Hare Farming Techniques and Key Points of Feeding Management

The hare is a wild animal valued for both its fur and its meat. It is a grain-saving livestock animal with strong stress resistance and adaptability, extremely strong disease resistance, and a high survival rate. It has a higher reproduction rate than the domestic rabbit, tolerates rough feeding, and offers low costs with good returns. Industry insiders believe that the international market is short of hare meat and that market capacity is large. Demand for rabbit meat has risen sharply in Japan, South Korea, Russia and some European countries, where domestic supply falls short of demand, so they import large quantities from China; in addition, Hong Kong, China, Macao, China and Taiwan, China also frequently request goods from the mainland. Because the current breeding volume is small, domestic supply is less than 1% of market demand. Therefore, raising hares is a good path to wealth. The key points of its rapid breeding and rapid rearing techniques are briefly introduced below:

Environmental Requirements

Hares rest in a very wide range of places and generally do not dig burrows. However, to avoid natural enemies, they often rest in hollows, grass clumps, gaps between stones or crevices. During artificial rearing, care must be taken to create a similar environment for them; the site should be spacious, hygienic and dry, which can prevent the occurrence of infectious diseases.

Activity Patterns

Hares are mainly active at night, especially frequently at dusk or dawn. Because they live on the ground all their lives, when they encounter natural enemies, hares try their best to hide and stay completely motionless. In addition, they are timid, so during rearing they should be disturbed as little as possible and the environment should be kept quiet. Drinking water and forage should be provided during the day (preferably in the afternoon) for them to eat and drink at night.

Feeding Habits

Hares mainly feed on grass. In the severe cold of winter, especially when heavy snow covers the ground, if food is scarce, they will gnaw bark, tender twigs and grass roots. In addition, hares have the habit of eating soft feces; this is normal digestive function, and it should not be regarded as pica. To supplement insufficient intake, an appropriate amount of fresh grass can be placed in the hare pen or housing every day; in winter, some straw can be provided, such as soybean straw, corn straw, sweet potato vines, peanut vines, etc. A little concentrated feed such as corn and bran can also be provided, and water is even more indispensable. Usually, place some salt on a wooden board for the hares to consume, which can increase their appetite.

Breeding Techniques

After hares reach sexual maturity, mating begins when the temperature is suitable. In the north, they produce 3 to 4 litters per year, and in the south, 6 to 8 litters per year. Because forage is abundant from May to October, young hares born from spring mating have a relatively high survival rate. When hares are in estrus, they chase, wag their tails and urinate. Female hares come into estrus multiple times, and male hares fight each other for mates. After mating, the gestation period is 30 to 40 days, and the young hares reach sexual maturity in the second year. During the breeding period, for artificial reproduction, they can be placed into the hare group at a ratio of 1 male to 4 females for free mating; it is best for people not to intervene, as the conception rate is relatively high this way. After domestication, assisted mating can be carried out.

Disease Prevention and Control

Because hares are timid and difficult to catch, which often easily causes injury or death, injecting vaccines is very difficult. Oxytetracycline can be added to the feed at 0.1 grams per hare per day, given for 3 consecutive days, then stopped for 1 week, then given again for 3 days; repeating this can reduce inflammation when disease is present and promote growth when it is not. Furazolidone can also be added to the feed once a week to prevent diarrhea and coccidiosis.