Bamboo rat farming is expected to be a path to prosperity, with broad development prospects
According to Mo Yuanhua, the following points need attention when farming bamboo rats:
1. The floor of the rat shed should be firm and smooth, which can prevent the bamboo rats from climbing out.
2. Bamboo rat farming should be managed separately for the growing period and the breeding period. During the growing period, the feed mixing ratio should be reasonable; during the breeding period, the temperature of the rat shed should be moderate, feeding should be ensured, and mother rats should be prevented from eating their young;
3. Bamboo rats are relatively sensitive to their living environment. Sudden changes between cold and heat will make them uncomfortable, and strong light and loud noise will also affect their growth. Therefore, the rat shed is best located on a shady hillside or behind a house.
4. Attention should be paid to preventing "illness entering through the mouth." Bamboo rats normally like to eat bamboo, sugarcane, sweet potato, pumpkin, watermelon and other foods, and these foods are prone to rot and spoil after being left for a long time. Before feeding the bamboo rats, it is best to first pick out the spoiled food.
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Points to note in bamboo rat farming
Editor's note: To further promote the adjustment of our city's rural economic structure and help farmers increase income, this year the "Golden Land" page is specially launching the "Scientific Planting and Breeding" column, introducing our city's skilled people in distinctive planting and breeding, as well as their methods of developing planting and breeding and their sales methods, for farmers to refer to and learn from. We welcome all correspondents to submit articles enthusiastically or provide interview leads.
Bamboo rat fur has wide uses, the meat is plentiful and tastes fresh, and the whole animal is a treasure
Small face pale gray, eyes dark and glossy, body covered in soft fur... Recently, when the author saw these "little guys" at the home of Mo Yuanhua, a bamboo rat farmer in Dazhong Village, Liubao Town, Cangwu County, they were curled up on their respective "beds" resting with their eyes closed. "A bamboo rat is a treasure from head to tail." Mo Yuanhua said that the bamboo rat, commonly known as the bamboo weasel and named for feeding on bamboo, has thick fur that can be used in the production of coats, leather shoes, gloves, handbags and other items, and it is large in size with plenty of meat and a delicious taste, so its market prospects are very broad.
Bamboo rats have good market prospects
Mo Yuanhua, now over 60 years old, once tried raising chickens and ducks, but after all, many people raise chickens and ducks, and market competition is fierce, so Mo Yuanhua eventually gave up. At an accidental opportunity at the end of 2008, Mo Yuanhua came into contact with bamboo rats and became fascinated by this small animal. When he learned that at that time there was great market demand for bamboo rats while few people were farming them, the quick-witted man came up with the idea of farming bamboo rats.
After repeated investigation and study, Mo Yuanhua found that the local geographical environment and climatic conditions of Liubao Town were also very suitable for the growth and reproduction of bamboo rats, so he made up his mind to develop bamboo rat farming. In early 2009, he went to a bamboo rat farm in Pingle County, Guilin City, to visit and learn, and introduced several pairs of breeding rats to begin bamboo rat farming.
At the beginning, because he did not understand the living habits of bamboo rats, although Mo Yuanhua fed them carefully every day, the bamboo rats grew very slowly, and the success rate of mating was very low. To solve these problems, Mo Yuanhua often called friends who farmed bamboo rats for advice. With his friends' guidance and his own diligent study, Mo Yuanhua has basically mastered the living habits of bamboo rats and summarized a set of bamboo rat farming methods.
Mo Yuanhua calculated the accounts for the author: by converting one room into a rat shed, 6 to 10 pairs of bamboo rats can be raised. Each pair of breeding rats can produce 4 to 5 litters of young rats a year, with 3 to 6 per litter. After 2 to 3 months, the young rats weigh 1.5 kg and can be sold on the market. Calculated at the 2010 market price of about 100 yuan per kg, this brings tens of thousands of yuan in income a year.
Using the internet to expand sales channels
Mo Yuanhua now runs his bamboo rat farming impressively, and the scale has grown, but to achieve higher returns, in addition to selling to local farmhouse restaurants, he also had to expand sales to other places, so Mo Yuanhua began using the internet to sell bamboo rats. After he posted the sales information online, before long customers from counties and cities around Wuzhou called to inquire.
Speaking of the current bamboo rat market, Mo Yuanhua said with a smile: "Now people call every day to inquire about buying, and basically demand exceeds supply. The small bamboo rats are booked before they are even weaned." With sales channels opened up, Mo Yuanhua is even more motivated and keeps expanding the farming scale. At the end of last year, he also built a new bamboo rat shed of more than 70 sq m, which can hold 2,000 bamboo rats.
Because it occupies little space, requires simple equipment, involves low investment and has a short cycle, and because bamboo rats drink little water, have dry feces and little urine, and do not have a gamy or muttony smell when raised, this farming project is favored by more and more people. Now many farmers in Liubao Town have also begun trying to farm bamboo rats, villagers from Dazhong Village have come to ask Mo Yuanhua for farming methods, and Mo Yuanhua is also happy to sell breeding stock at low prices or on credit to help surrounding farmers get rich by farming bamboo rats.