WHY YOU SHOULD START RAISING RABBITS IN YOUR BACKYARD
We’ve been living with them for as long as we can remember. From the days man hunted them for meat till now that we raise them in our backyard for meat.
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| Cottontail rabbit |
Rabbits are a burrowing animal, which has long ears and a tail. A male rabbit is called a buck, a female rabbit is called a doe and the children are known as kittens. They are usually reared for their meat, wool, fur and even urine/manure. Their meat is considered as white meat and more suitable for special diet people.
The rabbit meat is highly touted because cholesterol and fat levels in rabbit are much lower; almost zero (nonexistent). For this reason, rabbit meat is being used and is suitable for special diets such as those for heart disease patients, diet for the aged, low sodium diet, weight reduction diet etc.
Why should you raise rabbits in your back yard?Bad economy, the huge gap between demand and supply of rabbit meat, rate of unemployment, grotesque protein deficiency level in children and adults in the country, the opportunities and for fun.
A rabbit can produce six pounds of meat on the same amount of feed and water it takes a cow to produce just one pound. Thus, high returns are expected.
The space required to build a rabbitry is quite small thus lower cost and since they reproduce very fast, there is always room for expansion.
The initial capital requirements are minimal because once you have a good structure in place, you can start with a few mature rabbits which will reproduce fast and increase your stock. The initial budget can be less than N50 000 depending on the number of mature rabbits the breeder starts with.
Feed for the rabbits is relatively cheap since vegetables are cheap and everywhere, while pellets go for about N4 500 for 25 kg . This will last the breeder for a whole cycle. In addition, the farms around us abound in straws, grasses and twigs which could serve as hay (free food)
The cost of acquiring a mature rabbit of any breed that is ready for breeding is between N2 000 to N4 000 and hay for N4, 000. The price of a mature rabbit is largely dependent on its weight and size. One hutch which can house either pregnant mother and kits, one male or kits from one mother cost N1,500 to build and between N3 000 – N5 000 for readymade ones.
Hare-raising business is adaptable to any location in Nigeria. Rabbits can be kept in any part of the country as long as they are housed properly and protected from predators and the elements.
Because they are noiseless, rabbits can be raised in garages and servants' quarters in urban centres without infringing on the peace of the neighbors. Very little space is usually needed.
Rabbits do not require routine vaccination or medication for the prevention or treatment of specific diseases.
Rabbits are herbivores and will consume large quantities of forage (greens), which people do not eat and convert this forage into valuable meat for human consumption. Practically, rabbits can be fed anything from the garden, forest or kitchen including banana and papaya (paw paw) peels, pineapple cores, corn stalks, weeds, vines from pulses, leaves (cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, carrots etc. This indicates that unlike chickens, rabbits compete minimally with humans for grains.
Related: Rabbit meat profile
With the meat situation, what it is and the economy in turmoil now is a good time to consider the rabbit business. The profits can come in many ways; Meat is by far the most important. Other products that can be sold for money include fur/pelt, urine, manure and blood.
Every product of the rabbit is valuable; fur, pelt, foot, meat, urine, manure, and bones can all be converted into money if you can find a market for them.
A profitable meat rabbit business can be started with just 3 to 4 does and 1 buck, some basic equipment, and a buyer.
There is great potential in this undertaking because of the increased lifestyle change of most families towards healthy living. This is evidenced by the preference to white meat rather than red meat and increase in the demand for rabbit meat since it is the most nutritious of the white meat. This is a trend that shows future growth of the industry and thus increased future cash flows of early entrants to the industry. The opportunity is immense based on the change in trends in the market coupled with the gap in the supply of the product.
Jobless youths can start this project with as little as N6 000. There is no need of youths idling with the excuse that they cannot acquire a loan to start big businesses, when they can start with a project like rabbit keeping.
We fail to advice our boys to start with such small projects and so when they grow up and lack jobs, they start engaging in criminal activities, becoming a menace to the community. Such projects may keep young men occupied and at the end help them achieve their dreams in life leading to a reduction in crime rate.
I urge men who are reading this to help boost consumption of rabbit meat in their homes. Men should make a point of buying at least a kilo of rabbit meat for their family once in a while as the meat is classified as white meat, which is healthy and prevents various lifestyle diseases.
Go organic! Know what you eat! Raise what you eat!
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