How can fur quality be improved in rex rabbit farming?

The rex rabbit is a typical fur-type rabbit, and its coat has the characteristics of being short, flat, dense, fine, beautiful, and firm. In agricultural areas, rex rabbits are often raised as ordinary wool rabbits, resulting in low feeding and management levels, small body size, poor fur quality, and low commercial value. To improve rex rabbit fur quality and increase its economic benefits, based on my own work practice and in combination with the physiological characteristics and living habits of rex rabbits, the author summarizes the following 4 techniques used in the process of raising rex rabbits, which are of great benefit to improving rex rabbit fur quality.

Economic crossbreeding and superior breed selection techniques

Rex rabbits currently include the American line, German line, and French line, and each strain has its own advantages and disadvantages. American line rex rabbits have high fertility, while the German line has low fertility but the greatest growth potential. In some places, crossbreeding between strains is mostly used. Generally, American line rex rabbits are used as the female parent and the German line or French line as the male parent for economic crossbreeding, or American line rex rabbits are used as the female parent, first crossed with the French line as the 1st male parent, and the first hybrid generation female rabbits are then crossed with the 2nd male parent, the German line rex rabbit, forming a three-way cross offspring. The hybrid offspring are directly fattened, thereby ensuring that the fattening rabbits have large body weight, excellent quality, and good fur quality. At the same time, during the raising process, rex rabbits should be properly selected and bred by breed, for example, using female rabbits with large body size, good body shape, good reproductive performance (mating conception rate, number of offspring, and weaning survival rate, etc.), and good mothering ability as breeding female rabbits, and using rex rabbits with large body weight, fast growth speed, good coat density, high mating fertilization rate, and high average survival rate of offspring as breeding male rabbits, so as to select an excellent rabbit population. In this way, a large number of excellent offspring can be bred, producing a large number of pelts with large fur area and good quality.

Early weight gain techniques

The pelt area of rex rabbits is directly proportional to body weight. A large part of a rabbit's body weight depends on early development and weight gain. To achieve this goal, produce newborn kits with as high a birth weight as possible, and the following 4 points should be achieved:

① For female rabbits in late pregnancy, increase the nutritional level of the feed and appropriately reduce the number of offspring per female rabbit, thereby increasing the birth weight of the kits.

② During the suckling period, kits should receive colostrum as early as possible, and lactating female rabbits should be provided with more high-energy and high-protein feed, so that the kits can receive nutrient-rich and sufficient milk.

③ The feed for weaned kits should be comprehensive in nutrition, with digestible energy reaching 12 MJ/kg, crude protein 20%-22%, and crude fiber 6%-10%; at the same time, add appropriate amounts of vitamins, trace elements, compound enzyme preparations, drug additives, etc., to ensure that the feed has high nutritional value, is easy to digest, and has good palatability, so as to achieve the goal of daily weight gain.

④ For weaned kits, insist on weaning without leaving the nest, keeping them living in the original cage, and keep feed, environment, and management unchanged, minimizing stress complications, thereby ensuring that weaned kits weigh more than 500 g at 30 days of weaning and reach more than 2000 g by 3 months of age.

Early promotion and later control techniques

Because rex rabbit fur quality is not only related to area, but also to coat density and pelt maturity. If only body weight and pelt area are considered, under generally good feeding conditions, first-grade pelt area can be reached at 3 to 5 months of age, but the thickness, toughness, and strength of the pelt are insufficient, and the utilization value of the produced pelt is low. Early promotion and later control techniques can make rex rabbit pelts good in quality, with no excess fat or connective tissue under the skin, and the coat density and pelt maturity can easily reach the standard; at the same time, they can save feed and reduce feeding costs. Early promotion and later control techniques mean feeding at a nutritional level in the early stage and appropriately controlling the nutritional level in the later stage. The specific method: from weaned kits to 3 to 5 months of age, the nutritional level of the feed should be increased, with protein content reaching 17.5%, and free feeding should be adopted, making full use of their rapid early growth and development characteristics and tapping their genetic growth potential, after which the feed nutritional level should be appropriately controlled. Two control methods are often used: first, control feed quality by lowering its nutritional level, reducing energy by 1% and protein by 1%-1.5%, while still adopting free feeding; second, the quantity control method, that is, controlling the amount of feed, feeding each day the equivalent of 80%-90% of free feeding, while the feeding standard and feed formula are the same as in the early stage.

Timely marketing and pelt collection techniques

Timely marketing and pelt collection is the most critical link in commercial rex rabbit production. The marketing time should be determined according to season, body weight, and rabbit population performance. Under normal circumstances, after 5 to 6 months, when body weight reaches 2.5 kg to 3 kg, the coat is thick and neat, the fur is thick, and the pelt thickness and toughness meet processing requirements (that is, the second age-related molting has ended); at the same time, the shedding and replacement of the coat and the condition of the fur should be carefully checked. Normally, spring and autumn should be avoided, and slaughter is best generally after November and before March, but absolutely do not market and collect pelts during the molting period.