ing of the ear, head shaking, inflammation and necrosis of the ear.

RABBIT FARMING
Treatment– Cleaning of the ear properly to remove the necrotic
tissues and application of Butox (Deltamethrin) and Loraxene lo-
tion (Gamma Benzene Hexachloride).
Snuffles
Mucous or mucopurulent discharge from nose, sneezing or
rattling sound will be heard while breathing. If the animal is not
treated pneumonia may develop.
For treatment immediate consultation with veterinarian should be
done.
Slaughter for meat and fur
 Rabbits for meat are generally being slaughtered at the age of
90 days. At this age the rabbit weighs around 1.90 kg.
 The dressing % is around 65%.
 A mature rabbit, however, will weight between 2.5 and 4.0 kg
and approximately 62% of it will be dressed meat.
 After slaughtering the rabbits, the skin so obtained can be Sagarika Borah and Tanmay Samajdar
processed to use as fur/pelt for making jacket, hand gloves
etc.

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Tura

ICAR RC for NEH Region
New Zealand White Soviet chinchilla
Sangsanggre, West Garo Hills
Meghalaya -794005
Ph-03651-222535(O)
Published by The Director, ICAR RC for NEH Region, Umiam, Umroi Road,
Meghalaya, 792103

8 Year: 2015
Introduction Weaner (45-70 days) ---------50g/day
Broiler rabbit is one of the very important micro livestock Grower (71-90 days) ---------75g/day
that can be reared in the backyard to meet the increasing demand
Grower (91-120 days) -------100g/day
of meat in the NE region. As rabbit meat contains high protein and
low calorie it can be explored as an alternative to poultry meat and Adult (>121 days) ---------120g/day
our unemployed rural youths can easily take up rabbit farming as Health Care
an income generating activity.
 Good management and hygienic condition prevents occur-
Advantages of Rabbit Farming rence of diseases.
Suitability to backyard production: Being the small sized animal  Regular cleaning of shed, cages, feeding and watering trough
they require very little space.So, a small unit of rabbit can easily be along with surrounding is very much important to keep the
reared in the backyard to produce enough meat. farm and the animals free from diseases.
High production potential in short time: The rabbit is a highly pro-  It is also advisable not to allow outsiders to handle the ani-
lific animal. They can be bred at any time of the year. Their gesta- mals to prevent contamination of diseases.
tion period is only 30 days.So, 4 to 5 nos of crops can be very eas-
ily obtained in a year. An adult rabbit can produce 20-25 nos of  Some of the important diseases of rabbits are coccidiosis, ear
young ones in a year. The rabbits mature at an early age and be- canker, mucoid enteritis, snuffles and aflatoxicosis. Most of
come ready for production by 6-7 months. these diseases can be prevented through proper management.
Use of non-competitive feed: Rabbits do not compete with food Coccidiosis
grains meant for human consumption. A small unit of rabbit can It is one of the most economically important diseases of rab-
be successfully raised in the backyard with kitchen wastes, fodder
bits. It mostly occurs in recently weaned rabbits and usually ob-
leaves, edible weeds, grasses, tree leaves, vegetable wastes etc
which is non-edible for human consumption. served during May to August, when the humidity and temperature
Fast growth rate: The rabbit attains body weight of 1.5-1.8 kg are favorable for sporulation of coccidial cyst.
within 10-12 weeks depending on the breed and type of feed given. Clinical Symptoms– Anaemia, rough hair coat, weakness, re-
Good meat quality: The rabbit meat is wholesome and tasty com- tarded growth and dysentery. Diagnosis can be done by examining
pared to other meat, being high in protein and low in fat and cho- stool samples.
lesterol.
Treatment and control- Sodium sulpha-dimethyl pyrimidine
Fur Skin: Besides meat rabbit also provides fur skin as byproduct.
12.5% w/v can be given @ 1ml/kg body wt on first day followed by
Nutritional values of different meats
0.5 ml/kg body wt on 2nd, 3rd and 4th day for treatment of the dis-
Meat Protein% Fat% Calories(Kcal/Kg) ease and 60 ml/4 liter of water on 1st day followed by 30 ml/4 liter
Rabbit 20.80 10.20 795 of water on 2nd, 3rd and 4th day every month from April to Septem-
Chicken 20.00 11.00 810 ber of every year should be given.
Mutton 15.70 27.70 1420
Beef 16.30 28.00 1440 Ear Canker
Pork 11.90 45.00 2050
It occurs due to mite infestation. Symptoms include constant itch-
2 7
Weaning
 Depending on their growth and capacity to take feed, the
young ones can be separated from their mother (called as
“weaning”) between 30 to 42 days.
 It is always advisable to keep all the young ones together for
few days after weaning and then gradually separate them to
individual cages.
 Sexing and numbering of the young ones are being done at
the time of weaning.
