Growing grass to raise New Zealand rabbits brings high income in Quynh Luu

After experimenting with pig and poultry farming models, due to lack of human resources, Mr. Nguyen Van Dung renovated the barns to...commercial rabbit farmingThis is a fairly new model in the locality, so to gain knowledge about rabbit farming, Mr. Dung researched books, magazines and traveled to rabbit farms in the province and neighboring provinces. In 2014, he bought 10 New Zealand rabbits to raise.

“I had to pay 2 years of tuition, losing nearly 100 million VND. But thanks to that, I have a firm grasp of rabbit farming techniques,” Mr. Dung shared.

Green food accounts for 60% of a rabbit's diet. On average, a rabbit only spends about 1,000 VND on food per day. Photo: Thanh Phuc

According to Mr. Dung, rabbits are animals with low investment capital, are not picky about food, and can take advantage of vegetables and weeds available in the garden. To raise rabbits effectively, in addition to selecting breeds, breeders need to pay attention to each stage of rabbit development to have a suitable care regimen. In addition to vaccinating and supplementing vitamins, he also takes advantage of the land around the barn to grow things like grass, bear bile leaves, ginseng, tea... both as food and as herbs to prevent diarrhea and supplement protein for rabbits.

“Rabbits are susceptible to skin and intestinal diseases, so the barn must be clean and dry. Rabbits are separated into cages. The cages are placed on pillars 70 cm above the ground and are equipped with an automatic watering system. To limit the number of dead baby rabbits, when they are born, they must be separated from the mother rabbit and kept separately, kept warm until the baby rabbits open their eyes. After 30 days of age, they are transferred to the commercial farming stage,” Mr. Dung shared.

Baby rabbits are separated from their mother rabbits after birth. Photo: Thanh Phuc

From the success of the model, he decided to invest in expanding the breeding farm. Currently, the family's rabbit herd has 200 mother rabbits, each year, a mother rabbit gives birth to 5-7 litters, each litter has 5-10 rabbits. After 3.5 months old, each rabbit weighs about 2.5-3 kg, enough weight to sell. With the current price of rabbits from 80,000 - 120,000 VND/kg, each year, after deducting costs, a mother rabbit can bring in a profit of 1.2-1.5 million VND for the breeder. In total, more than 200 mother rabbits being raised bring Mr. Dung a profit of 150-200 million VND/year.

Each year, 200 female rabbits bring in an income of about 200 million VND. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Before the Covid-19 pandemic became complicated, his commercial rabbits were pre-ordered by restaurants and hotels in the district, and when it was time to sell, trucks would come to the farm to buy them. However, in the past 2 years, the epidemic has broken out strongly, so the output is limited. Currently, he is waiting for the epidemic to subside and the market to recover, then he will expand the farm, increasing the scale to 400 female rabbits. At the same time, he is willing to share his experience and provide breeds to households in need to replicate the rabbit farming model, thereby linking together to find stable and sustainable output.

Currently, Quynh Thach commune is planning to replicate this model in conjunction with the goal of transforming the crop and livestock structure in the process of building advanced new rural areas. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Mr. Nguyen Ba Trinh - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Quynh Thach Commune said: "Mr. Dung's rabbit farming model is highly economically efficient compared to other livestock, and the products are sold as soon as they are released. This is a typical farm economic model of the commune, so in the coming time, the locality will introduce it to people who have the need to invest to learn and replicate it for economic development."