Detailed Explanation of Key Technical Points for Rabbit Rearing and Management

I. Basic Requirements for Rearing and Management
　
Good rearing and management is an important part of the healthy growth of rabbits. Its contents include many aspects, mainly the following ten points.
Green feed as the main diet, concentrate as a supplement
Rabbits are herbivores and should be fed mainly with green feed, supplemented by concentrate. This is a basic principle for rearing herbivorous animals.
Practice shows that rabbits can not only utilize feed such as plant stems and leaves (e.g. green grass, tree leaves), root tubers (e.g. potatoes, carrots, sugar beets), and fruits and vegetables (melons, fruit peels, green vegetables), but can also digest crude fiber in plants, with a digestibility of 65%-78%. Their capacity for eating green feed is about 10%-30% of body weight. According to the nutritional needs of physiological stages such as growth, pregnancy, and lactation, the supplemental amount of concentrate is about 50-150 grams. As shown in the table below:

Amount of green grass consumed by rabbits of different body weights

Body weight (g) Green grass intake (g) Intake as percentage of body weight (%) Body weight (g) Green grass intake (g) Intake as percentage of body weight (%)
500 153 31 1000 216 22
1500 261 17 2000 293 15
2500 331 13 3000 360 12
3500 380 11 4000 411 10

Rational combination and diversified feed
Rabbits grow quickly, have high reproductive capacity, and have vigorous internal metabolism, requiring sufficient nutrition. Therefore, the daily ration of rabbits should be composed of a variety of feeds, and according to the nutrients contained in the feeds, make up for each other's deficiencies and combine them rationally. This is beneficial both for growth and development and for the complementary effect of proteins. In production practice, in order to save the consumption of feed protein, a variety of feeds are often used in combination so that the essential amino acids among the feeds complement each other. Feeding a single feed must be avoided. For example, grass-family grains are generally low in lysine and tryptophan, while legume-family grains contain more lysine and tryptophan but insufficient methionine. Therefore, when composing rabbit daily rations, using grass-family grains and their by-products as the main body and appropriately adding 10%-20% soybean cake, peanut meal, and similar feeds to mix into the daily ration can improve the role and utilization rate of protein in the entire daily ration.

Fixed timing and fixed quantity
Rabbits are relatively greedy eaters. Fixed timing and fixed quantity means that feeding rabbits should have a certain number of times, amount, and time, so as to cultivate good eating habits in rabbits, regularly secrete digestive juices, and promote the digestion and absorption of feed. If feed is not given at fixed times, it will disrupt the eating pattern, cause digestive dysfunction, lead to indigestion, make them prone to gastrointestinal diseases, and cause delayed growth and development and weakened physique. Especially for young rabbits, when the digestive tract is inflamed, the intestinal wall becomes permeable and easily causes poisoning. Therefore, we should give feed at fixed times and in fixed quantities according to the rabbit's breed, body size, eating conditions, season, climate, and feces condition, and do a good job of combining dry and wet feed. For example: young rabbits have weak digestion, eat little, and grow and develop quickly, so they must be fed several more times, with a smaller amount each time, achieving small meals and frequent meals. In summer, when it is hot at noon, the rabbit's appetite decreases; in the cool morning and evening, the rabbit's appetite is better. When feeding, one should grasp that the midday meal should be fine and small, the evening meal should be filling, and the morning meal should be early. In winter, when the nights are long and the days are short, one should grasp that the evening meal should be fine and filling, the midday meal should be small, and the morning meal should be fed early. In the rainy season, when there is much water and high humidity, more dry feed should be given, and some concentrate should be appropriately fed to avoid diarrhea. When the feces are too dry, more succulent feed should be given; when the feces are loose, more dry feed should be given.

Gradual increase or decrease when changing feed
In summer and autumn, green feed is the main type, while in winter and spring, hay and root-tuber and succulent feeds are the main type. When feed is changed, the amount of the newly replaced feed should be gradually increased so that the rabbit's digestive function gradually adapts to the new feed conditions. If the feed is suddenly changed, it easily causes gastrointestinal disease in rabbits and leads to reduced food intake or refusal to eat.
Pay close attention to feed quality and carefully prepare feed
Do not feed rotten, moldy, or toxic feed, and do not let rabbits drink dirty water. Feed fresh, high-quality feed and provide clean drinking water. For pregnant female rabbits and young rabbits, especially, attention should be paid to feed quality to prevent gastroenteritis and miscarriage in female rabbits. Feed should be rationally prepared according to the different characteristics of various feeds, ensuring they are washed clean, cut fine, cooked hot, mixed evenly, and air-dried, so as to improve the rabbit's appetite, promote digestion, and achieve the purpose of disease prevention.

Pay attention to drinking water
Water is necessary for the life of rabbits. Therefore, constant attention must be paid to ensuring the supply of water, and watering rabbits should be included in the daily rearing and management routine. The amount of water supplied is determined by the rabbit's age, physiological state, season, and feed characteristics. Young rabbits are in a vigorous period of growth and development, and their water intake should be higher than that of adult rabbits; pregnant female rabbits have increased water requirements and must be supplied with fresh drinking water. Female rabbits are prone to thirst before and after giving birth, and insufficient drinking water can easily lead to eating or biting young rabbits to death. Water requirements are high in hot seasons, and watering should not be interrupted; in cool seasons, young rabbits, male rabbits, and non-pregnant female rabbits should be supplied with water once a day; in winter in cold regions, it is best to feed warm water, because ice water easily causes gastrointestinal diseases.

Pay attention to hygiene and keep dry
Rabbits are physically weak, have poor disease resistance, and like dryness. The rabbit cage must be cleaned every day, feces removed, feeding utensils washed, bedding straw changed frequently, and regular disinfection carried out, always keeping the rabbit house clean and dry so that pathogenic microorganisms cannot breed and reproduce. This is an indispensable measure for strengthening the rabbit's physique and preventing diseases, and it is also a routine management procedure in rearing and management.

Require quietness and prevent disturbance
Rabbits are timid, easily startled, and have keen hearing. They often stand their ears up to listen. If there is disturbance, they become panicked and run about restlessly, especially during delivery, lactation, and mating, when the impact is even greater. Therefore, management should be gentle and meticulous, maintaining a quiet environment. At the same time, attention should also be paid to defending against enemies and harm, such as invasion by dogs, cats, weasels, rats, and snakes.

Do a good job of summer heat prevention, winter cold prevention, and rainy-season moisture prevention
Rabbits fear heat. When the house temperature exceeds 25°C, appetite declines and reproduction is affected. Therefore, in summer, heat prevention work should be done well. Doors and windows of the rabbit house should be opened to facilitate ventilation and cooling. Around the rabbit house, trees should be planted, grape trellises built, and feed crops such as pumpkins or loofahs grown for shade. If the weather is too hot and the temperature inside the house exceeds 30°C, cool water should be sprinkled around the rabbit cages to lower the temperature. At the same time, clean drinking water should be provided, with a little salt added to the water to supplement the consumption of salt in the rabbit's body. Cold also affects rabbits. When the house temperature drops below 15°C, reproduction is affected. Therefore, in winter, cold prevention is necessary, and insulation measures should be strengthened. The rainy season is the season with high morbidity and mortality for rabbits in the year. At this time, special attention should be paid to keeping the house dry, bedding straw should be changed frequently, the floor of the rabbit house should be swept frequently, and lime or very dry charred mud ash should be spread on the ground to absorb moisture and keep it dry.

Group and cage management
For ease of management and to benefit rabbit health, all rabbit groups on the rabbit farm should be divided according to breed, production direction, age, sex, and so on, into wool rabbit groups, fur rabbit groups, meat rabbit groups, male rabbit groups, female rabbit groups, young rabbit groups, and weaned rabbit groups, and managed by groups and cages.

II. Basic Techniques of Daily Management
The basic techniques of daily management include five aspects: methods of catching rabbits, age identification, sex identification, rabbit castration, and rabbit numbering.

Methods of catching rabbits
Catching rabbits is the most commonly used technique in management. If the method is wrong, it often causes adverse consequences. Rabbits have large, upright ears. Beginners in rabbit rearing often catch and lift rabbits by both ears, but the ear of a rabbit is cartilage and cannot support the weight of the whole body. Lifting by the ears will certainly cause pain and struggling (because the rabbit ear has densely distributed nerves and many blood vessels, and keen hearing). This easily causes injury to the base of the ears and drooping of both ears. When catching rabbits, one also must not pull the hind legs backward. Rabbits are good at jumping upward and are not accustomed to having their heads downward. If pulled backward, it easily causes cerebral congestion, obstructs blood circulation in the head, and even causes death. If one lifts a rabbit by the waist, it can also injure the internal organs. For heavier rabbits, if any part of the skin is lifted, the muscles and skin layer can easily separate, adversely affecting the rabbit's growth and development. Therefore, when catching rabbits, one should be especially calm and not let them be frightened. First, use the right hand to massage the head along the direction of the fur. After the rabbit is relatively quiet and no longer running, then grasp both ears and the neck skin, with one hand supporting the hindquarters, so that the center of gravity leans toward the hand supporting the hindquarters. In this way, the rabbit body is not harmed, and the rabbit is also prevented from scratching people.

