Contenh 



INTRODUCTION 1 



CHOOSING A BREED 2 



SELECTING FOUNDATION 



STOCK 4 



SYSTEMS OF BREEDING 4 



THE RABBITRY AND ITS 



EQUIPMENT 8 



Buildings 8 



Hutches 8 



Feeding equipment 14 



Equipment for watering 17 



Nest boxes 18 



FEEDS AND FEEDING 21 



Feed requirements 21 



Hay 23 



Green feed and root crops 24 



Grains and milled feeds 24 



Protein supplements 24 



Miscellaneous feeds 25 



Pelleted rations 25 



Salt 25 



Water 26 



Preparing and storing feeds 26 



Methods of feeding 26 



Feeding dry does, herd bucks, 



and juniors 27 



Feeding pregnant and nvirsing 



does 27 



COPROPHAGY 28 



REPRODUCTION 28 



Germ cells and fertilization 28 



Gestation period 29 



Age to breed 29 



Breeding schedule 30 



Lactation 30 



Factors that limit conception 31 



Artificial insemination 32 



MANAGING THE HERD 33 



Methods of handling rabbits 33 



Making matings 34 



Determining pregnancy 35 



Kindling 36 



Complications at kindling time. 37 



Care of young litter 38 



Causes of losses in newborn 



litters 39 



Page 

 MANAGING THE HERD— 

 Continued 



Weaning 39 



Determining the sex of young 



rabbits 39 



Marking for identification 40 



Castration 40 



Care of herd during extreme 



temperatures 41 



F*r eventing injuries 43 



Preventing sore dewlaps 43 



Sanitation and disease control. . 43 



Fur-eating habit 48 



Preventing fur block 48 



Gnawing wooden parts of the 



hutch 49 



Disposal of rabbit manure 49 



Earthworms in the rabbitry 49 



Records and recordkeeping 49 



TYPES OF PRODUCTION 52 



Fryer production 52 



Roaster production 54 



ANGORA RABBIT WOOL 



PRODUCTION 55 



Equipment for grooming and 



shearing 56 



Grading, preparing, and mar- 

 keting wool 57 



MARKETING 58 



Slaughtering and skinning 58 



Cutting and packaging rabbit 



meat 60 



Crating and shipping live 



rabbits 60 



RABBITSKINS 63 



Curing 63 



Marketing 64 



Grades 64 



Packing and shipping 65 



ECONOMICS OF RABBIT 



PRODUCTION 66 



Records 66 



Labor 66 



Investment 67 



Returns and expenses 67 



LITERATURE CITED 69 



Washington, D.C. 



Issued July 1966 

 Slightly revised October 1971 



For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Goverrunent Printing Office 



Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price 35 cents 



Stock Number 0100-1376 



