Technology Advances and Innovation in the Meat Rabbit Industry in Europe

Transcription

1 Technology Advances and Innovation in the Meat Rabbit Industry in Europe by Dr Sandra Eady April 2008 RIRDC Publication No 08/036 RIRDC Project No. PRJ

2 2008 Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation. All rights reserved. ISBN ISSN Technology Advances and Innovation in the Meat Rabbit Industry in Europe Publication No. 08/036 Project No. PRJ The information contained in this publication is intended for general use to assist public knowledge and discussion and to help improve the development of sustainable regions. You must not rely on any information contained in this publication without taking specialist advice relevant to your particular circumstances. While reasonable care has been taken in preparing this publication to ensure that information is true and correct, the Commonwealth of Australia gives no assurance as to the accuracy of any information in this publication. The Commonwealth of Australia, the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC), the authors or contributors expressly disclaim, to the maximum extent permitted by law, all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any act or omission, or for any consequences of any such act or omission, made in reliance on the contents of this publication, whether or not caused by any negligence on the part of the Commonwealth of Australia, RIRDC, the authors or contributors. The Commonwealth of Australia does not necessarily endorse the views in this publication. This publication is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved. However, wide dissemination is encouraged. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the RIRDC Publications Manager on phone Researcher Contact Details Dr Sandra Eady CSIRO Livestock Industries, Locked Bag 1, Armidale NSW 2350 Phone: Fax: sandra.eady@csiro.au In submitting this report, the researcher has agreed to RIRDC publishing this material in its edited form. RIRDC Contact Details Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation Level 2, 15 National Circuit BARTON ACT 2600 PO Box 4776 KINGSTON ACT 2604 Phone: Fax: rirdc@rirdc.gov.au. Web: Published in April 2008 by Canprint ii

3 Foreword The key aim of the report is to provide the Australian rabbit industry and R&D providers with information on recent technological advances being made in rabbit farming in Europe. Europe leads with world in rabbit farming with France, Italy and Spain accounting the majority of production. Australian farmers are visiting enterprises in these countries to learn about industry structure and management. Based on this information the industry is making decisions on how to develop in Australia, ranging from the introduction of artificial insemination, inclusion of antibiotics in feed for prophylactic control of disease, and design cages and waste management systems. It is timely to obtain a snap-shot of the industry in Europe with regard to a number of these issues so that investment decisions, both by industry members and RIRDC, are based on current and objective information. This report, an addition to RIRDC s diverse range of over 1800 research publications, forms part of our New Animal Products R&D program, which aims to accelerate the development of viable new animal industries. Most of our publications are available for viewing, downloading or purchasing online through our website: downloads at purchases at Peter O Brien Managing Director Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation iii

4 Acknowledgments The author wishes to than the many people that helped to co-ordinate visits to rabbit enterprises in Europe, in particular Herve Garreau (INRA, France), Roser Panisello (Barcelona, Spain), Agustin Blasco (Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain), Eva Mocé Cervera (Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias, Spain), Ivan Toschi and Valentina Cesari (Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy). All of the enterprise managers shared information freely and provided opportunities for photographs of their facilities; this generosity contributed enormously to the value of the report for the Australian industry and is gratefully acknowledged. Abbreviations AI artificial insemination ERE - epizootic rabbit enterocolitis GDP gross domestic product INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique RIRDC - Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation iv

5 Contents Foreword...iii Acknowledgments... iv Abbreviations... iv Executive Summary... vi Introduction... 1 Overview of the Industry in France, Italy and Spain... 2 Research and Development... 9 Rabbit Breeding Programs in Relation to Crusader, the Australian Breeding Program Visits to Rabbit Facilities in Europe France General Background Commercial Shed Cholet, France Grimaud Frères ( Cholet, France INRA Rabbit Research Facility SELAP Toulouse, France Spain General Background Commercial Farm, Mas de Barberans, Spain Small Backyard Farm, Tortosa, Spain Semen Centre and Female Multiplication Farm, Aras de los Olmos, Valencia, Spain NANTA Feed Mill ( Valencia Commercial Rabbit Farm, Altura, Castellón Italy General Background Commercial Rabbit Farm, Covo, Italy Commercial Farms and Slaughter House, Zoccorino, Lombardy, Italy References v

6 Executive Summary What the report is about The report examines recent technological advances in rabbit farming in three European countries and examines the relevance of these to rabbit production under Australian conditions. Who is the report targeted at? The report is targeted at rabbit farmers and associated industries, funders of R&D for the rabbit industry and policy makers with regard to rabbit importation. Background Rabbit producers in Australia are keen to find out how the industry is structured and what technologies are being used in Europe. A number of farmers have travelled to Europe to gather information on housing, management and husbandry. Some farmers have undertaken training in artificial insemination (AI) of rabbits. Based on this information the industry is making decisions on how to develop in Australia, ranging from the introduction of AI, inclusion of antibiotics in feed for prophylactic control of disease, and design cages and waste management systems. It is timely to review the state of play in Europe with regard to a number of these issues so that investment decisions, both by industry members and RIRDC, are based on current and objective information. Aims/Objectives In conjunction with the RIRDC Program Manager, the scope and goals of the study were agreed. They covered collecting information in a range of areas including: i. Production industry structure, use of AI, protein and antibiotics in feed, feed conversion efficiency, shed design. ii. Processing target weights and age, % rabbit portioning, labour for processing, by-products. iii. Marketing market segments. iv. Value Chain gross margins for production and processing. v. Innovation and research The major aim of the project was to capture technical information and as many photographic images as possible to demonstrate new technologies. Methods used Much of the information was drawn from visits to commercial farms in Europe and from industry publications in the home-country language. Some information was not readily available due to its commercial sensitivity but, overall, members of the industry were very forthcoming and generous in the way they shared information. The information was collected from only a small number of enterprises in each country (2-3) so will not represent the full range of production systems, but every attempt was made to gain an overview of the meat rabbit industry in each country. The information in the report was gathered during May and June while Dr Sandra Eady undertook a Research Fellowship at INRA, Toulouse, in France. The itinerary covered travel to rabbit facilities in France, close to Cholet in north western France and research facilities at Toulouse in south western France. In Spain the rabbit enterprises that were visited were located near Tortosa and Valencia in north eastern Spain. Rabbit enterprises visited in Italy were located in the northern regions around Milan. A period of 3 days was spent making visits in each country, generously organised and hosted by INRA, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia and Università degli Studi di Milano. Results/Key findings Global rabbit production is in the vicinity of 1.1 million tonnes of carcase meat, or approximately 857 million rabbits. The majority is produced in Europe (50%) while Asia (predominantly China) produces 41%. France, Italy and Spain account for 76% of production within Europe. The bulk of the industry in these three European countries is industrialised, producing rabbits under intensive farming vi

7 conditions in specialised sheds. However, there still exists a significant level of home production which was most evident in Spain. France, Italy and Spain contribute 15.4%, 40.2% and 20.8%, respectively, of the total rabbit production in Europe. Rabbit consumption is stable or slightly decreasing in these countries and efforts are underway to increase the consumer appeal of rabbit by introducing quick cook meals and a variety of cuts of meat, rather than rely on the traditional whole carcass (including heads) presentation. The productivity of rabbits in Europe is higher than for Australian rabbits. Statistics for the French and Australian rabbit industries are given below. Performance Indicator France Australia Number of kittens born per litter Number of kittens born alive per litter Number of kittens weaned per litter Growth rate of grower rabbits 46 g/day 35 g/day Mortality of grower rabbits* 7% 10% Age at first mating 19.5 weeks 20 weeks Annual turnover of breeding does 120% 100% Gross margin per doe per year $153 $174 * In the absence of periodic disease outbreak such as enterocolitis in France and calici virus in Australia. The national rabbit breeding program in Australia, Crusader, is based on a composite line formed from 3 breeds that has a universal breeding objective to improve both maternal and growth traits in the one line of rabbits. In contrast the European system is based on a cross-breeding structure with specialized lines for maternal or growth attributes. This is enabled by the size and organisation of the industry, particularly in France. The performance of some of the maternal lines in France may warrant their importation to Australia but there are difficult and expensive quarantine issues to overcome. The most recent advances in technology are in the area of automation of sheds for feeding, cleaning and temperature control. New management systems have been developed to improve rabbit health, most notable the development of all-in all-out systems where-by rabbits are produced in one batch on a 6 week cycle allowing for the sheds to be vacated for a short period for intensive cleaning between batches. The adoption of artificial insemination is widespread in the industry and enables many of the management systems to operate. There has been a recent review of housing for rabbits and regulations for housing including cage sizes will be introduced to EU countries over the next 3-4 years. This will see a further upgrading of technology as old cage configurations are replaced but will also signal the exit of older farmers with smaller farms who do not want to make the shift. Abattoirs are upgrading with new technology to automate as much of the process as possible and to introduce more efficient chilling and cleaning systems. Innovation in feed mills has been in the integration of activities such as feed formulation, ingredient mixing and tracking ingredients and products, with advanced IT systems. One of the major challenges to rabbit production in Europe remains the disease - epizootic rabbit enterocolitis (ERE), a digestive tract disorder in growing rabbits. Enormous use of antibiotics still underpins profitable rabbit production in Europe with only a small level of abatement since the first occurrence of ERE in the mid-1990s. French exports to Japan in 2006 were banned for a period because of presence of antibiotics in the meat; the issue of antibiotics in meat is of concern to domestic consumers; and the widespread use of antibiotics in animal feed has implications for drug resistance and human health. vii

