World production and trade
Best known for being prolific, rabbits are also herbivores which efficiently convert fodder to food. The whole point of meat production is to convert plant proteins of little or no use to people as food into high-value animal protein.
In efficient production systems, rabbits can turn 20 percent of the proteins they eat into edible meat. Comparable figures for other species are 22 to 23 percent for broiler chickens, 16 to 18 percent for pigs and 8 to 12 percent for beef.
A similar calculation for the energy cost of these proteins is even more unfavourable to ruminants, as shown in Table 1. When cattle or sheep are raised for meat pro
duction, most of the energy consumed by the herd or flock is used to maintain breeding females which have a low prolificacy: a maximum of 0.8 to 1.4 young per year against 40 for female rabbits. Even with the theoretical lower energy cost when cattle are raised for both milk and beef, rabbit meat is still more economical in terms of feed energy than beef. Rabbit meat production is therefore an attractive proposition, especially when the aim is to produce quality animal protein.
Rabbits can also easily convert the available proteins in cellulose-rich plants, whereas it is not economical to feed these to chickens and turkeys - the only animals with higher energy and protein efficiency. The traditional grain and soycakes fed to these domestic poultry put them in direct competition with humans for food. For countries with no cereal surpluses, rabbit meat production is thus especially interesting.
Best known for being prolific, rabbits are also herbivores which efficiently convert fodder to food. The whole point of meat production is to convert plant proteins of little or no use to people as food into high-value animal protein.
In efficient production systems, rabbits can turn 20 percent of the proteins they eat into edible meat. Comparable figures for other species are 22 to 23 percent for broiler chickens, 16 to 18 percent for pigs and 8 to 12 percent for beef.
A similar calculation for the energy cost of these proteins is even more unfavourable to ruminants, as shown in Table 1. When cattle or sheep are raised for meat pro
duction, most of the energy consumed by the herd or flock is used to maintain breeding females which have a low prolificacy: a maximum of 0.8 to 1.4 young per year against 40 for female rabbits. Even with the theoretical lower energy cost when cattle are raised for both milk and beef, rabbit meat is still more economical in terms of feed energy than beef. Rabbit meat production is therefore an attractive proposition, especially when the aim is to produce quality animal protein.Rabbits can also easily convert the available proteins in cellulose-rich plants, whereas it is not economical to feed these to chickens and turkeys - the only animals with higher energy and protein efficiency. The traditional grain and soycakes fed to these domestic poultry put them in direct competition with humans for food. For countries with no cereal surpluses, rabbit meat production is thus especially interesting.
TABLE 1 Average performance of different animal species and energy cost of proteins they produce
During the sixteenth century breeding seems to have spread across France, Italy, Flanders and England. In 1595, Agricola mentioned the existence of grey-brown (wild), white, black, piebald (black and white) and ash-grey rabbits. In 1606, Olivier de Serres classified three types of rabbit: the wild rabbit, the semi-wild or "warren" rabbit raised inside walls or ditches, and the domesticated or hutch-bred rabbit. The meat of the last is described as insipid and that of the wild or semi-wild type as delicate.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, after the abolition of seigneurial privileges, rabbit rearing in hutches sprang up all over rural western Europe and also in city suburbs. European colonial expansion saw the introduction of the rabbit in many countries where it was unknown, such as Australia and New Zealand.
In Europe, breeders usually had a few does and a stock of fattening animals, from which they took according to their needs, as from a larder. The animals were fed mainly on green forage picked daily. In winter the breeders supplemented forage with hay, beetroots and even grains, often from stocks intended for large livestock. Rabbits were kept in the backyard, with the poultry. Reproduction was extensive (two or three litters a year).
From that time on there is frequent mention of the fur as a by-product (the breed now called Argenté de Champagne was described as "rich"), and the already long-existing Angora mutant was recorded.
From backyard to rational production
Beginning in the late nineteenth century and picking up speed in the twentieth, hutch rearing led to a rabbit population explosion made possible by the selection, protection and multiplication of breeds and mutants unadapted to the wild. Breeders formed associations. Breeding techniques were rationalized and hutch hygiene improved.
