Is rabbit breeding business profitable or not, pros and cons and how to organize

You rarely see rabbit meat in supermarkets and markets. Many country house owners and rural residents keep rabbits, but in small quantities, for their own consumption. The profitability of production for sale raises doubts among many. Let's consider the features of rabbit breeding as a business, whether this business is profitable or not, whether the costs are worth it, and what difficulties you will have to face.

Is it profitable to breed rabbits?

The obvious advantage of a rabbit farm as a business is that there is little competition in the market. Pork and poultry are sold everywhere, but you will have to run for rabbit meat. Nutritionists constantly talk about the benefits of rabbit meat; the fur, although not durable, is soft and delicate. It is not difficult to find buyers for all types of rabbit products. Let's look at other advantages of running a rabbit business, as well as possible difficulties.

pros

Experts highlight the following advantages of rabbit breeding:

• rapid growth and achievement of maturity - short life cycle, after 2-3 months the rabbits can be slaughtered and receive the first profit;
• farm registration is simple - a small set of documents;
• insignificant starting capital;
• All products from rabbits are sold - meat, skin, fur;
• low maintenance and feed costs, unpretentiousness of rabbits in food;
• fertility (6-8 litters per year), minimal costs for young animals.

Rabbits are easy to keep, they do not displease neighbors - they do not make noise, do not trample crops and beds.

Disadvantages and possible difficulties

Possible difficulties and dangers of rabbit breeding:

• the need for regular vaccinations - young and old rabbits can die from infections (myxomatosis, others);
• When selling meat to markets and catering establishments, sanitary certificates will be required.

The greatest risks are associated with the death of the rabbit population and the lack of reliable marketing schemes.

Rabbit breeding in Russia and abroad

Dietary rabbit meat is valued all over the world; production is most developed in China, Italy, and France. The main difference in breeding is the refusal of hay and the predominant use of granulated feed.Rabbit farms provide good profits due to the demand not only for meat, but also for leather (used for haberdashery), fur, and down.

The Soviet rabbit breeding system was lost at the end of the 20th century due to an epidemic of viral hemorrhagic disease (70-80% of the population died). Since then, rabbits have been bred in small-scale and homestead ways. In recent years, interest in animal breeding has been growing.

Preparation and organization of cultivation

Before you start breeding rabbits, you need to familiarize yourself with the growing technology, the peculiarities of keeping and feeding, and purchase the necessary equipment for care. Based on the number of livestock and the appearance of offspring, ensure the purchase or procurement of feed. An important step is choosing a breed.

Breed selection

As a result of selection, many breeds of rabbits have been developed, which are given certain characteristics. When starting breeding, it is important to determine the sales market and the possibility of selling different types of rabbit products. Breeds are divided:

1. Meat. Average quality skin, quick weight gain, tasty meat. The best breeds are white and gray giant, Flanders, New Zealand, and German rams.
2. Fur and down. High quality skins, meat of average nutritional value. Popular - Angora, Rex, white downy, black-fire. Such animals need to be kept in large cages, making sure that the skins do not deteriorate due to friction and injury.
3. Meat-skin. The harmonious combination of high-quality skins and tasty meat makes these breeds the most popular. The best representatives are silver, Vienna blue, butterfly, Soviet marder, and Soviet chinchilla.

In recent years, ornamental breeds kept as pets, which are profitable to raise for sale, have become widespread. The most purchased species are the Dutch fold, dwarf ram, and lion's head.

Cells

Most farms practice cage keeping of rabbitsusing 3 types of cells:

• for young animals - several rabbits are kept;
• for breeding males;
• for females - taking into account pregnancy and rabbits.

Rules for selecting or constructing cells:

• size - in accordance with the breed (for larger giants), on average 4 times the size of a rabbit;
• the animal must fit on its hind legs;
• the floor mesh will ensure the removal of feces;
• use stationary or mobile structures, outdoor or indoor.

Popular cultivation technologies are according to Mikhailov, according to Zolotukhin, in shads. These technologies involve special cage systems that facilitate rearing and mechanize the processes of caring for animals and cleaning houses.

Feeding

Although rabbits are among the least picky pets when it comes to food, only a nutritious diet will ensure rapid growth, health and reproduction. It includes:

• succulent food - grasses in summer, root vegetables, vegetables, fruits throughout the year;
• feed;
• coarse - hay, straw, twigs and tree bark;
• animal supplements – fish and bone meal;
• vitamins, premixes.