8 Implications for relevant stakeholders When looking at the structure of the rabbit industry in Europe, Australian farmers need to understand the role of the private breeding companies and the farmer Unions in enabling certain breeding and management practices, such as structured cross-breeding systems and all-in all-out shed designs. In Australia where the industry is small there are barriers to the adoption of some of these technologies that related to scale, industry organisational structures and investment required. Trends in rabbit marketing in Europe to improve the appeal of rabbit to a young time-poor consumer should be considered in Australia. Where rabbit producers are targeting a market for meat portions, there may be improved returns from setting a higher target weight at slaughter say 3kg rather than the more common weight of 2.5kg for whole carcasses. This is because meat yields are higher off a heavier carcass. Rabbit farmers in France, Spain and Italy are well supported by government research and technology transfer services. Due to the privatisation of most advisory services in Australian agriculture and the small R&D budget for rabbits, the industry in Australia needs to invest themselves in much of the training and technology that receives public support in Europe. The technology applied in abattoirs is reliant on access to manufactures of specialised equipment. In Europe, enterprises manufacturing rabbit equipment are also the major suppliers of abattoir equipment for poultry. It is likely that Australian processors would need to source such equipment from Europe which would be expensive and only within the financial reach of large operators with a high throughput of rabbits. Recommendations Many of the technological advances observed in European enterprises have a high capital cost and require a certain scale of production to yield a viable return on the investment. However, there are some technologies that could be introduced to most Australian farming enterprises once they reach doe size. These would include artificial insemination, automated feeding systems and computerised information management systems for tracking production. To make a sensible recommendation on pursuing rabbit importation from Europe requires a thorough analysis of why kittens are dying from birth to weaning so that a better assessment can be made on whether the losses are due to environmental effects, like disease, or genetic factors such as poor mothering ability and/or milk production. The important message is that a systematic evaluation should be made of any introductions to be able to determine the overall merit of the introduction. In the first instance, there may be advantages in exporting Crusader rabbits to France to allow for their evaluation in that country given the quarantine restrictions would be lower. Given the niche market for rabbit in Australia, as a high value healthy gourmet meat, it would be preferable to avoid the feeding of antibiotics for disease control in growing rabbits. Consumers in this market are looking for a clean green product that is free of chemicals and drugs. The rabbit industry should value and protect their reputation for such attributes. viii

9 Introduction Meat rabbit farming in Australian is a new and relatively recent industry, establishing over the last years, while in European countries it is a well established industry. Rabbit producers in Australia are keen to find out how the industry is structured and what technologies are being used in Europe. A number of farmers have travelled to Europe to gather information on housing, management and husbandry. Some farmers have undertaken training in artificial insemination (AI) of rabbits. Based on this information the industry is making decisions on how to develop in Australia, ranging from the introduction of AI, inclusion of antibiotics in feed for prophylactic control of disease, and design cages and waste management systems. It is timely to review the state of play in Europe with regard to a number of these issues so that investment decisions, both by industry members and RIRDC, are based on current and objective information. RIRDC funds an active research program covering rabbit meat product description and processing, rabbit housing and genetic improvement, in particular breeding for resistance to bacterial infection. This report on technology advances in the industry in Europe complements this existing project portfolio. In conjunction with the RIRDC Program Manager, the scope and goals of the study were agreed. They covered collecting information in a range of areas including: vi. Production industry structure, use of AI, protein and antibiotics in feed, feed conversion efficiency, shed design. vii. Processing target weights and age, % rabbit portioning, labour for processing, by-products. viii. Marketing market segments. ix. Value Chain gross margins for production and processing. x. Innovation and research Much of this type of information was drawn from visits to commercial farms in Europe and from industry publications in the home-country language. Some information was not readily available due to its commercial sensitivity but, overall, members of the industry were very forthcoming and generous in the way they shared information. The information was collected from only a small number of enterprises in each country (2-3) so will not represent the full range of production systems, but every attempt was made to gain an overview of the meat rabbit industry in each country. Often visits were conducted in the home-country language with the aid of an interpreter. This can introduce errors in understanding and I have sought to verify technical information from published sources where ever possible. The information in the report was gathered during May and June while Dr Sandra Eady undertook a Research Fellowship at INRA, Toulouse, in France. The itinerary covered travel to rabbit facilities in France; close to Cholet in north western France and research facilities at Toulouse in south western France. In Spain the rabbit enterprises that were visited were located near Tortosa and Valencia in north eastern Spain. Rabbit enterprises visited in Italy were located in the northern regions around Milan. A period of 3 days was spent making visits in each country, generously organised and hosted by INRA, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia and Università degli Studi di Milano. 1

10 Overview of the Industry in France, Italy and Spain Rabbit is a minor livestock species in each of the three countries visited and FAO world statistics (FAO 2007) do not drill down to the level of this industry in their web-based documents. However, in 2005 the Council of Europe published an excellent review of the industry which is available in English (EFSA 2005) and industry statistics for 2003 are drawn from this document. Global rabbit production is in the vicinity of 1.1 million tonnes of carcase meat, or approximately 857 million rabbits. The majority is produced in Europe (50%) while Asia (predominantly China) produces 41%. France, Italy and Spain account for 76% of production within Europe. The bulk of the industry in these three European countries is industrialised, producing rabbits under intensive farming conditions in specialised sheds. However, there still exists a significant level of home production which was most evident in Spain. France, Italy and Spain contribute 15.4%, 40.2% and 20.8%, respectively, of the total rabbit production in Europe. The next most important countries are Czech Republic (7%) and Germany (6.1%) with each of the other European countries producing <3%. Trends in production levels in France, Italy and Spain are distinctly different (Figure 1). Production in France declined by almost 50% from 1961 to 1998, and has stabilised at approximately 100,000 tonnes, while in Italy and Spain there was rapid growth (about 4-fold increase) until 1998, slowing down in Italy and slightly decreasing in Spain by The statistics for Hungary and Poland are also of interest. In these countries there was a peak in production during the 1980 s, associated with the establishment of large scale rabbitries with 10-15,000 does. This scale of operation has since been abandoned in Hungary and Poland, and also in Spain, due to difficulties of management, especially aspects of disease control and management of artificial insemination on that scale France Itlay Spain Hungary Poland Meat production (tonnes) Figure 1. Trend for rabbit meat production in European countries from 1961 to 2003 In France the decrease in production during the 1970s and 1980s was attributed to a rapid decline in the number of small producers who grew rabbits for home consumption and also supplied a significant quantity to local markets. In France, the estimates are that 66-70% of meat is now produced from industrial rabbit farming systems located largely in the northern provinces such as Pays de la Loire, Bretagne, Normandie and Picardie. Year 2

11 Bretagne Normandy Picardie Pays de la Loire Figure 2. Map of France showing major rabbit producing regions The Italian rabbit industry converted from traditional home-based production to large commercial farms from the mid-1970s, and the market has continued to grow. There is strong demand for rabbit in both southern and northern Italian cooking. Larger farms are located in northern Italy (Vento, Lombardia, Emilia-Romagna and Piemonte) while smaller more traditional enterprises are found in the south. Lombardia Veneto Piemonte Emilia-Romagna Figure 3. Map of Italy showing major rabbit producing regions Spain has grown from a relatively small producer of rabbit meat in 1961 to being the second largest producer in Europe. The majority of rabbit farms are located in north eastern and north western Spain, one-third in Catalunya, with significant farming also in Aragón, Galicia and Valencia. Rabbit production from industrial farming is estimated to be 60-70% with significant levels of traditional farming still contributing to the industry. 3

12 Galicia Catalunya Aragón Valencia Figure 4. Map of Spain showing major rabbit producing regions EU regulation governing the sale of rabbit meat now stipulates that home-based production can only be consumed by immediate family. Consequently, it is difficult to obtain reliable figures on the level of production from this sector of the industry as traditional rural networks for sharing of produce can be extensive. Opinion from the three countries was that the domestic or backyard production of rabbit still contributes a significant amount to total rabbit eaten but this is decreasing over time. For instance, in Spain the reported production of rabbit meat underestimates the consumption of rabbit reported in independent dietary studies. EU statistics for 2002 indicate home-consumption in France to be 13%, Italy 7% and Spain 20%. Figures from the early 2000s show supermarket sales to be the major point of sale in France (51%) but lower in Italy (39%) and Spain (30%), with traditional retailers being the major point-of-sale. From conversations with industry members in each country it appears that the proportion of rabbit sold via supermarkets has increased over the past 5 years, and now may be as high as 70% in France and 60% in Italy and Spain. Both traditional retailing (markets and butcher shops) and home production has declined. The consumption of rabbit is reported to be declining in each country with the main comment being that rabbit does not appeal to younger people because of the way it has been traditionally presented (whole carcass with head on) and the time required for preparation. There are various changes being introduced to counter this consumer resistance, for instance, the largest farmers union in France now sells rabbit without heads and in Italy there has been a concerted effort to market rabbit in portions and cuts that can be cooked quickly. EU statistics for per capita consumption in the late 1990s and early 2000s were 1.5kg for France, 4.0 kg for Italy and 1.8kg for Spain. Figures quoted during the visit were 1kg for France, 3.5kg for Italy and 2.1 kg for Spain. In France and Italy rabbit is used in most regional cooking, while in Spain it is especially favoured for the cooking of paella on the weekend as a typical family meal in northern Spain. In Italy consumption in >50 year olds is 3 times that of younger people. There are some particular Italian dishes that use rabbit in the south of Italy and consumption is higher in the winter, but more generally rabbit is eaten in a range of dishes. Body weight at slaughter also varies across the three countries with the majority of rabbits in France slaughtered at 2.4 kg liveweight, in northern Italy at 3.0 kg and in Spain at 2 kg. The move by the 4

13 Italians toward valued added cuts of meat is favoured by the production of heavier carcasses in this country, as the meat yields are greater with heavier rabbits. Trends in rabbit marketing in Europe to improve the appeal of rabbit to a young time-poor consumer should be considered in Australia. Where rabbit producers are targeting a market for meat portions, there may be improved returns from setting a higher target weight at slaughter say 3kg rather than the more common weight of 2.5kg for whole carcasses. This is because meat yields are higher off a heavier carcass. A profile of each country is presented in Table 1. This is to give an indication of wealth, development and social attributes compared to Australia. This type of information is important in assessing how a new industry, such as meat rabbits, might develop in Australia. Trends for industries in other countries can be misleading if looked at in isolation. A general feeling for the positioning of rabbit compared to other meat products and cost of living in each country was obtained by a spot supermarket price survey. This is not meant to be a comprehensive survey but more to get a quick feeling for comparative prices. France leads the four countries in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), with Australia next and Spain has a much lower GDP (Table 1). In terms of agricultural GDP per person working in agriculture, both France and Australia have the same level of output, with agricultural GDP 2.5 times that of Italy and Spain. Household commodities, fuel and the car included in the price survey are much cheaper in Australia. However, it is interesting to note that the profile for rabbit is quite different between Australia and Europe, with rabbit retailing at a much higher price in Australia, reflecting its niche market as a gourmet meat rather than a meat commonly found in traditional cooking. Table 1. Prices for meat and consumer commodities based on spot prices in supermarkets in each country. Country profiles are drawn from FAO Statistical Yearbook 2005; statistics on wages are from EU and Australian government publications; and household commodity prices are from spot surveys in each country. All prices are converted to $A. Country profile France Italy Spain Australia Population (million) Per capita GDP ($A million) Agricultural 26,168 11,670 10,704 26,033 GDP/Agric. Population ($) Price of wheat ($US/tonne) Price of cattle 1,725 2,581 2,103 1,049 ($US/tonne live weight) Minimum wage $25,833 na $10,000 $28,000 Whole rabbit $11.50/kg $6.65/kg $6.92/kg $17.50/kg Beef entrecote $28.20 $43.25/kg $27.90/kg $17.99/kg Pork loin chops $11.50 $10.80/kg $9.50/kg $14.99/kg Chicken breast $22.50 $13.20/kg $9.90/kg $9.50 Pork sausages na $13.25/kg $10.00/kg $7.80 Branded toothpaste $4.20/100ml $5.33ml $5.45/100ml $2.50/100ml Diesel $1.78 $1.97/L $1.63/L Megane Renault 5 door hatch Mégane 5-door Expression 1.5 dci 105 CV eco na $31,670 $36,330 $25,490 Exchange rate used for conversions were 1=$A0.6 and $US1=$A0.8. 5