Breeding standards were laid down: each adult breeding animal was raised in a separate hutch because rabbits kept in a confined space became aggressive. Young rabbits for fattening were left together, but in this case the males were castrated. Feeding was the same as in the previous century, green fodder and grains, but the first feeding trials produced certain guidelines. The Second World War saw the extensive development of rabbit production throughout Europe and Japan to cope with meat shortages. Under these demanding conditions, rabbits demonstrated their highly efficient feed-conversion capacity.
In the 1950s, production slumped in Japan and the northern European countries as other meats with more flavour became available, such as frozen beef from the Southern Hemisphere. But in the Latin countries of Europe where people know how to cook rabbit, particularly in France, rabbits were still produced. In the late 1950s, New Zealand rabbits, wire-mesh cages and balanced pelleted feeds were all introduced into France and Italy from the United States. At the same time, diseases hitherto unknown and apparently linked with the new production techniques (mucoid enteritis and respiratory ailments) appeared and others disappeared (cenuriasis) or tapered off (coccidiosis).
These new techniques, originally better adapted to the climate of California than to that of northern Italy or France, demanded many modifications in production which were often discovered by trial and error. The hutches especially, which had always been kept outside, were put in closed buildings. Ventilation and lighting problems had to be solved.
The time spent on cleaning cages and collecting food was reduced abruptly. This freed breeders to spend more time on the animals themselves. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the work of authors such as Prud'hon et al. (1969) led to a sharp drop in weaning age, from eight to four weeks. Postkindling matings replaced postweaning matings. Breeders were able to put into practice Hammond and Marshall's early observations (1925) about postkindling fertilization of does because feeds were so much improved as to obviate the danger of abortion in lactating pregnant does through malnutrition.
At the same time came the explosion of the New Zealand White rabbit and its offshoot, the Californian rabbit. The traditional European breeds (Fauve de Bourgogne, Argenté de Champagne, French Belier) underwent a regression. As adults it is difficult for these breeds to live on the mesh floors of the cages - the pads of their paws not being adapted like those of the New Zealand White and Californian rabbits.
French and Italian breeders worked to improve substantially the first New Zealand White and Californian rabbits imported from the United States. In France, the two breeds were combined to produce specialized hybrid strains according to the design conceived by the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA). In the late 1970s, these strains crossed the French border to Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Federal Republic of Germany where, in large commercial production units, they tended to supplant the traditional breeds. Other hybrid strains were produced at the same time, especially in Hungary and the United Kingdom, but in almost every case the new strains were bred from these original two breeds.
Traditional varicoloured rabbits have been gradually replaced by white rabbits. This is having a considerable impact on the market for skins. Before the 1970s, furriers tended to favour the easy-to-dye white skins. Today the reverse is true - white skins are too common. At the same time, improved production techniques have lowered the slaughter age of rabbits in Europe which has reduced the value of the fur. The hair of the skins is "loose" because the animals are too young.
Production trends in France since the 1950s are given in Table 2. Industrial rabbit production (specialists prefer the word "rational" to industrial, as the breeder's expertise is still very important) in Europe today is typically in units of 200 to 1 000 hybrid does reared in buildings with artificial or controlled ventilation. The breeding females are under artificial lighting for 15 to 16 hours a day and produce all through the year. All animals are reared in one- to four-storey mesh cages (flat-deck and battery). Male and female breeding animals are raised in cages in groups of five to ten (France and Spain) or one to three (Italy). Young males are not castrated because they are sold for slaughter before or just at puberty. All the animals are fed exclusively with balanced pelleted feed. Drinking water is automatically distributed to every cage.
During the sixteenth century breeding seems to have spread across France, Italy, Flanders and England. In 1595, Agricola mentioned the existence of grey-brown (wild), white, black, piebald (black and white) and ash-grey rabbits. In 1606, Olivier de Serres classified three types of rabbit: the wild rabbit, the semi-wild or "warren" rabbit raised inside walls or ditches, and the domesticated or hutch-bred rabbit. The meat of the last is described as insipid and that of the wild or semi-wild type as delicate.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, after the abolition of seigneurial privileges, rabbit rearing in hutches sprang up all over rural western Europe and also in city suburbs. European colonial expansion saw the introduction of the rabbit in many countries where it was unknown, such as Australia and New Zealand.
