XIX
UTILITY VALUE OF RABBITS
UTILITY VALUE OF RABBITS
So many extravagant claims have been made for the utility value of rabbits that it is necessary to give some attention to the subject. We have already discussed the prolific tendency of rabbits and mentioned the size of the average litter.
The small back-yard breeder, who probably will keep only a single hutch of the kind recommended elsewhere, which provides room for three does and a buck will naturally want to know just what sort of a production he can count upon from his little rabbitry.
We have already cautioned the beginner not to expect to raise every rabbit that comes in each litter and we want to say again that no rabbit should be compelled to nurse more than six to the litter. We consider that the very limit of possibilities for profitable operation.
If the breeder has three does and one buck, he will have his hutch room full from the start and will have to get rid of the young rabbits, either by eating them or selling them when they are around three months old. If he can provide other hutch room for them and mature them, he will get better results than those which we mention here.
One doe can produce four litters a year without seriously crowding her. But this is not the best practice. We will, however, take it for granted that the fancier wants to get all he can out of her. Four litters with six in each litter will give him twenty-four rabbits in one year from the same mother doe. These, marketed or sold at three months when they should average about four and one half pounds each, will give the breeder one hundred and eight pounds of rabbit meat from each doe that he keeps. His little hutch having three does in it will produce him three hundred and twenty four pounds of rabbit meat in one year and if he has four does, in the hutch, he will receive four hundred and thirty-two pounds of rabbit meat from this little hutch which only occupies ground space of four by six feet!
This is a very conservative estimate, an estimate which we have not failed to achieve ourselves. It would be even possible to do better provided one had extra hutch room and could mature the young stock.
But indulging in figures is not always the best practice. We are apt to work the stock to death in an effort to get a large return from them. It is, as a matter of fact, possible to produce as many as one hundred and thirty-six rabbits from a single pair in the course of one year, provided all of the offspring is kept and mated as soon as they reach breeding age.
If the stock is to be sold for breeding purposes at an average price of five to ten dollars a head, which is not unusual where good registered stock is used in the beginning, one can easily produce ninety-six rabbits from four does in one year which should have an average value of between five hundred and seven hundred and fifty dollars.
Do not allow the enthusiastic claims of some people to mislead you. I recently read a statement whereby it was claimed that one could make three thousand per annum from a trio of rabbits. This probably is true in a large sense, provided you waited until you had one hundred breeding does from these original breeders.