14 There is an annual pattern for rabbit prices with the lowest prices often in May/June coinciding with a peak in grower turn-off from high reproductive performance during the cooler spring months when daylight hours are increasing. Over late summer, heat and decreasing daylight hours lead to lower numbers being turned off and prices tend to peak as supply decreases in September/October. There may also be greater demand for rabbit in the autumn, but this was not the primary driver of farm-gate prices. Rabbit prices paid to farmers over the last 12 months are given for each country in Table 2. None of the farmers reported any attempt to modulate production (number of does in service) to better match markets even though in some years there is a period during which they either break even or make a loss in their operation. Table 2. Farm-gate rabbit prices reported by growers in Europe during 2006/2007 Country Time period Farm-gate price ( /kg liveweight) France April France May Spain June Spain Late 2006/Early in Italy June Italy Range from July 2006 to June Rabbit is still predominantly sold as whole carcase (with head) but there is a trend to remove the head (noted with supermarket retailers in France and Italy) and to present the meat in cuts or portions. This was most evident in Italy where there is also a trend towards more sophisticated quick cook cuts. Market research in France shows that young consumers firstly do not like to see the heads, and secondly, are looking for ease of preparation. Photo 1 Left: Traditional markets are still an important retail outlet for rabbit. Photo 2 Right: Supermarkets retail the majority of rabbit meat in Europe (60-70%) with an increasing trend towards cuts of meat rather than whole carcasses. The market for rabbit is predominantly for fresh meat in Europe with no frozen and few processed products visible for sale (pies, sausages, etc), although rabbit does appear in high value delicatessen products such as terrines and pâté. The comment was made in both France and Italy that the fresh market attribute protects the European market from imports coming from China (mainly frozen meat that goes into low value manufactured products) and even from eastern European countries, as the shelf life is relatively short (4-5 days). With CO 2 packaging the meat still has <10 days of shelf life. The Italians have tried to set up large production units in Hungry and Poland, even transporting rabbits live back to Italy for slaughter, but this has not generally been successful. When demand is strong the system has worked but in the early summer when demand drops there are big problems finding markets for rabbits. A summary of rabbit prices at different outlets is given in Table 3. 6

15 Table 3. Rabbit meat prices in traditional and supermarket outlets for whole carcasses and portions Country Type of outlet Presentation Price Carnet Market Toulouse, Traditional market Whole carcase with 7.80 France head Place Wilson Market, Traditional market Whole carcase with 8.50 Toulouse, France head Carrefour, Toulouse, Supermarket Whole carcase with 7.96 France head Carnet Market Toulouse, Traditional market Front section of 3.50 France carcase Place Wilson Market, Traditional market Front section of 5.80 Toulouse, France carcase Carnet Market Toulouse, Traditional market Rear section of France carcase Place Wilson Market, Traditional market Rear section of Toulouse, France carcase Carrefour, Toulouse, Supermarket Saddle France Carrefour, Toulouse, Supermarket Hind leg France Milan, Italy Supermarket Shoulder 8.69 Milan, Italy Supermarket Saddle Milan, Italy Supermarket Back strap Milan, Italy Supermarket Hind leg Valencia, Spain Traditional market Whole rabbit with head Valencia, Spain Traditional market Mature whole rabbit with head Barcelona, Spain Supermarket Forequarter 3.99 Barcelona, Spain Supermarket Hindquarter 7.99 Barcelona, Spain Supermarket Whole rabbit with head 4.99 The history of industrialized rabbit farming in Europe dates back to the 1970 s with the widespread introduction of effective vaccination for myxomotosis along with general livestock industry drivers towards greater efficiency of production. The majority of farms are run as small to medium enterprises with private family ownership. France has the most structured industry with farmers belonging to a Groupement or Union. Farmers are members of the Union and they buy a share when they join for about per year. The Union handles supply of feed, genetics (semen and replacement does) and equipment to the farmer members. The Union also negotiates on behalf of the farmers with rabbit processors for a contracted price for supply. Some may contract supply up to 12 months in advance. The Union is paid for rabbits and distributes returns back to the farmers. The members benefit through the buying power of the Union to negotiate competitive prices for feed, equipment, genetics, and drugs. There has been a trend for smaller Unions to merge in the last 2 years and now the average size is 350 farmers representing ,000 does. The largest Union is in Normandy and has 500 members, representing 200,000 does. The larger Unions are able to employ their own veterinarians and field technicians and they advise on nutrition, management and health care. The Union is funded by the farmer levy and a small margin on supplies made to members. In joining a Union the farmer is supplied with semen and replacement does from a breeding company selected by the Union, that is, individual farmers do not pick and chose their suppliers within the Union. 7

16 As in all farming industries, the skill of rabbit farmers is increasing greatly, especially amongst young farmers entering the industry. The manager of the commercial farm visited near Cholet, in north western France, had previously worked as a field technician. In setting up the new farm for 900 does, there was considerable input and support from the regional Union in terms of shed design and function and sourcing of breeding does to initially populate the shed. Some Unions run multiplication farms to transfer genetic lines to industry from major breeding companies like Grimaud, and some of the multiplication farms have their own AI centres that supply commercial semen. When looking at the structure of the rabbit industry in France, Australian farmers need to understand the role of the private breeding companies and the farmer Unions in enabling certain breeding and management practices, such as structured cross-breeding systems and all-in all-out shed designs. Both of these are discussed in more detail later in the report. In Italy and Spain, there is no equivalent of the French Unions and individual farmers operate more independent businesses in terms of negotiating for supplies and with processors for meat prices. Farmer associations tend to operate on a basis similar to Australia. There are regional associations that support field days and farmer training and provide a contact point for interaction with government agencies. In Spain, all farms must be registered with an association and must comply with health and traceability regulations. The farmer is paid an incentive of 0.6/doe/year to comply so membership is widespread (80%) with the exception of small farmers producing rabbits for extended family consumption. In one of the districts visited (l Ebre), the local branch of Associació Cunicultors has members over a radius of 70 km and their next field day included a program of speakers from Spain and France covering myxomototsis, epidemiology of disease, genetic improvement of rabbits and advanced reproduction techniques. The workshop was free. Although rabbit farming is a secondary livestock industry in Europe the level of field and technical support from associated industries (breeding companies, feed manufacturers), government agencies, universities and industry associations is impressive. This support has facilitated major technological change in the industry over the last years with the adoption of artificial insemination, application of advanced breeding programs, introduction of automation of feeding, waste disposal and climate control, and development of management systems to reduce disease incidence. Rabbit farmers in France, Spain and Italy are well supported by government research and technology transfer services. Due to the privatisation of most advisory services in Australian agriculture and the small R&D budget for rabbits, the industry in Australia needs to invest themselves in much of the training and technology that receives public support in Europe. There is a clear demarcation appearing in the industry in terms of technology adoption between those who entered in the 1970s/1980s and are now close to retiring compared to younger farmers who have recently entered the industry or taken over family farming operations. The introduction of new EU regulations on cages size over the next 3-4 years is likely to see many older farmers close their enterprises. 8

17 Research and Development Private research is largely undertaken by feed suppliers and breeding companies, with a few of the larger French Unions funding some applied research. The industry is well supported with public research undertaken by government agencies such as Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA, France) and Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (IRTA, Spain) as well as universities. In both France and Spain public research has supported the development of specialist lines of rabbits, a function that has now largely been devolved to private industry in France but is still maintained in Spain. In Italy there is no public investment in genetics and most farmers import breeding stock and semen from France. The focus of research in Italy is on nutrition, disease control and animal welfare. To the author s knowledge, in all the countries visited farmers do not pay a research and development levy on product sold. 9

18 Rabbit Breeding Programs in Relation to Crusader, the Australian Breeding Program. The most widespread breeding programs in Europe are based on a structured 3-way, or sometimes a 4- way, crossing system. This is to utilise hybrid vigor for maternal traits, such as litter size, which is expressed in the crossbred mother. The crossbred doe is produced by mating two genetically distinct/different lines of rabbits that have both been independently selected for high reproduction rate (coloured blue and green in Figure 5). The male off-spring are slaughtered for meat and the females are supplied to commercial farms, often as day old kits. The crossbred female is mated to a heavy meat type that has been selected for growth rate, resulting in a system that has good mothers producing fast growing commercial rabbits for slaughter. A 3-way cross is shown diagrammatically in Figure 5. With a 4-way cross the paternal male is produced by mating two distinct lines selected for growth, so the male is also a crossbred expressing hybrid vigor for semen production. For this system to operate efficiently there needs to be a sector of the industry dedicated to maintaining the pure lines and investing in their on-going selection. In France this role has been carried out by INRA for maternal lines, where selection is more difficult, while paternal lines selected for growth were established by private breeding companies. Over a transition period the INRA lines have moved into private industry. French companies such as Grimaud, Hycole and Hyplus maintain the majority of grant-parent lines in Europe, and they supply multiplication farms with semen and does from the relevant lines to make the crosses. The multiplication units supply the commercial rabbit producers with breeding does and some also provide commercial semen. In Spain, grand-parent lines have been produced by two universities and IRTA, which continue to maintain the lines and undertake the selection as a public investment for the industry. However, there is also widespread use of French lines in Spain. In Italy, there has been not been any public investment in breeding and the majority of farmers use lines from France. There are some private breeding companies such as Martini group (an integrated feed, rabbit production and processing company) that has its own breeding program and provides rabbits to a small proportion of farmers in northern Italy. BUCK X DOE GRAND-PARENT LINES SELECTED FOR MATERNAL BUCK X DOE PARENTAL LINES MALE SELECTED FOR GROWTH, FEMALE EXPRESSING HYBRID VIGOR COMMERCIAL RABBITS for MEAT Figure 5. An example of a 3-way cross-breeding program to maintain hybrid vigor for maternal performance 10

