Evaluation of rabbit production and its economic aspects in

This chapter is based on the paper published in Baromfiágazat (Szendrő K., 2014)

Only in France data from hundreds of rabbit farms have been collected and analyzed since the 1960’s. As some of its characteristics are similar to Hungary’s (e.g. net exporting country; high impact of climate on crop yields and therefore on feeding cost; switching to large-scale farming), we could learn from their experience.

In the last 25 years, kindling rate, litter size, feed conversion ratio, number of rabbits sold/kindling or per female/year improved by 22, 24, 20, 40, and 20%, respectively. In addition, natural mating was replaced by artificial

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insemination, enabling improvements in efficiency, production intensity, and the development of large-scale rabbit farms. The average number of females on a farm increased almost 3.5-fold in 25 years. Close relationships can be identified between the size of a farm and the production, as well as profit. Small farms experienced a dramatic decline, while production sites with more than 500 does increased their output. Larger farms achieved some profit, while the smaller ones were – more or less – in deficit (Table 5). In general, in critical years (e.g. when feed prices were very high), only the production from large-scale farms was profitable.

Table 5

Change in production between 2000 and 2010 depending on farm size in France

Braine and Coutelet (2012) revealed how significantly the production and economic results of the farms have improved in recent decades. Despite the fact that irrigation water is free of charge in France, therefore the price of feed is lower than in Hungary, feed still represents the largest portion of production cost. The weather is of crucial importance for changes in crop yields, and may have a significant influence on the price of feed. As shown in Figure 1, the cost of feed has risen significantly; 216, 260 and 285 €/ton in 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively. Price changes of the feed determine the profitability (or loss) of the farms. However, in those years, an advance

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in the price of live rabbits was experienced, from 1.65 (2010) to 1.83 (2011) and 1.95 €/kg (2012).

Notes: Depr: depreciation and financial expenses; Tax: taxes and duties; En: cost of energy, water and litter; AI: cost of artificial insemination and doe replacement; Feed: cost of feed Source: Braine and Coutelet, 2012

Figure 1 The structure of production costs of farms in France between 2010 and 2012

In Hungary there is no database similar to the French one, the price change, the cost structure of several large-scale farms became available from a specialist of Agribrands Europe Hungary Plc. (Demeter, personal communication). At some points, there are significant differences in cost of rabbit meat production between France and Hungary. Comparing the proportion of cost elements, the largest difference in 2012 could be observed in case of feed cost. Feed cost may represent 57.8% of production cost in France, but is 9% higher in Hungary.

0

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Further influencing factors include the weight at slaughter, which depends on consumers’ desires. In France, smaller rabbits are slaughtered (2.4-2.5 kg) than in Hungary (2.6 to 2.8 kg), which have two consequences: the fattening period is shorter, and the feed conversion ratio of younger rabbits is better, hence less feed is consumed for producing 1 kg of rabbit meat.

According to Maertens (2009), while in France and Spain a rabbit requires less feed (3.60-3.63 kg), in Italy – where rabbits are slaughtered at similar weight as in Hungary – more feed (3.82 kg) is used to produce 1 kg of fattening rabbit. However, it should be noted that due to the lower slaughter weight, feed used in breeding (by the female, male and suckling rabbits) represent a higher proportion of total feed consumption at farm level.

Maertens (2009) also stated that 50-60% of total feed consumption goes for reproduction and 40-50% for fattening.

Significant differences were observed in Dept (depreciation and financial expenses), AI (artificial insemination and doe replacement), as well as in cost of En (energy and water), which were 5.0, 2.6 and 1.2% lower in Hungary. Apparently, Hungarians cannot request as high a price for the breeding animals and insemination as the French.

When analyzing the structure of production costs on rabbit farms with different sizes and reproduction methods (Figure 2), some differences can be seen. With increasing farm size, the total cost, the cost of compensation for the breeder’s effort and taxes and duties rose, while the cost of depreciation and financial expense declined. The structure of production costs on farms using artificial insemination or natural mating was significantly different. The highest change was in cost of feeding, compensation for the breeder’s effort and taxes and duties (with higher costs on farms using natural mating), while the cost of depreciation and financial

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expenses, veterinary expenses, artificial insemination and doe replacement (no AI) decreased. However, it should be noted that the farmers who used natural mating mainly produced labelled and similar products, and they could sell the rabbits for a higher price.

Notes: >650: more than 650 does, 400-650: 400 to 650 does, <400: less than 400 does, Nat.: natural mating, Comp: compensation for the breeder’s effort; Depr: depreciation and financial expenses; Tax: taxes and duties; Rear: cost of doe rearing; Vet: veterinary expenses; AI: cost of artificial insemination and doe replacement; Feed: cost of feed Source: Jentzer, 2009

Figure 2 The structure of production costs depending on farm size and reproduction method in France

The often unrealistic expectations of animal rights promoters, and the partial or full implementation of these expectations in certain EU recommendations and market demands, greatly increase the cost of production. If these

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consumption would decline. The situation is even more challenging, since these expectations are valid only in the EU, but not in lesser developed countries. In other words, the more expensive that the European rabbit meat is, the more it is substituted by imports. Unfortunately, a declining trend in European rabbit meat production can be observed, and the reason for this could be mainly due to the increased meat price.

The efficiency of production is partly or mainly dependent on farm management. Braine and Coutelet (2012) showed significant improvement in production results of French rabbit farms over the last decades. Jentzer (2009) found significant differences between the best 25% and the worst 25% rabbit farms on production. The French example shows how farmers deal with difficult financial situations. Increasing the farm size and improving the efficiency or developing labelled production systems can be viable options for long-term survival of the rabbit farms. In Hungary, the two slaughterhouses (with their farms) focus on the market of demanding but good-price-paying countries, and their investments and direction of development follow the expectations of the market.