Breeding rabbits as a business is a pretty lucrative business if you take it seriously. Diet rabbit meat is in high demand. The profitability of rabbit breeding is determined by its wastelessness. In addition to meat, you can implement the skin, and even the insides of these animals. Oddly enough, rabbit dung is unique , as it is the best fertilizer.
Before you decide to create a business for breeding rabbits, you need to solve several issues, namely: choose the
breed of rabbits and the method of growing them. There are a large number of breeds and technologies, but the decision must be made independently, based on the available financial and labor resources.
Before starting the implementation of the idea, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the features of keeping, feeding and reproducing animals. The first step is to decide on the method of raising rabbits. It must be remembered that this is a complex matter requiring long and painstaking work to obtain good results.
Growing rabbits (business from scratch)
There are several methods for raising rabbits.
- Purebred - the mating of one breed of rabbit.
- Crossbreeding is a mating of different breeds.
The Mikhailov method and breeding animals in pits are also common.
In order to get an answer to the question “how to do business with rabbits?”, You need to familiarize yourself with all the proposed technologies, choose the appropriate one and gradually bring it to life.
Purebred cultivation method
This method involves mating rabbits of a particular breed. A female is selected to the male, as close as possible to his productivity and physique.
The purpose of this selection is: fixing the desired type of rabbits in the herd, enhancing certain valuable qualities of young animals and increasing the number of highly productive animals.
Sometimes pairs of rabbits with a certain outstanding trait are selected in order to fix it in further offspring. At the same time, they look at other indicators, especially the state of health: whether it has worsened. This method is used to produce meat, fluff and skins of rabbits of a certain breed. Along with the purebred breeding method, crossbreeding is used, that is, the mating of different breeds of rabbits.
Crossbreeding
It is used to breed new and improve existing animal breeds. Any rabbit breeding farm primarily uses crossbreeding.
In comparison with “pure” breeds, animals obtained as a result of this method are distinguished by accelerated growth, lower feed consumption per kilogram of weight, high fecundity and vitality.
There are several types of crossing.
- Reproductive - breeding new breeds of rabbits.
- Introductory - a change in a specific indicator of animal productivity (single crossing).
- Absorption - a fundamental change in unproductive rock due to its absorption of highly productive.
- Industrial - receiving marketable young animals, meat, fluff, skins and other things. Commercial breeding of rabbits by crossbreeding is widespread on commodity farms.
Pit Breeding
Rabbit breeding as a business was originally practiced in pits. To date, this approach is practically not used. The method of breeding in pits is relevant when owning a land plot or premises of a small area. It was used in the absence of the necessary time for feeding, caring for rabbits, and also with limited finances, when there is not enough money to build or purchase equipment.
From the name it follows that rabbits are kept in pits. The depth of such pits is 1 m, width and length are at the discretion of the owner. Up to 200 goals can be placed in one pit.
A metal mesh is placed on the floor of the pit, a mound of sand is made. The walls of the pit should be walled up and a small area should be left at one of them, where a hole is dug 10-15 cm above the floor level.
The size of the hole should be quite large so that 3 rabbits can pass into it at the same time. Placing a hole above the floor is done so that the urine does not drain inward, as the rabbits urinate at the entrance.
To protect against precipitation, the pit must have a roof. Life without light has a bad effect on the development and growth of rabbits, so you should make a glass window in it or light a hole with a light bulb. A 40-watt bulb, for example, is suitable for a 10-square-pit. meters.
Along the walls of the pit are feeding troughs and drinking bowls from various containers, which should be wide enough and not very deep. This will avoid crowding and allow rabbits to reach feed or water effortlessly.
Rabbits as a business are a pretty lucrative business, but the method of growing in pits is far from the most profitable. The advantages of this technology: low financial costs, the ability to keep a large number of rabbits in a small area, the absence of drafts, quick payback. Disadvantages: low weight of rabbits due to frequent diseases, difficulties with tribal distribution.
Mikhailov Method
This method is aimed at the formation of natural immunity. Mikhailov’s method of raising rabbits leads to an increase in the quality of animals.
The author of this method is not a supporter of classical breeding, since it does not make it possible to achieve the real genetic potential of these mammals. In addition, the rabbit breeding business involves keeping animals in the cages, which leads to frequent stress and high mortality of young animals. Mikhailov's method avoids such undesirable moments.
The essence of the Mikhailov method
In the generally accepted version of raising rabbits, their feeding occurs no more than 3 times / day, and according to Mikhailov's method, up to 80 times / day.
