Raising meat rabbits in the desert.

[Withherwings]

Hello everyone,

I am an American working in the Middle East and I have began to raise rabbits for meat. I want to do it as cheaply as possible but need advice on how to do it so they survive the hot summers. W get summer temperatures in the 100s for months and can get days close to 130 degrees.

I have consulted some folks here and it seems that they area able to raise them without special underground shelters. Most are raised in colonies and are provided cool shelter spots such as clay pots, cement pipes and so on. They are obviously shaded as well.

I have a small yard and currently am using the cage system of raising rabbits. I do not have raised cages but rather have the cages on the ground and just move them every couple of days and rake the poop out from beneath. I would like to keep a similar system due to higher productivity, easy doe monitoring, and ease of maintaining. They are currently in a spot in our yard that receives no direct sunlight and they are under large trees. I have about 20 total rabbit most of whom are still small. I have three breeds that here in Jordan are labeled as French, German, and baladi(meaning local). I do not know exactly what the breeds are since these are the only names provided but the locals normally are brown and are medium sized, the French are all white with red eyes, and the German are a grayish color and can get very large.

any thoughts or suggestions, I do not want to use frozen water bottles or misters. Thanks.

 

[phillinley]

Baladi is a separate breed that was specifically designed for the Egyptian climate. Another breed in Egypt you can look for that is adapted to the Egyptian climate is the Bauscat. I don't know about Jordan, but you would have no trouble finding Bauscat in Egypt. Moving cages like you suggested is done quite often in irrigated fields in family farms south of the nile, it is excellent fertilizer for the land and a stable meat source that doesn't require a lot of land to raise them. One of the setups that I have seen in Egypt for their brooding does is they will dig chicken wire about four feet into the ground and then in the center of the cage area they will dig essentially a burrow so that the doe can have her litter in the hole so that it keeps the litter in a natural setting and keeps the babies out of the extreme heat. I've never seen extraction, but I assume they just wait til the babies are weaning age, put a glove on and take them out one by one if they hide in the hole.

 

[Dood]

I don't think you will have much luck in getting bucks to be fertile and does to carry kits to full term in those kind of temperatures.

If the locals use underground systems it's because that is what works for their climate. It would be much cooler underground and the rabbits can escape the heat to remain fertile.

The only option I can think of something like this... http://www.raising-rabbits.com/cooling-rabbits.html

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Hi Withherwings!

:welcome: to RT!

Here is a post from one of our members who lives in Australia with some unique approaches to keeping her rabbits cool:

post48081.html#p48081

Wetting the ground under the cages would be a simple way to cool the area if water use is not restricted. Another option would be to use box fans to keep the air moving around the rabbits. Some people also use clay tiles, which can be frozen (or not) for them to lay on.

 

[phillinley]

I don't think you will have much luck in getting bucks to be fertile and does to carry kits to full term in those kind of temperatures.

Although more difficult without proper facilities, the two breeds I mentioned do quite well in the heat because they were designed specifically for that hot dry environment. Not that they would fit my climate, but I would be interested to see if anyone in the southwest has been able to import these to see if they are a better alternative for meat growers in Arizona, New Mexico, etc.

BTW, do you have Baladi reds, whites or blacks? Whites, as would be expected given the color, have higher successful reproduction rates and are less stressed by changes in temperature.

 

[Withherwings]

It's seems that phillinely is right. The white ones, that I have are bauscat. I read that their alternative name is French. I still do not know the exact breed for the German one though. Eventually I will have mix of these three breeds as I already have German/baladi and baladi/bauscat mixes. Two of the breeds do well in the heat and the German get very large and fast. I am new to this but it sound like that would be a good mix.

Thanks for the reply Dood, but although underground systems are used in the region, most Jordanians raise them on rooftops or in shaded tiled areas. They provide them ample hide outs, shade and water but they do not have underground systems. With everything I read this seems like it would kill them quick but it must not. this will be my 4th summer here but the first raising rabbits. Daytime temperatures are already in the low to mid 90s.

 

[MamaMandy]

Hi Withherwings. Welcome! I'm pretty sure I speak for all of us here by saying we'd love to see pics of your rabbits! I never thought about rabbits being raised in your region and I'd love to see some pics of your local rabbits.

 

[Mickey328]

I should think your best resource would be folks right there in the area who successfully raise rabbits. I'd find some who are doing it well and talk with them...then copy what they do.

 

[Dood]

I admittedly don't have much experience dealing with heat stress, and if the locals raise them in cages then it must work, maybe try and join a local agriculture group try a University's Ag department.


I did some hunting about info on the two native breeds and thought I would share and post some links.

Actually the Baladi and Bauscat are not an acclimatized domestic rabbit but developed from hybridizing a native species with european meat varieties. Keeping them in underground warrens seems to be the way to go...

in desert regions, such as in Egypt and Tunisia, rabbits are observed to thrive when allowed to burrow underground (Finzi et al 1988). Of course, domesticated rabbits reared in hutches are denied this behavioural expression, and, as a consequence, become highly vulnerable to heat prostration as related to dysfunctional thermoregulation.

... but if it's not an option then give cages a shot.

Related sites
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/x3565t/x3565t04.pdf

http://www.iamz.ciheam.org/medrabbit/docs/baladir.pdf

http://www.iamz.ciheam.org/medrabbit/docs/bauscat.pdf

http://wrs.upv.es/files/journals/vol%205_2_rashwan.pdf

 

[phillinley]

Actually the Baladi and Bauscat are not an acclimatized domestic rabbit but developed from hybridizing a native species with european meat varieties. Keeping them in underground warrens seems to be the way to go...

in desert regions, such as in Egypt and Tunisia, rabbits are observed to thrive when allowed to burrow underground (Finzi et al 1988). Of course, domesticated rabbits reared in hutches are denied this behavioural expression, and, as a consequence, become highly vulnerable to heat prostration as related to dysfunctional thermoregulation.

... but if it's not an option then give cages a shot.

The middle two sites are good statistical info on those breeds. I guess when it comes down to designed or hybridized, it's a matter of semantics. They were designed by hybridizing a native and a domestic. Although in the somewhat dated PDF's that were linked stating the animals were endangered, that has changed a lot in the last 15 years. Mubarak's ag ministers had been working on programs to create urban agricultural alternatives within Cairo given the amount of people in the city who live below the poverty line and have no access to raising their own livestock or produce.

City dwellers raise these guys on rooftops, and from my understanding the vast majority of these two breeds in the Egypt are being used in urban settings in Cairo. Apartment complexes share rabbit space on roofs split into sections by family. I've never seen one of these rooftops personally but it has to be an interesting setup in order for them to make it work so well that a lot of people there do it.

(I just asked my friend who is a social worker in Cairo about rooftop raisers and why there are so many of them, and he let me know about the political reasons behind it. Gotta source my peeps )