A Detailed Guide to Yellow Guinea Pig Farming Techniques and Management Methods
The yellow guinea pig is actually a type of guinea pig, native to South America, that was developed into a special breed through selective breeding. Yellow guinea pig. As food, the yellow guinea pig is a new type of specialty farming product; its fur is golden yellow all over, its meat is tender and delicious, with a fresh fragrance when eaten, and its meat is sweet in flavor and neutral in nature, nourishing the kidneys and replenishing yin, strengthening the spleen and warming the liver, brightening the eyes and invigorating the blood. It is an ideal natural food for the elderly, pregnant women, and children to maintain health and build up the body. It is a meat with high protein, low fat, and low cholesterol, with a strong game flavor. Its skin is rich in collagen and highly nutritious, with beauty benefits. Long-term consumption of yellow guinea pig meat can steadily alleviate the condition of patients with stomach diseases and cardiovascular diseases, and has obvious dietary therapeutic effects on high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, and the like.
Advantages of Yellow Guinea Pig Farming
1. Yellow guinea pigs do not need vaccinations during the rearing process, no additives of any kind are used in the feed, and there are no drug residues. The individual size is moderate. With one high and two low and three none (high protein, low fat, low cholesterol, no pesticide residues, no hormones, no antibiotics), it is a typical natural green food, meets international food consumption demand, conforms to people's dietary psychology of pursuing curiosity and returning to nature, and conforms to today's shift from a "subsistence type" to a "nutritional type" and "functional type"; the yellow guinea pig caters to people's psychology of returning to nature and is a typical original, authentic natural green food.
2. The yellow guinea pig is a herbivorous animal and eats wild grasses, wild vegetables, tree leaves, and plant stems and leaves. It is fed three meals a day, 1-2 liang [50-100 g] per meal, supplemented with a small amount of cornmeal, wheat bran, and the like.
3. Raising yellow guinea pigs requires little investment, produces quick results, and gives high returns. Under normal circumstances, they can be sold after 2-3 months of rearing, and they are used for both skin and meat, with a high utilization rate.
Yellow Guinea Pig Breeding Techniques
Yellow guinea pigs reach sexual maturity early. Generally, female guinea pigs show sexual characteristics 35-45 days after birth, and male guinea pigs 70 days after birth, but female guinea pigs must still wait until after day 70 before being bred. The sexual cycle of the female guinea pig is 16 days.
1. Seed selection: plump body shape, thick and strong bones, correct limb shape, bright eyes; good nutritional condition and glossy fur; in males, symmetrical testicles of consistent size; in females, normal external genital development, etc.; soft and elastic skin with no skin diseases such as hair loss.
2. Mating selection: the estrus duration of the yellow guinea pig is 1-18 hours, with an average of 9 hours, and estrus mostly occurs between 5 p.m. and 5 a.m. the next morning. During estrus in the female guinea pig, after mating, there is a gelatin-like plug at the vaginal opening; this is a mixture of the male guinea pig's semen and prostatic secretions, and whether mating was successful can be determined by the presence or absence of this plug. In large-group rearing, 3 to 4 female guinea pigs are mostly used, with one male guinea pig placed in for mating; on no account should 2 male guinea pigs be placed in to compete for mating at the same time, otherwise they will fight and grapple, affecting mating. If breeding as foundation stock, the one-female-to-one-male mating method can be used. Female guinea pigs should be allowed to cohabit and mate after the young have been weaned, or the male guinea pig can be placed in within half a day after the female guinea pig gives birth; mating at this time is postpartum mating, and all can mate successfully, with a high reproduction rate as well.
3. Reproduction: the gestation period of the female guinea pig is 56-68 days, and the number of young carried is generally 3-5, sometimes 6-8. The young guinea pigs are weaned at 15-20 days and are separated and fed after weaning.
4. Pure breeding: when the yellow guinea pig does not need major improvement, pure breeding can be adopted to consolidate the superior traits of the type, carrying out selection of the superior and elimination of the inferior year by year, and continuously expanding the population.
Feeding and Management of Yellow Guinea Pigs
Artificially raised yellow guinea pigs are kept in pools, and can also be raised in cages, three-dimensional farming, free-range farming, and the like. The pools are made with bricks, cement, and wooden boards, generally 35 cm high, 60 cm long, and 40 cm wide. Whether cage-raised or pool-raised, the indoor environmental hygiene must be well managed. The housing for raising yellow guinea pigs may be of unlimited length, and facing south is best. The housing should have fresh air, the rearing room should be disinfected once a month, and the feed troughs and water trays should be frequently washed clean; this is the key to raising yellow guinea pigs well.