Can You Make Money Raising Rabbits in Rural Areas? Current Breeding Prospects and Profit Analysis

Rabbits are among the livestock that were domesticated relatively late in the history of animal husbandry, but since rabbit farming involves no heavy manual labor, elderly people or housewives can do it, so it counts as a low-investment, high-return breeding project. It is worth noting that before investing you should not only calculate the profit but also understand the risks, which are indispensable. Let's take a look below at whether raising rabbits in rural areas is profitable now!

Can You Make Money Raising Rabbits in Rural Areas?

Rex rabbits produce one litter per month. A litter can be as many as 14 kits or as few as 6, generally around 8. If they are allowed to produce 6 litters (cycles) per year, and each litter (cycle) is calculated at a 5-kit survival rate, one doe can produce 30 market rabbits surviving per year. If each market rabbit is calculated at a sale price of 50 yuan each, the gross income per year can be 1500 yuan. Meanwhile, each market rabbit can amortize a cost of 15 yuan when feed resources are abundant, and 25 yuan per rabbit when feed resources must be entirely purchased or are particularly demanding. From this it appears that at the high end you earn 35 yuan per rabbit and at the low end 25 yuan per rabbit. Over the whole year, 30 market rabbits can earn at most 1050 yuan and at least 750 yuan.

What Risks Are There in Raising Rabbits?

1. Breed: The quality of the rabbit breed is the foundation related to the success or failure of a rabbit farm, especially for a breeding rabbit farm, so you must be especially careful when selecting breeding rabbits. The relatively common breeds now include rex rabbits, hybrid wild rabbits, Chinese white rabbits and so on.

2. Management: Rabbits need enough grain, vegetables and fruit, hay and clean water every day to maintain health. If feeding and management are improper, it will not only cause feed waste but also lead to poor growth and development of the rabbits.

3. Disease: Rabbits have many diseases, but as long as prevention is done well, losses caused by disease can be reduced. When kits are weaned, immune vaccines should be injected. Moreover, vaccination requires good disinfection work, one needle per rabbit, and mixing use is strictly prohibited to avoid artificial infection.

Input Costs of Raising Rabbits

1. Breeding stock cost: Buying 2.5 kg improved-breed rabbits costs 100 yuan each, and 12 rabbits cost 1200 yuan. The average service period of breeding rabbits is 2.5 years, with an average annual amortization of 480 yuan.

2. Feed cost: Each breeding rabbit consumes an average of 125 grams of mixed feed per day (the insufficient other nutrients are supplemented with green grass and crop straw), consuming 45.6 kg of feed per year, and 12 rabbits consume 547 kg in total. Calculating the feed cost at 0.9 yuan per kg, the feed cost is 492.3 yuan. Kits are counted from weaning at 1 month of age to marketing at 90 days of age, a total of 60 days, and each consumes about 5 kg of feed. Each doe provides an average of 35 market rabbits per year; 10 does provide 350 market rabbits per year, consuming 1750 kg of feed in total, with a feed cost of 1575 yuan.

3. Epidemic prevention cost: The epidemic prevention cost is 2 yuan per breeding rabbit per year and 0.5 yuan per market rabbit, totaling 199 yuan.

4. Cage and housing cost: Building cages and housing can use the family's old bricks and tiles, stones, adobe, cement and lime, etc. An iron rod frame can also be welded, with wire mesh woven into cages. The investment per cage is calculated at 30 yuan. 12 breeding rabbit cages plus 20 fattening cages require 960 yuan. The service life of the cages is calculated at 8 years, with an annual depreciation cost of 120 yuan.

5. Total investment: 480 yuan + 492.3 yuan + 1575 yuan + 199 yuan + 120 yuan = 2866.3 yuan.

Profit Calculation for Raising Rabbits

1. Selling market rabbits: 350 market rabbits are marketed per year, each with an average weight of 2.5 kg, totaling 875 kg. Calculated at the national average purchase price of 12 yuan/kg in a normal year, the total income is 10500 yuan.

2. Disposal of breeding rabbits: After the service period, breeding rabbits need to be culled as market rabbits. Each averages 4.5 kg. Calculated at 12 yuan/kg, each is 54 yuan, and 12 are 648 yuan. Spread over 2.5 years, the annual average is 259.2 yuan.

3. Disposal of rabbit manure: 12 breeding rabbits and 350 market rabbits can produce more than 2.5 tons of rabbit manure per year. Calculated at 50 yuan per ton, the income can be 125 yuan.

4. Total income: 10500 yuan + 259.2 yuan + 125 yuan = 10884.2 yuan.

5. Profit analysis: The gross profit is 10884.2 yuan - 2886.3 yuan = 7997.9 yuan. Raising 10 foundation does can yield a profit of nearly 8000 yuan per year, and each doe can yield a gross profit of nearly 800 yuan per year. The input-output ratio is hard for other breeding industries and even other industries to compare with.