A Detailed Explanation of Muskrat Raising Methods and Technical Key Points

1) Free-range raising model: choose a relatively remote environment with basically no human disturbance, with forage grass and a water source. When releasing them, arrange the cages in order with a certain distance between them, place some concentrate feed and green grass beside the cage exits, and open the cage doors in the evening (the cage doors must open toward the water surface, and it is best to cover the cages with two layers of plastic film to prevent sudden rain at night). Let the muskrats walk out on their own; some muskrats will jump into the water, while some are not yet used to the environment and will run back into the cages to eat and sleep. Therefore, the cages must not be moved away immediately, and feed must be replenished on a regular schedule every day. Only after the muskrats have built new nests by the water and no longer return to the cages to eat and sleep may the cages be taken away, and no more artificial feed supplementation is needed, but attention should be paid to cultivating grass sources.

2) Fish pond integrated raising model: raise muskrats in fish ponds and let them use the aquatic plants in and around the fish ponds as feed for survival and reproduction. On the other hand, their droppings can also become fish bait, improving feed conversion efficiency and creating the best economic benefits.

3) Courtyard cage raising model: a muskrat breeding site has no off-odor. In spring, summer and autumn, muskrats can all release musk. The entire breeding site is filled with a fresh fragrance, does not attract flies, and does not affect environmental sanitation. Introducing it into courtyard breeding is not only very suitable, but can also enrich retired life and add leisure pleasure. Cages can be placed in front of windows or behind houses, and can also be placed on balconies or flat rooftops. In short, consideration should be given both to making use of the household's convenient water source and drainage conditions and to fully using space, while also making use of vegetable peelings, vegetable roots, leftover rice, and so on. If there is a yard in front of or behind the house, cages can be set up in the yard for breeding, fruit trees can be planted, and some flowers and plants or vegetables can be planted under the fruit trees, which can both provide shade and prevent heatstroke and improve economic and social benefits.

4) Under-forest cage raising: because muskrats like to be active at night and are not sensitive to direct light, and in summer they still need shade to prevent heatstroke, vacant spaces under forests can be used to raise muskrats in orchards, in the middle zones of windbreak forests, in mountain woodland, and so on. This raising model uses cage raising, and according to circumstances either flat-style cages or three-dimensional cages are built and placed in forest clearings. On the one hand, the muskrats' feed can be obtained nearby; on the other hand, muskrat droppings can also be directly discharged into the soil to fertilize the orchard or woodland. Under-forest raising should reasonably arrange cage density according to the size of the forest clearing. It is not suitable to choose overly shady and densely wooded forest areas for raising; it is better to raise them in open woodland or newly built orchards. Of course, for ease of management, the selected site should be relatively close to the residence.

5) Front-yard and back-yard semi-free-range raising model: this is another common model for farm households raising muskrats. It is a form in which farm households make full use of their relatively large courtyard area as well as the grassland and small ponds in front of and behind the house for extensive muskrat raising.

In many places, especially in mountainous areas, farm households are mostly single independent households, with relatively large hillside grassland areas in front of and behind the house, and also with small water pits for their own separate use for washing pig feed and forage grass and for other purposes (often dug by themselves). This is a good environment for farm households to develop semi-free-range raising. First build an enclosure wall around the house. If the area is very large, it is best to fence off another area within the wall far from pigsties and cattle pens to isolate the muskrats from livestock, and then within the marked-off range place several artificial nest boxes (that is, cages without a pool and exercise area), leave the nest chamber doors open, and release a certain number of muskrats so that they can freely feed within the marked-off range. If field water is not very convenient, then several large wooden basins should be placed, with the water changed regularly, for the muskrats to swim in and drink from. When necessary, concentrate feed must also be provided as supplementary feeding. The characteristics of this model are convenient management and very low raising cost; it does not affect places outside the farm household and will not cause a series of troublesome matters. However, this model has strict requirements for farm courtyards and is only relatively suitable for some farm households in the vast mountainous areas. It is not strictly isolated from livestock and poultry, so cross-infection of diseases should be prevented and controlled.

6) Model combined with sewage purification: with the development of industrialization, various industrial wastewaters are also increasing, and sewage purification is increasingly being used by people. How to combine sewage purification with economic benefits is also a problem studied by more and more managers. Using the characteristic that muskrats like to eat aquatic plants, planting aquatic plants for biological sewage purification and then using the harvested aquatic plants to raise muskrats is undoubtedly an effective way to turn waste into treasure. The specific method is: beside a sewage purification pond far from noisy and roaring factory areas, place standard cages and cut nearby water hyacinth, alligator weed, and so on grown for biological sewage purification to feed them. For industrial wastewater ponds that have no toxic effects, floating-cage and semi-floating-cage raising can also be carried out in them, forming a combination of muskrat breeding and wastewater reuse. For sewage purification ponds harmful to muskrats, direct combination is not possible; artificial raising and management must still be followed with independent self-contained pools, only using the aquatic plants in the pond as food after washing them clean. The muskrat droppings and feed fragments produced during the raising process can be swept up and put into the pond to benefit the growth of aquatic plants.