Rabbit Farming at the CYEC

Who are the players? Paul Maina - Founder and Director of the CYEC pmaina@peacemail.com Janelle Larson - Head of Penn State/CYEC collaborative program jbl6@psu.edu Jannath Bhagar - Part-time “volunteer” helping in Farm Management at the CYEC jannathbhagar@gmail.com Alayna Blalock - PSU junior in Community, Environment, & Development; developer/researcher of rabbit farming initiative alaynablalock@gmail.com Joseph – Within Co-op, Head of CYEC rabbit initiative; being trained in rabbit keeping jokijahighlights@gmail.com Alex Smith - President of CYEC Cooperative; being trained in rabbit keeping alexandersmith2010fifa@gmail.com

Why Rabbits? Nutrition Rabbit meat is all white meat. Rabbit has 795 calories per pound. Compare: chicken at 810, veal at 840, turkey at 1190, lamb at 1420, beef at 1440 and pork at 2050. Rabbit has the highest percentage of protein. Rabbit has a lower percentage of fat than chicken, turkey, beef, or pork with unsaturated fatty acids at 63% of the total fatty acids. The cholesterol level in rabbit meat is much lower than chicken, turkey, beef, pork. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has stated that domestic rabbit meat is the most nutritious meat known to man. Rabbit meat compares very favorably to veal.

Why Rabbits? Quick to Breed Takes only 90 days from the mating of the doe until litter of fryers is ready for consumption The gestation period is only 32 days and one doe can produce about 15 litters in her lifetime Does are also able to rebreed immediately after kindling (giving birth). This means that a doe can birth a litter, breed again immediately, wean the first litter around 30 days, and give birth to the second litter a few days later. This results in very high production. The typical litter size for a New Zealand White breed is 7-8 bunnies

Why Rabbits? Price A bunny can be purchased for about $1USD in Kenya (if a bunny is purchased it takes six months for the rabbits to mature enough to begin breeding) A 5kg fryer can be sold for about $24 USD (2000 Ksh) One litter (8 fryers) will then sell for $192 USD (16000 Ksh)

Current State 8 Hutches 4 rabbits, but will most likely be replaced with better breeds Not being used for anything currently Alex and Joseph being trained in caring for rabbits, with Joseph leading the project

At high-intensity breeding: Potential Production 7 does, each in her own cage with her own litter 1 buck in his own cage At high-intensity breeding: Day 1- Mate all 7 does Day 32- 7 does give birth to an average of 7 bunnies (49 total) Day 33- Mate all does again Day 64- First litter weaned, give birth to second litter (98 total) Day 65- Mate all does again Day 96- Sell first litter, wean second, give birth to third In 96 days you can birth 147 rabbits: 49 milking, 49 weaned and growing, and 49 sold. Every 32 days you can earn $1,212 (98,000 Ksh) if the rabbits are sold for 2000 Ksh/each*. *This price assumes that fryers at age 64 days will weigh approx. 5 kg

Costs Food (can be reduced by feeding forage every other day and growing own sorghum for grain) Price of stock (8 rabbits used for breeding) Transportation (Where are we selling them?) Future hutches Re-payment of loans for original up-front costs Possibility of renting hutch space

Unanswered Questions: How much will new, but experienced, rabbits cost? How many rabbits can be kept per hutch? (Is doe plus 2 litters too many?) Where will we sell the rabbits? How will we get them there? How much will that transportation cost? How much did our hutch cost? Where would we put additional hutches? (Max possible) How many youth interested? Does anyone at the center know how to cook rabbit? Cost of teaching/where?

Top Constraints Training Getting new rabbits Determining buyer

For Spring…Where do we want this to go? Let’s at least get the business running! Strictly for sale: Even CYEC buys them Ag program has two tracts: livestock and crops Rabbits would be project of livestock tract Would have to go through “financial training” as well Key: Produce something and establish a buyer

Thoughts on next 3-5 years? Solid incorporation into Ag Program Must go through “financial training” to receive loan Youth living in center develop rabbit farming as a livelihood Expand project to Eco-Village (with beginnings and training at CYEC)

Works Cited Rabbit images: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/rgifs/Rabbit_bw.GIF http://media.kickstatic.com/kickapps/images/32422/photos/PHOTO_2274091_32422_4394115_main.jpg http://www.quadruplez.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/bunnies.jpg Nutrition facts: http://www.vermontqualityrabbits.com/nutritional.html