Age identification
The incisors and claws of rabbits grow with age, and are important indicators for age identification. Young rabbits have white, short incisors arranged neatly; old rabbits have yellow, dull, thick, and long incisors arranged irregularly, sometimes damaged. White rabbits have small toes with a red base and white tips. In one-year-old rabbits, the red and white lengths are equal; under one year old, red is more than white; over one year old, white is more than red. For colored rabbits, distinction can be made according to the length and curvature of the toenails. Young rabbits have shorter, straight, flat toenails hidden in the foot hair. With increasing age, the toenails protrude beyond the foot hair, and the claw tips become hooked and curved.
Prime-age rabbits (1-3 years old): toenails are moderate in thickness, relatively straight, gradually protruding beyond the foot hair, and the toenail color is equal red and white; incisors are white, thick, long, and neat; the skin board is moderate in thickness, firm, and tight.
Old rabbits (over 3 years old): eyes are dull, movements sluggish; toenails are thick and long, claw tips hooked and curved, surface rough and lusterless, half protruding beyond the foot hair, white more than red; incisors are yellow-brown, thick and long, often damaged; the skin board is thick and loose, and wool rabbits show more two-type hair in the coat.

Sex identification
For newborn young rabbits, one can observe the shape of the genital opening and the distance between it and the anus. During the operation, wash and dry the hands, gently hold the young rabbit upside down in the hand with the head facing the wrist, observe carefully, then use the index finger to press the tail toward the back side, and use the thumbs of both hands to press the genital area and turn out the red mucous membrane. If the genital opening is flat and slightly large, close in size to the anus, and closer to the anus, it is a female rabbit; if the opening is round, slightly smaller than the anus, and farther from the anus, it is a male rabbit. If there is a pair of small white granules in front of the genital area, which is the rudiment of the scrotum, it is a male rabbit; if not, it is a female rabbit.
After the young rabbits open their eyes, the reproductive organs can be examined. That is, use the right hand to grasp the young rabbit's ears and neck, use the left hand's middle finger and index finger to clamp the rabbit's tail, and gently push up the reproductive organ with the thumb. If the local area is "O" shaped and the lower part is a cylindrical body, it is a male rabbit; if the local area is "V" shaped and the lower cleft extends to the anus, it is a female rabbit.
Identification is relatively easy for young rabbits and youthful rabbits over 3 months old. The method is: grasp the ears and neck skin with the right hand, clamp the rabbit tail with the left hand's middle finger and index finger, support the buttocks with the palm, and push open the genital opening with the thumb. If the opening protrudes in a cylindrical shape, it is a male rabbit; if it is pointed-leaf shaped and the cleft extends downward, close to the anus, it is a female rabbit. For middle-aged and adult rabbits, as long as one looks at whether there is a scrotum, male or female can be identified.
Rabbit castration
For male rabbits not retained for breeding, or culled adult male rabbits, in order to make their temperament docile and facilitate management, or to improve the quality of fur and meat, they may all be castrated for fattening. Rabbits should be castrated as early as possible, but before 2.5 months of age, the testes are still in the abdominal cavity or inguinal canal, and the scrotum has not yet formed, so castration is impossible. Therefore, castration is generally carried out at 2.5-3 months of age (except for culled adult male rabbits). The castration methods include the following:

Surgical castration method: First, hypnotize the rabbit to be castrated. Place the rabbit on its back with the head slightly lower, properly restrain it, then stroke the chest and abdomen, sides of the head, and temple areas along the direction of the fur, and the rabbit will quickly enter a sleep state. At this time, castration generally shows no pain response, the eyes are half-open and half-closed, looking sideways, and the respiratory rate decreases. If it wakes up during the operation, the above method can be used to continue hypnosis. After the operation is completed, make it stand, and it will immediately wake up. During castration, squeeze the testes from the inguinal canal into the scrotum, pinch tightly so that the testes do not slide, first disinfect the operative area with iodine, then remove the iodine with alcohol cotton balls. After that, use a sterilized scalpel to cut the skin along the direction of the body axis, with an opening of about 1 cm, then squeeze out the testicle and cut the spermatic cord. Remove the other testicle in the same way, then apply iodine. For castration of adult rabbits, in order to prevent excessive bleeding, the spermatic cord should be tied tightly with sterilized thread before cutting. If the incision is relatively large, 1-2 stitches may be sutured. After castration, the rabbit should be placed in a sterilized cage to prevent wound infection. Generally, recovery occurs after 2-3 days.

Ligation method: That is, restrain the rabbit as in the above method, first disinfect the scrotal skin with iodine, squeeze both testes separately into the scrotum and pinch them, then use sterilized nylon thread or a rubber band to tie the testes together with the scrotum tightly so that blood cannot circulate. After about 10 days, the testes will wither and fall off, achieving the purpose of castration. With this castration method, there is a several-day edema period before the testes atrophy, which is relatively painful and affects the rabbit's feed intake and weight gain.

Drug injection method: Using the principle that drugs can kill testicular tissue, inject drugs into the testicular parenchyma. The specific method is: first restrain the male rabbit to be castrated properly, disinfect in front of the longitudinal axis of the scrotum with iodine, then depending on the male rabbit's body size, inject 1.5-2 milliliters of 5% iodine tincture or calcium chloride solution into each testis. Note that the drug should be injected into the testis and must never be injected into the scrotum. After drug injection, the testes begin to swell, naturally subside after 3-5 days, and visibly atrophy after 7-8 days, and the male rabbit loses sexual desire.

Rabbit numbering
For ease of management and recording, breeding male and female rabbits may be numbered one by one. The suitable site for numbering is the inner side of the ear, and the suitable time for numbering is 3-5 days before weaning. Generally, male rabbits are numbered on the left ear with odd numbers; female rabbits are numbered on the right ear with even numbers. The numbering methods include the following:
Ear tag method: First make a small tag from aluminum sheet, punch the desired number on it, then use a sharp blade to pierce the hairless area at the upper edge of the inner side of the rabbit ear where there are no blood vessels, pass the tag through the small hole, bend it into a ring shape, fix it on the ear, and fasten it.
Ear numbering pliers method: The tools used are specially made ear numbering pliers and matching number pins and letter pins. First insert the ear number pin into the ear numbering pliers and fix it, then at the hairless area on the inner side of the rabbit ear with fewer blood vessels, disinfect the area to be pierced with iodine. After the iodine dries, apply vinegar ink (ink with a small amount of edible vinegar added), then clamp the area to be pierced with the ear numbering pliers and press firmly. The piercing needle enters the skin. Remove the ear numbering pliers, knead the ear shell with the hand so that the ink penetrates into the needle holes. After several days, a blue number will appear and never fade.
Ink pricking method: When numbering ears without ear numbering pliers, one may use a dip pen nib dipped in vinegar ink to prick the ear number directly. When pricking, place a rubber pad on the back of the ear to make the pricked number clearer.

