Raising Rabbits for Fur, Meat and Profit

By Robert G. Hodgson

This vintage book contains a comprehensive guide to breeding rabbits for profit, with information on selection, housing, feeding, marketing, and more. Highly-accessible and full of useful information, this timeless book will be of considerable utility to the modern reader with an interest in rabbit breeding, and would make for a valuable addition to collections of related literature. Contents Include: “Commercial Possibilities”, “The Different Breeds”, “Rabbitry”, “Construction Foods and Feeding”, “Breeding”, “Keeping Records”, “Diseases and Ailments”, “Marketing the Products”, “Killing and Dressing”, “Preparing and Cooking”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on breeding rabbits. This book was originally published in 1927.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Apr 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781446545263

Book preview

Preface

THE business of raising rabbits in Canada is by no means a new one, although of late years it has taken on a new aspect, partly caused by the war (1914-1918), with its increased prices for fur and meat, and partly by the introduction of new breeds. Many old-timers now engaged in rabbit raising can recall the Belgian Hare Craze and the large sums of money paid for animals of this fancy in past years. Rabbit raising at this stage is in no way as speculative for concrete values are represented.

Today, however, new breeds are continually appearing on the rabbit horizon; and while for a time they cause more or less of a sensation through possessing unique features, they are quickly judged by whether or not they have permanent value from a utility standpoint and any outstanding features respecting fur or meat decide their proper place in the rabbit category. As an illustration of this we have the Chinchilla rabbit developed during the war, which has more or less taken this country by storm,—and even more recent breeds. Some people have made a great deal of money through the introduction and development of new breeds in this country, and many people will make some money from the future production of rabbits on a meat and pelt basis.

Here in Canada, and even more in the United States, we are apt to expect too much from our investments. We have, on this continent, been more or less raised on get-rich-quick schemes, in which category raising rabbits has unfortunately too often been placed. We invest a thousand dollars in something and expect to make one or two or ten thousand from it. In England and in Europe, where the rabbit business is most firmly established, they invest a thousand dollars and hope to make two or three or four hundred yearly from it. After all, this is the right idea, for in what legitimate line of live stock raising, sanely conducted, can one make more?

In considering rabbit raising from a money-making standpoint, we must therefore consider it from every angle as a revenue producer, which includes fur, meat, fancy fertilizer. These are dealt with in their respective chapters in this volume. If one is to be successful in the rabbit business, one must consider all the factors contributary to the maximum production of the animals at a minimum cost, and utilize to the full extent every advantage possible bearing on the industry.

The writer does not wish to pose as a final authority on rabbits and rabbit raising. While like most country-raised boys, rabbit raising began at an early age, it was not until 1927 that I went into the business extensively, importing some of the finest prize winners from England—both wool and fur rabbits. These animals were exhibited and sold under the name of York Furs. In a work of this kind, I have found it necessary to use freely the experience of others and this volume is given as a working digest of my experience and that of other practical breeders, arranged in such a way that even the novice can gain a good knowledge of the present extent and future possibilities of rabbit raising in Canada as we know it today; and of the best methods and systems of rabbit production employed by the leading authorities in Canada, United States and Great Britain.

I here desire to acknowledge my thanks and appreciation to those who have materially assisted me in writing this volume, by furnishing their experiences and data—whose names are mentioned in the text.

Toronto, Canada,

January 13, 1927.

Preface to Second Edition

THIS edition of Raising Fur Rabbits, gotten out under war conditions, in some respects suffers from the scarcities created by the war. Our previous edition was a deluxe one—bound in keratol with four colour printing. In these times, material for binding is almost impossible to secure; while the work of binding cloth editions requires months — usually many. The type is specially selected to conserve paper. This edition, therefore, while perhaps not as elaborate as our earlier edition, actually contains more information and sells for less money.

The chapter on standards has been left out to save space. Standards change frequently and copies can always be obtained from associations. Rabbits in Canada are generally judged by the English standards, although some clubs are switching over to the American standards. Basically, there is not a great deal of difference.

The system of raising rabbits has not made drastic changes since the first edition of Raising Fur Rabbits was brought out. True, new breeds have been developed; the development of commercial rabbit raising on this continent has made substantial strides and been more or less streamlined to the times. Whereas in the last war meat was abundant in this country, this time meat is rationed and scarce and we must make it a point to develop every avenue of meat production possible and rabbit raising has been undertaken with this in mind. This fact alone should help keep rabbit meat popular with a larger public after the war is over.

Angora raising has not been dealt with in this new edition. This business has developed rapidly in Canada since 1940 and so important has it become that we felt it advisable to cover the industry by itself in the book Angoras for Profit, which the reader will see listed in the back of this volume. Angora raising in Canada has only in recent years attained the status of a profitable industry.

Looking ahead to the period after the war; to the return of hundreds of thousands of our own men looking for a means of making money, both full time and part time; to those seeking outdoor life and a hobby; to the influx of new people here from many countries—it is likely that rabbit raising will become more of a stabilized industry in this country than it has done at any time in the past. It is our hope that this volume may serve as a foundation for imparting knowledge of the present and past activities of the industry for its more extensive development.

May 25th, 1944.

