Commercial 



RABBIT RAISING 



R. B. Casady, p. B. Sawin, and J. Van Dam » 



INTRODUCTION 



Americans eat 25 to 30 million 

 pounds of domestic rabbit meat 

 each year. The rabbits come from 

 small rabbitries with three or four 

 hutches and from large commercial 

 producers. Rabbit raising lends 

 itself to both types of production. 

 Rabbit meat is pearly white, fine- 

 grained, palatable, and nutritious. 

 It is a convenient source of high- 

 quality protein and is low in fat 

 and caloric content. 



Rabbitskins also have some com- 

 mercial value. Better grades of 

 rabbitskins may be dressed, dyed, 

 sheared, and made into fur gar- 

 ments and trimmings. Some skins 

 are used for slipper and glove lin- 

 ings, for toys, and in making felt. 

 Fine shreds of the flesh part of the 

 dried skins, which are often left 

 after separating the fur for mak- 

 ing felt, are used for making glue. 

 Because of the relatively low value 

 of skins from meat rabbits, a large 



^ Dr. Casady was formerly with the 

 Sheep and Fur Animal Research 

 Branch, Animal Science Research Di- 

 vision, Agricultural Research Service. 



Dr. Sawin is responsible for the section 

 on Systems of Breeding ; he was with the 

 Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory, 

 Hamilton Station, Bar Harbor, Maine, 

 and is now retired. 



Mr. Van Dam is responsible for the sec- 

 tion on Economics of Rabbit Production ; 

 he is farm adviser, Los Angeles County, 

 University of California Agricultural Ex- 

 tension Service. 



volume is necessary to market them 

 satisfactorily. 



An increasing demand for rab- 

 bits for laboratory and biological 

 purposes offers opportunities to 

 breeders living near medical 

 schools, hospitals, and laboratories. 

 Rabbits have made large contribu- 

 tions to researcli in venereal dis- 

 ease, cardiac surgery, hypertension, 

 and virology, and are important 

 tools in pregnancy diagnosis, in- 

 fectious disease research, the devel- 

 opment of hyperimmune sera, de- 

 velopment of toxins and antitoxins, 

 and the teaching of anatomy and 

 physiology. A recent development 

 in the rabbit industry has been 

 the increased use by scientific per- 

 sonnel of various rabbit organs and 

 tissues in specialized research. The 

 availability of these byproducts 

 has greatly facilitated many basic 

 research programs. 



The recommendations in this 

 bulletin are based largely on stud- 

 ies at the U.S. Rabbit Experiment 

 Station formerly maintained at 

 Fontana, Calif., by the Sheep and 

 Fur Animal Research Branch, 

 Animal Science Research Di- 

 vision, Agricultural Research Serv- 

 ice. At this station, improved 

 methods were developed for pro- 

 ducing rabbits for meat, fur, and 

 wool of fine quality, for insuring 