III. Classified Rearing and Management of Rabbits

Classified rearing and management of rabbits is divided into: rearing and management of breeding male rabbits, rearing and management of breeding female rabbits, rearing and management of lactating female rabbits, rearing and management of young rabbits, rearing and management of weaned rabbits and youthful rabbits, and key points of rearing and management of rabbits for different uses.
Rearing and management of breeding male rabbits
Breeding male rabbits are kept for mating. Breeding male rabbits must develop well, have a strong physique, and have vigorous sexual desire in order to complete mating tasks. Being too fat or too thin makes them unsuitable for mating. The fertilizing ability of breeding male rabbits depends first on the quantity and quality of semen, and the quality of semen is closely related to the nutrition of the breeding male rabbit, especially nutrients such as protein, minerals, and vitamins, which play an important role in ensuring semen quality. Semen production has the greatest relationship with the quality of protein in the feed, and animal protein has a more significant effect on the formation and function of semen. Adding animal feed to the daily ration can increase sperm vitality and improve fertilizing ability. Practice has shown that for breeding male rabbits whose semen is usually poor, if they can be fed soybean cake, peanut cake, bran, and legume feeds such as Chinese milk vetch, alfalfa, and vetch, the quality of semen will improve significantly. Vitamins also have a significant effect on semen quality. For example, when the vitamin content in the daily ration of breeding male rabbits is insufficient, the number of sperm is low and abnormal sperm are numerous; if the vitamin content in the daily ration of young male rabbits is insufficient, the reproductive organs develop incompletely, testicular tissue degenerates, and sexual maturity is delayed. If green grass, pumpkin, carrots, barley sprouts, vegetable leaves, and other feeds are supplied early, this can be corrected. Phosphorus is an essential element for nucleoprotein formation and is also necessary for semen production. When grains and bran are mixed into the daily ration, phosphorus will not be deficient, but attention should be paid to the calcium supply. The calcium-to-phosphorus supply ratio should be 1.5:1 to 2:1. If 2%-3% bone meal, eggshell meal, or shell meal and other calcium supplements can often be included in the concentrate, calcium and phosphorus will not be deficient. For the feed of breeding male rabbits, in addition to attention to comprehensive nutrition, attention should also be paid to the long-term nature of nutrition. Changes in feed have a very slow effect on semen quality. Therefore, when changing to high-quality feed to improve semen quality for breeding male rabbits with poor semen quality, it takes as long as about 20 days to show effect. Therefore, for breeding male rabbits used intensively for a period, attention should be paid to adjusting the daily ration ratio 20 days in advance. During the mating period, the amount of feed should also be increased accordingly. If a breeding male rabbit mates twice a day, the concentrate amount in the feed should be increased by 30%-50%. At the same time, according to the intensity of mating, appropriately increase animal feed to improve semen quality and increase the conception rate. The feed used for breeding male rabbits can be adapted to local conditions and local materials, but the feed is required to have high nutritional value, be easy to digest, and have good palatability. Attention should be paid to supplementing mineral feed, adding 1-2 grams of salt and a small amount of eggshell meal, clam shell meal, and so on to the concentrate every day. In management, attention should be paid to the following points:
(1) Young rabbits at 3-3.5 months of age should be raised separately by sex, strictly preventing early mating and random mating. Non-breeding meat-type male and female rabbits should be castrated and then fattened. Male and female rabbits retained for breeding should be raised in separate cages from 3-3.5 months of age.
(2) More exercise is needed. Male rabbits that do not exercise for a long time are not physically strong and are prone to obesity or weak limbs. Therefore, the amount of exercise for male rabbits should be increased. For example, two adjacent rabbit cages can be connected to increase the exercise area and space for male rabbits. If conditions permit, male rabbits can be released from the cage for 1-2 hours of exercise every day and allowed to get more sunlight.
(3) Breeding male rabbits should preferably be kept one per cage to prevent fighting each other; male rabbit cages and female rabbit cages should be kept at a relatively far distance to avoid opposite-sex stimulation affecting the male rabbit's sexual desire.
(4) During mating, the female rabbit should be caught and placed in the male rabbit's cage, and it is not advisable to catch the male rabbit and place it in the female rabbit's cage. This is because when the male rabbit leaves the environment it is familiar with, or when the odor is different, it will feel sudden, inhibit sexual activity function, fail to concentrate, and affect mating results.
(5) The mating frequency of breeding male rabbits is generally preferably 2 times a day. For young male rabbits mating for the first time, once a day is preferable, and after two days of mating, rest for one day. If mating is abused continuously, the male rabbit will lose mating ability prematurely and its service life will be reduced.
(6) Breeding male rabbits should not mate during the molting period. This is because during molting, more nutrients are consumed and the physique is poorer. Mating at this time will affect the rabbit's health and conception rate.
(7) Detailed mating records should be kept so as to observe the quality of offspring produced by each male rabbit, which is beneficial for seed selection and matching. For good breeding male rabbits, in addition to strengthening rearing and management, their breeding performance should also be fully utilized so that they can breed more and better young rabbits and continuously improve the quality of the rabbit group.

Rearing and management of breeding female rabbits
Female rabbits are the foundation of the rabbit group. In addition to their own growth and development, they also bear the burdens of pregnancy, lactation, and wool production. Therefore, the physical condition of female rabbits directly affects the offspring, so we must do a good job in the rearing and management of female rabbits. The rearing and management of female rabbits is a meticulous and complex matter. For example, adult female rabbits have significant differences in physiological state during the three stages of pregnancy, lactation, and non-pregnancy. Therefore, in the rearing and management of female rabbits, corresponding measures should also be taken according to the characteristics of each stage.

Rearing and management during the non-pregnant period
The non-pregnant period of a female rabbit refers to the period from weaning of the young rabbits to mating and conception again. It is generally called the empty period, also called the rest period. During this period, because the female rabbit consumed a large amount of nutrients during lactation and is relatively thin and weak, it needs various nutrients to compensate and improve its health level. Therefore, during this period, high-quality green feed should be given, and concentrate should be appropriately fed. This supplies some of the nutrients needed to regain condition after losing condition during lactation, so that it can come into estrus and ovulate normally and be mated and conceive at the proper time. During this period, the female rabbit should not be kept too fat or too thin. For the feed used for female rabbits during the non-pregnant period, local conditions and local materials can be used. In summer, more green feed can be fed; in winter, generally good hay, bean dregs, and root-tuber feeds are given, and concentrate is appropriately supplemented according to nutritional needs. The nutrients needed for normal physiological activities must also be guaranteed. However, 15 days before mating, the nutritional standard should be changed to that of pregnant female rabbits so that they have a better health level.

Rearing and management of pregnant rabbits
The period from mating to delivery of the female rabbit is called the pregnancy period. During pregnancy, in addition to maintaining its own life activities, the female rabbit also needs to consume a large amount of nutrients for embryo development, mammary gland development, uterine growth, and enhanced metabolism. In the rearing and management of pregnant female rabbits, the main tasks are to supply the female rabbit with complete-price nutrients and ensure normal fetal development, and to strengthen care to prevent miscarriage. Therefore, 7 days after mating, pregnancy examination should be carried out immediately. If conception has indeed occurred, the following work should be done well:
1. Strengthen nutrition. Whether the female rabbit can obtain complete-price nutrients during pregnancy, especially in late pregnancy, is closely related to the normal development of the embryo, the health of the mother, and the lactation capacity after delivery. If pregnant female rabbits can be given abundant feeding conditions during pregnancy, especially in late pregnancy, the mother will be healthy, lactation will be strong, and the young rabbits born will develop well and have strong vitality; on the contrary, the female rabbit will be thin, lactation will be reduced, and the young rabbits will have poor vitality. Therefore, during pregnancy, feed with high nutritional value should be given. Especially in late pregnancy, the quantity and quality of feed have a great relationship with fetal growth. According to the development of the fetus, in addition to gradually increasing high-quality green feed, we also need to supplement soybean cake, peanut cake, bean dregs, bran, bone meal, salt, and other feeds rich in protein and minerals. From conception to 15 days, the feed amount should be increased accordingly, until 3 days before delivery, when the concentrate amount should be reduced, feeding only a relatively small amount of concentrate each day, but giving more green feed.
2. Do good nursing care and prevent miscarriage. Miscarriage in female rabbits generally occurs mostly within 15-20 days after pregnancy. Miscarriage in female rabbits is like normal delivery: they carry straw and pull hair to build a nest, but the unformed fetuses produced are mostly eaten by the female rabbit. In order to prevent miscarriage, the female rabbit must not be caught without reason, especially in late pregnancy, when extra care is needed. If catching is necessary, both hands should be used, one hand grasping the neck and the other supporting the buttocks, keeping the rabbit body from being jolted, and handling it gently. Loud noises are not allowed near the rabbit cage; maintain quietness. After 15 days of pregnancy, it should be raised in a single cage. If, due to limited conditions, various other rabbits (lactating rabbits, young rabbits, middle rabbits, adult rabbits) are also kept in the same house as pregnant female rabbits, then when feeding every day, pregnant female rabbits should be fed first, especially those in late pregnancy. Rabbit cages should be dry; in winter it is best to feed and provide warm water; feed quality should be good; moldy and rotten feed must be avoided; touching the abdomen must be prohibited. Wool rabbits during this period should stop wool harvesting and combing so as not to affect normal fetal development.
3. Do good pre-delivery preparation work. In collective rabbit farms, female rabbits are mostly mated intensively and give birth intensively. Therefore, it is best to adjust the rabbit cages. Female rabbits that have been pregnant for 25 days should all be adjusted into the same rabbit house for ease of management; rabbit cages and kindling boxes should be disinfected. After disinfection, the rabbit cages and kindling boxes should be rinsed clean with clean water to remove odors, so as to prevent the female rabbit from scratching randomly or becoming restless. The disinfected kindling box should then be placed in the cage so that the female rabbit can become familiar with the environment and conveniently carry straw and pull hair to make a nest. The delivery room should have specially assigned personnel responsible for it. In winter, the room should be kept warm; in summer, heat prevention and mosquito prevention should be carried out.

Rearing and management of lactating female rabbits
The period from delivery to weaning of the young rabbits is the lactation period. During lactation, a female rabbit can secrete 60-150 milliliters of milk per day, and a high-yielding female rabbit can secrete 150-250 milliliters per day, even as much as 300 milliliters. The protein content of the milk is 10.4%, fat reaches 12.2%, lactose 18%, and ash 2.0%. In order to maintain life activities and secrete milk, lactating female rabbits must consume a large amount of nutrients every day, and these nutrients must be obtained from feed. If the amount of feed provided is insufficient and the quality is poor, the lactating female rabbit will not obtain sufficient nutrition and will therefore draw on large amounts of body reserves. In production practice, lactating female rabbits often suffer from insufficient nutrition, with nutrient intake falling short of expenditure and excessive loss, affecting the female rabbit's health and milk yield. Therefore, lactating female rabbits should have their feed amount increased. At the same time, in addition to feeding fresh green and succulent feed, some concentrate and mineral feed should also be supplemented, such as soybean cake, bran, bean dregs, salt, bone meal, and so on. In addition, rabbit milk has a high water content. To produce more milk, sufficient clean drinking water must also be supplied to meet the lactating female rabbit's water requirements. In management, the rabbit cages and house should be cleaned every day, dirty bedding straw replaced, rabbit cages disinfected weekly, bedding straw changed, and feeding utensils washed clean every time after feeding to maintain cleanliness and hygiene; in addition, the lactation situation of the female rabbit should be checked frequently, and the female rabbit's udder and teats should also be checked frequently. If hard lumps are found in the udder or the teats are red and swollen, timely treatment should be given.

