Spanish rabbit farm

[Bigrig]

Here I was feeling a little guilty about my planned rabbitry only having 24x36 cages for the does. While cruising YouTube I ran across a quick video showing a commercial operation (I assume in Spain). They have an interesting automatic feeding system which caught my eye as an engineer. It seems to have a powered auger system that drops the pellets into a feeder that serves four adjacent cages. However the cage size seems to be a little lacking (look around 59s in). Still I must say it is quite clean! http://youtu.be/e5LzteqzXso

And as a little add I just ran across an interesting DIY PVC pellet feeder as well. http://youtu.be/4TL-Z8B0EUs

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Did you see the wire quality on those cages? I am green with envy! Love their drinking valves, too. They look like stainless steel versions of poultry waterers.

As for the DIY feeder- great idea, but I think I would have it raised a few inches above the floor to prevent the rabbits from soiling it.

 

[Zass]

It's spotless either because those bunnies haven't been there very long, or else they scrubbed the whole place up REALLY well for the video shoot A resting board like that in a fryer pen will definitely become soiled with time.

 

[Bigrig]

It's spotless either because those bunnies haven't been there very long, or else they scrubbed the whole place up REALLY well for the video shoot A resting board like that in a fryer pen will definitely become soiled with time.

I suspect it is a brand-new facility. I grew up on and around farms and not even a dairy is that clean. I notice no dust on top of the tubes, no dust bunnies/hair in the ventilator fan and no rust on the bolts. Still it is an impressive setup, irregardless of cage size.

 

[akane]

You do have to wonder, if you give a rabbit nothing to do in its cage does 6" actually change its life? It's not like we are comparing cage and colony setupsor to filled cages.

 

[Bigrig]

And for something a little different, a Ugandan rabbit farm. Wood-framed cages with what appears to be slatted wood flooring? And raised on cabbage leaves no less! I could not quite make out what they were using the rabbit urine for as they stated it was valuable.
http://youtu.be/EywXydrbKhk

 

[Zass]

And for something a little different, a Ugandan rabbit farm. Wood-framed cages with what appears to be slatted wood flooring? And raised on cabbage leaves no less! I could not quite make out what they were using the rabbit urine for as they stated it was valuable.
http://youtu.be/EywXydrbKhk

Liquid fertilizer was mentioned as one use for the urine. Everything looked really good and potentially very useful...until the last scene where a man pulled a fryer out by it's ears.

 

[Bigrig]

Ah, that makes sense. Ammonia/nitrogen in the urine. The cage design was quite interesting. Very much a design where wood and labour is cheap, but wire is expensive. I noticed the (mis)handling. However the rabbits seemed to be in very good shape. They looked clean and were not afraid of the workers.

 

[grumpy]

Looks to be a European style caging system. Here's a link showing some
of the different modules you can purchase. Nice but pricey.

http://www.rabbitsplus.net/index.html

grumpy.

 

[Bigrig]

Looks to be a European style caging system.
grumpy.

It is rather amazing to see the two extremes of systems. An all-metal prefabricated (expensive) one designed for minimum labour costs versus the site-built (inexpensive) wood cages to minimize material cost. Just shows there is no one "right" way to do anything. I guess it really does not matter as long as the animals are healthy and treated well.

 

[dmirza]

Is it just me or are the cages in the first video way too small???

 

[Rabbitdog]

Is it just me or are the cages in the first video way too small???

Ahh, the great dilemma .... do animals have awareness?
In other words, if a rabbit only knows what it sees everyday, can it be unhappy because it's missing out on something else that it has never seen???

 

[Zass]

Is it just me or are the cages in the first video way too small???

Ahh, the great dilemma .... do animals have awareness?
In other words, if a rabbit only knows what it sees everyday, can it be unhappy because it's missing out on something else that it has never seen???

I think so. Not really as a rational thought, but as an instinctual urge. (That...and they do have senses. They can see, hear and smell the world outside their cages.)

A cottontail will freak out if caged, no matter if they have never seen freedom. As far as I know, people generally cannot get them to live and breed in captivity.
They are too wild. Their instincts tell them to get OUT and AWAY.
Our domestic rabbits have been selected for...well, domestic traits. Breeders would have a really hard time raising rabbits that spaz or fail to reproduce in smaller cages. It's essentially, very natural for us to select and breed rabbits that are more content with the space we give them. Essentially...it's a survival trait that allows for the continuation and spread of the species. It benefits both the rabbits and humans.

Are they unhappy? Probably not. The malcontents who won't breed, eat, or would harm themselves trying to escape are culled.

And with all that said,
I still like to give my buns as large of cages as I can. Just because I like seeing them play and move around freely.