Raising animals that don't need water, even in peak sunshine, an old farmer in Nghe An still makes a profit

Mr. Nguyen Van Ly in block 6, Do Luong town said that after the State reclaimed 4 sao of agricultural land from his family, he thought about finding a new production direction to maintain his income.

After many times of consulting and experimenting with raising some animals such as chickens, ducks, and goats but with no high efficiency, he decided to invest in raising bamboo rats, because this animal is quite easy to raise and does not need to drink water.

Mr. Nguyen Van Ly (left) uses his yard to set up a cage to raise bamboo rats. Photo: HT

Mr. Ly further explained that in recent years, the weather in Nghe An has been increasingly hot. Particularly from the beginning of 2023 until now, the "Lao wind" land has experienced many heat waves, even severe heat of over 40 degrees Celsius. Do Luong district is one of the localities with high temperatures compared to many other localities in the province. And Mr. Ly's livestock farming practice for nearly a year now shows that this choice is quite suitable.

The bamboo rat cage is built with ceramic tiles. Photo: HT

At his son's house, taking advantage of the large yard, Mr. Ly bought tiles to build a cage for raising bamboo rats, enough to serve the scale of raising 200 - 300 breeding pairs. Each cage is made of 8 - 10 tiles with 50cm sides. The total investment cost is about 350 million VND.

In each cage, he releases a pair of parent rats and after about 3 - 4 months the rats will reproduce. When the young are big enough, he separates the parents and puts them in separate cages for breeding and meat.

Food for bamboo rats is mainly made from bamboo stems and roots. Depending on the age of the rat, the breeder can cut the food into small pieces. Photo: HT

"I have researched with some bamboo rat breeders in Nghe An for reference, to find a source of quality breeding stock and found that if using breeding stock of natural origin, it will be very difficult to raise them, because they cannot adapt to the captive environment, are susceptible to disease and grow slowly. Therefore, I went to the northern provinces to learn and decided to order breeding stock in Hung Yen province. Initially, I bought 23 pairs of parent bamboo rats for 2.3 million VND/pair" - Mr. Nguyen Van Ly said.

After 3 months of raising, the young rats at Mr. Ly's breeding facility have begun to reproduce. He said that the main food of the bamboo rats is bamboo roots and stems. Depending on the size of the bamboo rats, the food should be prepared appropriately so that the rats will grow faster. In particular, bamboo rats do not need to drink water and their excrement is easy to clean because it is dry.

After half a year of investment, Mr. Nguyen Van Ly has recovered his capital for buying breeding rats and started making a profit thanks to the good reproduction of the bamboo rats. Photo: HT

When the young rats are ready to eat, give them young bamboo stems that are cut and shredded so they can gnaw on them easily. As for the adults, just leave the bamboo stems and roots raw and dry so they can gnaw on them themselves.

"This is an animal that needs to eat regularly, both to grow and to wear down its teeth, preventing them from growing too fast and stabbing into their mouths, preventing them from eating and drinking. Farmers must constantly observe and promptly cut off teeth that grow too long," said Mr. Nguyen Van Ly.

Bamboo rats do not need to drink water, so their cages are always dry and clean. Photo: HT

In cages with young animals, in winter, breeders will install high-voltage bulbs to help warm them up. In hot weather, the temperature needs to be lowered and ventilation needs to be created, because bamboo rats are cool-loving animals, so in addition to misting to create coolness, Mr. Nguyen Van Ly also installed a fan system to keep the bamboo rats cool.

After more than half a year of care, with about 50 million VND to buy bamboo rats for breeding, his bamboo rat herd has doubled, reaching more than 100. From the breeding herd, he left about 10 pairs of breeding rats, separating about half of the herd to raise bamboo rats for meat. He sold the remaining parent pairs to establishments that want to develop a model of raising this animal that does not need to drink water. Currently, many households have contacted to order bamboo rat breeding rats from Mr. Ly's establishment.

Each adult bamboo rat can weigh over 3 kg, the price of bamboo rat meat ranges from 500,000 - 600,000 VND/kg. Photo: HT

For meat bamboo rats, he currently sells them for 550,000 - 600,000 VND/kg. On average, each bamboo rat weighs 1.5 - 3 kg when sold, depending on the time. Each breeding pair of bamboo rats reproduces about 3 litters a year, each litter has an average of 2 - 4 bamboo rats. With the method of multiplying the breeding herd, farmers can sell products all year round, bringing high profits, even in hot seasons.