A referencing system to analyse performances of French organic rabbit farms

Abstract

A referencing system to collect and analyse the performance of French organic rabbit farms was created using an Excel application. Reproduction data were compiled for six farms over 3 years of production (2015–2017). Does were housed in movable cages on pasture or in individual paddocks, and the livestock size averaged 33 does and varied largely according to the farm (from 8 to 62). The productive time of a doe averaged 374 days and was highly variable (75%). Female mortality averaged 17% over the period, while culling reached 10%. With 4.8 matings, 2.7 parturitions per female/year were obtained (60% fertility rate), yielding a total of 21.6 rabbits born alive and 16.7 weaned (26% mortality from birth to weaning). The yearly turnover of a full-time rabbit farmer (80 females) would potentially be around 26.3 k€/year. The database is expanding to a larger number of farms owing to the deployment of a smartphone application (GAELA). It enables management assistance for the rabbit farms and performance collection synchronized with a national secured database.