19 In Australia, the initial goal of the Crusader project was to investigate the relative benefits of a structured crossing system similar to that found in Europe, compared to a single breed selection program. This required evaluation of the most common breeds available (New Zealand White, Californian and Flemish Giant), and some of their crosses. The breed evaluation showed that, for reproduction traits such as litter size, purebred New Zealand White does and the crossbred does were the best. But as their performance was similar there was not enough hybrid vigor to warrant a structured cross-breeding program. For growth traits, the New Zealand White and Flemish Giant purebreds performed the best, with similar results for the crosses of these two breeds. Purebred Californians grew the slowest and crosses with Californian were intermediate. These results suggested two options for the breeding program: Develop a superior line of purebred New Zealand White rabbits Develop a synthetic or composite strain of rabbits by selecting the best individual rabbits irrespective of breed The decision was made to do the latter, so that selection intensity could be maximised for the given population of animals (that is the very best rabbits, regardless of breed, could be used), and so that genetic variation in the foundation population was maximised. In July 2001, the Crusader breeding program commenced using a selection index based on number of kittens weaned and growth rate. The breeding objective was expanded in 2003 to include resistance to disease in grower rabbits. There remains the issue of what merit might be gained from the introduction of lines from Europe. The logical lines would be those selected for reproduction traits, as this is the most difficult and slowest trait to improve because of the need for good records and its relatively low heritability (0.05%). However, we need to have some assessment in the first instances of what the difference might be in number born and number weaned between French lines and Crusader, and whether these are likely to be genetic differences. Table 4. Comparison of production levels for French and Australian rabbits Performance Indicator France Australia Number of kittens born per litter Number of kittens born alive per litter Number of kittens weaned per litter Growth rate of grower rabbits 46 g/day 35 g/day Mortality of grower rabbits* 7% 10% Age at first mating 19.5 weeks 20 weeks Annual turnover of breeding does 120% 100% Gross margin per doe per year $153 $174 * In the absence of periodic disease outbreak such as enterocolitis in France and calici virus in Australia. Currently Crusader rabbits produce 9 kittens born and 8 kittens born alive. This is still somewhat behind the French maternal lines which are producing 10.4 kits/litter and 9.9 kits/litter, respectively, for number born and number born alive, but it is not dramatically lower. Where there is a large difference is between the reported number weaned in each country, 8.4 kits/litter in France and 5 kits/litter in Crusader. However, we need to take care in comparing these figures for number weaned as the Australian figures include data for litters where all rabbits are born dead or die before weaning. (Farmers often remark that the figure for Crusader is much lower than they achieve, but often farm records only include data 11

20 for litters with >1 rabbit at weaning, that is, they do not include 0 values where the whole litter dies at birth or before weaning.) The figures from Europe are based on litter size at weaning after litters have been equalized in size by fostering an equal number of kits to healthy does. The reported averages can be inflated if litters are not returned to some does during the fostering exercise, for instance, sick does or does whose kittens were all born dead. This can be checked for French figures by working backwards from the average weight of rabbits produced per AI cycle, which is currently 15 kg/ai in France. If grower mortality is 7% (no ERE occurring) then the number weaned is close to 8.4 kits per litter. So we can be reasonably confident that the French rabbits are more highly productive than Australian rabbits. If this difference in number weaned is largely due to environmental factors, which could be the case given the difference in housing conditions between Australia and France, then there may be no large value in using imported lines. In fact there may be a detrimental effect when rabbits selected for high litter size in a very good environment are placed in a much less hygienic one where there is no routine prophylactic use of antibiotics to control disease. The possibility of a significant genotype x environment interaction should not be over looked. However, if the genetic merit for rearing kits has been significantly improved by selection, along with increased number born, and this can be expressed in a range of environments, then the European strains may have real benefits to offer. The important message is that a systematic evaluation should be made of any introductions to be able to determine the overall merit of the introduction. The issue and cost of quarantine is also a significant factor with rabbit importation. There have been some recent events in France that would facilitate some lines of rabbits meeting the originating country quarantine requirements with minimal additional cost. This has come about by the establishment of specific pathogen free colonies of rabbits that have been selected for maternal ability. To make a sensible recommendation on pursuing rabbit importation requires a thorough analysis of why kittens are dying so that a better call can be made on whether the losses are due to environmental effects like disease or poor mothering ability and/or milk production. The important message is that a systematic evaluation should be made of any introductions to be able to determine the overall merit of the introduction. In the first instance, there may be advantages in exporting Crusader rabbits to France to allow for their evaluation in that country given the quarantine restrictions would be lower. 12

21 Visits to Rabbit Facilities in Europe At all of the rabbit enterprises visited, from the small backyard farm with 6 does through to the largest farm with 3000 does, the rabbits were house in buildings designed to be insect proof. The level of sophistication for ventilation ranged from adjustable window slats through to computer controlled systems using sensors for temperature and relative humidity. Active cooling was invariably done with evaporative pads and heating was provided by industrial heaters running on gas or heavy fuel oil. Farmers attempt to keep the temperature in a range of o C but on occasions temperatures will exceed this in summer, as continuous use of the evaporative cooling is avoided as it increases the relative humidity and predisposes the rabbits to respiratory infections. Even though most sheds have lighting set to constant day length (approx 16 hours) there is still a seasonal pattern in rabbit turn-off, with numbers peaking in May/June and falling off in September/October as the effects of hot weather and decreasing hours of sunlight flow through the production cycle. The level of farm biosecurity varied with different enterprises. In Spain and Italy visitors were generally required to don disposable shoe covers and overalls to enter facilities. At Grimaud Frères visitors are required to shower and don clothing, footwear and hair covers provided inside the facility. The semen collection centre visited in Spain and the new all-in all-out commercial shed in France had facilities for showering but as they had not yet been commissioned, and there were no rabbits in residence, as visitors we were not required to shower or wear special clothing. There has been a recent EU review of the impact of housing and husbandry systems on the health and welfare of farmed rabbits (EFSA 2005) and many farmers were cognisant of the impact this may have on cage size. The recommendations from the scientific panel were general and often identified the need for more objective information for decision making. However, it is expected that EU regulations on cage size will be introduced over the next 2-3 years with implementation within each country likely to occur over the next 3-4 years. At this stage there are no cage dimensions specified but the likely outcome is a requirement for cages with a minimum height of 40 cm and stocking density of no more than 40 kg/m 2. One of the major challenges to rabbit production remains the disease - epizootic rabbit enterocolitis (ERE), a digestive tract disorder in growing rabbits. Enormous use of antibiotics still underpins profitable rabbit production in Europe with only small level of abatement since the first occurrence of ERE in the mid-1990s. French exports to Japan in 2006 were banned for a period because of presence of antibiotics in the meat; the issue of antibiotics in meat is of concern to domestic consumers; and the widespread use of antibiotics in animal feed has implications for drug resistance and human health. Given the niche market for rabbit in Australia, as a high value healthy gourmet meat, it would be preferable to avoid the feeding of antibiotics for disease control in growing rabbits. Consumers in this market are looking for a clean green product that is free of chemicals and drugs. The rabbit industry should value and protect their reputation for such attributes. A description of each enterprise visited is given with photographs. The level and type of information collected at each farm varied depending on the time for the visit, the skill of the interpreter, and specific features of interest at each farm. On occasions there was an opportunity to discuss the state of the industry and other issues in more detail. 13

22 France General Background The average farm size in France is about 400 does with larger enterprises in the order of does. Most are run as small to medium size family enterprises. The strength of the industry comes from the Unions which represent farmers and are able to negotiate on behalf of the combined group. The Union collects a levy to cover their costs and they also make a margin on the sale of feed, equipment and genetics to cover operating expenses. The larger Unions employ technical field offers and veterinarians. Unions help farmers enter the industry with fixed contracts for rabbit prices and advice on design of new facilities. State of the rabbit industry in France is quite unbalanced at the moment with many older farmers approaching retirement; the average age is years. Secondly, the market is not increasing as rabbit consumption domestically (1kg/yr) is stable or slightly decreasing. There is no indication that this trend might reverse and the image of rabbit meat does not fit with a young consumer who is looking for ease of cooking and innovative presentation. The market for rabbit meat has been kept up by other meat market shifts such as the effect of mad cow disease on beef consumption, and avian influenza on poultry. But each of these is a temporary effect and beef and chicken are taking back their share. Pork is also cheap compared to rabbit. The quantity of rabbit sold per AI cycle is the standard measure of production in France. It was 13kg/AI in 2002 and is now 15kg/AI and farmers are thinking about how to lift this level to 20kg/AI. This is feasible as some of the best farmers are already achieving this level through improvements in technical management and management of disease, particularly the move to an all-in all-out management system over the last 10 years. The industry is attractive to younger entrants although the drop in prices to 1.30/kg in May 2007 has caused some concern. A drop in prices is expected at this time of the year but the level was greater than anticipated. However, there is still confidence in the industry with the Unions providing support an technical advice to new entrants; there has been a big drop in the incidence of ERE; and generally rabbit meat has not shown the fluctuation in consumer demand that other meats have, such as chicken and beef. This makes investment returns more predictable and reliable. Also many industries are closed to investment for small businesses, pigs due to the large capital investment required to handle waste, and poultry because of the vertical integration and large company control in the industry. The three visits in France included a new commercial shed operating an all-in all-out system, the largest private breeding company in France and INRA research facilities for rabbits. Commercial Shed Cholet, France A new commercial shed was visited near Cholet in north western France. When we visited it was about to be commissioned, with the first batch of pregnant female rabbits arriving the next day. The shed is designed to accommodate 900 breeding does, replacement females and growers, operating on an allin all-out system. It has 900 dual purpose maternal/grower cages and 500 other cages to house replacement and non-pregnant does. We were able to inspect the left hand side of the facility where final installations were still being completed. It would not be populated by rabbits for another 40 days until the does that moved into the right hand shed weaned their first litter. 14

23 Photo 3 All-in all-out facility for commercial meat rabbit production in northern France. The facility consists of two rooms which operate around the 6 week AI cycle. All does are inseminated at the one time resulting in one cohort of rabbits being produced every 6 weeks. This system of management is being adopted more widely in Europe as it offers efficiency gains for labour and allows better control of disease, as each room is vacant for a short period allowing complete disinfection of cages, walls and floors. The facility can be run by 1 person full time plus an additional person at AI, kindling and for loading growers to go to slaughter. Litter size is equilibrated at kindling so that all does have the same number of kittens and this activity is undertaken by a specialised team of people on a contract basis. Photo 4 Left: View of the length of one of the two rooms that make up the all-in all-out facility showing multi-purpose maternal/growing cages and gas heaters located ¼ of the way along the room. Photo 5 Right: Multi-purpose maternal/growing cage with nest box options and removable door panel for period of controlled lactation prior to AI. All nest boxes lift out at 21 days post-kindling. The does arrive in the clean room 3-4 days before kindling, leaving behind their previous litters as weaners at approximately 35 days of age. The clean shed into which the does arrive previously held growers from the cycle before last, which are sent to slaughter at approximately 70 days of age. The abattoir sets the pick-up day for the rabbits so weaning is adjusted around this day to ensure cages are vacated when required. On the day we visited, the room receiving the 900 pregnant breeding does was being disinfected with an aerosol to ready it for receiving the rabbits. However, we had free access to the alternate room as tradesmen were still completing final wiring and commissioning of the ventilation system. The ventilation system is fully automated with temperature and relative humidity sensors but not for ammonia. Temperature sensors are located both inside and outside the shed to allow rapid adjustment 15

