Mary Allen
The new year is full of confidence. The breeder is already thinking about the further development of his rabbit breeding – and with a few simple measures, he gets his animals through the winter.
Ambition in rabbit breeding never leaves us completely in peace. This is an ideal prerequisite for being able to take a step forward inbreeding. Rabbit keeping is in January at the end of the show season and the beginning of the new breeding season.
With the arrival of the cold winter season and the associated lower temperatures, life changes for the rabbits that “hibernate” outdoors. Covering the stables with cloths and other insulating material protects the animals from the icy winds from the north, but the sparse light in winter should not be completely ruled out.
At no other time of the year does the rabbit breeder worry as much as in the middle of winter. The sometimes bitter cold bothers us humans – but less so for the rabbits, who adapt to the usual temperature fluctuations all year round. This allows them to grow denser fur in winter, which has significantly more undercoats and thus protects the body from high heat loss. Wild animals use another trick to avoid wasting unnecessary energy reserves: They withdraw to a protected place and behave calmly. We can also observe this behavior in rabbit husbandry.
Because of the Low Temperatures, the Animals Now Need More Energy
Most of the rabbits that are in the pens in January are adults. This means that the energy supplied via the feed only has to be sufficient for life support. The animals no longer have to gain weight. This accounts for the difficulty of winter feeding. On the one hand, the rabbits need a little more for thermoregulation and on the other hand, they are fully developed. We don’t want to fatten the animals either, as they are mostly rabbits that can soon be used for breeding. It is therefore important to maintain all animals in breeding conditions so that fertility is not unnecessarily negatively affected, especially in the case of females.
Many breeders assume that a larger amount of hay can cover a higher nutrient requirement. But hay does not remain the same in nutrient content during storage. For example, the vitamin beta-carotene is constantly broken down. Many dairy farmers know this and supplement, for example in late winter, with special preparations made from vitamins, minerals, and trace elements in order to promote the fertility of the cows.
Hay has a low water content of only around twelve percent; so it is good to store. But what if the animals eat more of it in winter and the little water that is available has frozen in the feeding dishes? The situation is not bad; the rabbits lick the ice in the dishes and get the required liquid.
Juice Feed Supplies Important Vitamins
So that the animals can drink enough liquid, warm water must be added every day. If the ice is clean, the water can be poured over it. However, if food remains are present and visible in the frozen water, the dishes must be cleaned completely. It may take some time, but we are sure that the animals will find clean water. It is quite possible that these cleaning actions of the feeding dishes have to be carried out several times a week if a corresponding «cold drop» hangs over Switzerland.
So that the animals can stock up on enough liquid, a piece of juice fed in the form of a carrot or an apple slice should not be missing. Kitchen waste – fresh from the kitchen – is more than just a replenishment of liquids and, for example, makes a small contribution to the supply of essential vitamins. A little tip: carrots from the wholesalers in kilo packs – distributed among an entire animal population and fed within one or two days – do not cost much, are fresh, and provide a welcome change for the animals.
The breeding season starts in a few weeks. So it’s high time to check all the animals again for their health status. Above all, the two-year-old and perennial animals should be taken out of the stall and inspected carefully. Aren’t the claws too long? Are the teeth functional? Is the teat okay? Are the sex organs healthy? Are there any other abnormal body changes? Were the goals achieved with last year’s offspring? Do fur and body development correspond to age? From a breeding point of view, the two-year-old and several-year-old rabbits are just as interesting as the first-born rabbits, which did get points at exhibitions but still have to prove themselves as breeding animals in a second step.