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1 Rabbit Care & Management

It is about rabbit farming & its significance. I have prepared this ppt. in 3rd year of my B V Sc & A H course @ BVC parel , Mumbai.

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sarang
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100% found this document useful (7 votes)
7K views40 pages

1 Rabbit Care & Management

It is about rabbit farming & its significance. I have prepared this ppt. in 3rd year of my B V Sc & A H course @ BVC parel , Mumbai.

Uploaded by

sarang
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • Rabbit Care & Management: The cover page for rabbit care and management manual with an introductory image of a rabbit.
  • Classification: Defines the scientific classification of rabbits, including kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.
  • Significance: Discusses the various uses of rabbits ranging from laboratory animals to pets and as sources of wool and meat.
  • Nutrition & Feeding: Provides information on feeding principles, types of feed, additives, and feeding tips for rabbits.
  • Coprophagy OR Coecotrophy: Explains the normal physiological process of coprophagy in rabbits observed by Charles Morot.
  • Reproduction & Breeding: Covers reproductive traits in rabbits, including breeding behavior, gestation details, and factors affecting litter size.
  • Equipments: Lists essential rabbit care equipment such as feeding hoppers, nest boxes, and hygiene trays.
  • Housing & Equipments: Describes the construction and purpose of different rabbit housing options, including hutch features.
  • Routine Examination: Guidelines for performing routine health examinations for diseases and abnormalities in rabbits.
  • References: Provides a list of references used in compiling the rabbit care and management manual.

Classification Scientific classification

Kingdom Animalia
:
Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Lagomorpha

Family: Leporidae

Genus: Oryctolagus
Lilljeborg,
1873
Species: O. cuniculus
Binomial name
Domestic rabbit. Oryctolagus cuniculus
(Linnaeus, 1758
[Taken from wikipedia.com]
Significance

 A lab animal.
 Commercially bred for wool , meat purpose.
 Reared as pet animal as well.
 Not so much popular in India.
 A good source for an alternative table meat.
Rabbit as the lab animal.

Rabbit as the farm animal for


meat , wool purpose.
The slaughtered rabbits ready for table use ; an alternative meat source.
Rabbits -- pet animal.
Nutrition & feeding

Roughage – Hay
Succulent foodstuffs – roots
Conc. – cereals
Rabbit feeding pellets or compounded feeds

The same principles of feeding s/b followed


for feeding rabbit as other small non-ruminants.
Compounded Feeds are

Designed
Burgess rabbit pellets for use with
Spillers Supa Natural Mix supplements
such as hay
Russel Rabbit Mix— Complete food
Bales

MEASURES OF FOOD ENERGY

TDN
DE
ME
Additives
Growth promoters
Coccidiostats [ incorporated with rabbit pellets]

Feeding Tips
Changing ration
Force feeding
Regularity
Individuality
Cleaning
Some common feedstuffs

 Carrots
 Turnips
 Oat straw
 Cabbage
 Maize silage
 Decorticated GNC
 Fish meal
Coprophagy OR Coecotrophy
Perfectly normal physiological process in rabbits.

Discovered by a French veterinarian


viz. Charles Morot.
Reproduction & breeding

Induced ovulator
Gestation period –31 days
BUT,
Parturation takes place on any day between
28th to 34th after successful mating.
Female attains full sexual maturity @ 6 months.
Puberty occurs a month or 2 or even more before
rabbit attains full sexual maturity.
 Litter size is 3 to 8 or 5 to 8.
The heritability of litter size– between .2 to.3
Litter size proportional to size of the breed.
It is governed by,
1. An inherited nature
2. The environment
3. Nutrition
4. Age of doe.
5. No. of previous litters
Fertility is directly proportional to fecundity.
Fertility– Ability to produce young ones.
Fecundity– Measure of no. of young produced.

A.I. have been successfully carried out.


The importer holding the new born.
Reproductive behavior

Few days before pregnancy, doe prepares


nest from bedding
Lines the bed with the fur of its belly
Thus a breeder should take into
account of this behavior.
For 1st 3 weeks rabbits s/b exclusively
fed on the doe’s milk.
Open type of the litter box. This is essential for the housing of rabbit.
Equipments

Pots& troughs
Automatic food hoppers
Racks
Nest boxes---These are essential in Rabbitary.
Travelling box
Hygiene trays
Cage type
Hutch with
individual
watering
& feeding.
The cube condo.
[ for pet rabbit ]

The exercise pen


Breeds of
the Rabbits
identified
so far.

[ARBA]
Breeds of rabbits with their intentional codes.
Housing & Equipments
 It is k/a Hutch.
 Why to provide house??
 Main purpose is to reduce labor minimum.
 Coat fades due to direct sunlight.
 Winter breeding becomes easier.
 Less loss of young rabbits in winter.
 The noticeable thing is that,
stock usually have slight denser coats when
kept outside.
Some features of Hutch
Floor
Made by bricks only to absorb urine.
Slightly sloped.

Roof
 General principles are followed for roofing.
In areas where myxomatosis & VHD is common;
mosquito proof material is used.
House s/b escape proof.
So constructed that ani. can neither itself nor the
hutch.
So constructed that good visibility of animal at
all the times.

The general housing principles are same as that of the other small animals.
The traditional hutch used @ farm level.
Another example of the hutch note the height from ground.
Different
varieties
of cages.
Hutch for the pet rabbit.
Rack type
hutch.
>Saves space
>Completes all
other criteria.
Moront hutch.
This can be even used for the poultry in some countries.
Well managed hutch with individual feeding & watering.
The hutch in the winter ; see the height of floor from the ground.
The typical hutch in cold countries.
The typical Hutch
with slanting roof.
Ready to transport Hutch being constructed @ factory.
Routine Examination
Any sign of illness s/b quickly noticed
It helps in deciding which ani. s/b selected
for mating
Points to be considered---
 Wt.
 It’s relation to size
ABNORMALITIES

Epilepsy
Furlessness
References

Rabbits Health, Husbandry& Diseases


--Richardson VCG
Care & Management of farm animals
--Scott WN
FOR ALL IMAGES
 Wikipedia.com
 Google.com
 Yahoo .com
 NewYorkTimes.com
The German Scientists have developed this largest breed recently.
[ NewYorkTimes.com]
Sarang S. Desai
V/05/0170

A small
pet rabbit.

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