What are the environmental factors in organic Rex rabbit farming

Environmental factors have a relatively large impact on organic Rex rabbits. The main environmental factors affecting organic Rex rabbit production are: air inside the shed, temperature, humidity, airflow, harmful gas content, dust, lighting and noise, contamination by pathogenic microorganisms, etc.

One of the biggest differences between large-scale rabbit farming and traditional rabbit farming is that the micro-environment has undergone great changes. The so-called micro-environment mainly refers to the microclimate indicators of the living space of organic Rex rabbits, such as humidity, temperature, ventilation, lighting, noise, harmful gases and pathogenic microorganisms. According to surveys, most large-scale organic Rex rabbit farms in China have serious problems in environmental control. In particular, high-density rearing and poor ventilation bring high humidity, and the increase in stale gases and harmful microorganism concentrations worsens the microclimate of the rabbit shed, which reduces the disease resistance of rabbits and creates conditions for infectious diseases. Humidity and temperature have a great impact on rabbits: the whole body of a rabbit is covered with thick fur, and sweat glands are only present at the tip of the nose, so it maintains body temperature balance mainly through respiratory heat dissipation. Some people say “rabbits fear heat but not cold”, but this is not entirely correct. The critical temperature for rabbits is 5-30℃, and the optimal temperature is 15-25℃. When the temperature inside the shed exceeds 30℃, the survival rate of young rabbits decreases, embryonic mortality increases, the semen quality of bucks declines, and the conception rate decreases; rabbits have reduced appetite, grow slowly, and pelt quality is affected. If the room temperature remains above 35℃, the rabbit's body temperature will rise rapidly, causing heatstroke and even death. But if the room temperature is below 5℃, it brings adverse effects on the reproduction of Rex rabbits, especially the rearing of young and juvenile rabbits, and they may even freeze to death; feed consumption of adult rabbits increases and efficiency declines. If the air humidity inside an organic Rex rabbit shed is too high and the environment is damp and stale, it will not only easily induce many diseases, but also increase the harm caused by high and low temperatures to rabbits of all sizes. However, if the humidity is too low and the environment is too dry, it will also have adverse effects on the fur of Rex rabbits. The impact of noise such as firecracker sounds and car sounds on Rex rabbits: firecracker sounds, car sounds, and similar noises have a certain impact on Rex rabbit production. Rex rabbits are small and weak animals and are very timid. Sudden fright and strong noise can, in mild cases, cause rabbits to become nervous and uneasy and reduce appetite; pregnant does may miscarry, does may refuse to nurse, and may even bite young rabbits to death. In severe cases, rabbits may die suddenly because they are frightened “out of their wits”. From this it can be seen that keeping the rabbit shed quiet is very important. First, the rabbit shed should not be built in a noisy place; setting off fireworks and firecrackers near the rabbit shed should be prohibited, and non-farming personnel or other livestock and poultry should be prohibited from entering the rabbit shed at will. Second, farm managers and workers should, in addition to moving quickly and lightly when entering the shed to feed, add water, breed, and clean, avoid loud talking in the shed or suddenly making loud noises with cages and equipment. Harm of harmful gases and dust to rabbits: the harmful gases in the rabbit shed are mainly ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. Dust mainly comes from dust inside and outside the shed and from directly eating dry crushed feed. Excessive levels of harmful gases and dust in the air will strongly irritate the nasal mucosa and ocular mucosa of rabbits, easily causing diseases such as rabbit rhinitis and conjunctivitis, and causing serious harm to adult rabbits. Therefore, the rabbit shed should always be kept clean and dry, manure and urine should be removed in time, especially rabbit urine, and ventilation should be good; powdered feed must be mixed wet. The simplest determination method is by human perception: when a person enters the rabbit shed and feels the air is fresh and there is no pungent strange odor, it indicates that the harmful gas and dust content in the shed basically meets hygiene requirements. The above main environmental factors are important conditions for the success of indoor large-scale rabbit farming. Environmental control must be strengthened and the rabbit shed environment optimized; this is an important part of indoor large-scale rabbit farming. Therefore, when building an organic Rex rabbit farm, attention must be paid to whether the selection of the site, the layout of the buildings, the design of the rabbit shed, and the selection of equipment are reasonable. This is directly related to the level of work efficiency of a large-scale rabbit farm, the amount of economic benefit, and even the success or failure of farming. In organic Rex rabbit farming production, some rabbit farms often neglect the importance of site selection, such as whether terrain height, surrounding environment, dominant wind direction, water source and electricity are conducive to epidemic prevention, and whether they are conducive to rabbit production and the work and life of personnel; they neglect the principle of building zoning (living welfare area, work management area, rabbit production area and epidemic prevention isolation area), especially the distinction between clean roads and contaminated roads; they neglect the basic parameters of rabbit shed construction, such as the orientation, length, height, span and spacing of the rabbit shed, the size, height and layout of doors and windows, the width, slope and smoothness of manure gutters, and the materials, thickness and anti-corrosion, moisture-proof and heat-preservation design of walls and floors; they neglect the design of rabbit cages, the selection of materials, and the selection of cage equipment, and so on. These directly or indirectly affect the results and benefits of large-scale rabbit farms. In addition, according to surveys, most large-scale rabbit farms in China use three-tier stacked rabbit cages, generally raising 2.31 breeding rabbits per sq m of rabbit shed usable area, while in developed rabbit-farming countries breeding rabbits mostly use single-tier hanging type or two-tier stepped or semi-stepped type, and rarely use three-tier stacked type. Increased rearing density causes deterioration of the microclimate, which is the main cause of low production performance and disease occurrence in large-scale rabbit farms.