There are several important and versatile utilities that make rabbit rearing a profitable venture. Management of rabbit includes breeding, feeding, cleaning, care of new born, healthcare, etc are simple and easy to manage. There are many breeds and varieties of rabbit but most commonly reared in Nagaland are New Zealand White and Soviet Chinchilla.
Some of these characteristic are:-
1. Small body size, so makes it easier to maintain them in a limited space.
2. Requires very less feed and can be managed by kitchen and garden vegetable wastes.
3. It can be reared in caged or floor system and house constructed with locally available materials like bamboo
4. The rabbit is a highly prolific animal. They can be bred 4 or 5 times in a year.
5. Their pregnancy period is 30 days. An adult rabbit can produce 20/25 nos. young ones in a year.
6. Rabbit mature at 6 – 7 months and becomes ready for production.
7. It attains fast growth rate gaining 1.5 – 1.8kg within 18 – 20 weeks.
8. Its meat is very delicious, it has more protein and less fat compared to other animal meat.
9. The fur skin of rabbit can be utilised for preparation of hand gloves, caps, purse, jackets etc.
10. Rabbits can be slaughtered for meat purpose from the age of 90 days onwards.
Veterinary Hospital Kohima