Rearing and management of young rabbits
Rabbits from birth to weaning are called young rabbits. This period can be regarded as a transitional stage for rabbits from fetal life to independent living. During fetal life, rabbits develop in the mother's uterus, with nutrition supplied by the mother and constant temperature; after birth, the environment changes drastically, and at this stage the young rabbits, because their body growth and development are not yet complete, have very poor regulatory function against the external environment, weak adaptability, and poor resistance. The body weight of newborn young rabbits is generally 45-65 grams. Under normal development conditions, the body weight of young rabbits one week after birth doubles compared with birth weight. The rearing and management of young rabbits can be divided into two stages according to their growth and development characteristics: the sleeping period and the eye-opening period.

Sleeping period
The time from birth to eye opening of young rabbits is called the sleeping period. During this period, the focus of rearing and management is to suckle early and suckle enough. Although young rabbits can obtain some immune antibodies through the mother's placenta before birth, increasing the immunoglobulin content from breast milk is still very important. In addition, because rabbit milk is rich in nutrition and is the direct source of growth and development for newborn young rabbits, it should be ensured that newborn young rabbits suckle early and suckle enough. If young rabbits at this stage cannot suckle early and suckle enough, the mortality rate is high. Therefore, within 6-10 hours after birth of the young rabbits, the lactation situation of the female rabbit must be checked. If young rabbits that have not suckled are found, the female rabbit should be made to nurse them in time. After that, checks must be made several times every day. Checking whether the young rabbits have sucked enough milk is basic work in young rabbit rearing. It must be done carefully and in detail. Young rabbits will suckle after birth, and female rabbits with strong maternal protectiveness can also nurse young rabbits well. This is instinct. When young rabbits are full, they sleep quietly without moving, with round and swollen abdomens, rosy skin, and glossy fur; when hungry, the young rabbits are very restless in the nest, crawl everywhere, have wrinkled skin, non-swollen abdomens, dark skin color, and dry, lusterless fur. If touched by hand, the young rabbits will dart upward and squeak. During the sleeping period, except when suckling, young rabbits spend all their time sleeping. Young rabbits have very vigorous metabolism. Most of the milk they drink is digested and absorbed, and very little feces are excreted. Therefore, as long as young rabbits during the sleeping period can eat enough milk and sleep well, they can grow and develop normally. However, in production practice, the phenomenon of newborn young rabbits being unable to suckle often occurs. At this time, we must identify the cause, and according to the specific situation, take effective measures. Forced nursing: Some female rabbits with weak maternal protectiveness, especially first-time mothers, do not take care of their young rabbits after giving birth, and even do not nurse the young rabbits, so that the young rabbits lack milk and go hungry. If not handled in time, this will lead to death of the young rabbits. In this case, forced nursing measures must be taken in time. The method is to fix the female rabbit in the nest box, keep it quiet, place the young rabbits respectively beside each teat of the female rabbit with their mouths against the teats, and let them suckle freely. Force them 4-5 times a day for 3-5 consecutive days, and the female rabbit will then nurse automatically. Adjusting young rabbits: In production practice, there are sometimes situations in which some female rabbits give birth to many young rabbits and some female rabbits give birth to few young rabbits. A female rabbit with a large litter does not have enough milk to supply the young rabbits; the young rabbits lack nutrition, grow slowly, have a weak physique, and are prone to illness and death. A female rabbit with a small litter has excess lactation; the young rabbits suckle excessively, causing indigestion, and even diarrhea, emaciation, and death. In this case, measures to adjust the young rabbits should be taken. According to the female rabbit's lactation capacity, young rabbits from simultaneous deliveries or deliveries no more than 1-2 days apart can be adjusted.
The method is: first take the young rabbits out of the nest box and divide them into nests according to body size and physical strength; then apply the urine of the foster mother rabbit to the bodies of the young rabbits to prevent the female rabbit from biting or biting them to death; finally place the young rabbits into their respective nest boxes, and pay attention to the female rabbit's nursing situation to prevent accidents. When adjusting young rabbits, the following must be noted: both female rabbits and their young rabbits are healthy; the age and development of the young rabbits being adjusted are roughly the same as those of the young rabbits of the foster mother rabbit; the rabbit hair from the nest box stuck to the bodies of the adjusted young rabbits must be removed cleanly; before adjustment, first remove the female rabbit from the nest, place the adjusted young rabbits into the nest of the lactating female rabbit, and after 1-2 hours, once they have taken on the scent of the new nest, return the female rabbit to the original cage and nest. If the female rabbit refuses to nurse the introduced young rabbits, the cause should be identified and new measures taken, such as transferring them again to another female rabbit or supplementing with the female rabbit's urine, or reducing or removing the foreign odor on the adjusted young rabbits.
Whole-litter fostering is generally a measure taken after the birth of young rabbits when the female rabbit dies, or when a fine-breed female rabbit is required to mate frequently to expand the rabbit group. For fostering, female rabbits should be selected that have small litters, abundant milk, and have delivered at the same time or at similar times. To prevent the foster female rabbit from biting young rabbits with a foreign odor, before fostering, the urine of the foster female rabbit may be applied to the bodies of the young rabbits to be fostered, and they may be placed in the nest when the foster female rabbit is nursing. Generally, after the above measures are taken, the female rabbit will no longer bite young rabbits from a different nest.
Artificial nursing: If the female rabbit dies after the young rabbits are born, has no milk, or suffers from a breast disease and cannot nurse, and a foster female rabbit cannot be found in time, artificial nursing measures may be adopted. The tools for artificial nursing may be a glass dropper, syringe, or plastic eye drop bottle, with a latex bicycle valve core attached to the tube end. Before feeding, it should be boiled for disinfection and fed after cooling to 37-38°C. Feed 1-2 times a day. Be patient when feeding, gently pressing the rubber nipple or plastic bottle body while the young rabbit suckles. But do not drip too quickly, so as to avoid mistakenly entering the trachea and causing choking death. Do not drip too much; stop when full. Prevent "dragged nursing." "Dragged nursing" is one of the common phenomena in rabbit production practice. The main reasons are that the female rabbit has little milk, the young rabbits do not get enough to eat, and they suck on the female rabbit's teats for a relatively long time, so when the female rabbit leaves the nest, it brings the nursing young rabbits out of the nest; or when the female rabbit is nursing, it is disturbed, becomes frightened, and suddenly leaves the nest. Young rabbits dragged out of the nest are easily frozen or trampled to death, so extra care should be taken in rearing and management. When young rabbits dragged out of the nest are found, they should immediately be returned to the nest, and the cause should be identified and measures taken in time. If the "dragged nursing" is caused by insufficient milk in the female rabbit, the female rabbit's daily ration should be adjusted, the feed amount appropriately increased, more green feed and succulent feed fed, and high-nutritional-value concentrate supplemented, so as to promote the female rabbit to secrete good-quality and abundant milk and meet the needs of the young rabbits. If it is caused by improper management leading to frightened leaving of the nest, management work should be strengthened, actively creating the environmental conditions needed for the female rabbit to nurse and keeping the female rabbit quiet. If young rabbits dragged outside the nest are found frozen and cold, they should immediately be placed in one's bosom to warm up. Or immerse the whole body of the young rabbit in warm water at 40°C, with the mouth and nose exposed for breathing. As long as rescue is timely and measures are appropriate, after about 10 minutes the rescued young rabbit can be revived. After the skin becomes rosy, dry the body and put it back into the nest box. Young rabbits are born without hair all over the body and only begin to grow soft fine hair 4-5 days after birth. During this period, young rabbits have poor adaptability to the external environment and weak resistance. Therefore, in the cold seasons of winter and spring, prevent freezing; in the hot seasons of summer and autumn, cool down and prevent mosquitoes; usually prevent rat damage and animal damage. Cleanliness and hygiene work should be done carefully; even a slight negligence can lead to infection with disease. Keep the bedding straw clean and dry. The amount of hair covering the young rabbits depends on the weather: thicker when cold, reduced when hot. If it is the hair of wool rabbits, it should be handled as appropriate, because wool rabbit hair is long, fine, and soft, and when damp and compressed it forms felted clumps. Young rabbits lying on the felted clumps cannot burrow into the hair, and heat preservation is poor. Using long hair to cover the nest, because the young rabbits often burrow and move, the neck and limbs are often entangled by the long hair. If the neck is entangled, it can cause suffocation death; if the feet are entangled, blood circulation is blocked, and swelling can also form; young rabbit bones are tender, and the foot bones may even be broken by entanglement, causing disability. Therefore, when using wool rabbit hair to line the nest, the long hair must first be cut into pieces and mixed with some short hair; in this way, felting can be avoided. Fur-type rabbit hair is short and smooth, often fluffy, and will not felt. Young rabbits hiding in the hair can move freely, and heat preservation is also relatively high. To save rabbit hair, fresh cotton can also be pulled loose and used instead of bedding hair. Because rabbits have a very keen sense of smell, old cotton wadding or torn cloth contaminated with feces must not be used, and it is not necessary to replace all the clean rabbit hair in the nest. Newborn young rabbits must immediately undergo sex identification, and excess male rabbits should be culled. Wool rabbits generally nurse 4-5 young rabbits, and fur rabbits nurse 5-6 young rabbits, adjusted according to whether the female rabbit has too few or too many young rabbits. In addition, at night the nest box should be taken out and placed in a safe place.

