How is the outlook for weasel farming? Analysis of farming benefits and market conditions
Weasel fur has the characteristics of fine, dense and flexible guard hairs, abundant underfur, bright colors and a fine, tough leather board, making it a precious fur for making fur garments and brushes. For a long time, China's weasel fur has mainly been used for export, has always been in short supply, and every year earns the country a large amount of foreign exchange. Let us take a look below at the farming outlook for weasels!
The farming outlook for weasels
The commodity name of weasel fur is yellow weasel skin, a traditional Chinese export commodity, with both output and quality ranking first in the world. The tail hair is thick, dense and upright with good elasticity, and is a valuable raw material for making high-grade writing brushes, oil painting brushes and brushes for precision instruments, with very high economic value. At the same time, weasels reproduce quickly, have few diseases, and are simple to raise, giving them high farming prospects. Carrying out artificial breeding is a good way for the broad masses of farmers to increase their income.
The medicinal value of the weasel
[Nature and flavor] Sweet in flavor, warm in nature, slightly toxic
[Meridians entered] Lung and kidney meridians.
[Efficacy] Kills parasites and treats sores, warms the kidney and reduces urination, treats scabies, non-healing ulcerated sores, frequent urination and other conditions.
[Usage] Internal use: burn until charred and grind into powder, 0.5 to 1 qian. External use: fry into oil and apply, or burn to ash, grind into powder and sprinkle on.
1. Thrombocytopenic purpura: yellow weasel powder, take 3 grams each time, 3 times a day, reduced as appropriate for children. 2 to 3 weeks is 1 course of treatment; generally after 2 weeks the platelets rise noticeably, and after 1 to 2 more weeks of consolidation the medication can be stopped.
2. Lymph node tuberculosis: 1 weasel, skinned and with internal organs removed; boil and eat the meat, dry the bones over a tile and grind into powder, take with yellow wine, 5 grams each time, once a day.
3. Bedwetting: 1 yellow weasel, burned to charcoal and kept in its nature, ground into powder, take 15 grams before going to sleep, with white sugar added for flavor.
4. Gonorrhea: yellow weasel burned to charcoal and kept in its nature, ground into powder, mixed with an equal amount of fine catalpa bark powder, take about 1 spoonful each time, swallowed with boiled water.
Weasel farming techniques
1. Building sheds
① Cage rearing: the cage-rearing box shed is divided into two parts, a small chamber and an exercise yard. The small chamber is made of wooden boards, with length, width and height of 50 cm × 40 cm × 30 cm, with a nest box inside. The exercise yard uses 6 mm diameter steel bars welded into a frame with length, width and height of 70 cm × 50 cm × 30 cm, surrounded with welded wire mesh, and a movable door is welded on the 50 cm side. The cage shed is placed 20 to 25 cm above the ground to facilitate collecting droppings.
② Shed rearing: use idle old houses, with an area of no less than 1 sq m; the walls and floor are smoothed with cement, doors and windows are nailed tight, and rice straw piles or earth piles are placed indoors (with many small holes dug in the earth piles) to facilitate weasels' resting and breeding. A 10 sq m house can raise 10 weasels.
2. Breeding: weasels reach sexual maturity at 8 to 10 months of age and breed in the spring of the following year. They mate in late winter and early spring, produce 1 litter per year, with an average of 8 cubs per litter, and up to 12. The estrus season for female weasels is in April and May; estrus is shown by obvious swelling and protrusion of the genitals, pink or purple in color, eversion of the labia, discharge of mucus, and the pubic hair bundles turning to both sides. This is the peak estrus period, and the conception rate from mating is highest. Weasels are polygamous; during the mating period, 1 male can mate with 5 to 10 females.
3. Feeding: livestock and poultry slaughtering by-products (chicken offal is preferable) and fish and their by-products can be used as the main feed, with some grain feed such as corn, wheat bran and soybean cake, as well as vegetables and mineral and vitamin additives, fed appropriately. Animal feed accounts for 55%, grain feed 35%, and vegetables 10%. Appropriately add bone meal, salt, yeast and cod liver oil, etc.
4. Management: First, feed at fixed times and in fixed amounts, with a variety of feed types, and do not feed spoiled or deteriorated feed. Second, under shed-rearing conditions, set up enough food bowls to prevent uneven eating. Third, do a good job of cleaning and disinfecting the environment, cages and feeding utensils. In addition, from 15 days of age, frequently clean the cubs' small chamber. For individuals with too many cubs or insufficient mother's milk, adopt fostering measures or artificial feeding. After young weasels are weaned at 40 days of age, strengthen feeding management.
5. Pelt removal: pelts can be taken from after Minor Snow in the lunar calendar to February of the following year, with December being the best period for pelt removal. Generally, weasels are raised until the second year before pelt removal; male weasels of the current year can also have their pelts taken after being raised to 9 months of age. When taking the pelt, kill the weasel with a wooden stick and skin it immediately. Pass a wire through the weasel's upper and lower incisors to fix the teeth firmly, then hang it up, and use a sharp pointed knife to begin skinning from the mouth along the head toward the body. When skinning to the forelimbs, use scissors to cut off at the first joint of both forelimbs, bringing the five toes onto the leg skin. Use the same method when skinning to the hind legs. Try to pull the caudal vertebra out from the tail as much as possible. After skinning is complete, dry it with the leather side facing out and the fur facing in.