24 of ventilation when storms occur. Air is drawn into the building over an evaporative pad and is directed by baffles towards the ceiling in an ante-room. Flow though the shed is controlled by roller doors on the opposite wall of the ante-room that are remotely controlled to vary the airflow and temperature in the room. Photo 6 Left: External wall of the shed with evaporative pads for cooling air. Positive pressure created by fans at the opposite end of the building create air flow. Photo 7 Right: Ante-room with sloping baffle positioned on the inside of the wall with evaporative pads, and roller doors (fully closed) on opposite wall that automatically open and close to adjust air flow into the room with the rabbits. Fans at the far end of the shed extract the air and create a positive pressure, with the lower fans operating all the time and the higher fans activated during very hot weather. The shed is heated in winter by gas burners located about one quarter of the way along the shed. The shed is constructed with a sandwich panel of metal/polystyrene/rock wool for good insulation. Photo 8 Left: Rear internal wall of the shed showing the ventilation fans that create positive air pressure and direction of air flow in the shed. Photo 9 Right: Rear external wall of the shed showing fan exhaust, exit for scrapers clearing the waste and concrete collection area for dry waste. Liquid waste is collected into a drain that runs to an earth fermentation pond. Feeding is automated with an auger, encased in pipe, delivering pelleted feed to rows of cages. Sensors at the beginning of rows trigger the auger when the feed level drops. There are 5 different types of feed supplied to the shed. 1. Maternity feed for lactating and pregnant does (high energy) 16

25 2. Pre-weaning feed for doe and kittens started 28 days after kindling (more fibre) 3. Grower feed with medication fed until days pre-slaughter 4. Grower feed without medication commonly referred to as white feed 5. Feed for replacement does (lower energy) The 5 silos on the farm have automatic feeding lines that can be swapped to deliver different rations at different times in sections of the shed. Photo 10 Left: Silo for storing the 5 different feed mixes. Photo 11 Right: Automated feed handling system that delivers different feed mixes to banks of cages depending on rabbits inhabiting the multipurpose cage (does or growers) and the reproductive status of the doe. The decision was made to have a single height for cages for ease of access and occupational health and safety of workers. The maternal cages are approx 300 mm high, 370 mm wide and 1000 mm deep. The nest box fits into the front of the cage and is removed after 21 days to provide more room for the litter and subsequent weaners when the doe is moved to the next room. There is a baffle underneath the cage floor where the nest box sits to deflect faeces when the box is removed. The cages are fitted with pressure mats integrated into the design of the mesh floors for ease of cleaning. These are removed at weaning and are cleaned ready for the next time the does inhabit that room. The waste trough under the cages is approximately 250mm deep sloping to 300mm deep and the surface concrete appeared to be painted with a sealer. At the lowest cross-sectional point of the trough there is a gap in the concrete for liquid collection which is dragged through with a ball and wire arrangement each day to clear. This is a new system to separate the liquid waste and presumably reduce ammonia but it is yet to be seen if this separation makes the drier solid waste more difficult to remove from the facility. 17

26 Photo 12 Left: Exit to waste collection trough showing cross-section view of liquid collection drain and pulley with cable attached to the scraper. Photo 13 Right: Side view of the scraping device used to clear solid waste from the trough under the cages. The room is cleaned and disinfected once the growers go to slaughter. The manager has evaluated robots for cleaning but they are not good at detecting the level of dirt in the cage so each cage gets the same amount of cleaning. This made the exercise time consuming as the robot had to be set to clean the dirtiest cage. The decision was made to continue cleaning manually. The cages are cleaned with high pressure detergent mousse and water, disinfected and finished with a water rinse. The roof and walls are washed with disinfectant. Gas and formalin disinfecting are now forbidden. The cleaning is done with a high pressure water cleaner that heats the water and runs on 3-phase power. Photo 14 Left: High pressure water cleaner. Photo 15 Right: Cages for replacement does are also multi-purpose with internal openings between cages to house groups of growers and front openings for access to an external nest box that could attached to the cage. There is a shower room and small lab in the facility but workers will not shower into the facility for normal access. There is a barrier bench placed across the entrance to leave dirty shoes and clothes one side and use clean boots and overalls on the other. The waste trap is located at the far end of the rooms and dry waste will be removed twice per week with a tractor and liquid waste will run into the dam being constructed. The business is owned by a young farmer who has previously worked as a field technician/advisor in the industry. It is a family based business with the land being purchased specifically for building the rabbit shed. There is no residence on site. The overall investment was 540/breeding cage or a total of 490,000. The approximate cost of initial breeding stock (pregnant does in this case) would be about 18

27 25,000. In establishing the enterprise the owner was assisted with technical advice and shed designs by the local Union of rabbit farmers and one of the large private breeding companies. Many of the technological advances observed in European enterprises have a high capital cost and require a certain scale of production to yield a viable return on the investment. However, there are some technologies that could be introduced to most Australian farming enterprises once they reach doe size. These would include artificial insemination, automated feeding systems and computerised information management systems for tracking production. Grimaud Frères ( Cholet, France Grimaud Frères is part of Groupe Grimaud, progressive private French company that specialises in biotechnologies directed at human and animal health, genetic selection for avian species and rabbits, and multiplication facilities for day old ducklings. This was my third visit to their facilities and was marked yet again by their enthusiasm and willingness to provide information to support a developing rabbit industry in Australia. This time I visited the AI centre and the facilities housing the grand-parent lines that supply the multiplication farms for the industry in France. In France 60% of the meat rabbits produced originate from Grimaud lines. The rabbits are housed in high biosecurity facilities which require all staff and visitors to shower into the facility, leaving behind all clothing and footwear and donning clothes provided from inside the facility. When travelling between sheds there is a raised walkway and at each shed you change into footwear specifically for that shed. Photo 16 Left: Changing footwear after entering a new shed. Photo 17 Right: Walkways between the sheds housing the different grand-parent lines. The AI centre was established in All the collections are done in the one shed but there are another 2 buildings that can be used as a back up in case of fire. All bucks are purebred from one of the two maternal lines or a number of paternal lines (selected for growth). Grimaud Frères provide their commercial farmers with a system of 3-way crossing; therefore they are not collecting from any crossbred bucks. The paternal lines varying in their size and colour to target different markets for finished weight or traditional outlets that prefer coloured rabbits. 19

28 Photo 18 Left: Laboratory in which quality of the semen is checked and semen is diluted ready for use. Photo 19 Right: Artificial vaginas prepared for collection the next day, incubated to a temperature of approximately 60 o C. Bucks arrive at 10 weeks of age from the breeding sheds on site. At 18 weeks of age they are moved into special cages for collection. It takes about two weeks to train the bucks and semen quality is assessed from weeks of age. Of 100 bucks entering the facility, 65 make it into production. Of those culled about a third are culled on ease of training and semen collection and two thirds on quality of semen (viscosity, volume, contaminants such as urine, motility). Bucks are also selected for good libido. Photo 20 Left: Coloured buck in the semen collection centre from one of the grand-parent lines selected for growth. Photo 21 Right: Young bucks waiting to come into testing period in the semen collection centre. The criteria a buck must meet are >20ml per ejaculate semen volume and a 6 out of 10 score for motility. A pathology test is not undertaken for individual bucks but is done on semen when it is sold. The final product has antibiotics added. Production is 40,000 doses per day from 3000 bucks. Semen is shipped regularly across France and Europe. Grimaud also has AI centre in Italy in private partnership with a co-ownership business model for the rabbits. In the breeding sheds we looked at a range of grand-parent lines with kittens at different ages. The AI cycle for does is 42 days with discrete generations for each line. Lactation is controlled for the period between birth and next AI which is about days, with the does allowed access to their kittens for mins/day. Litters are adjusted to a constant size of about 9 by cross-fostering at birth. In the 20

29 paternal lines the adopted rabbits are not considered for selection and are ear notched. In the maternal lines, adopted kits are identified at birth with a small ear tag. In the larger multiplication farms adopted kittens in maternal lines are individually identified with notches to the ear prior to being tagged at weaning. Photo 22 Left: Maternal cages in Grimaud facility. Photo 23 Right: Grand-parent Line 77 doe and kittens, a maternal line established by IRNA and now maintained by Grimaud. The most commonly used paternal line (white) is selected for 63 day weight, to produce meat rabbits turned off at 70 days at 2.4 kg. The coloured line is selected for growth and this line targets commercial rabbit production in the south of France where there is a more traditional market for rabbits. These rabbits are processed at smaller slaughter houses and rabbits are sold through butchers and local markets. They are slaughtered at days and 2.8 kg liveweight. Photo 24 Left: Articulating cage top on maternal cages. Photo 25 Right: Cages accommodating replacement and non-pregnant does. Grand-parent lines are supplied to multiplication farms that produce animals for purchase by the commercial rabbit breeders. Day old female crossbred rabbits are sold for 7 delivered to the farm. A grand-parent dam sells for at 12 weeks of age for those farmers who wish to breed their own crossbred does. To do this they also buy semen from the other grand-parent line for 1/dose. Most farmers buy day old kittens as replacement breeding does which means they no longer have grandparent dams on their farms. 21

30 Photo 26 Left: Grand-parent doe and kits form Line 59, selected for high growth. Photo 27 Right: Kit with small ear tag to identify individual rabbits at birth in the lines selected for maternal ability. INRA Rabbit Research Facility SELAP Toulouse, France The INRA facility at Castanet houses the maternal grand-parent lines that have supplied the French rabbit industry since their inception. These lines have been selected for increased litter size at birth, increased litter size at weaning, and since 1996, some emphasis has been place liveweight at 63 days of age. The lines consist of approximately 120 breeding does each. These maternal lines are in the final transition to industry, with Grimaud Frères, the largest private breeding company in Europe, now largely managing and maintaining the selection program. Photo 28 SELAP research facility run by INRA for breeding experiments. SELAP also has facilities for experimentation such as a current project examining the genetic basis of feed efficiency of grower rabbits on ad libitum and restricted diets. This has required a new room to be set up with individual cages to allow feed intake to be measured. It has 320 cages for individual rabbits that were purpose built by Extrona (Spain). Rabbits from a commercial growth/paternal line are being used to undertake 6 generations of selection on either an ad libitum or restricted diet to measure heritability and selection response in efficiency of feed conversion plus correlated responses in other traits. 22