Commercial Possibilities

FOR a great many years the rabbit industry has been more or less a hit-and-miss proposition in the Canadian and United States fields. The same has not held true in France and other European countries, including Great Britain, where the industry has been recognized as a legitimate live stock breeding proposition. Unfortunately the Government of Britain has been prone to neglect its development in peace times, although much dependent on it in war to supply fur and clothing.

World trade has tended to hold back the development of the rabbit industry here, because the Governments of the North American Continent were anxious to trade with France and Australia and rabbit pelts are one of the things which they could import, that they felt did not injure North American business.

The rabbit industry, of course, has always been a going industry in both Canada and the United States, from the standpoint of the fancy. Breeders raised fur and meat rabbits irrespective of profits, because they liked the animals and it gave them a fascinating hobby. Insofar as we are concerned, however, the rabbit industry must be considered purely on a commercial basis and this implies, to be of commercial interest, the raising of them profitably. The way some people go into the raising of rabbits, they could not hope to show a profit. We have people who go into the business and expect to make their profit from the selling alone of the pelts. This is not possible, although at certain periods in the history of rabbit raising, it has been done. Today, we know many breeders in Canada and the United States who, operating on a commercial basis, are securing profitable returns from their venture, but in so doing, they have to develop every angle of the industry, rather than just the production of pelts.

It is scarcely necessary to mention here the demand that exists for rabbit pelts—a demand that in the United States alone runs into hundreds of millions of pelts annually. Practically all the cheap coats available on the market are made from rabbit pelts of one type or another. It is generally conceded that at least 50% of the furs produced on the North American continent are of rabbit and some authorities have estimated this consumption as high as 75%. Owing to the peculiar qualities of rabbit pelts, their usefulness in imitating more expensive furs is almost unlimited. Rabbit furs in the past have been sold under a great many different names. When sealed, they pass under various fancy names, such as Hudson Bay Seal, Red River Seal and Electric Seal. Certain types are sold as fox, leopard, lynx and other furs. The Government has had to step in to protect the consumer, particularly during the present war, by forbidding the use of some of the names used in the past and making the manufacturer and dealer describe the goods as being rabbit. Even rabbit breeders will appreciate how necessary this is when two rabbits reared by the same mother could quite easily pose on the same counter as white fox and black lynx respectively.

The rabbit pelts originating in France, Belgium and such countries are practically all domestic rabbit pelts. In these countries, rabbit raising is carried on pretty much the same as poultry raising is carried on in this country; in fact, rabbits are raised to the exclusion of poultry there, the rabbit furnishing the finest of flesh for food, as well as the pelt. In Australia, from which country we receive vast quantities of pelts, the animals are wild and there is no cost to this product except the hunting and trapping of the animals.

It has been shown in the past that domestic rabbit pelts raised in North America are superior for fur purposes and density of hair, to the pelts of the wild rabbits. The rabbit pelt has frequently got a bad name in the trade through the fact that the furrier, ignorantly or otherwise, used pelts for the fur trade that should only have been used for the hat and felt trade. We have made many tests with rabbit pelts and as nearly as we can judge, if rabbit pelts are prime and sealed, they are quite as durable as any other type of seal.

Canadian breeders and probably most breeders of rabbits have never seriously considered the putting of the fur and rabbit industry on a real commercial basis to take full advantage of all the products and by-products produced from the rabbit industry. Here in North America, the fur and meat rabbit industry is most highly commercialized in the State of California. To get a better idea of the way rabbit raising is carried on there, we quote from an article by Helen M. Stevens in the November 1943 Journal:

"A recent trip to Cypress, Calif, was a revelation to me, of efficient methods used at the modern butchering plant for rabbits owned by A. Edward Koch and wife on their suburban 2½ acre tract of land 25 miles from Los Angeles.

"They formerly lived in Louisiana and Georgia, where he was a business manager for an automobile firm; desiring to retire from business cares, he came to Cypress in 1930, buying a home there, and for diversion, put in a few white New Zealand rabbits, which kept multiplying at such an astonishing rate that he kept building modern hutches for them under a high lath sun-shelter, until his wife and he began to vision their own processing rabbit plant.

"Realizing a need of their own water supply, drillers bored through 3 layers of sand and gravel, 1300 ft. deep to an unfailing supply of pure, icy-cold water in their own front yard, under lofty Pepper trees; their Clinton ice machine now creates Arctic temperatures for their huge refrigerating system where thousands of dressed rabbit fryers are chilled and frozen for the wholesale market; none are retailed.

"Besides supplying retail markets at both Long Beach and Los Angeles, Marine, Army, Air and Naval Bases with huge orders for rabbit fryers, used in their mess halls and hospitals, army transports carry tons of dressed rabbits to Hawaii, Aleutian Islands and Alaska Mainland ports for our armed forces.

"Shipped in special vials to eastern experimental laboratories for important scientific tests, the filtered blood of young female rabbits aids scientists in making important experiments; no blood from male rabbits is ever used, as it has been found that the life fluid from young females is both much purer and richer; Mr. Koch attends to this important work himself.

"Three expert operators are kept busy in the screened-in, cement-floored room to which live rabbits are trundled in a double compartment, 3-wheeled cart. As each rabbit is lifted out, its neckjoint is swiftly dislocated on its way to be hung on sharp curved hooks by its