How can fox farming profits be increased? Master these measures

1. Lower feeding costs

First, establish reasonable feeding standards and prepare daily rations according to those standards. Do not arbitrarily raise the ration level. During the fox's breeding period, meat, egg and milk feeds should be used rationally, while during the non-breeding period, cheap marine trash fish and meat by-products may be used appropriately, but the nutritional needs of the fox must never be ignored. For example, feeding poor-quality feed during the winter fur growth period will lower pelt quality, or cause delayed pelt harvesting, which instead results in greater economic loss.

Second, losses in quantity and quality during feed purchasing, transport, storage and processing can also reduce feeding costs. Improper feed storage causes oxidative rancidity, which both lowers feeding value and often increases expenses because antioxidants must be added.

Third, avoid indirect expenses. Implement the policy of "prevention first, prevention more important than treatment", eliminate the occurrence of malignant infectious diseases, reduce fox deaths, and save medical costs, so as to lower feeding costs.

2. Increase income

First, when feeding conditions permit, the greater the total number of foxes raised and the greater the product quantity, the lower the direct and indirect costs shared by each fox. Of course, product quality has an even more direct effect on increasing income. On fox farms with a high-quality fox population, the number of breeding foxes sold increases, which correspondingly increases income. Second, a fox farm should raise two or more species of fur-bearing animals so that feed can be used rationally. Third, keep abreast of market information and produce pelts that sell well on the market.

3. @#@185@#@ and equipment construction

It is best to do this in Northeast China, which is suitable for foxes to live, reproduce and mature their pelts. In addition to choosing a site with high, dry terrain, good ventilation, sunny exposure and good drainage, it is even more important to have a good water source and power supply, to be no more than 300 m from a highway, and yet to be far from villages, mining sites or other farms. To ensure a quiet environment for the fox farm, a wall should be built around the site, and if conditions permit, a disinfection lime trough should be set up at the gate.

From a production standpoint, there must be cages and sheds, a feed processing room, a technical room, a veterinary room, a pelt processing room, a dry feed warehouse, and so on. In short, the building structure and floor area should be considered according to the size of the fox farm.

Foxes are best raised in cages and sheds, and the cages should be placed inside a shed. Generally one cage-and-shed unit houses one fox. The fox cage-and-shed consists of a cage and a wooden box. The fox cage is generally woven from galvanized iron wire; the cage bottom uses No. 11 or No. 14 wire, and the mesh openings are 2 x 2 cm. One end of the cage is connected to a wooden box (that is, the den). The wooden box is 60 x 50 x 55 cm in length, width and height. A movable partition board is placed between the box and cage, and the entrance is 20 x 25 cm. One side of the wooden box can be made into a removable board so that it can be taken off at any time to clean the dirt inside. A water bucket is hung on the inner side of the cage for the fox to drink from.

The small chamber (whelping box) should be made from wooden boards, 60-70 cm long, no less than 50 cm wide, and 45-50 cm high, with a movable lid. On the side of the small chamber near the passage, a small door of 20 x 20 cm should be left to facilitate cleaning and disinfection. The small chamber must not be made from iron plates or cement boards. The cage-and-shed should be easy to clean and easy for catching foxes and for keepers to manage.

4. Feeding management

4.1 Feed

If 100 breeding foxes are raised (with a male-to-female ratio of 1:3), the total number can reach 400-600 by the end of the year (silver foxes and Arctic foxes), and the annual requirement is 40 tons of animal feed, 17 tons of grain, and 8 tons of vegetables. Therefore, a fox farm should be built near a meat processing plant or feed plant to ensure feed supply. The fox is a carnivorous animal, but its diet is fairly omnivorous, and some plant foods can also become fox feed. The animal feeds that foxes eat include beef, mutton, poultry, birds and rodents, as well as the fresh internal organs of various animals and fresh fish. Plant feeds are mainly various grains and vegetables, such as cornmeal, barley grits, soybean cake meal, sorghum meal, bran, and so on. Grain feeds should be mixed in proportion, then steamed into steamed corn bread and fed cooked. Their composition ratio is 15% cornmeal, 20% bran, 20% soybean cake meal, 27% barley grits, 2% bone meal, and 1% salt. The vegetables supplied to foxes include carrots, Chinese cabbage, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, and so on.

Fox feed must be based mainly on animal feed, accounting for about 70%. The feeding amount must be appropriate. Feed 2 times a day; the morning feeding amount accounts for 40% of the daily ration, and the evening feeding amount accounts for 60% of the daily ration. Taking adult foxes as the standard, the daily feed amount is about 500 g. A reference feed formula is 35% fish, 30% meat, 5% milk, 20% grains, and 10% vegetables. Each fox should also be supplied daily with 3 g yeast, 3 g bone meal, 2 g salt, and 1-2 drops of cod liver oil.

4.2 Management

Fox cages and sheds should be kept clean and dry, cleaned frequently, and disinfected regularly. The periods from March to May and from September to November each year are the fox's molting seasons. Attention must be paid to preventing manure from contaminating the fur, which would affect pelt quality.

4.3 Disease prevention and treatment

Foxes rarely get sick. The main common disease is gastritis, mostly caused by stale food. The symptoms of gastritis in foxes are loose stool, which seriously affects appetite. To treat this disease, sulfonamide drugs can be administered, such as 0.3 g sulfaguanidine and 1 g tannalbin, given orally once.

Next is infection with roundworms, especially sarcoptic mange mites. Once a fox is found to have this disease, it should be isolated and treated promptly, and disinfection should be strengthened to prevent transmission.