31 Photo 29 Left: Individual cages for the feed conversion efficiency experiment. Each feeder is divided to service four cages. Feed residues will be collected with a small vacuum from the feeder daily. Photo 30 Right: Maternal cages with grand-parent line does. The SELAP building has 3 zones for hygiene. 1. Zone 1 is the dirty zone where staff meet and visitors come. Rabbit farmers need to shower into this section, while other visitors need to change shoes. 2. Zone 2 is the working zone. To move into the working zone which is basically the hall ways and service rooms, visitors put on a coat. 3. Zone 3 is the Salle de lapins where the rabbits live and is only entered by the designated worker for that room. The worker enters via an ante-room which has hand washing facilities and extra coats for additional workers who may enter the room. These coats are designated for each room. No visitors enter the Zone 3 with the rabbits. Photo 31 Left: Foot bath area to disinfect boots when moving between dirty and clean areas in the SELAP facility. Photo 32 Right: Ante-room for hand washing and changing boots and coats before entering the room that houses each line of rabbits or experiment. 23

32 The flow of equipment is from the cleaning and disinfection room, to the Salle de lapins and back to a washing area but separate from clean equipment. Equipment used in each rabbit room is disinfected 2-3 times a week, e.g. feed trolleys. Troughs under the rabbit cages are cleaned once a week by scraping out the faeces, disinfecting and hosing out. The floor area is also cleaned once a week. Every 6 weeks the room is vacated (there is a 42 day artificial insemination cycle) and cleaned with high powered disinfecting gun. Walls are swabbed and tested for residual bacteria to ensure cleaning has been effective. Staff do not shower into the facility but do change into special clothes for working which stay in the facility. The staff area is equipped with dishwasher, washing machines and clothes driers. Air flows from hallway vents to the end of the room and is exhausted externally with fans. Evaporative cooling is used in the summer but sparingly as the increase in relative humidity can often cause more problems than the higher temperature. Minimum temperature is kept close to 18 o C and heating is used to achieve this in the winter. The facility is being converted to automatic sensing for temperature to allow more effective management of winter temperatures. Photo 33 Left: Staff member at SELAP with weighing equipment being used for the feed conversion efficiency experiment. Photo 34 Right: High powered vaporising gun used to disinfect walls and ceilings. Spain General Background In Spain the majority of rabbits are produced in family run businesses; 20% of the farms have does; 60% have does and 20% have a small number of does. There has been a need to increase the number of does to maintain income over the last 5 years. The optimum farm size is does which requires 1-2 people to mange. Production levels tend to be better in the medium size farms due to better control of disease. ERE is a problem in grower rabbits in Spain but appears to be not as great a problem as in France and Italy. Today about 95% of farms are using AI and with younger farmers it is the norm. There were only 10-20% of farmers using AI 10 years ago. The widespread adoption of AI was aided by organisational support from IRTA (Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries), Universitat Autonoma de 24

33 Barcelona and Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. They provided semen at an affordable cost from their grand-parent lines, trained farmers in insemination, assisted with the establishment of semen centres. The philosophy behind the involvement of universities, to provide and maintain the grandparent lines for the industry and provide technical assistance, is to translate improved genetics to farmers at a reasonable price. This is a stated objective of the universities. Now part of this role has moved to commercial semen centres that provided assistance and training for AI. It takes about four farm visits to introduce the technology; the first to train the farmer in collection of semen and preparing semen doses; the second to train the farmer in the AI technique; and then two follow-up visits to check techniques are correct and the pregnancy rate being achieved is in the normal range. In Spain visits were made to a range of enterprises from a small backyard rabbit production, two commercial farms, a semen centre and multiplication farm and a feed mill. Commercial Farm, Mas de Barberans, Spain The commercial farm in Cataluña was established in 1980 in converted poultry sheds. It consists of two buildings, one for breeders and one for growers. There is natural ventilation, no power, and no artificial lighting. The farm is run by one person with occasional assistance from his wife. Photo 35 Left: Rabbit sheds at commercial farm at Mas de Barberans, Spain. Photo 36 Right: Shed converted from poultry farming to rabbits in The farm accommodates 700 does which are housed in the one shed, divided into three sections and one third of the does are inseminated every 14 days. AI is performed by the farmer using a purpose build stand to hold the doe. Semen is purchased from Espermy SA, part of the Cunicarn group ( a Spanish AI centre that sells sperm across Spain and also into South America. Bucks used in the semen centre come from a range of lines including Grimaud and other French companies. 25

34 Photo 37 Left: Shed was naturally ventilated with fold down sections in each wall. Maternity cages with lids on the top to allow free access for suckling. Photo 38 Right: Maternity cages with lids lifted and slid down the front face of the box to prevent suckling, in preparation for AI of the doe within the next 24 hours. Cost of semen is 0.63/dose. Replacement females cost 5 as day old kittens and 9-10 as 2 month olds. Does are first mated at weeks. In this instance replacement does are bred on the farm using semen from a maternal line. The semen centre is located near Tortosa about an hour s drive from the farm and semen is collected each fortnight by the farmer. It is packed in an esky with ice sticks for transport. Semen can be bought in bulk or specially prepared in mono-doses ready to use for each doe. Mono-dose delivery is much more common than bulk semen due to the ease of insemination as no additional preparation is required on-farm. Semen can travel for hours but not much longer before losing viability and for more distant farms it is sent by express service. Photo 39 Left: Styrofoam box for packing and shipping semen doses. Cavity area around the edge of the box is filled with frozen icy poles to keep the semen cool. Photo 40 Right: Doe in home-made stand ready for insemination. The day before AI the does are shut off from access to the kittens in the nest box; the more common practice in industry is to control lactation from birth to until the next AI (10-11 days) but the labour requirement to close off nest boxes every day is too high for this enterprise. Two drugs are given to prepare the does for AI; PMSG (Gonaser, Hipra SA) is given at 48 hours pre-ai as a subcutaneous injection and a gonadotrophin releasing hormone (Suprefact, Aventis Pharma SA) is given at time of AI as an intra-muscular injection to stimulate ovulation. 26

35 Nest box is taken away from the kittens at 24 days, the nesting material is not changed during this time but dirty sections are removed if required after kindling. Weaning is at 35 days and the weaners are moved to the second shed into group pens. Normally there are 8-10 kittens born alive and the litters are cross-fostered to uniform size. The provision of pressure mats in the doe cages is not routine but they are provided for does with hocksore. Breeding does and growers are fed ad libitum while replacement does are fed a restricted diet to ensure they do not get too fat prior to first mating. The farm uses three feed formulations medicated feed for does, medicated feed for growers and non-medicated ( white ) feed for growers. Feeds are medicated with antibiotics to help control pasteurellosis and epizootic rabbit enterocolitis (ERE). The farmer indicated that disease has increased since the EU in the early 2000s cancelled the use of certain medications which provided more effective control. A coccidiostat is used in the water when symptoms are visible. Occasionally there are myxomatosis outbreaks and does are vaccinated every 6 months. Weight of individual kittens at weaning is about 800g. Growers are finished at 65 days (60-70 days for winter-summer range). They are fed ad libitum and eat less in the summer and so take longer to reach the market target weight which is very tight around kg. Cunicarn group also operate the nearest slaughter house and they collect the rabbits every fortnight. Photo 41 Left: Kits in wood shavings lining the home-made timber boxes. Photo 42 Right: Growers ready to go to slaughter in the next 7-10 days. The conception rate from AI is normally in the range of 70-80% although there can be occasional disasters when it can be as low as 40%. The mortality from weaning to finishing is influenced enormously by the level of ERE, which appears sporadically. Mortality of 12-15% is normal when there is evidence of ERE, but it can be as high as 40%. When ERE is not present mortalities are about 7%. A really good fortnight will produce 1300 growers (usually in late may early June) whereas the normal turn off is 900 growers. Working backwards, these turn-off rates indicate an overall mortality of 13% from birth to market age when conditions are optimal (good pregnancy rates and no ERE) but on average indicate a mortality of 32%. The farmer has found the best treatment for dealing with ERE is to remove the sick rabbits and disinfect the pen. He has tried restricting the feed but found it too labour intensive and not very effective. Feed is priced at $240/tonne delivered to the farm. Prices for rabbits range from /kg liveweight depending on the time of the year with the current price about /kg. Rabbit retails for about 6-8/kg. It is normal for the price to go down in spring when there are more rabbits being produced. 27

36 The best prices are normally in September and October when the summer heat reduces the AI success rate and there are less rabbits available. This is an annual pattern for prices but this year the price fluctuation is a bit more marked than normal. Temperatures in the shed in summer rise to o C with rare days of 34 o C in July and August. In winter the minimum is about 6 o C. Window openings on one side of the shed are closed in winter and if it is really windy. The farm is labour intensive but the owner is at the stage of his life where he does not want to invest in new systems. The rabbit farm will see him and his wife out until retirement in 5-10 years, with the option of an off-farm job to supplement income. Small Backyard Farm, Tortosa, Spain It is common for people who live in Tortosa to have a small summer house on the outskirts of the town where the family move to in the hot summer months. These fairly simple houses are cooler and often have extensive fruit and vegetable gardens. Small-scale livestock such as ducks, chickens and rabbits are kept for production of eggs and meat for family consumption. This may often spread to extended family and friends. Photo 43 Left: Cages set up in a building adjacent to poultry sheds and dog kennels. Photo 44 Right: Coloured doe from traditional breeds used for meat with kitten. Breeds use for in backyard farming are more traditional and diverse compared to commercial lines but have also been mixed with commercial lines. The farm visited was run by an elderly retired man and his son who works in Tortosa. There were 6 does and one buck kept in a shed alongside the poultry. Cages were very similar to those used in larger commercial farms. The does were fed a mixed ration of garden and kitchen scraps and lucerne hay, while the growers were fed a commercial ration of grower pellets. 28