Eye-opening period
Young rabbits open their eyes about 12 days after birth. The period from eye opening to weaning is called the eye-opening period. The time of eye opening in young rabbits is closely related to development; those that develop well open their eyes early. If young rabbits open their eyes only 14 days after birth, their physique is often very poor and they are prone to illness, so their care must be strengthened. After opening their eyes, young rabbits become spirited and jump back and forth in the nest box; after several days they jump out of the nest box, which is called leaving the nest. The timing of leaving the nest depends on how much milk there is: those with less milk leave the nest early, and those with more milk leave the nest late. At this time, because the body weight of the young rabbits increases day by day, the female rabbit's milk can no longer meet the needs of the young rabbits, and they often closely chase the female rabbit to suckle. Therefore, the eye-opening period is also called the milk-chasing period. During this period, young rabbits must undergo a process of transition from suckling milk to eating solid feed. Because the young rabbit's stomach is not fully developed, if the transition is too sudden, it often causes death. Therefore, during this period, the focus of rearing should be on supplementary feeding and weaning of the young rabbits. Practice has shown that doing this work well and firmly can promote healthy growth of young rabbits; relaxing this work will lead to young rabbits being infected with disease, and even mass death, causing losses. Do a good job of supplementary feeding for young rabbits. Meat and fur rabbits begin to try feed at 16 days of age, and wool rabbits at 18 days after birth. At this time, give a small amount of feed that is easy to digest and rich in nutrition, and mix a small amount of anti-inflammatory, bactericidal, and stomach-strengthening drugs such as minerals and antibiotics into the feed to strengthen the physique and reduce disease. Young rabbits have small stomachs and weak digestive power, but grow and develop quickly. According to this characteristic, when feeding, they should be fed small meals and frequent meals, evenly fed, and gradually increased. Generally, feed 5-6 times a day, with a smaller amount each time. In the early stage of starting to eat, breast milk is the main food and feed is supplementary; by 30 days of age, it changes to feed as the main food and breast milk as supplementary, until weaning. During this transition period, special attention should be paid to the principle of slow transition so that the young rabbits gradually adapt and good results can be obtained. Do a good job of weaning young rabbits. Small-type young rabbits at 40-45 days of age, with a body weight of 500-600 grams, and large-type young rabbits at 40-45 days of age, with a body weight of 1000-1200 grams, can be weaned. If weaned too early, the young rabbit's gastrointestinal and other digestive systems have not yet fully developed and formed, their ability to digest feed is poor, and growth and development will be affected. Under conditions where special measures are not taken, the earlier the weaning, the higher the mortality rate of young rabbits. According to practical observation, when weaned at 30 days, the survival rate is only 60%; when weaned at 40 days, the survival rate is 80%; when weaned at 45 days, the survival rate is 88%; when weaned at 60 days, the survival rate can reach 92%. However, if weaning is too late, the young rabbits depend on the female rabbit's nutrition for a long time, and the formation of various digestive enzymes in the digestive tract is slow, which will also cause slow growth of young rabbits, and also directly affect the health of the female rabbit and the number of breedings per year. Therefore, weaning of young rabbits should preferably be at 40-45 days. When weaning young rabbits, it should be determined according to the physical strength of the whole litter. If the whole litter of young rabbits grows and develops evenly and has a strong physique, the one-time weaning method can be used, that is, separating mother and young on the same day for rearing. The weaned female rabbit should be fed only green feed for 2-3 days after weaning, with concentrate stopped, so that milk production stops. If the physical strength of the whole litter varies and growth and development are uneven, the staged weaning method can be used. That is, first separate the physically strong ones, and the weak ones continue to nurse; after several days, wean according to the situation. If conditions permit, the method of removing the mother rabbit can be adopted for weaning, avoiding sudden environmental changes that are unfavorable to the young rabbits. Do a good job in the management of young rabbits. When young rabbits begin to eat, they often mistakenly eat the female rabbit's feces. If the female rabbit has coccidiosis, the young rabbits are easily infected. In order to ensure the health of young rabbits, mother and young should be raised in separate cages, but the young rabbits must be nursed once every 12 hours. After young rabbits begin to eat, feces increase, so bedding straw should be changed frequently, and the nest box should be washed or replaced; otherwise, the young rabbits sleeping in a wet nest is harmful to health. The health of young rabbits should be checked frequently, and the ear color of young rabbits should be observed. If the ear color is peach red, it indicates good nutrition; if the ear color is dull, it indicates malnutrition. Full preparation should be made before weaning of young rabbits, such as the rabbit house, feeding utensils, and tools needed for weaned young rabbits should be washed and disinfected in advance. The daily ration of weaned young rabbits should be well formulated.

Rearing and management of weaned rabbits and youthful rabbits
Rabbits from weaning to 3 months of age are called weaned rabbits. At this stage, weaned rabbits grow and develop quickly and have poor disease resistance, so special attention should be paid to care. Otherwise, they will develop poorly and be prone to illness and death. Weaned young rabbits must be kept in a warm, clean, and dry place, preferably in cages. In the early stage of cage rearing, 3-4 rabbits may be kept per cage. It is advisable to feed concentrate made from bran, soybean cake, and so on, as well as high-quality hay. Because the protein and fat in rabbit milk account for 10.4% and 12.2% respectively, which is 3 times higher than cow milk, it is very difficult to raise young rabbits with feed for adult rabbits. The feed fed should be clean and fresh. Green grass with mud should be washed and air-dried before feeding. When feeding, grasp the principle of small meals and frequent meals: green feed 3 times a day, concentrate 2 times a day, and in addition some mineral feed may be added.
After weaning, young rabbits are in the molting period, with vigorous internal metabolism and relatively high nutritional needs, so the feed amount should be increased accordingly. Wool rabbits at 2 months of age should have all their milk hair cut off to promote growth and development. After wool cutting, young rabbits should have their care strengthened. For weak wool rabbits, careful feeding is required, and attention should be paid to cold prevention and warmth preservation; otherwise, death easily occurs. Young rabbits from 3-6 months of age are called youthful rabbits (also called middle rabbits). Youthful rabbits eat a large amount and grow and develop quickly. Rearing should be based mainly on green and roughage, with appropriate supplementation of mineral feed, and strengthened exercise so that they can develop fully. Youthful rabbits have already begun estrus. In order to prevent early mating, male and female rabbits must be raised separately. Male rabbits over 4 months of age should be selected. Those that develop well are retained for breeding and raised in single cages. Male rabbits not suitable for retention for breeding should be castrated in time and raised in groups.


Key points of rearing and management of rabbits for different uses

Rearing and management of wool rabbits
The feeding and management of wool rabbits is basically the same in principle as that of general domestic rabbits. The feed intake of wool rabbits changes with the wool harvesting cycle (generally harvesting wool once every 3 months) and the growth of the wool. In the first month after wool harvesting, the rabbit's feed intake is the largest, because at this time the rabbit's body hair is short or bare, a large amount of body heat is dissipated, and a large amount of energy needs to be replenished; after 2 months, the rabbit wool has grown to a certain length, and this is the stage when the rabbit wool grows fastest, so it must be ensured that the rabbit eats enough and eats well; after 3 months, the wool has grown to a certain length and begins to grow more slowly, and at this time the rabbit's feed intake decreases accordingly. Therefore, when raising wool rabbits, the feed must be carefully adjusted according to the different stages after wool harvesting and the pattern of changes in feed intake.
Rabbit raisers generally master two feeding methods: one is that in the first month after wool harvesting, each adult rabbit is fed 190-210 grams of dry feed, in the second month 170-180 grams, and in the third month 140-150 grams; the other is free feeding within 1 month after wool harvesting, and timed and quantitative feeding after the second month. In France and Germany, a method of letting rabbits fast for one day each week is used, allowing the rabbit's stomach to empty, which greatly reduces the risk of hair eaten by the rabbit accumulating in the stomach and forming hairballs. Scientific feeding according to the wool harvesting cycle is beneficial to the rabbit's health and promotes wool growth, and more good wool can be obtained. After wool harvesting, the wool rabbit's body is bare, so in summer it is necessary to prevent direct sunlight, and in winter attention should be paid to keeping warm and appropriately increasing nutrition. Does should not be shorn near parturition, so as to avoid affecting fetal development because nutrition cannot be replenished in time. The wool harvesting time for does can be arranged before mating, so that by parturition the wool is still relatively short, making it easier for the young rabbits to suckle. Usually, the hair should be combed regularly, and grass debris and feces should be removed in time to prevent hairball disease caused by eating rabbit wool. If rabbit mange is found, it should be treated and isolated in time.

