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The California rabbit belongs to the meat breeds. The breed was bred in the US state of California. Three were involved in the creation of the Californian breed rabbit breeds: chinchilla, Russian ermine and New Zealand white. The purpose of the Californian breed was to obtain a broiler breed of rabbits that are rapidly gaining weight and adapted for industrial cultivation on mesh floors of cages on industrial rabbit farms.
The subtlety here is that rabbits living on a net often injure their feet on the wires, getting the so-called "corns" or pododermatitis. Thick fur on the feet of rabbit paws can provide protection against pododermatitis.
The Californian rabbit has a disadvantage, apparently, common, in general, for all breeds that are called broiler breeds: the Californian breed is demanding on the temperature regime and is not suitable for keeping outdoors, which is often practiced in Russia.
Californian breed standard
Like any broiler breeds rabbits Californian breeds should give the maximum meat yield and the minimum amount of bones. Therefore, with a general strong constitution, the representatives of the Californian breed have a light, thin skeleton.
The maximum amount of meat in rabbits is on the hind legs, respectively, in the Californian, the extended sacro-lumbar region and well-muscled hind legs. And the body, on which there is little meat, is compact.
Broiler breeds do not need long legs, and Californian rabbits also have short legs.
The head is small and light. The length of the ears does not exceed 10.5 cm.
The weight of an adult animal of the Californian breed is 4-5 kg.
Features of the color and quality of the skin in the Californian breed
Since the Californian rabbit was bred with the participation of three breeds, he took the best from them: delicious meat from the chinchilla; from New Zealand white the ability to grow rapidly; from the Russian ermine color and quality of the skin.
The color of the Californian rabbit breed is similar to the color of the Russian ermine so that it is easy to confuse them. Although, of course, there are differences. The photo below is a Californian breed.
And in this photo there is a Russian ermine rabbit.
The ermine mark is larger and darker. Although in reality it will be very difficult to distinguish between these two breeds of rabbits, since the size and saturation of the marks depends on the air temperature.
Rabbits of these breeds are born white, markings appear later. Moreover, the lower the air temperature at the time when the marks appear, the more saturated and larger these dark areas are.
Photo of another breed of rabbits, similar in color to the Californian.
This is a butterfly breed rabbit. It is really possible to confuse this breed with the Californian only due to inexperience.The butterfly breed is distinguished by the presence of black spots on the body and the absence of dark markings on the paws. But at a young age, rabbits can be similar. To accurately determine the breed, just look into the eyes of the rabbits. The Californian rabbits have red eyes, while the "butterfly" has dark eyes.
Features of the Californian breed
Although the Californian is an industrial breed, keeping Californian rabbits by private owners is also not difficult. Perhaps the animals will grow a little slower, but this is usually not important for private traders, since private traders do not have the number of rabbits to incur serious losses, but usually there is not enough time for slaughter.
The Californian breed has a calm disposition, which is why rabbits of this breed are increasingly kept as pets. And here the next details of rabbit organisms come to light: although the Californian is advertised as a breed capable of living on mesh floors, in fact, such floors are harmful to any breed of rabbits. If possible, the animals should be provided with a smooth floor to avoid pododermatitis.
This is not possible on a rabbit farm, as productivity comes first. In the apartment, the rabbit can be equipped with a comfortable cage. It is not difficult to clean up after one animal.
Private traders who keep several rabbits, depending on their ingenuity, find a variety of options: from a galvanized sheet of iron with holes punched in it for urine drainage to keeping animals in pits.
Differences between rabbits keeping methods
There are three methods of keeping rabbits: in a cage, in an aviary, and in a pit.
Aviary
Experienced rabbit breeders have long abandoned aviaries, since the aviary is a plot of land fenced with a net, open from the sky. The open-air cage is usually deepened half a meter into the ground so that the rabbits cannot dig a passage under it to freedom. In the aviary, boxes are placed as a shelter for animals. But the economic losses of rabbit breeders with this method of keeping are very high.
Firstly, the rabbits fight among themselves, and it is impossible to get a high-quality skin with such a content. Secondly, rabbits do not know that they cannot undermine the net, therefore they periodically undermine and run away. Thirdly, predators, feathered and four-footed, are unfamiliar with the concept of "someone else's property" and are happy to catch defenseless animals.
Pit
Someone thinks that this method is most consistent with the natural lifestyle of rabbits. They propose to make a hole 1 m deep, cement the bottom to prevent faeces from getting into the ground and "leave the rabbits to their fate." As planned, the rabbits themselves will dig holes in the side walls of the pit, which will then need to be equipped with dampers. You can start digging holes yourself. The rabbits will continue.