37 Photo 45 Left: Feed for the rabbits is kitchen scraps and lucerne for the does and commercial pelleted feed for the growers. Photo 46 Right: Mixed produce from backyard enterprises being shared with family and friends. Traditional production at this level still contributes to a significant portion of the rabbit industry in Spain. Semen Centre and Female Multiplication Farm, Aras de los Olmos, Valencia, Spain SERGA is a new centre for semen collection that was just being completed when we visited; the bucks were to move in over the next 15 days. It will accommodate 500 bucks from the grand-parent lines bred by the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia and IRTA/Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 80% of which will be paternal line bucks and 20% maternal line bucks. The normal crossing system in Spain is a 3-way cross but sometimes there is a 4-way cross with two paternal lines is used, so some of the bucks will be crossbreds from two growth lines. Photo 47 left: Recently completed semen collection and distribution centre in Spain. Photo 48 Right: Shower area that will be used once building is commissioned; workers and visitors will shower into the facility. The commercial semen cost is 0.68/dose or 0.80/dose when the AI is performed by a technician form SERGA. Mono-dose delivery is more expensive at 0.75/dose. The mono-dose delivery is preferred by farmers because the feel of the cannula, it is slightly flexible, makes the insemination easier. But the fertility rate using mono-does preparation is lower because there is more handling of the sperm during the filling process; the cannula are loaded by a special machine with a gel containing the sperm. The manager of the semen centre prefers the normal system of bulk semen as it gives better 29

38 fertility and is less prone to problems at the time of AI as sometimes the gelatine in the mono-dose preparation can go hard. In the laboratory a heated-stage microscope is used to prepare the semen (37 o C). The microscope has a camera for monitoring mobility. There is a computer connection but motility is assessed visually by human eye rather than by image analysis. There is a sterilising oven for glassware. The amount of labour to operate the centre is one person to manage bucks, one person to assist managing the bucks and prepare semen, four people to prepare semen doses and one administrative person. On Mondays 4000 doses are collected in 3 hours and this is the main day of collection. Over the remainder of the week there are 6000 doses collected. Each of the four people preparing semen work part time for hours per week. The artificial vaginas are prepared the day before and ejaculates are collected by a skilled operator at the rate of about 100/hr. The concentration of sperm in the final dilutions of bulk semen is 12million/ml and 0.5 ml/dose is used for each doe giving 6 million sperm/doe. In the mono-doses the concentration is higher at million/ml and a 0.5ml dose delivers 8.5 to 9 million sperm. This is to counteract the reduced sperm viability from the extra handling to prepare the mono-doses. Photo 49 Left: Laboratory for checking semen quality and preparing doses. Photo 50 Right: Straws, artificial vagina, cannula and collection tubes used for AI. Farmers report and average conception rate of 80% at 12 days pregnancy testing. Most farmers in the region operate on a weekly system of AI to produce a constant turnoff of rabbits. These are not all-in all-out systems as seen for the commercial operation at Cholet in France. Therefore, it is important to pregnancy test does so that they can be brought into the next AI group if not pregnant. Some farmers use a 2 or 3 weekly interval between AI and they also pregnancy test their does. In an all-in all-out system it is not necessary to pregnancy test as the does will not be inseminated again for 6 weeks and by that time the farmer knows if she produced a litter or not. The all-in all-out system is not common in the region with only clients or 10% of the semen centre business using this system. The cages in the semen centre are Italian (Meneghin, ) with the front side adjusted down to allow easier access for semen collection. The cages are 90cm deep, 48cm high and 40cm wide. 30

39 Photo 51 Left: View of concrete waste trough under the cages. Photo 52 Right: Buck cages with lowered front section to improve ease of semen collection. Young males brought to the centre are quarantined when they arrive at 2-3 months of age. Collections start a 5-6 months of age but the manager is considering starting earlier. The bucks are kept for an average of 14 months. There is 20% mortality with the remaining bucks most commonly culled for pasteurella, urine in the semen or poor performance. There are coloured lines as well as white lines as some farmers prefer rabbits with brown (not white) eyes for particular markets. In Spain all rabbits are sold with the head on and the head is used, especially in cooking paella. The bucks are fed ad libitum and consume about 2kg/head/week of feed medicated with bacitracin, an antibiotic registered for rabbit use in the EU. Feed cost is about 0.24/kg with medication. The temperature in the buck sheds is kept close to 18 o C. The air is cooled with evaporative systems and heated with an oil heater in winter. The facility has its own generator, septic system with water recycling for the garden. Solid waste is cleaned away twice a year from the pits at the end of the building and used on orchards. Photo 53 Left: Waste trap and water treatment area for semen collection centre. Photo 54 Right: Oil heater used to heat water and warm rooms. The semen centre cost 240,000 (plus 16% tax) to build and is a private family enterprise. 31

40 In conjunction with the semen centre, the enterprise also runs a multiplication centre for maternal lines with 500 purebred does producing crossbred maternal dams for meat production. Commercial farmers buy crossbred does for 4.20each as day old kits or 8 each for 8 week old does. In 2002, a shed was built to house the original semen centre and the 500 breeding does for the multiplication centre. Now the new semen centre will take over the buck operation and the older shed will house only does. About 25% of the enterprise income comes from the multiplication centre and 75% from the semen centre. Photo 55 Left: Multiplication centre that breeds crossbred does as dams for commercial rabbit farms. Photo 56 Right: Close up view of scraping device used to clear waste from under the rabbit cages. The breeding doe operation will grow from 500 to 700 does once the bucks move to the new semen centre. It takes one full time person to look after the does. Photo 57 Left: Grand-parent does from V Line producing crossbred kittens, from which the females are sold to commercial breeders. Photo 58 Right: Cartons for shipping day old female kits to commercial rabbit farmers. The does are V line from Universidad Politécnica de Valencia and are inseminated with A line sperm (the other maternal line from the university). AI is 25 days post-partum giving a longer cycle for does in this operation compared to commercial meat production. Litters are fostered to achieve 8-9 kittens/doe or 8 for maiden does. 32

41 Photo 59 Left: Automatic feeding and water delivery systems. Photo 60 Right: Young replacement does in two-tiered cages. Bottom tier is maternal cages and top tier is for growers and replacement rabbits. NANTA Feed Mill ( Valencia NANTA is the largest company on the Iberian Peninsula producing livestock feeds. The company was founded in 1968 and has 15 feed mills (one in Portugal and 14 in Spain) and a network of 1,200 distributors to cover the two countries. Nanta is part of a national consortium, Grupo NUTRECO, which has business in more than 80 countries and is a European leader in the manufacture of livestock feeds, poultry and pig production and processing of animal products. NANTA is the main company in Spain for producing rabbit feed and it also has rabbit slaughter houses as part of its business. The factory visited is on the outskirts of Valencia and has 60 silos for storing feed ingredients, 12 of which were allocated to rabbit feed. They also supply the pig, poultry and horse industries with feed. Photo 61 Left: Silos for receiving ingredients for livestock feeds. Photo 62 Right: Chutes for dispensing formulated feeds into trucks for dispatch to farms. In Europe rabbit feed is not allowed to contain meat protein. The feed is a pelleted product and is made using a steam injection method. The basic recipe is lucerne, wheat, sunflower and fibre such as bran. 33

42 Ingredients like sugar beet, sweet potato and corn are avoided because of the problems rabbits have with digesting this type of starch. The pellets also contain molasses and fat (pig fat with specification of <0.15% meat content). To the basic ration is added a vitamin mix, coccidiostat and antibiotic medication as specified by the consulting farm vet. Photo 63 Left: Basic ingredients making up rabbit feed (clockwise top from right) pelleted lucerne, bran, sunflower meal, wheat. Photo 64 Right: Feed ingredient testing laboratory. The Valencia mill distributes rabbit feed up to 250 km from the plant. The raw materials for rabbit feed are mainly sourced locally. The plant work 24 hours a day over a 6 day week. Forty five trucks of raw material arrive each day and each is sampled and tested for levels of fat, protein, dry matter, some amino acids, starch, acids, fibre and mineral content (Ca, P, Cl). Near infra red technology is routinely used for testing with some occasional calibration using empirical methods. Results of each batch of testing are sent to NANTA in Madrid to feed into least cost ration software. Recipes are sent back to the mill and programmed into the automated system for mixing the feed ingredients. Photo 65 Left: control room at Nanta feed mill with mill operations being driven by least cost formations for each livestock feed. Photo 66 Right: High pressure and heat pelleting equipment. The feed is also tested for presence of fungus by culturing from samples and proprietary tests are used to detect the presence of antibiotics (Premi Test, DSM) and salmonella (Reveal, Neogen). Some feed arrives in a processed form such as lucerne which is already pelleted. 34

43 The volume of rabbit feed produced at this mill is stable but there has been a decline in the number of smaller farms which is reflected in the volume of feed supplied in bags versus bulk. Currently, 10% of the feed for rabbits is distributed in bags and 90% in bulk. The mill uses over 100 recipes for rabbit feed with the main variations being due to types of antibiotics included in the feed. There are also different formulations for breeders, kittens pre-weaning, growers and replacement does. The formulation is also varied between summer and winter as feed intake drops significantly in the summer. Under EU regulation, the mill is required to provide full traceability for all ingredients and delivery of feed to farms. There is a register of source of ingredients as they are received; this identity is tracked through the plant so that the ingredients in any feed dispatched can be traced. The mill records where each batch of feed is sent. Commercial Rabbit Farm, Altura, Castellón Altura is a small town to the north west of Valencia. In this area there are presently 8 large commercial farms with a combined total of 10,000 does that specialises in just rabbit production. The majority of these have their own small laboratory for collecting semen from bucks resident on the farm. In addition there are approximately 18 smaller more traditional farms accounting for another 15,000 does. The farm we visited specialises in rabbit production, the proprietor commencing operations in 1977 with a small establishment of 40 does; growing to 200 does by 1983; and expanding with larger sheds in 1990 which now house 1500 does. The farm is operated by two full time staff. This farm shows the benefits that can be reaped form direct access to grand-parent lines at a reasonable price (which is the policy of the two Spanish universities that maintain the lines). The farm is selfsufficient for breeding stock (does and bucks) apart from the purchase of maternal grand-parent bucks ( 15), maternal grand-parent does ( 18) and paternal growth line bucks ( 30). Of the 1500 does, 100 are purchased maternal grand does used to breed the other 1400 commercial crossbred does. These commercial does are inseminated with semen from the paternal growth line bucks. The ability to purchase grand-parent stock along with the technical ability to collect and process semen makes the enterprise highly self sufficient in its breeding program. In the alternate system, farmers have to purchase replacement crossbred does which at a turnover rate of >100% is a significant cost to the enterprise. For continued genetic improvement the farm is still reliant on the selection program in the grand-parent lines being undertaken by the universities. The farm consists of two buildings divided inside by a central trough area for collection of waste that is deep enough to allow a tractor and shovel to enter beneath the cages to clean out the manure. Alongside one of the sheds is an igloo construction that houses bucks and replacement females. The farm has a small laboratory to prepare doses of semen after collection. Ventilation is controlled by sensors and an automated switching system to close windows and turn on evaporative cooling or heaters. The shed are also equipped with vaporizers that turn on automatically at a set timing to dispense a fine vapor of disinfectant (Sanivir, Bioplagen). This was the only shed visited that employed such a system. It had been installed to assist in the control of ERE. 35