Feeding and management of meat rabbits
The feeding and management of meat rabbits is intended to improve rabbit meat quality, enhance meat production performance, and enable rabbits to produce more and better rabbit meat. Meat rabbits include the New Zealand rabbit, California rabbit, Japanese White rabbit, Harbin White rabbit, Saibei rabbit, and others. In recent years, Germany's ZIKA hybrid composite line (three-line composite) and France's Brittany hybrid composite line (four-line composite) have also been introduced. These rabbits have shown very good meat production performance and can be slaughtered at about 90 days of age, with fresh and tender rabbit meat and good taste. However, these composite lines also have the problems of relatively high seed production costs and strict requirements for intensive rearing, and there are still difficulties in large-scale promotion in rural areas. If the fast-growing lines in these composite lines are used for two-way crossbreeding with certain local dominant breeds in China, such as the New Zealand rabbit, to produce commercial rabbits, obvious economic benefits can be obtained in a short period. Young rabbits for fattening are generally not castrated, while adult rabbits for fattening can improve rabbit meat quality and fattening results after castration. The feeding method for meat rabbits generally uses complete pellet feed for free feeding, and the nutritional composition is formulated according to the nutritional needs of meat rabbits. The suitable temperature for meat rabbits is usually 5-25°C. At the same time, light and range of activity need to be reduced, and quiet should be maintained as much as possible, not allowing meat rabbits to move, so as to achieve rapid growth. When meat rabbits are fed complete pellet feed freely, they gain weight quickly and feed conversion is high. When pellet feed is used, sufficient drinking water must be supplied.
For fattening domestic rabbits, the best results are obtained after the skeletal growth and development have been completed. This is because during the fattening process, the weight gained in a short period is mainly muscle and fat. If young rabbits or medium rabbits are fattened, because their body size is too small and limited by their skin and bones, the results are not as good as fattening thin rabbits whose bones have already grown. The principle of fattening is, on the one hand, to increase the storage of nutrients, and on the other hand, to reduce the consumption of nutrients, so that assimilation greatly exceeds dissimilation in a short period. This causes the ingested nutrients, in addition to maintaining life, to be stored in large amounts in the body, forming meat and fat. Since the main raw materials constituting meat and fat are protein, fat, and starch, when fattening domestic rabbits, concentrated feed must be the main component, and concentrated feed should be fully supplied within the limit of the fattening rabbit's digestive and absorptive capacity. The most suitable feed sources for fattening include barley, wheat bran, oats, peas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and others. In order to avoid changing the feed too quickly, there should be a preparation period before fattening, about 10-15 days. During this stage, the feed composition is gradually changed. The feeding method is small amounts and more frequent meals to change their habits, and finally only concentrated feed is fed. Half an hour before formal feeding, a small amount is given first to stimulate appetite. In order to make the meat rabbit's fur fully plump and glossy, rabbits are mostly slaughtered in winter, that is, approximately between November and February of the following year. Because fattening rabbits lack exercise and light, their body resistance is relatively poor and they are prone to illness, so special attention should be paid to environmental hygiene. The determination of the fattening period for rabbits is mainly based on the growth characteristics of the breed itself and the purchasing requirements for commercial rabbits. Generally, slaughter at 90-120 days of age and a body weight of 2-2.5 kg is relatively ideal, and feed efficiency is also the highest.

Feeding and management of Rex rabbits
The Rex rabbit is a relatively famous fur-purpose rabbit. Not only is its fur precious, but its meat production performance is also relatively good. Its growth and development are manifested in the gradual increase in body weight and the gradual maturation of the fur. The pattern of body weight growth is fast growth in the early stage and relatively slower growth in the later stage. Its weight gain speed is mainly affected by genetic factors and environmental factors (nutrition, management, climate, etc.), and there are also certain differences by sex. Generally, the growth speed of male rabbits is significantly lower than that of female rabbits.
The Rex rabbit begins to grow downy hair on the 3rd day after birth, and the inherent color pattern appears; at 15 days of age the coat is glossy; from 15-30 days of age the coat grows fastest, and after that it stops growing; at 60 days of age it begins to shed natal hair; at 4-4.5 months of age the first age-related molt occurs; at 5-6 months of age the coat is glossy and shows standard color, and at this time the body weight is about 2.75-3.0 kg, so the pelt can be taken, and meat production performance is also good. At 5-6 months of age, the Rex rabbit reaches a body weight of 2.75-3 kg, the fur quality is relatively good, the meat yield is also relatively high, and the skin area can reach 111 sq cm, already meeting the requirements for graded pelts. If considered from the perspective of fur maturity, it is best to take the pelt after the second age-related molt, but the rearing period would be extended by 2 months, increasing rearing costs, so taking the pelt at 5-6 months of age will help improve economic benefits. The main purpose of raising Rex rabbits is to obtain high-quality fur. Pelts are generally taken during the young rabbit stage because during this period the body metabolism is vigorous and the Rex rabbit grows and develops quickly. In order to meet the growth and development needs of this period, not only must comprehensive nutritional supply be provided, but the feed quantity supplied at this time must also be sufficient. The nutrient concentration at this time is: digestible energy per kg of diet 11.30-11.72 megajoules, protein 16%-18% (18% in the early stage, 16% in the later stage), crude fat 3%-5%, crude fiber 10%-12%, calcium 0.5%-0.7%, phosphorus 0.3%-0.5%, and the dietary nutrient concentration should be higher in the early stage and slightly lower in the later stage.
In the management of Rex rabbits, the following should be done well: 1. Group rearing work. Except for those kept for breeding, all weaned young male rabbits should be castrated, and grouped according to body size, age, and strength, with one group per cage and 4-5 rabbits per group (cage area about 0.5 sq m). Culled breeding rabbits should be grouped by sex, with 2-3 per group, and group-raised for pelt taking for a short period. Grouped rabbits often fight, so timely adjustment should be noted. If there are repeatedly incompatible rabbits, they can be raised in single cages. 2. Do a good job of cleaning and hygiene. Cage positions in the rabbit house should be cleaned frequently, and the rabbit house and rabbit cages should always be kept clean, hygienic, and dry, which is beneficial to the quality of rabbit fur. 3. Do a good job in disease prevention and control. The rabbit flock should be regularly injected with rabbit plague vaccine and Pasteurella vaccine to avoid losses caused by the introduction of rabbit plague. 4. For external parasitic diseases such as mange, fungal diseases, lice, and fleas, measures should be taken in time. Those that should be isolated should be isolated, and those that should be treated should be treated in time, so as to avoid losses.

IV Feeding and management in different seasons
The growth and development of domestic rabbits are closely connected with the external environmental conditions. Different environmental conditions have different effects on domestic rabbits, and China's natural conditions, whether in temperature, rainfall, humidity, or the variety, quantity, and quality of feed, all have marked regional and seasonal characteristics. Therefore, raising rabbits in the four seasons should, according to the habits, physiological characteristics, and seasonal and regional characteristics of domestic rabbits, adopt scientific feeding methods as appropriate, so as to ensure the health of domestic rabbits and promote the development of the rabbit industry.
Feeding and management in spring
In southern China, spring is often rainy and humid, suitable for bacterial reproduction. This is the most unfavorable season for raising rabbits. Rabbit diseases are numerous, and the mortality rate is the highest of the year (especially for young rabbits). At this time, although wild grass gradually sprouts and grows, the water content in the grass is high and the dry matter content is relatively reduced. Domestic rabbits, after being raised through a winter, are relatively thin and weak, and are also in the molting period. Therefore, in spring, feeding and management should pay attention to moisture prevention and disease prevention.

Do a good job at the rabbit's feeding stage
Do not feed green feed with mud and water or that has piled up and heated, and do not feed moldy and spoiled feed (such as rotten vegetable leaves, etc.). Grass cut after rain should be dried before feeding. In conditions of frequent rain and high humidity, feed less green feed with high moisture and more dry coarse feed. In order to enhance the rabbit's disease resistance, in this season a certain amount of garlic, antibiotics, and the like can be mixed into the feed to reduce and avoid diarrhea. For domestic rabbits in the molting period, fresh and tender green feed should be given, and feed with relatively high protein content should also be appropriately given to meet their needs.

Do a good job in environmental cleaning and hygiene
Cages and houses should be clean and dry. Cages and houses should be cleaned every day, feces and urine removed, and manure troughs flushed. There should be no odor and no accumulated manure or filth in the house. Feeding utensils, cage floor boards, and kindling boxes should be washed and disinfected frequently. Rabbit houses with indoor cage rearing require good ventilation, and plant ash and lime can be spread on the ground to disinfect, sterilize, and prevent moisture.

Strengthen inspection
The health condition of young rabbits should be checked every day, and problems should be dealt with in time. In spring in northern China, the temperature is suitable, rainfall is relatively low, it is windy and dry, and sunshine is abundant, which is relatively suitable for the growth and reproduction of domestic rabbits. It is a good season for raising domestic rabbits.

Feeding and management in summer
Summer is hot and humid. Because domestic rabbits have underdeveloped sweat glands, they are often affected by heat, leading to reduced feed intake. This season poses a great threat to newborn and young rabbits. Therefore, in summer, feeding and management should pay attention to cooling and heatstroke prevention.

Cooling and heatstroke prevention
The rabbit house should be shady and ventilated, and sunlight must not shine directly on the rabbit cages. When the temperature in the cage exceeds 30°C, some cool water can be sprinkled on the ground to lower the temperature. Open-air rabbit farms must promptly set up shade sheds or plant pumpkins, grapes, and other vines early, letting them spread over the tops of the cages for shade; rabbit houses with indoor cage rearing should open windows and doors wide to allow air convection. Wool-purpose rabbits must have their wool, including the hair on the head and face, completely cut short, and the rabbit cages should not be too crowded.

