Key Technical Points for Summer Rearing and Management of Angora Rabbits

I. Cooling and Heat Prevention

(1) Shade and Ventilation The rabbit house must not allow direct sunlight to fall on the rabbit cages; a shade awning should be built, and the doors and windows of the rabbit house should be wide, with skylights, ventilation windows or exhaust fans installed to keep the air circulating inside the rabbit house. Attention should be paid to lighting, ventilation and moisture prevention.

(2) Reducing stocking density Dispersing the rabbits can reduce the heat sources per unit of space. In multi-tier rabbit cages, the temperature difference between the upper and lower tiers is very large, and the closer to the ground, the lower the temperature. Therefore, in hot weather, breeding bucks and pregnant does should be placed on the lower tiers as much as possible. When the temperature inside the rabbit house exceeds 30°C, some cool water can be sprinkled on the floor or ice blocks placed to lower the temperature.

(3) Reasonably and appropriately shortening the wool-growing period The wool rabbit should be shorn once before the dog days arrive, and the wool-growing period in summer should preferably be controlled at about 50 days. Shearing is preferable to plucking, and the hair on the head and ears and the hair on the feet should all be shorn clean to help the body dissipate heat. Once symptoms of heatstroke such as drooling, protruding eyeballs, general paralysis, coma, and twitching of the limbs appear, the sick rabbit should immediately be moved to a shady place and given light salt water by drenching; at the same time, cool water should be poured on it or a cold towel placed over it, blood should be let from the ear tips, tail tip and toes, and 8--10 Ren Dan pills or 3--5 drops of Shidishui may also be given by drenching.

II. Careful Feeding

(1) Advocating early feeding and late feeding The daytime temperature in summer is relatively high, and the rabbits' appetite is very poor or even completely lost, but the temperature in the early morning and evening is relatively cool and the appetite is relatively stronger. Therefore, feeding, watering and so on in management should also follow this pattern. It is best to feed more palatable green, succulent feed and provide enough clean drinking water. In the drinking water, 1%--2% salt can be added to replenish the body's salt consumption, and antibiotics or 0.01%--0.02% dilute iodine solution can also be added, which can reduce the occurrence of enteritis or coccidiosis.

(2) Reasonably combining feed Forage is best washed and soaked in well water, cooled, and dried in the shade before feeding. Green feed with a high water content should be appropriately dried in the shade; never feed grass covered with frost or dew, grass soaked by rain or carrying mud, or moldy, spoiled, or pesticide-contaminated forage. Wet mash feed should be fed in small amounts and replenished frequently to prevent souring. Concentrate feed should be stored in a dry, ventilated place, and the protein content of the concentrate feed should be appropriately increased. Feed such as garlic, Chinese chives and scallions, which have bactericidal effects, should often be added to the feed; for young rabbits, charcoal powder and antibiotic drugs may also be added to reduce or avoid the occurrence of gastroenteritis.

III. Doing a Good Job of Hygiene and Disinfection

In summer the temperature is relatively high, feces and urine ferment easily, mosquitoes and flies breed, and parasites and bacteria multiply and spread very quickly, which easily causes outbreaks of various rabbit diseases. In addition to cleaning the rabbit house and rabbit cages every day, disinfection should be carried out regularly. The disinfectant solution may use 2%--3% caustic soda or 3%--5% Lysol solution or 10% ammonia solution, etc. When a severe infectious disease occurs, caustic soda may also be used for disinfection. Besides being washed frequently, feed troughs and drinking water should be exposed to sunlight at least once a week or soaked and disinfected in a 0.1% potassium permanganate aqueous solution. When the floor is damp, plant ash, quicklime, stove ash or dry sandy soil can be scattered to absorb moisture, keeping the relative humidity inside the house at 50%--60%. Around the rabbit house, 0.2%--0.5% dichlorvos solution can be sprayed regularly. In addition, when eliminating mosquitoes and flies inside the rabbit house, rabbits must be prevented from being poisoned.