If rabbits are fed with one compound feed, 100-120 grams per individual are required per day. With mixed feeding (with herbs and succulent feed) the volume of feed is reduced to 40-50 grams.

Home equipment

Properly selected equipment will last a long time and will not injure rabbits or harm their teeth. The cage should have:

• heavy or fixed drinking bowl;
• feeder;
• tray for excrement and waste from feed;
• secluded corner;
• sennik.

It is possible to raise healthy rabbits only if cleanliness is maintained, so the cage will have to be cleaned, freed from manure, and equipment washed. When choosing a cage design and equipment, you should give preference to those that are easy to disassemble and disinfect.

Calculation of profitability and income

When starting a rabbit breeding business, you can count on a decent income if you carefully consider the technology, eliminate significant mortality, and save on feed. The females are fertile, bearing the young lasts about a month, and soon after giving birth the female rabbits are ready to mate. A female gives 6-8 litters per year, that is, on average, up to 60 rabbits.

On a farm with a hundred females, up to 5-6 thousand rabbits are produced annually, which, when slaughtered, produce, on average, 2 kilograms of clean meat. When keeping giants, the weight of the carcass rises to 4-5 kilograms. If you raise rabbits of average weight, from 100 females you can get up to 12 tons of meat products and earn up to 2.5 million rubles (at average prices).

To ensure that the profitability calculation figures do not remain on paper and that the farm generates income, it is important to find sales for all types of products:

• donate skins;
• sell manure to summer residents;
• find regular buyers for meat;
• sell young animals;
• rent out breeding males to small farms.

Income is increased by the sale of rabbits for pets and offal from the slaughterhouse for fertilizer.

Drawing up a business plan with calculations for breeding rabbits at home

A great help for beginning rabbit breeders is having their own land on which they are allowed to build a farm. Next, they determine the type of registration of the enterprise. Several forms are possible:

• individual entrepreneurship (IP) - beneficial for small farms, low taxes, minimum reporting, but if unsuccessful, the owner risks personal property;
• Peasant farming (peasant farming) is the most convenient option for rabbit farms, 6% tax, the opportunity to receive government support.

When grown on a personal subsidiary plot (LPH), difficulties will arise with the sale of products due to the lack of state registration.

The expenses for starting a farm consist of the following components:

1. Tax payments for land and farm, insurance premiums, permitting documents.
2. Construction of a farm, purchase of cages, equipment. If you keep rabbits outside, the costs of building and operating the premises are reduced. Arrangement of the farm territory - cesspool, slaughterhouse, feed shop, meat storage.
3. Payment for veterinary services.
4. Purchase or production of feed. If you have your own feed supply on the farm, costs are reduced.
5. Purchasing rabbits.

You will have to spend money on advertising and posting information about the farm’s products. When drawing up a business plan, they provide for places of sale - public catering, regular customers, retail outlets or chains.

The costs of building a farm and arranging housing for livestock are individual and depend on your own resources and methods of maintenance. With a farm population of 20 females, you can expect the following results for the year:

• offspring yield – 1200 heads;
• average cost per carcass (cost price) – 230 rubles;
• carcass price – 900 rubles;
• income per carcass – 670 rubles;
• annual turnover – 1,080,000 rubles;
• profit for the year - 804,000 rubles.

Income depends on many factors - the use of hired workers and the level of salaries, the ability to fully sell all rabbit products.Infectious diseases of young animals and females reduce the profitability of the farm, so you should not save on vaccinations and veterinarian services.

Help: Rabbit farms, if properly organized, pay for themselves and make a profit within a year.

How to avoid mistakes

Experienced rabbit breeders give the following recommendations to beginners:

• the most profitable breeds of rabbits are meat-skin rabbits;
• before starting a business, determine sales markets for all types of products, transportation methods, take into account the costs of sales and advertising in the business plan;
• to reduce costs, provide for independent procurement of feed on the farm;
• convenient ready-made cages for mini-farms will reduce labor costs when caring for rabbits;
• The greatest risks are associated with infections - buy rabbits only from breeding farms, vaccinate the farm's livestock within the recommended time frame.

Success is more likely if the organizer of a rabbit farm has at least one skill - the ability to run a business or breed rabbits.

The demand for natural meat from farms is steadily growing. Nutritionists confirm the benefits of rabbit meat, so more and more people are looking for delicious fresh meat in stores. By building a business plan, you can quickly achieve profitability and receive a decent profit from your rabbit farm.