Careful feeding
Summer noon is hot, and appetite is often poor. Breakfast should be fed earlier and dinner later. Attention should also be paid to feeding more green feed and supplying sufficient drinking water, and 2% salt should be added to the drinking water to replenish the body's salt consumption. Some drugs for preventing coccidiosis, such as robenidine and amprolium, can also be appropriately added to the feed.
Do a good job in hygiene. The food basin should be washed once a day, the cage should be cleaned frequently, the ground should be sprayed with disinfectant, environmental hygiene should be well maintained, and breeding grounds for mosquitoes and flies should be eliminated.

Feeding and management in autumn
In autumn, the sky is high and the air is crisp, the climate is dry, feed is abundant, and nutrition is rich. It is a good season for raising domestic rabbits, and reproduction should be carried out promptly. However, adult rabbits again enter the molting period in autumn. Molting domestic rabbits are weak and have reduced appetite, so more green feed should be supplied, and some feed with high protein should also be appropriately fed. During this period, the temperature difference between morning and evening is large, which can easily cause diseases such as colds, pneumonia, and enteritis in newborn and young rabbits, and in severe cases can cause death.

Feeding and management in winter
In winter, the temperature is low, the weather is cold, sunshine hours are short, and green grass is lacking, especially in northern China. Therefore, in winter, feeding and management should pay attention to cold prevention and heat preservation.
1. The temperature in the rabbit house should always be kept balanced and must not fluctuate sharply. Otherwise, domestic rabbits are prone to colds. When the temperature is below 0°C, heat preservation measures should be strengthened, and the doors and windows of rabbit houses with indoor cage rearing should be closed. For outdoor cage rearing, straw curtains should be hung on the cage doors for heat preservation. During the day, domestic rabbits should be allowed to bask in the sun more, and at night strict precautions should be taken against drafts. In severe cold weather, after wool rabbits have their wool harvested, an additional nest box should be placed, with dry grass inside, for nighttime resting. In addition, attention should be paid to weather changes, and wool should not be harvested when a cold wave comes.
2. In winter, there is little green feed, so efforts should be made to feed some green feed or vegetable leaves and carrots every day to supplement vitamins. Regardless of whether the rabbits are large or small, the daily ration should be increased by 1/3 compared with other seasons. Some high-energy feed, such as rice, should be fed. Frozen feed must not be fed. In winter, dry feed should be prepared before feeding. At the same time, attention should be paid to drinking water, and warm water is suitable at low temperatures. Winter nights are long, so add one feeding at night.

[ This post was last edited by Fengyun Duba on 2007-3-18 16:09]
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The significance of feed compounding
Traditional rabbit raising mostly uses a single feed or a simple mixture of several feeds to feed rabbits, which cannot meet the nutritional needs of domestic rabbits, and the feed nutrition is unbalanced, thus affecting the production performance of domestic rabbits. This is because no single feed can satisfy the needs of domestic rabbits at different physiological stages for various nutrients. Only by combining multiple feeds with different nutritional characteristics and making up for each other's deficiencies can the nutritional needs of domestic rabbits be met and the defect of incomplete nutrition in a single feed be overcome.
Compound feed is a complete feed prepared according to scientific formulas from multiple feeds according to the nutritional needs of different breeds, physiological stages, production purposes, and production levels, as well as the effective ingredient contents of various feeds. Using compound feed to feed rabbits can maximize the production potential of rabbits, improve feed utilization, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. It should be pointed out that although the complete feed for domestic rabbits has the scientific basis of nutrient requirement amounts and feed nutritional value tables, both aspects are still in the process of continuous research and improvement. Therefore, complete feed prepared using existing data should be tested in practice and revised according to local conditions based on actual feeding results.
General principles of ration compounding
Adapt to the rabbit:
It should be prepared according to different breeds, sexes, and physiological stages of domestic rabbits, with reference to nutritional standards and feed composition tables. Feeding standards should not be copied mechanically, nor should all rabbits be made to eat the same feed without exception. For example, the feed formulas for the relatively coarse-feed-tolerant Saibei rabbit, Belgian rabbit, and Taihangshan (Tiger Skin Yellow) rabbit should differ from those for the New Zealand rabbit, Brittany rabbit, and others that have higher nutritional requirements. The feed for young rabbits (supplementary feeding), growing rabbits, does in the non-pregnant period, gestation period, and lactation period should also differ. And for the same breed and the same production stage, the feed for rabbits with different production performance should also differ.
Adapt to the time:
Formula design should be flexibly mastered according to the season and weather conditions. In rural areas, green feed can be supplied in summer and autumn, so it is enough to design only a concentrated feed supplement, while in winter and spring, green feed is lacking, so in formula design, vitamins should be added and succulent feed should be appropriately supplemented. In rainy seasons, dry feed should be appropriately increased, and at the turn of seasons, feed should gradually transition, and so on.
Palatability:
A feed with relatively comprehensive nutrition but poor palatability cannot be called a good feed. This is because palatability directly affects the feed intake of domestic rabbits. Feed with good palatability is liked by domestic rabbits and can improve the feeding effect; if palatability is poor, even if the nutritional value of the feed is very high, its feeding effect will be reduced. Therefore, when designing formulas, one should be familiar with the preferences of domestic rabbits and select suitable feed ingredients. Generally speaking, domestic rabbits like to eat plant-based feed that is sweet, slightly sour, slightly spicy, succulent, and crisp and fragrant; they do not like feed with a fishy smell, dry powder form, or other off-flavors (such as moldy smell).
Diversity:
That is, "a mixture of flowers and grasses," to prevent relying on only one thing. Rabbits' nutritional needs are multifaceted, and no single feed can satisfy the needs of domestic rabbits. Instead, as many kinds of feed as possible should be selected and reasonably combined to achieve nutritional complementarity, generally no fewer than 3-5 kinds.
Low cost:
The selection of feed types should be based on local resources. On the premise of ensuring complete nutrition, choose as much as possible those feed types that are local products, large in quantity, wide in source, easy to obtain, and low in cost. Special attention should be paid to developing local feed resources, such as agricultural and sideline product byproducts (distiller's grains, vinegar residue, starch residue, etc.).
Safety:
Any feed selected should be non-toxic and harmless to rabbits and comply with the principle of safety. It is emphasized here that green feed and fruit tree leaves must be prevented from pesticide contamination; toxic oilseed meals (such as cottonseed meal, rapeseed meal, etc.) must be detoxified, and under conditions of no detoxification or incomplete detoxification, they must be used in limited amounts; root and tuber feeds should not be rotten; other concentrated feeds such as corn and wheat bran should be prevented from moisture and mold; when using medicinal residues such as oxytetracycline residue, tetracycline residue, and lincomycin residue, quality must be guaranteed and use must be limited, generally stopping use in the late fattening stage.
The nutritional level of the prepared ration should basically conform to the selected feeding standard, with an allowable error of ±1%-5%.
Methods and steps of feed mixing
There are many methods for ration compounding. At present, the main methods commonly used in production practice are the computer calculation method and the manual calculation method.
1. Computer calculation method
Using a computer to formulate feed formulas is mainly based on conditions such as the varieties and nutritional components of the feeds used, the required amounts of various nutrients for meat rabbits, and changes in market prices. Relevant data are input into the computer, and constraints are proposed (such as feed ratios, nutritional indicators, etc.). According to the principle of linear programming, a feed formula that can meet nutritional requirements and has a relatively low price, that is, the optimal feed formula, can be calculated quickly.
The advantages of the computer calculation method for formulas are fast speed and accurate calculation, and it is one of the signs of the modernization of the feed industry. However, it requires certain equipment and professional technical personnel.
2. Manual calculation method
Manual feed compounding methods include the trial-and-error method, formula method, and diagonal method, among which the "trial-and-error method" is more practical. Now, taking a growing rabbit feed formula as an example, it is illustrated as follows.
Step 1: Find out the nutritional requirements. According to the nutritional needs of meat rabbits and the practical experience of production rabbit farms, each kg of growing rabbit feed should contain 10.46 megajoules of digestible energy, 16% crude protein, 14% crude fiber, and 39% crude fat. Each growing rabbit needs about 180 grams of dry matter per day, 1832 kilojoules of digestible energy, 28 grams of crude protein, 25 grams of crude fiber, 1.7 grams of calcium, and 0.7 grams of phosphorus.
Step 2: Calculate the nutritional components of the roughage. According to the existing feed conditions of the rabbit farm, rice straw powder and wheat bran are selected as roughage, among which easily digestible wheat bran accounts for about 15% of the daily ration (180 x 15% = 27 grams), and difficult-to-digest rice straw powder is 153 grams (180 - 27 = 153 grams). Find out their respective nutritional components from the feed nutritional component table. As shown in the table below:
Feed (type) Weight (grams) Digestible energy (kilojoules) Crude protein (grams) Sulfur-containing amino acids (grams) Crude fiber (grams) Calcium (grams) Phosphorus (grams)
Rice straw powder 153 941.4 7 0 45.9 0.40 0.11
Wheat bran 27 326.4 4 0.2 2.0 0.02 0.23
Total 180 1267.8 11 0.2 47.9 0.42 0.34
Step 3: Balance the energy requirement. Try using part of the barley to replace rice straw powder to meet the energy requirement. The digestible energy content of barley is 13514.3 kilojoules/kg, and that of rice straw powder is 6150.5 kilojoules/kg. The difference between the two is 7363.8 kilojoules/kg, that is, using 1 kg of barley to replace 1 kg of rice straw powder can increase the energy value by 7363.8 kilojoules/kg. From the comparison between Step 1 and Step 2, it can be seen that digestible energy is still short by 564.2 kilojoules. Therefore, the amount of barley replacement needed to meet the digestible energy requirement is 564.2 / 7363.8 ≈ 80 grams.
According to the above conversion results, using rice straw powder, barley powder, and wheat bran for compounding, the nutrient balance status is as shown in the table below:
Feed (type) Weight (grams) Digestible energy (kilojoules) Crude protein (grams) Sulfur-containing amino acids (grams) Crude fiber (grams) Calcium (grams) Phosphorus (grams)
Rice straw powder 73 447.7 3.3 0 20.0 0.25 0.05
Wheat bran 27 326.4 4.0 0.2 2.0 0.02 0.23
Barley powder 80 1079.5 8.5 0.3 3.0 0.08 0.26
Total 180 1853.6 15.8 0.5 25.0 0.35 0.64
Step 4: Balance the protein requirement. Digestible energy has basically met the requirement, and crude protein is still short by 12.2 grams. Therefore, try using soybean cake, which is comparable to barley in energy, to replace part of the barley to meet the protein requirement. The protein content of soybean cake is 440 grams/kg, while that of barley is 106 grams/kg. The difference between the two is 334 grams/kg. Therefore, the amount of soybean cake replacement needed to meet the crude protein requirement is 12.2 / 0.334 = 37 grams. Using rice straw powder, wheat bran, barley powder, and soybean cake powder for compounding, the nutrient balance status is as shown in the table below:
Feed (type) Weight (grams) Digestible energy (kilojoules) Crude protein (grams) Sulfur-containing amino acids (grams) Crude fiber (grams) Calcium (grams) Phosphorus (grams)
Rice straw powder 73 447.7 3.3 0 20.0 0.25 0.05
Wheat bran 27 326.4 4.0 0.20 2.0 0.02 0.23
Barley powder 43 577.4 5.0 0.17 1.5 0.04 0.14
Soybean cake 37 527.2 16.3 0.43 2.0 0.12 0.25
Total 180 1878.7 28.6 0.80 25.5 0.43 0.67
Percentage of requirement 100% 101% 102% 57% 102% 25% 96%
According to the above conversion results, 0.6 grams of sulfur-containing amino acids and 1.27 grams of calcium are still lacking, and methionine and calcium carbonate can be directly added to balance them; in order to increase the appetite of meat rabbits and supplement the sodium requirement, 0.5% salt also needs to be added. In addition, to meet the vitamin requirements of growing rabbits, 10 grams of multivitamins need to be added per 50 kg of compound feed.
Feed (type) Compounding ratio (%) Main nutrient content
Rice straw powder 40 Digestible energy (megajoules/kg) 10.4
Wheat bran 15 Crude protein (%) 16.0
Barley powder 23 Crude fiber 14.0
Soybean cake 20 Sulfur-containing amino acids (grams) 0.8
Bone meal 1.2 Calcium (grams) 0.6
Salt 0.5 Phosphorus (grams) 0.4
Methionine 0.3

