Fox Farming Precautions and Key Points of Feeding Management
Foxes have very high economic value. Their main product, fox fur, belongs to the large-hair fur category and has advantages such as toughness and wear resistance, softness and lightness, and warmth retention with an attractive appearance. It is a high-quality raw material for making fur products such as fur collars, hats and fur rugs. To raise them reasonably and let them create higher value, the following 4 points should be grasped well.
Breeding and Selecting Superior Varieties
In breeding and selecting fox varieties, the following two points should be used as much as possible as the “reference standards” for quality selection: choose blue foxes or colored foxes that are small in body size, fast-growing, good in fur quality and strong in disease resistance, so as to meet the market demand for fox fur in complete color patterns. Choose foxes that are large in body size, high in reproductive rate, easy to raise, bright in coat color and excellent in down variety, so as to adapt to the market's changes. The breeding foxes retained for use must be carefully selected once every year, keeping good breeds, not keeping closely related breeds, and eliminating inferior breeds, so as to ensure the purity and quality of breeding foxes.
Timely Mating
Foxes have only 1 mating season each year, and timing is quite important; if the time is missed, they will be empty-pregnant. Usually we must observe carefully, grasp the characteristics of the sexual cycle changes of male and female foxes, strictly master the estrus period of female foxes, mate the female foxes promptly and accurately, and reasonably draw up the pairing plan according to the individual mating ability and characteristics of the male foxes. During the pairing time, the fox farm environment should be quiet, and the male foxes should be additionally fed nutrition-rich animal feed, so as to ensure that the breeding male foxes have healthy body condition and good semen quality.
Reasonable Feeding
According to the biological characteristics of foxes such as seasonal reproduction and molting, the whole year can be divided into 8 different feeding periods, including the mating period and gestation period, and the feeding management differs in different periods. For example, during the pregnancy period of female foxes, the daily ration supply should achieve complete nutrition, fresh food, good palatability and an appropriate feeding amount. In the early gestation stage of silver foxes, the feed calorie content is 550 kcal to 600 kcal, and animal feed accounts for 65% to 70%; in the late gestation stage, the feed calorie content is 700 kcal to 750 kcal, and animal feed accounts for 70% to 75%, with a daily ration of 600 g to 700 g per animal per day. For arctic foxes, it is 700 kcal to 850 kcal, animal feed accounts for 70% to 75%, and the daily ration is 700 g to 800 g per animal. If feeding is improper, it will cause fetal absorption, and pregnancy accidents such as stillbirth, rotten fetuses and miscarriage may occur.
Epidemic Prevention and Sterilization
The three major infectious diseases of canine distemper, viral enteritis and viral encephalitis can be said to be the “nemesis” affecting the normal growth of foxes. In addition, there are common diseases such as gastroenteritis, cold and pneumonia. In response to these, the policy of prioritizing prevention over treatment, combining prevention and treatment, and putting prevention first should be adopted. Strengthen the veterinary health and epidemic prevention system, and cut off the routes by which external pathogens are introduced; strictly inspect feed quality, and guard the mouth to prevent disease from entering; pay close attention to the health status of the animal herd, promptly discover sick animals, promptly diagnose them, and conduct regular preventive vaccination. At the same time, attention should also be paid to keeping fox houses clean and hygienic and disinfecting them regularly.