In Europe, breeders usually had a few does and a stock of fattening animals, from which they took according to their needs, as from a larder. The animals were fed mainly on green forage picked daily. In winter the breeders supplemented forage with hay, beetroots and even grains, often from stocks intended for large livestock. Rabbits were kept in the backyard, with the poultry. Reproduction was extensive (two or three litters a year).
From that time on there is frequent mention of the fur as a by-product (the breed now called Argenté de Champagne was described as "rich"), and the already long-existing Angora mutant was recorded.
From backyard to rational production
Beginning in the late nineteenth century and picking up speed in the twentieth, hutch rearing led to a rabbit population explosion made possible by the selection, protection and multiplication of breeds and mutants unadapted to the wild. Breeders formed associations. Breeding techniques were rationalized and hutch hygiene improved.
Breeding standards were laid down: each adult breeding animal was raised in a separate hutch because rabbits kept in a confined space became aggressive. Young rabbits for fattening were left together, but in this case the males were castrated. Feeding was the same as in the previous century, green fodder and grains, but the first feeding trials produced certain guidelines. The Second World War saw the extensive development of rabbit production throughout Europe and Japan to cope with meat shortages. Under these demanding conditions, rabbits demonstrated their highly efficient feed-conversion capacity.
In the 1950s, production slumped in Japan and the northern European countries as other meats with more flavour became available, such as frozen beef from the Southern Hemisphere. But in the Latin countries of Europe where people know how to cook rabbit, particularly in France, rabbits were still produced. In the late 1950s, New Zealand rabbits, wire-mesh cages and balanced pelleted feeds were all introduced into France and Italy from the United States. At the same time, diseases hitherto unknown and apparently linked with the new production techniques (mucoid enteritis and respiratory ailments) appeared and others disappeared (cenuriasis) or tapered off (coccidiosis).
These new techniques, originally better adapted to the climate of California than to that of northern Italy or France, demanded many modifications in production which were often discovered by trial and error. The hutches especially, which had always been kept outside, were put in closed buildings. Ventilation and lighting problems had to be solved.
The time spent on cleaning cages and collecting food was reduced abruptly. This freed breeders to spend more time on the animals themselves. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the work of authors such as Prud'hon et al. (1969) led to a sharp drop in weaning age, from eight to four weeks. Postkindling matings replaced postweaning matings. Breeders were able to put into practice Hammond and Marshall's early observations (1925) about postkindling fertilization of does because feeds were so much improved as to obviate the danger of abortion in lactating pregnant does through malnutrition.
At the same time came the explosion of the New Zealand White rabbit and its offshoot, the Californian rabbit. The traditional European breeds (Fauve de Bourgogne, Argenté de Champagne, French Belier) underwent a regression. As adults it is difficult for these breeds to live on the mesh floors of the cages - the pads of their paws not being adapted like those of the New Zealand White and Californian rabbits.
French and Italian breeders worked to improve substantially the first New Zealand White and Californian rabbits imported from the United States. In France, the two breeds were combined to produce specialized hybrid strains according to the design conceived by the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA). In the late 1970s, these strains crossed the French border to Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Federal Republic of Germany where, in large commercial production units, they tended to supplant the traditional breeds. Other hybrid strains were produced at the same time, especially in Hungary and the United Kingdom, but in almost every case the new strains were bred from these original two breeds.
Traditional varicoloured rabbits have been gradually replaced by white rabbits. This is having a considerable impact on the market for skins. Before the 1970s, furriers tended to favour the easy-to-dye white skins. Today the reverse is true - white skins are too common. At the same time, improved production techniques have lowered the slaughter age of rabbits in Europe which has reduced the value of the fur. The hair of the skins is "loose" because the animals are too young.
Production trends in France since the 1950s are given in Table 2. Industrial rabbit production (specialists prefer the word "rational" to industrial, as the breeder's expertise is still very important) in Europe today is typically in units of 200 to 1 000 hybrid does reared in buildings with artificial or controlled ventilation. The breeding females are under artificial lighting for 15 to 16 hours a day and produce all through the year. All animals are reared in one- to four-storey mesh cages (flat-deck and battery). Male and female breeding animals are raised in cages in groups of five to ten (France and Spain) or one to three (Italy). Young males are not castrated because they are sold for slaughter before or just at puberty. All the animals are fed exclusively with balanced pelleted feed. Drinking water is automatically distributed to every cage.