[ This post was last edited by Fengyun Duba on 2007-3-18 15:55]
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In order to facilitate farmers or breeding farms in reasonable feed compounding, some domestic and foreign formulas are listed below for reference.
(1) Compound feed formula for fattening rabbits at the experimental rabbit farm of the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine
Corn 12.20%, wheat bran 30.2%, grass powder 20.0%, peanut hull 9.0%, silkworm pupae 8.0%, soybean 3.4%, rice grain 15.2%, calcium carbonate 0.5%, salt 0.5%, growing rabbit additive 1.0%.
(2) Meat rabbit diet formula and feed feeding amount at the rabbit farm of Northeast Agricultural College
The mixed concentrated feed formula is: corn 47%, wheat bran 20%, soybean cake 25%, fish meal 5%, shell powder 2%, salt 1%, multivitamins 0.05%. The above feeds are mixed into pellet feed for feeding.
(3) Feed formula of the breeding Rex rabbit farm of Hangzhou Rabbit Raising Center
The formula for growing rabbits and pelt-producing rabbits is: wheat bran 30%-25%, corn 6%-8%, unified bran 0%-15%, soybean cake 15%-10%, malt root 32%-20%, green hay powder 15%-20%, stone powder or shell powder 1%-1.5%, salt 0.5%.
The digestible energy of this formula is 9.88-9.33 megajoules/kg, crude protein is 18.04%-14.88%, crude fiber is 12.23%-15.8%, and crude fat is 3.38%-3.25%.
(4) French meat rabbit diet formula
Barley 35%, alfalfa 7%, rice straw 14%, soybean cake 12%, sunflower cake 13%, bran 10%, spent sugar residue 6%, mineral-vitamin additive 3%. Its crude protein is 16.4%, crude fiber 13.8%, suitable for general rabbit use.
(5) German wool rabbit diet formula
Soybean 10.2%, grass powder 28.85%, wheat bran 4.7%, wheat 10.0%, corn 6.0%, brewer's grain yeast 1.0%, malt 19.0%, meat meal 7.1%, pomegranate bark alkaloid 2.5%, root and tuber 7.0%, salt 0.5%, methionine 0.4%, trace elements 0.7%, soybean oil 0.53%, molasses 1.52%.

Feed formula for pregnant rabbits

Formula 1: Wheat bran 30, grass powder 27, barley 15, corn 7.5, soybean cake 11, rapeseed cake 7, stone powder 1.5, salt 1, vitamins and trace element additives added separately according to instructions.
Formula 2: Soybean cake 16, corn 25.5, wheat bran 33, grass powder 11, soybean stalk powder 11, stone powder 1.2, salt 0.3, compound additive (containing vitamins and amino acids, etc.) 2.
Formula 3: Corn 35, wheat bran 5, rice bran 5, flax cake 6, cottonseed kernel cake 5, sunflower cake 5.5, soybean cake 6, bone meal 1, grass powder 30, salt 0.5, vitamin and trace element additive 1.
Formula 4: Grass powder 45, corn 30.5, wheat bran 14, flax cake 6, bone meal 1, fish meal 3, salt 0.5, additives added separately.
Formula 5: Corn 28, wheat bran 14, peanut cake 7, soybean cake 6, peanut hull 11.5, brewer's grain 20, corn husk 6, cottonseed kernel cake 5, bone meal 0.5, shell powder 1.5, salt 0.5, additives added separately.
Note: The above data are percentages.
Feed formula for growing rabbits
Corn 20% Sophora leaves 27% bran 21% peanut cake 12% sweet potato vine 3% green hay 10% peanut vine 3% soybean meal 2% salt 0.5% bone meal 1%

Feed formula for rabbits over 6 months of age
Corn 15%, soybean cake 11%, wheat bran 20%, grass powder 50%, bone meal 2%, salt 1.5%, growth promoter 0.5%. Feed each rabbit 80-100 grams per day, plus 700-800 grams of green feed.

Wool rabbit feed should be diversified



1. Young rabbit feed formula: bran 40%, soybean cake 20%, barley 20%, corn 15%, bone meal 3%, salt 2%.


2. Breeding rabbit feed formula: green hay powder 70%, corn 10%, bran 15%, bone meal 3%, salt 2.5%.


3. Growing rabbit feed formula: alfalfa hay 50%, soybean 10%, barley 11%, corn 23.5%, bran 5%, salt 0.5%.


Mix the concentrated feed in formulas 1 and 2 above with an appropriate amount of water into a wet powder. Feed each rabbit 60-80 grams per day, plus 500 grams of green feed.
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Very good material, bookmarked.
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It is written well. For beginners just starting out, it is very good material, but there are also many places that need improvement. For example, feeding green feed: if a rabbit farm raises 10,000 rabbits, you would be too busy every day just preparing green feed. So for knowledge, one should learn from it selectively.
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Also, for ration compounding, why not provide a small program so that everyone can calculate more conveniently? Going step by step like this would make anyone dizzy.
Why use rice straw powder among the ingredients? The calculated value is reached, but can the feeding effect be achieved?
Please forgive my wording.
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Originally posted by boutonhan on 2007-3-6 23:26
To help farmers or farms formulate rations rationally, some domestic and foreign formulas are listed below for reference.
(1) Compound feed formula for fattening rabbits at the experimental rabbit farm of the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine
Corn 12.20%, wheat bran 30.2%, grass meal 20.0%, peanut hull 9.0%, silkworm pupae 8.0%, soybean 3.4%, rice ...

Improve the post a bit more, there are many obvious errors, how did you determine the amounts you added together???????????????????????????????????????????????????
etc.
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The original poster probably didn't have time to make revisions and just uploaded it directly.

Everyone take a look first, and if there is anything obviously wrong or worth discussing, you can email me, I can revise it a bit, and then post it again, so it's easier for everyone to study!!
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Study hard, make progress every day......
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:D :D :D :D :D
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:D Great material, saved it.
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The original poster did put in quite a bit of effort in collecting and organizing the material. Bump.