Sexing of the animals
This process is to be learnt practically. However, theoreti-
cally it may be said that after holding the young ones properly, the
genital organs is to be exposed and when there is protrusion of the
genital organ the animal is male and if there is only a slit the ani-
mal is female.
Numbering of the young ones
The animal should be given individual number at the time of
weaning. Generally numbering is done on the inner side of the ear
with a tattooing machine. Males are generally numbered on the
right ear and the females on the left ear or vice versa.
Feeding
 Rabbits reared in the backyard with few rabbits may be man-
aged with kitchen waste and other vegetable and forages
available.
 But for semi-commercial and commercial farms where a large
number of animals are kept, balanced concentrate feed is
must
 However 40-50% feed can be reduced by giving them good
quality fodder, root crops, green legumes, rice bean, ground
nut, stylosanthes etc.
 Half of the concentrate feed mixture is to be given in the
morning and half in the evening.
 Water may be provided ad-lib throughout day and night.
Daily feed requirement by different age group
6 3
A successful rabbit farming includes:
Rearing of good varieties of rabbit
Selection of suitable breed of rabbit to particular environ-
mental condition is very much essential for successful rabbit pro-
duction. Rabbits prefer low temperature (10-25◦C). Indian Council
for Agricultural Research (ICAR), Research Complex for NEH re-
gion, Barapani, Meghalaya has recommended two breeds -Soviet
Chinchilla (light wt, upto 2.5 kg) and New Zealand White (medium
wt, upto 3.5-4kg) as meat rabbit for low and mid altitude and Ger-
man Angora as wool rabbit for high altitude areas.
Housing
Rabbit can be reared in three different housing systems:-
1. Cage System
 This system is generally followed in semi-commercial and
commercial rabbit production where rabbits are raised in
cages under a shed.
 The size of the shed depends upon the number of animals to
be reared.
 The cages are arranged in rows either in single or tier system.
 The general size of the cage is 2.5 ft X 2 ft X 2.5ft made of
welded wire net (16 to 18 gauze) with hole size of ¾ inch.
 Cages for Kindling (delivery) should be little larger(4ftX3ft)
 Under each row of cages proper drainage system should be
there to drain off dung, urine etc.
2. Hutch System
 It is self- contained cage, which can be moved from one place
to another as and when required.
 The hutches can be fabricated locally with wooden structure
or bamboo or iron frame.
 The roof may be of thatch grass, CGI sheet/polypoplin.
 The size of each compartment may be of 3.5 ft X 3 ft X 3.5 ft
 with welded wire mesh.
 In hutch there may be 2-8 compartments. This is very much
suitable for backyard rearing.
3. Floor System
 In this system rabbits are kept on the floor in deep litter sys-
tem like poultry.
 But the floor should be made of cement concrete as the rab-
bits have the habit of burrowing in earthen floor.
 The house may be partitioned to keep different types of rab-
bits like grower, fryer, adult male and female etc.
 The floor space requirement per rabbit is about 4 sq.ft.
 However, this system is not advised in this region due to high
humidity and rainfall. Also there is less control over the feed-
ing, breeding and management in this system of rearing.
Models of Rabbit Houses made with locally available materials
by the farmers of West Garo Hills
4 5
Breeding
 Rabbits attain maturity at 6-7 months of age.
 For mating the female rabbit is to be taken to the male rabbit
cage.
 Mating is done either in the morning or in the evening. It is
always better to allow two matings on the same day, one in
the morning and another in the evening for better conception
rate and higher litter size at birth.
 After successful mating the male rabbit generally falls down
either on right or left side of the female with a typical groan-
ing sound.
 The pregnancy period in rabbit is 30 days.
 A nest box or dry clean bedding materials like hay/paddy
straw are to be provided around 25th day of pregnancy to help
the female rabbit in preparing nest for the new born babies.
 A doe (female rabbit) will give birth 6-12 numbers of young
ones with an average of around 6 numbers.
 Through proper planning 4-5 litters may be obtained from
each female per year.
 Kindling interval is 2 months. That is every after 3 months
the doe can produce young ones.
 A rabbit can be reared upto 3-4 years.
 Male and Female ratio is 1:10.
Care of Newborn
 The newborn rabbits are devoid of any hair on their body and
are blind upto 9-10 days.
 They start developing hair from 4th day.
 The mother feeds her babies from time to time.
 Except periodical checking for dead ones and cleaning the
soiled bedding, the young ones do not require much care.
 From around 20 days the young ones start nibbling the feed.