How to Improve the Survival Rate of Young Rabbits in Rabbit Farming
Young rabbits refer to young rabbits from weaning to 3 months of age. In rabbit farming, young rabbits are the hardest to raise and have the lowest survival rate. The main reasons are:
1. High requirements for environmental conditions. The young rabbit stage is the period of fastest weight gain in a rabbit's entire life. Under good feeding conditions, daily weight gain can reach 30—45 grams, and in high cases can reach over 50 grams.
2. High requirements for feed and feeding systems. Because young rabbits grow and develop quickly, they must consume a large amount of feed. At this time, however, the rabbit's gastrointestinal volume is small and its digestive power is relatively weak, but its appetite is strong, so it often overeats, causing an excessive burden on the gastrointestinal tract and resulting in indigestion.
3. Poor adaptability to the environment. The nervous regulation function of young rabbits is not yet fully developed. Once frightened, it is easy to cause the whole group to panic, affecting feed intake, digestion and excretion, hindering growth and development, and in severe cases it can even induce disease.
4. Many stress factors. From suckling rabbits to young rabbits, the environment undergoes great changes, such as weaning, feed changes, cage changes, companion changes, vaccine injections, drug prevention, ear tattooing, etc. These numerous stress factors often easily lead to a decline in the disease resistance of young rabbits.
5. It is easy to trigger multiple diseases. The most serious are coccidiosis, colibacillosis, pasteurellosis, rabbit plague, etc. Once epidemic prevention work is neglected, infectious diseases are likely to break out, and some can even wipe out the whole group, causing serious losses.
To improve the survival rate of young rabbits, four key points should be handled well:
1. The weaning point. Within 3 weeks after weaning, the mortality rate of young rabbits is the highest, and the 2-week transition period is the key. Whether weaning can be carried out smoothly and the transition period passed safely depends on the foundation of the development of suckling rabbits during the nursing period. In practice, it has been found that the greater the body weight at weaning, the higher the survival rate. Therefore, increasing weaning weight is crucial. In addition to strengthening the nutrition of the doe during lactation and increasing milk yield, supplementary feeding should be started early so that the gastrointestinal tract can be exercised early. This can not only increase weaning weight, but also lay the foundation for the gastrointestinal tract to adapt to plant-based feed after weaning.
Within two weeks after weaning, feed the suckling rabbit feed used before weaning first, and then gradually transition to young rabbit feed. Otherwise, a sudden feed change can easily cause digestive system diseases.
After weaning, it is best to adopt the method of removing the mother and keeping the young, that is, raising them together in the original cage and original litter. If the cage position needs to be changed, young rabbits from the same litter must not be separated. At this time, they must never be raised one rabbit per cage, otherwise it will cause loneliness and fear.
2. The feed point. More than 50% of young rabbit deaths are caused by abnormal digestive system function, so handling feed well is the key to preventing digestive system diseases.
Young rabbits grow quickly and eat a lot, but their digestive ability, especially the ability to digest crude fiber, is relatively weak. Therefore, the feed for young rabbits should be nutrient-rich, easy to digest, small in volume, good in palatability, and relatively high in energy and protein levels. However, nutrient content is not better the higher it is. Feeding large amounts of concentrated feed (high energy, high protein, low fiber) can easily cause diarrhea and enteritis. A certain amount of roughage plays an important role in regulating digestive system function. Generally, a crude fiber content of about 12% in the diet of young rabbits is sufficient. In order to promote the growth and development of young rabbits, appropriate amounts of vitamins, trace elements, amino acids, enzyme preparations and antibiotics should be added to the mixed feed.
Young rabbits have a strong appetite and are prone to overeating. Feeding should be regular and quantitative, with small amounts fed frequently. It is appropriate to feed 4—5 times a day. Generally, mixed concentrated feed is fed 2 times a day, and green and succulent feed 2—3 times a day. The feed must be clean and hygienic. Green and succulent feed should be fresh and tender. Fresh grass with soil must be washed clean and dried before feeding. The feeding amount should gradually increase with age and body weight gain. Feed must not be increased suddenly or changed abruptly, and the feed should remain relatively stable. Otherwise, young rabbits are highly prone to digestive tract diseases or death. They also must not be fed only green and succulent feed or juicy feed, otherwise it will affect the development of young rabbits and easily form a grass belly.
3. The environment point. Young rabbits are delicate and very sensitive to environmental changes. They should be provided with a quiet, hygienic, dry, ventilated, warm, and moderately dense growing environment. Prevent fright, dampness, wind-cold, heat, and foul air.
4. The epidemic prevention point. The young rabbit stage easily triggers many infectious diseases, so doing a good job in epidemic prevention is crucial. Environmental disinfection, drug prevention, vaccine injection and strengthened feeding management should be combined. In addition to injecting rabbit plague vaccine, vaccines for Pasteurella, Bordetella and Clostridium welchii should also be injected. In spring and autumn, oral cavity inflammation, pneumonia and colds should also be prevented. In summer, the focus should be on preventing coccidiosis, and in all four seasons, enteritis should be prevented. Frequently adding onions, garlic, etc. to the feed is beneficial for disease prevention and promoting the growth of young rabbits.
In addition, in the feeding and management of young rabbits, a sufficient supply of clean drinking water should also be ensured. Under normal circumstances, drink water once a day in winter and twice a day in other seasons. When the temperature is relatively high, fresh water should be kept available continuously and the drinking water changed frequently. It is best to maintain 2—3 hours of outdoor exercise time every day to promote digestion, increase appetite, promote calcium and phosphorus absorption, and improve the disease resistance of young rabbits.