Raising Rabbits to Prosperity, He Became a Startup Star: Selling Over a Thousand Meat Rabbits a Month and Still Can't Meet Demand
Chen Chengge is an ordinary farmer in Lixin Village, Bandi Town, Dingtao District. Starting with small-scale meat rabbit farming, over the past six years, his rabbits have grown from the initial 20 breeding rabbits to nearly 5,000 now, with orders exceeding supply. In the future, he plans to establish a foundation breeding farm and a meat rabbit farming cooperative, leading the villagers to prosperity together.
Over six years, the scale of rabbit farming grew from 20 to 5,000
Beside the straight rural road in Lixin Village, Bandi Town, Dingtao District, surrounded by trees, sits a nearly 2,100-square-meter rabbit shed. This is Chen Chengge's meat rabbit breeding base -- Lixin Rabbit Farm.
Inside the farm, bricks have been built into many individual compartments 50 cm wide and 60 cm long, each housing one or several rabbits. Rabbits with smooth fur each live in their own "deluxe room," some sleeping soundly, others enjoying a meal. At this moment, the rabbits' owner Chen Chengge is checking the separation of mother rabbits from their young.
"I heard that raising rabbits makes money, so at first I did small-scale farming at home. Back then I had no experience or skills, so I could only keep summarizing lessons through trial and error, paying quite a few tuition fees. Later, whenever I heard someone was good at raising rabbits, I would go learn farming techniques from them. Once I had mastered the skills, I started my own business." Chen Chengge said. From then on, with rabbits as his companions, over six years his rabbit farm grew from the initial 20 breeding rabbits to nearly 5,000 now.
According to Chen Chengge, the farm currently mainly raises Rex rabbits. This breed has a short growth cycle and high litter rate and meat yield, with adult rabbits reaching 4 kg each. His rabbits are not only large and tender but also have a special fragrance after cooking, and are already in short supply locally.
"I have already signed purchase contracts with two buyers, mainly selling to nearby townships as well as hot pot restaurants and eateries in Heze. Over a thousand meat rabbits are sold every month." Chen Chengge said. Currently the farm has 500 female rabbits. A female rabbit gives birth to 4-15 young at a time, and they are generally ready for market in three to four months. The current market price is 5 yuan/kg. This batch of rabbits alone brings about 200,000 yuan in income. After deducting costs for feed, labor and others, the income is considerable.
Plans to Establish a Foundation Breeding Farm and Cooperative to Lead Villagers to Prosperity Together
Having found his way to prosperity, Chen Chengge is generous and unstinting in sharing his farming techniques. Whether they are local or from elsewhere, as long as farmers come to ask about breeding techniques, he always teaches them a whole series of skills including seed selection, breeding, reproduction, feed mixing and disease prevention.
"I also went from being a complete layman knowing nothing to where I am now step by step. I understand the difficulties of having no skills or experience. Being able to help friends who are just starting out avoid some detours makes me very happy. I'm not afraid of others developing, because in one place, when the overall scale grows and there is influence, sales become even less of a worry." Chen Chengge said.
Speaking about future development, Chen Chengge said that currently the farming scale is continuously growing and expanding. The next step is to open up the market, get meat rabbits into the market, capture the market, and let rabbit meat reach consumers directly. He plans to establish a foundation breeding farm to provide quality breeding rabbits to villagers who intend to farm, and to establish a meat rabbit farming cooperative, striving to lead more people to prosperity under the cooperative's guidance.