Rabbit Farming Guiding in Nigeria – Feeding, Housing and Rearing

Looking for a rabbit farming guide in Nigeria plus a business plan to go with alongside. Read this article as an agricultural enthusiast or an academic to know more.

Compared to a cow farm, a rabbit farm requires less acreage and may be started with a modest investment to produce a respectable income, even when operated part-time.  Rabbits may be raised for their meat as well as for their hide and fur, which can be used to manufacture clothing and other products.

Anyone who wants to produce livestock for a living should consider starting a rabbit production business.  A farmer without land will benefit from this trade because it requires less room.  Young adults who are unsure about their educational goals might gain from an agricultural lifestyle.  A stay-at-home mother may amuse her kids while still taking care of the bunnies.

The rabbits can be raised in two different methods.

a. To keep the rabbits safe from predators and the outdoors, both methods require a shed or shelter.

b.  Raising a few rabbits involves using a deep litter system.

Another livestock activity with enormous potential is the raising of rabbits since it is comparatively simple, gratifying, and space-efficient. In mountainous locations with few economic alternatives, rabbit farming may be a highly useful extra source of income. The cycle of food production is another crucial factor to take into account since it demonstrates that a rabbit need not compete with a man for food. To establish a farm, not many rabbits are required.  They are good breeders, and with a litter averaging 8 to 12 rabbits, the farm will expand gradually.  Greens from the yard and leftover grains and vegetables from around the home can simply be given to rabbits.  Rabbit meat is higher in protein and lower in fat than most other meats.  Because it is simple to digest, it can be given to young children and elderly people.

Main Advantages of Rabbit farming:

• Rabbits are very prolific animals, and a healthy female can give birth to 25 to 30 kits (young rabbits) per year.
• Small groups of rabbits (up to 50) can be raised in the farmer’s backyard or kitchen garden using kitchen trash as food. In order to meet the unit’s work needs, family labor is sufficient. The cost of the first investment is cheap.
• Within six months of the farm’s creation, quick returns.
• White meat, including rabbit, is high in poly-unsaturated fatty acids.
• In terms of wool production per kilogram of body weight, rabbits are the best. Compared to sheep, they need 30% less digestible calories to produce a kilogram of wool.
• The payback is simple because income is generated at quarterly intervals.In addition to producing wool, rabbits also earn money through selling kits, meat, pelts, and dung.
• Together with rabbit dung, residual feed is a great candidate for vermicomposting, which produces excellent manure for enhancing the fertility of agricultural areas.
• Six to eight times warmer than modern sheep wool is rabbit wool. It may be blended with other fibers to create high-quality handlooms and hand knitted clothing, as well as with silk, polyester, rayon, nylon, sheep wool, and other fibers.
• Rabbits may be raised on roughage with very little expensive concentrate feed since they consume a lot of forage from a variety of sources.