In theory, it is believed that animals will not get out of the hole, since they dig passages either horizontally or with a downward slope. At the same time, for some reason, no one thinks about where, in this case, in nature, rabbits take the second and third exits from the hole. And since the rabbits themselves know perfectly well that they also dig passages with a rise to the surface, periodically rabbit breeders who breed animals in a hole are forced to fill such passages with concrete to freedom and artificially dig the correct hole for rabbits nearby.
Also, the disadvantages of the pit include:
- the difficulty of catching extra individuals;
- spoiled skins;
- possible compacted fencing of rabbits due to free access of rabbits to females;
- inability to provide rabbits with an individual diet.
A plus would be that, according to statements, the rabbits in the pit are no longer afraid of rats. But the rats themselves may not know what is written about them on the Internet, but be well aware of how to dig holes in the ground. And leftover food will surely attract rats.
This is to the question of whether there are rats in the pits. Only rats and rabbits can answer it exactly.
Given that Californians are a thermophilic breed, living in a pit may not suit them.
Cell
A well-made cage is guaranteed to protect rabbits and their young from rats, and living of each animal in a separate cage will preserve the skin and allow you to assign individual rations to the animals.
The insulated cage allows you to keep rabbits outdoors even in winter. If the cage is additionally equipped with a heated mother liquor and a heated drinker, then up to -10 degrees the rabbit has nothing more to wish for. In case of more severe frosts, it is better to bring the cages with animals indoors.
Feeding
There are two points of view regarding the rabbit diet.
The first dates back to the domestication of rabbits. It is believed that the animals need carrots, grass, cabbage, silage and other succulent food in addition to hay and grain mixtures.
The second appeared with the development of industrial rabbit breeding and the appearance of full-feed granules, designed specifically for the fastest growing of rabbits in an industrial environment.
Given that California rabbits were bred for industrial farms, the second option is more suitable for them. It is also less labor intensive for the owners. In addition, juicy foods often cause bloating in rabbits.
Rabbit diseases
The Californian breed does not have any specific diseases inherent only to this breed. Californian rabbits are ill with all the same diseases as other rabbits.
Two of them are especially dangerous and can destroy all livestock on the farm. it rabbit viral hemorrhagic disease and myxomatosis.
VGBK
The virus is transmitted through the feces of recovered animals, when a healthy rabbit comes into contact with a sick rabbit, through the equipment and clothing of the attendants. Even in skins taken from sick animals, the virus persists for up to 3 months.
The incubation period of the disease lasts from 2 to 5 days. In the case of fulminant form of the disease in the morning, outwardly healthy rabbits are already dead by the evening.
The disease does not last longer than 4 days, and the mortality rate reaches 100%.
To prevent HBV disease, the animals are vaccinated every six months, starting with the third vaccination. The first and second are done at 45 and 105 days.
Myxomatosis
The disease is transmitted by blood-sucking insects and through direct contact with a sick animal. Moreover, the virus in the bloodsucker can remain active for six months.
Mortality, depending on the form of myxomatosis disease, ranges from 30 to 70%.
For a long time, a recovered rabbit remains a carrier of the myxomatosis virus.
When there is an outbreak of myxomatosis on the farm, all the livestock of rabbits are slaughtered, since even "recovered" animals will serve as a source of infection for newly purchased rabbits, and the disease will flare up again.
Rabbits are vaccinated against myxomatosis at different times, which depend on the type of vaccine.
Since once recovered rabbits no longer get sick with this disease, you can vaccinate a rabbit at the age of 30 days with a single monovalent vaccine. Twice the vaccine against myxomatosis is injected only in regions unsuccessful for the disease.
Other rabbit diseases
Pasteuriasis and coccidiosis (eimeriosis) are also quite dangerous and contagious diseases. You can get a vaccine against pasteuriasis. There is no vaccine against coccidiosis, as it is an invasive disease. But in this case, prevention can be carried out.
Of the non-infectious, but very dangerous for a particular animal, diseases, one can single out the so-called bloating, which is actually not a disease, but only a symptom of the disease. The only case when a swollen abdomen of an animal indicates an infection is with coccidiosis. In all other cases, bloating is usually caused by fermentation in the intestines and the formation of intestinal gas after eating wet grass, fresh cabbage, sour silage and other feed with a tendency to fermentation.
Often, when the abdomen is bloated, the animal dies within a few hours either from suffocation when the lungs are squeezed by the stomach, or when the intestinal walls rupture and the further development of peritonitis.
To avoid problems with bloated stomachs, it is recommended to feed rabbits only with hay and complete pellets.
Reviews and videos about rabbits of the California breed
On the Internet, you can find quite a few reviews and videos about the Californian breed.
A kind of advertising video about the Californian from the owners of the private farm "Moryak", engaged in breeding European rabbits:
Expert assessment of the Californian breed:
Reviews of the owners of California rabbits
Conclusion
The California breed may not be very beginner-friendly, but if a breeder already has experience in keeping rabbits and wants to try raising meat rabbits for sale, then the California breed is one of the best choices.
