Artificial insemination of rabbits: equipment, technology, profitability

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The method of artificial insemination of farm animals in Russia, unfortunately, is not very popular. However, the experience of European and American farms has shown the high efficiency and profitability of this technology. Artificial insemination of rabbits, for example, allows you to get purebred and absolutely he althy offspring in large quantities. The only thing is that this method of replenishment is best suited for large farms that specialize in breeding such animals.

Features of natural rabbit breeding

As you know, these animals are very fertile. Even for beginners, breeding rabbits at home is usually not a particularly difficult procedure.

On Russian farms, the reproduction of these animals usually occurs naturally. On farms of this specialization, 1-2 males are most often kept for 10 queens, and, for example, for 200 - 40. The females of these animals can bring cubs once every two months. However, sooften rabbits with males on farms are usually not reduced. Births with a frequency of two months lead to rapid deterioration of the animal organism. There are females with rabbits on farms, usually once every four months. That is, such animals are able to bring 3 litters per year. Cubs from one female are born from 6 to 12.

Difficulties of natural reproduction

Producers in such farms are selected mainly according to breed characteristics and the degree of sexual activity. Of course, before allowing the rabbit to the females, among other things, they check his he alth. Producers who are not very well proven in terms of the birth of a large number of strong rabbits are subsequently culled. The method of selecting males to replenish the herd on farms is thus quite complex.

But despite this, unfortunately, not all rabbits differ in excellent characteristics as producers on farms. To acquire a large number of good males for a large farm is often expensive. The answer to the question of how much a thoroughbred rabbit costs can be, for example, an amount of 2-4 thousand rubles. In this case, it is advisable to introduce the method of artificial insemination on the farm.

Technology in brief

When using this technique on farms, the best pedigree males are first collected sperm. To stimulate sexual activity, a female is first placed on such a producer. After the rabbit is turned on, his sperm is collected in an artificial vagina.

The material obtained in this way is usually frozen. Store quality rabbit semen in special containers in liquid nitrogen. If necessary, the material is further thawed and injected into the rabbit's uterus.

Features of artificial insemination

Ovulation in rabbits, unlike other farm animals, occurs directly during sexual intercourse due to strong arousal. Therefore, before artificial insemination, female rabbits on farms are first brought together with some sterile male. Also, special drugs can be used to stimulate ovulation in rabbits.

Thawed sperm is injected into females directly into the uterus. In this case, a syringe of a special design is used to perform the procedure.

Pros of artificial insemination

The main advantage of this technique, of course, is the possibility of obtaining purebred offspring. To do this, when using this insemination technology for the farm, you need to purchase not too many expensive thoroughbred males. With sperm collected from one such producer, in this case it will be possible to fertilize not 10 queens, but up to 50.

Also, the advantages of this technique include:

• womb fertility up to 90%;
• increasing the overall immunity of livestock.

The most active breeding season for rabbits is during winter and spring (December to May). In autumn, these animals may generally lose their desire to mate. That is, offspring at this timeAnimals often do not bring years at all. The method of artificial insemination of rabbits allows to solve this problem. When used, queens can give birth year-round.

Disadvantages of the methodology

The benefits of rabbit artificial insemination technology are thus numerous. But this method has one drawback. It is believed that it is advisable to apply this technology only on large farms. Equipment for the collection and administration of semen is relatively inexpensive. But freezing and storing the sperm of breeding rabbits on small farms can be unprofitable. The price of such equipment, as well as liquid nitrogen itself, is usually very high.

Of course, it is unprofitable to use this technique on small private farmsteads. The use of such technology in such farms will be justified only if there is a point of sale of frozen semen of breeding rabbits somewhere nearby. In this scenario, buying material for artificial insemination can be cheaper than buying a purebred sire.

Insemination Tools

Such equipment is usually supplied as a kit by the companies involved in its production. The kit for artificial insemination of rabbits usually includes the following tools:

• microscope;
• artificial vagina;
• microscope heating table;
• dispenser for collecting sperm and determining its quality;
• heating mats;
• cover and subject glasses;
• seed receptacles, test tubes;
• curved catheter;
• insulin syringe;
• semen syringe;
• seed extender;
• test tube rack.

The cost of such a set for artificial mating of rabbits can be in the range of 25-30 thousand rubles. With a special diluent, rabbit sperm is usually diluted in a ratio of 1:10. Preparations for this purpose can be used different. For example, very often the Spanish MR-A bit is used to dilute the seed material.

Main steps: rules for collecting material

For the collection of sperm in breeding farms, young males aged from 1 to 4 years are usually used. From such rabbits in females, in most cases, a lot of cubs are born - up to 12 pcs. The sperm collected from such males is placed in containers. The latter are preheated to 40 °C. The material obtained in this way, before being used for artificial insemination of rabbits, is sent to the laboratory for research.

How checks are made

The seed of breeding rabbits is examined under a microscope, first of all, of course, for suitability for use for insemination. It is believed that you can enter the uterus material:

• viscous consistency of gray-white or gray-yellow hue without impurities;
• cospecific characteristic odor;
• with fairly mobile spermatozoa.

The minimum concentration of cells in the material selected for fertilization is 300 million. In this case, the rapid liquefaction of the seed should be approximately 60 minutes. The maximum number of leukocytes in the selected material is 1%, and cells with pathologies - 5%.

Storage equipment

After checking, validated seed specimens are collected in containers. Then they are placed in storage at a temperature of 2-4 °C. The seed of breeding rabbits is currently in demand on farms. Of course, it is, among other things, the subject of purchase / sale. Rabbit semen is transported in special containers called Dewar vessels. By design, such containers resemble a thermos. Ice is laid in the cavities inside them. It is allowed to keep rabbit semen in Dewar vessels for no more than 12 hours.

How to administer to uterus

On farms, this procedure is usually carried out by skilled workers - artificial insemination operators. Actually, for fertilization, a special syringe is injected into the prepared rabbits inside the genitals. At the same time, they try to inject the liquid itself as sharply as possible. Before carrying out this procedure, the genitals of the female are carefully disinfected using a swab dipped in furacilin.

The uterus of rabbits is bicornuate. Therefore, when injecting, the syringe is held at an angle of 45degrees. It is injected into the genitals of the animal by 10-12 cm. After the end of the procedure, the syringe is carefully pulled out. The inseminated female is sent to an individual cage. In the future, the animals are cared for in the same way as in natural insemination. That is, they give the female exceptionally high-quality food containing a large amount of proteins, regularly clean her cage, change the water, etc.