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    Rabbits for Food, Fur and Profit
    Rabbits for Food, Fur and Profit
    Rabbits for Food, Fur and Profit
    Ebook109 pages3 hours

    Rabbits for Food, Fur and Profit

    By C. H. Williams

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    About this ebook

    “Rabbits for Food, Fur and Profit” is a classic guide to rabbit farming, dealing with everything from selection and breeding to preparing for market and beyond. Written in clear, plain language and full of helpful diagrams, this timeless handbook will be of considerable utility to those with an interest in keeping rabbits for profit or pleasure. Contents include: “Feeding”, “Safe Wild Plants”, “Dangerous Wild Plants”, “Breeds and their Purposes”, “Accommodation”, “Selection of Breeding Stock and How to Mate”, “Care of the Mated Doe”, “Care of the Nursing Doe and Her Litter to Weaning Time”, “Care of Young Stock”, “Preparation for Market”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new introduction on rabbit farming.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Country Books
    Release dateFeb 7, 2018
    ISBN9781528784931
    Rabbits for Food, Fur and Profit

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      Book preview

      Rabbits for Food, Fur and Profit - C. H. Williams

      PREFACE

      RABBITS breed more frequently and rapidly and come to maturity sooner than any other meat-yielding livestock; they have comparatively large numbers of young at a birth; they occupy very little space and can be housed with the utmost simplicity, and their management is largely a matter of common sense. Finally, they can, if necessary, be fed entirely on waste. Therefore in rabbits we have a ready means of producing large quantities of wholesome and nourishing meat at short notice with a minimum of trouble and expense.

      Rabbit flesh possesses remarkably good nutritive properties, its protein content surpassing that of beef, mutton, pork, duck and goose, and being only slightly lower than that of chicken and turkey. When rabbits are killed, as they should be, when half grown or at maturity their flesh is tender and has a delicate flavour and the ways in which it can be cooked are many and varied.

      Rabbits are not only to be considered from the food angle. Their fur, which makes warm clothing, is in some cases of considerable value and is used extensively in the fur trade. High prices are at present obtainable for good skins and skins of all classes are in demand both for furriers’ work and for export. For first grade skins of the Sable, the Havana and the Siberian, three popular breeds, as much as 12/6, 10/- and 8/- each respectively was being offered recently; but it is not likely that post war prices will approach anything like this level. Good skins, however, of these and many other breeds, will always command a price which, together with the sale of the flesh (or its consumption at home as a money-saving measure) will assure the producer a reasonable margin of profit on every rabbit killed.

      In the following pages, in outlining the chief points to be observed in the maintenance of a stud of rabbits kept for the production of food and fur I have endeavoured to concentrate chiefly on the matters in which novices are most likely to encounter snags. For this reason the experienced reader may find certain explanations somewhat lengthy while other matters may appear to have been dismissed more or less briefly.

      The British Rabbit Council, an organization which exists in the interests of all British rabbit breeders, offers many privileges to its members. The Council has several District Advisers in every county, one of whose functions is to advise and help, free of charge, any novice who cares to apply to them. Full particulars of membership to the British Rabbit Council, advantages to members, names of nearest District Advisers, etc., can be obtained from the Secretary, Dr. J. N. Pickard, 36 Storey’s Way, Cambridge.

      C. H. WILLIAMS.

      CHAPTER I

      FEEDING

      OF all the matters that come up for consideration when rabbit breeding is being contemplated that of feeding must come first, for it is obvious that no livestock of any description whatever can be kept unless the provision of adequate and suitable food at all times of year is assured.

      It is not very wonderful that rabbits thrive when greenstuff is made their staple food, for this is the natural food of the rabbit. When the feeding value of plants and herbage is at its best, that is from early spring to about the end of July, it supplies rabbits with the right proportions of all the basic elements (proteins, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins) essential to maintain life and to promote reproduction, lactation in does, and growth in young stock. It also provides the roughage (hard indigestible material) and bulk necessary to keep the digestive tract, which is very long in comparison to the rabbit’s small size, in a state of healthy activity and to ensure thorough elimination of waste.

      When, towards the end of summer, the feeding value of green foods begins to decline the deficiency must be made good, and this is a point which is very often missed. Some people wonder, after breeding good litters from green-fed does all through the spring and on into the summer, why litters born from does kept on the same diet and mated during August fail to come up to expectations. The explanation is simply that certain factors essential to satisfactory lactation in the does and rapid even growth before and after birth in the youngsters are wanting. But these blackberry litters, as autumn-born litters are sometimes called in the country, will do just as well as those born earlier on if the diet is reinforced by a little good hay or concentrated food.

      Reinforcement of the diet must be continued through the autumn, winter and very early spring, and it applies to all classes of stock, brood does, stud bucks and growing youngsters alike: but if it is possible to make green food the basis of the diet all the year round the requisite amount of supplementary food will be small and, as even an average-sized garden or an allotment, well-cropped with the usual winter vegetables, will yield sufficient in the way of waste alone to provide the necessary green food for quite a number of rabbits, cases in which it is impossible to make greens the staple feed in winter time will be the exception rather than the rule.

      There is always a possibility, however, that severe frost, especially in the early part of the year, may put green feeding out of the question, perhaps for weeks on end. Rabbits must never on any account be given frosted greens, which cause serious and often fatal internal trouble, and anything touched by frost must be thoroughly thawed before use. But thawing, which can be done by leaving greens in bags or baskets in a warm room for an hour or two, may not always be practicable, especially if large numbers of rabbits are being raised, so it is wise to arrange for an alternative feed for use if necessary.

      This can be done by laying in a supply of roots, for, although frosted roots are just as bad for rabbits as frosted greens, roots can be lifted in the autumn and stored out of harm’s way. Greens are always to be preferred to roots when there is a choice, but when, as in recent winters, we get conditions under which even the hardiest of kales fail to stand up the roots make an excellent substitute and, in any case, in mild winters roots are always useful for introducing variety by feeding them in conjunction with greens. Not least among the advantages of roots as a winter food is their high carbohydrate content, which makes them a good heat and energy producing medium.

      Although it is often said that rabbits do not take kindly to roots other than swedes, carrots and mangolds experience during recent winters has put it beyond all doubt that the majority of rabbits will eat roots of practically any kind eagerly. Those who use roots early in the season must understand that mangolds are not, when first lifted, entirely ripe.¹ But swedes and other roots (which includes carrots, turnips, parsnips, beetroots and Jerusalem artichokes) may be fed at any time.

      Small scale rabbit breeders in many cases will be able to meet requirements very largely by the use of mis-shapen or damaged roots from garden or allotment or, when sowing for household use, an extra row or so may be put in for the rabbits. Those breeding on a larger scale may find it more economical of time and space to buy in supplies than to grow their own, as roots need more room and more cultivation than greens. Carrots are a particularly good root crop to grow on account of the foliage which appeals to rabbits more than the tops of other roots, although these can all be used with the exception of mangold tops.

      Some of the waste products of the garden which are valuable from the rabbit breeder’s point of view are the outside leaves and stumps of cabbages, cauliflowers and allied plants, pea haulm, French and broad bean haulm, stems and leaves of Jerusalem artichokes, carrot foliage, tops and outer stems of celery, strawberry runners, and prunings of fruit trees. There is very little, in fact, in this line which cannot be fed to rabbits safely, but exceptions which must be avoided on account of poisonous properties include potato haulm, rhubarb leaves

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