fatness. Breeding should be carried out at the right time. Although rabbits are animals that ovulate in response to stimulation, mating during the peak estrus period, that is, when the labial mucosa is bright red and swollen with congestion, gives a higher conception rate and kindling rate. Pregnancy checking should be done on time and re-mating should be done promptly. The optimal time for pregnancy checking of does is 9 to 11 days after mating. Does that are not pregnant should be re-mated promptly to reduce the number of empty does and improve the reproductive rate of breeding rabbits. In early pregnancy (1 to 18 days), the feeding method for does is the same as for empty does; in late pregnancy (19 to 31 days), attention should be paid to the supply of protein, minerals and vitamins. If the body condition is good, there is no need to increase the amount of concentrate feed before kindling, so as to avoid excessive milk after kindling, which the kits cannot finish and which may induce mastitis; if the doe's body condition is poor, especially after blood mating, the amount of concentrate supplement throughout pregnancy should be increased by 75 to 100 grams. The kindling box should be placed in the cage 3 days in advance. The kindling box should be smooth and clean, and the bedding straw should be dry and hygienic. After kindling, the number of kits should be counted promptly, but note that this should be done after the doe has finished kindling and has fed colostrum and jumped out of the kindling box. It is suitable for each doe to nurse 6 to 8 kits. If too many are born, they can be allocated for foster nursing. If there is no suitable foster doe, the weak and small kits should be culled. Nursing does should be supplied with sufficient nutrition to ensure their healthy constitution and sufficient milk. Under a feeding method based on green and succulent feed supplemented with concentrate supplement, the protein content of the concentrate supplement should reach more than 20%. The daily amount of concentrate supplement per doe is 125 to 200 grams, and the amount of green, succulent and juicy feed is more than 1000 grams.
3. Raise kits well. After birth, kits are extremely sensitive to feeding conditions and must be carefully raised, otherwise disease, stunted growth and even death may occur. To ensure the survival rate of kits, attention should be paid to the following points: First, prevent cold damage in winter and prevent nesting heat in summer, creating a suitable environment for the kits. Second, do a good job at the supplementary feeding stage. Generally, supplementary feeding starts 19 days after birth. When supplementary feeding begins, first use high-quality fresh grass to attract them to eat, then add concentrate, and ensure sufficient water supply. Third, wean at the right time. When kits are 28 to 42 days old and reach a body weight of 500 to 750 grams, they can be weaned. Weaning too early will have a certain impact on the growth and development of young rabbits, but weaning too late is also not conducive to the doe regaining body condition and affects the doe's next reproductive cycle. Weaned young rabbits should be fed 4 to 6 times a day, at fixed times and in fixed amounts, with small amounts and frequent additions, to prevent digestive tract diseases. Fourth, raise them in separate cages. They should be grouped according to production purpose, body weight, physical strength, sex and age. Generally, 3 to 4 per cage is better.
4. Ensure nutrient supply and increase wool yield. High-yielding Angora rabbits have very high requirements for feed, especially protein. According to measurements, the protein content of 1 kg of rabbit wool is roughly equivalent to the protein content of 4.5 kg of carcass or 6 to 7 kg of body weight. On large-scale Angora rabbit farms, corresponding complete diets should be formulated according to many factors affecting wool yield, such as season, physiological state and wool yield level. It is best to use complete pellet feed and implement free feeding and automatic drinking. In the ideal diet for high-yielding Angora rabbits, the crude protein level is 16% to 18%, sulfur-containing amino acids are 07% to 0.8%, and special additives for wool production, growth and reproduction are added. For decentralized raisers, the method of free feeding of green, succulent and juicy feed with appropriate concentrate supplementation can be adopted, supplying 80 to 100 grams of concentrate supplement per day. Never feed only green and roughage.
5. Appropriately adjust shearing time. As the wool-growing period is extended, the growth rate of rabbit wool gradually slows down (see Table 2). Shortening the wool collection interval can significantly increase annual wool yield. In summer, to reduce the adverse effects of high temperature on wool production performance, the shearing interval should be appropriately shortened even more. At present, international market demand for medium- and low-grade wool is increasing, so the traditional 91-day wool-growing period can be shortened to 73 days (it can be even shorter in summer) to increase annual wool yield.
III. Programmed disease prevention
1. Adhere to self-breeding and self-raising, and isolate and observe newly purchased rabbits. To prevent the invasion of infectious diseases, it is best to breed and raise rabbits oneself. When introduction is truly necessary, purchase from non-epidemic areas. After purchase, raise them in isolation for more than 2 weeks, and only after confirming they are disease-free can they be put into the rabbit farm for raising.
2. Do a good job in hygiene and disinfection. Hygiene and disinfection are an important part of disease prevention. Through disinfection, pathogens in the environment are reduced and eliminated, and transmission routes are cut off. Keepers are required to enter the rabbit house after changing clothes, changing shoes and washing hands. A disinfection pool should be set up at the main gate entering the site. External tools and items must be disinfected before use, and commonly used tools should be cleaned, disinfected and sun-dried in time. Rabbit houses and rabbit cages must be cleaned once a day and disinfected once a week with rabbits present.
3. Do a good job in immunization. Immunization is an important means of controlling the occurrence of infectious diseases. If immunization is done well, epidemic diseases can be effectively controlled. Because the epidemic situation differs among regions and rabbit farms, it is impossible to have a unified immunization program for all places. This requires each rabbit farm to summarize experience in practice and formulate the best immunization program suited to the specific situation. The following are immunization methods for several common diseases:
Rabbit plague. Kits aged 40 to 45 days are injected subcutaneously with 1 ml of rabbit plague propolis vaccine or 2 ml of rabbit plague-Pasteurella bivalent vaccine. At 60 days of age, they are immunized again as a booster, and thereafter immunized once every 6 months. If this disease occurs and spreads, doubled doses are required for immunization in epidemic areas.
Rabbit pasteurellosis. After weaning, each kit is injected with 1 ml of rabbit and poultry Pasteurella vaccine or 2 ml of rabbit plague-Pasteurella bivalent vaccine, and thereafter once every 4 months.
Clostridium welchii disease. Weaned kits are injected subcutaneously with 2 ml of Clostridium welchii vaccine, and thereafter immunized once every 5 to 6 months.
Colibacillosis. Starting at 20 days of age, kits are injected with polyvalent Escherichia coli vaccine, 1 ml subcutaneously each time. After weaning, they are immunized once more with 2 ml subcutaneously, and thereafter once every 4 months.
Bordetellosis. At 18 days of age, kits are injected subcutaneously with 1 ml of Bordetella vaccine. One week later, immunity is strengthened with 2 ml subcutaneously, and thereafter once every 4 months.
Staphylococcosis. Before mating, does are injected subcutaneously with 2 ml of Staphylococcus vaccine, with a protection period of 4 months.