As a rule, young animals are fed rabbit milk for about a month, and according to Mikhailov’s technology, this should be continued for up to 3 months. This innovative method allows you to minimize the investment required to create a rabbit farm.
The result of Mikhailov’s approach is accelerated rabbits. On average, every 3 months they bring 10 rabbits. These features of breeding provide an opportunity to significantly increase the profitability of the business, that is, to increase its effectiveness. It should be noted that the skins and meat of accelerated rabbits are much better than in animals of classical cultivation.
Cages for industrial breeding of rabbits are significantly different from those proposed by Mikhailov. The latter are represented by three tiers. On the north side, such cells are equipped with a thick insulated wall, and on the south side, on the contrary, an open wall that transmits sunlight and fresh air. This favorably affects the growth and development of rabbits.
The area of the cell is 1.4 square meters. meter. It provides automatic mode for a long time. Within the tiers, there are trellised floors, under which there are mines that resemble pyramids in shape. The work of the cage is based on the principle of the stove: gases from the room with litter go up the exhaust pipe, while fresh air from the outside enters. One such cage can accommodate up to 30 rabbits. On average, in practice, 13-15 heads are placed in cells.
Any profitable enterprise has a clear development plan. A well-thought-out business plan for breeding rabbits is the key to successful and profitable work.
Production part
Breeding rabbits according to the method of Mikhailov implies their maintenance on special mini-farms. One mini-farm requires up to 500 kg of feed and about 250 kg of hay per year.
One accelerated rabbit eats about 14 kg of feed and up to 7 kg of hay per year. The output is 1 animal (5 kg) per 10 days. The cash capital turnover period is 100 days.
There are various models of rabbit breeding farms, including two-tier ones. The number of mini-farms in an economy depends only on the owner of the business, but it should be noted that they do not require large plots. For example, a rabbit farm of 16 mini-farms will occupy only one hundred square meters of land. Such production can be serviced only once a week with a productivity of 10 rabbits weekly.
Mini-farms require certain heating at temperatures below +10 C with an energy consumption of 30 watts.
Breeding rabbits as a business is not limited to breeding livestock. To achieve maximum production efficiency, you should organize a personal workshop for processing products, a workshop for sewing clothes, as well as a site for the production of vermicompost.
Expenses and income
The costs of manufacturing a mini-farm, without additional equipment, can vary in the range of 5-20 thousand rubles. If you decide to do it yourself, it will come out cheaper, decide to use the services of professionals - it will come out, respectively, more expensive.
For production to be efficient, 300 mini-farms should be organized. The costs in this case will be about 350 thousand rubles (excluding taxes and farms themselves). Revenues will amount to about 1.5 million rubles.
Market analysis
This section of the business plan should contain a description of similar farms in your region, indicate wholesale and retail buyers and their volumes of purchases.
Production plan
The first step in organizing a farm is to find the right land. The best option would be the plot with the lowest rent. At the same time, one should not forget that the minimum area of a site for full-fledged work is 5 acres of land - it will be possible to place the cells themselves and auxiliary buildings on it.
The next step will be the purchase or construction of cells, depending on your decision - to save or yield the functionality of the finished cells. Next is the purchase of livestock.
This business plan assumes an initial herd population of 60 goals, among which 20 males and 40 females.
Sales plan
In order not to be left with surpluses, the sales plan needs to be thought out and calculated before the organization of the business. The main buyers of rabbit meat are markets, supermarkets, private owners. Skins are often bought by fur ateliers and private fashion designers. An important factor in the success of sales is the proximity of megacities.
Financial plan
Breeding rabbits as a business requires the development of a thorough financial plan. It indicates the costs incurred by production, and income from it.
Costs
Land lease - 20-80 thousand rubles.
Purchase (construction) of cells - 10-40 thousand.
Purchase of rabbits (60 goals) - 18-30 thousand.
Compound feed - 50-100 thousand.
The salary of the hired employee is 120 thousand / year.
Total costs - 218-370 thousand in the first year.
Income
Meat sales - 1.5 tons / year at 200-250 rubles / kg (300-375 thousand rubles). These figures are taken due to the fact that 40 rabbits average 20 rabbits per year, 1.8-1.9 kg each. Total - 800 rabbits weighing 1,500 kg.
Realization of skins - 160 thousand (200 rubles per skin, 800 skins).
Total income - 460-535 thousand rubles / year.
In general, the payback of such an economy will be no more than a year in time, if you take the business seriously.