44 Photo 67 Left: Close up of the vaporizing unit that periodically releases disinfecting vapor into the shed. Photo 68 Right: Fine mist being released from vaporising unit into shed. The AI interval for does is 42 days and a batch of does is inseminated each week to give a constant turnoff of rabbits. Does are removed from the cage at 35 days post-kindling, leaving the litter behind to complete the growing period in the cage they were born in. Does are moved to a new section in the shed that has been vacated that day by growers that have gone to slaughter. Once growers have left the cages they are cleaned ready to receive the pregnant does, and the cages are only empty for about 7 hours. There are 20 bucks collected for each week s AI, with two ejaculates being collected from each buck. There is controlled lactation for one week before AI. Each week 270 does are inseminated which take about 3 hours in total. Semen collection and preparation is done in less than an hour. Only does that are receptive (pink or dark rose colour of vulva) are inseminated. Those that are white or pale move into the next week s batch of does to be inseminated. Pregnancy testing is at 12 days and non-pregnant does go into next week s AI batch. AI commences for does at 18 weeks of age. It is normal to cull does after three failures of AI. Equipment used for AI is from IMV-Technologies ( a French company. Photo 69 Left: Small laboratory for preparing semen for AI. Photo 70 Right: Home-made artificial vagina made from plastic piping, filled with hot water and lined with condom secured with rubber bands. 36

45 All does have pressure mats in their cages. The turn over of does is about 25/week, or 1300/yr, representing 87% annual turnover, much lower than reported for other farms. Records for the farm show average total number born is 10.2 kits/litter, number born alive is 9.5 kits/litter and number weaned is 8.9 kits/litter. Rabbits weigh g at weaning and are sold at days at 1.9kg. There is ad libitum feeding for growers. Control of ERE is mainly from cleanliness. There has been no occurrence for 18 months and under these conditions the mortality is growers is 4-5%. Myxomatosis seems to be more a more common disease than rabbit haemorrhagic disease and September is the most likely time for outbreaks. A vaccine for myxomatosis is given at 3 mths of age and again annually, and the vaccine costs 0.11/dose. Photo 71 Left: Bucks kept on the farm for semen collection and AI. Photo 72 Right: Cages used to transport rabbits to slaughter house. Feed prices average about 200/tonne, 190 for white or un-medicated feed and 210/tonne for medicated feed. Prices for meat are currently 1.30/kg which is about the minimum expected this year. The cycle of prices is low in early summer when a lot of rabbits come on to the market and then prices go up at the end of August when turnoff is down due to the effect of hot summer conditions on mating and growth. Last year the maximum price was 2.30/kg which persisted for a 2-3 week period. The profile of farms is changing with many small farms closing; new farms being established are larger, in the order of does. Description of farming week: Monday: Litters are born and litter size is equalised for all healthy does. Unhealthy does have all their kits fostered and they are culled. This is an efficient way of getting these rabbits out of the shed, reducing the spread of disease from mother to kits and optimising the productivity from each doe cages. Rabbits are fed and all cages checked for dead rabbits, which is a daily routine. Tuesday: Finish equalising litter size for groups kindling overnight and check hourly for last of litters being born. Cleaning and maintenance work. Wednesday: Grower rabbits are sent to the slaughter house. The trucks arrive early in the morning and rabbits are loaded. Hair is burnt off the vacated cages and they are cleaned with high pressure water and disinfectant. Once clean the cages are filled with does that are going to give birth the next Monday. Nest boxes and nesting material (off-cuts from textile manufacturing) are placed in the cages. Thursday: Semen collection and insemination of the week s batch of does in the morning. Records are updated for the shed and all the nests and grower cages are checked. 37

46 Friday: Clear the nest boxes from cages with older litter, cleaning and disinfection and fumigation of sheds. Saturdays and Sundays: All cages checked for dead rabbits and rabbits are fed. Photo 73 Left: Textile manufacturing waste use as nest box material. Photo 74 Right: Nest box with door in open position to allow suckling of kits. Lactation is controlled from birth until next AI. Italy General Background The largest rabbit farms in Italy are in the Lombardy region with farms of up to 7000 does. Rabbits are the fourth largest meat industry to cattle, pigs and poultry in Italy. There are regional differences in the market weight of rabbits with Veneto having a target of 2.5 kg (at days) and Piedmont/Lombardy 3.0 kg (at 100 days). In southern Italy the farms are smaller, 600 does, and have a target weight of 2.3 kg at 60 days. From 1970s farming has become more intensive due to the development of vaccines for myxomatosis. There is no public program for genetic improvement in Italy so you do not find widely used local grand-parent lines similar to France and Spain. The Martini Group, and possibly another small company, have private breeding programs but they represent only 10% of production. Rabbit lines are mainly purchased from France. The largest challenge to the industry is high grower mortality, 30-50% when ERE is present. Medication with antibiotics in the feed and water is used extensively. The Italians reported evidence of antibiotic resistance in clostridium and other enteric bacteria such as E. coli. An imbalance of these bacteria is being hypothesised as a possible contributor to ERE. Antibiotics are always used and now there are fewer to choose from because of EU controls that were in and targeted drugs being used as growth promotants. Diets for growers have changed in response to ERE with higher fibre and less energy. Some farmers use restricted feeding for growers but as libitum feeding is still the most common. Feed conversion is about 3.3 for individual and for the whole farm. The overall figure is largely dependent on the level of mortality. 38

47 The recent EU review of housing conditions for rabbits is very topical in Italy as new regulations on cages sizes will require many shed to be re-equipped with new cages. Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution is a big problem in northern Italy. Rabbit faeces are not well suited for biogas which is being considered for other intensive industries in the region. Commercial Rabbit Farm, Covo, Italy The farming enterprise is a family business with four siblings running the mixed farming operations, including two rabbit farms with a total of 3000 does. The farm visited accommodated 2000 does and is run by two family members, one of which had veterinary qualifications including a specialisation in rabbit pathology. Photo 75 Left: Disinfecting pond for vehicles entering the farm. Photo 76 Right: Sheds housing rabbits, silos and elevator for waste manure that exists at the end of the shed. The rabbits are from a French breeding company. The farm utilises a 4-way crossing system. The crossbred does are bred on-farm from crossing two grand-parent maternal lines, which are acquired by purchasing females as day old kits ( 50/kit) and either semen or bucks ( 90 at 12 weeks) from the other maternal grand-parent line. The crossbred paternal growth bucks are purchased from the breeding company at 12 weeks of age for 40 for standard white lines and 60 for coloured lines. The farm keeps 50 bucks for the combined 3000 does across both farms. Photo 77 Left: Young kits in nest with straw bedding. Photo 78 Right: Kit with ear tag to identify grand-parent line females sent by the breeding company to the farm as day old kits. 39

48 The AI cycle is 6 weeks with a portion of the does being inseminated every two weeks for a constant turnoff of rabbits. Multi-parous does are inseminated 11 days after kindling while primi-parous does (that have had only one litter) are inseminated 25 days after kindling. Fertility is approximately 80% for mature does and 90% for maidens. Does are inseminated in batches of 630 does and it takes the two staff about 3 hours. Equine chorionic gonadotropin (Ciclogonina, Fort Dodge) is administering only to mature does 2 days prior to AI, and a gonadotrophin releasing hormone (Cystoreline, CEVA) is given to all does at the time of AI. All does are inseminated regardless of receptivity (as judged by colour of the vulva) as the hormone injection should induce ovulation. Pregnancy testing is by palpation is at 12 days and if not pregnant does go back into the next batch to be inseminated 28 days after the first attempt. After two failures to fall pregnant the doe is culled. Lactation is controlled for 14 days with feeding of kits allowed once per day. AI in Italy must be performed by a veterinarian or a farmer with appropriate certification. Photo 79 Left: Artificial insemination equipment for use with bulk semen. Photo 80 Right: Doe being inseminated. Insemination is done without lifting the doe out of the cage. The average number born alive is 9.5 kits/litter and the average number weaned is 9 kits/litter. Litters are equilibrated to a constant size of 9-10 per litter on the day of birth. Kittens are weaned at 34 days of age. Grower rabbits from day 34 to 55/60 days are fed medicated feed which may contain up to 4 antibiotic compounds. From day 55/60 rabbits should have no medication but the farmer is allowed to use antibiotics if rabbits are sick, applying the normal with-holding periods as specified for each drug. This would mean in practice that grower rabbits could receive some types of antibiotics until 7 days before slaughter. Rabbits are laughter at days, at a target weight of 2.8kg. Occurrence of ERE is fairly constant in the grower rabbits. The major tool used to control ERE is medication in the feed. Other factors that have some effect are level of fibre in the feed (feeds now have more fibre and less energy), inclusion of organic acids in the feed, control of temperature and ventilation, and hygiene. Restricted feeding in growers was tried but it seemed only to reduce growth with no obvious signs of improved mortality so it was not continued. There are five different feeds used on the farm. There are three doe recipes, with replacement does, pregnant and lactating does receiving different formulations. Doe feed is sometimes medicated. The growing rabbits receive either medicated or white feed. The average cost of feed is 250/tonne; 220/toone without medication and 280/tonne with medication. Medication of the feed costs 6/tonne depending on the drugs used. Feed is manufactured by Ferrero. A veterinarian from the feed company is responsible for overseeing medication protocols for the farm that buys the feed. The state run Istituti Zooprofilattico provides a post-mortem and laboratory diagnostics service to assist the industry veterinarians to formulate medication regimens. 40

49 Photo 81 Left: Automatic feed delivery via white tube with grey sensor to start the feed auger to deliver feed to the whole row of cages. Photo 82 Right: Buck in cage with plastic floor to prevent hock sore and timber toy hung from cage top. Breeding rabbits are vaccinated for myxomatosis, rabbit haemorrhagic disease, pasteurella and staphylococcus (autologous vaccine) and the total cost is about 0.6/doe/year. The pasteurella/staphylococcus vaccine is only used for 1 st year of life for does. Given the relatively high turnover of does (>100%), any does still surviving are probably fairly resistant to infection and are not revaccinated. After weaning the doe cages are lightly cleaned with the doe still present, and every 12 months the does are removed and the cages are fully cleaned and disinfected. It is against EU regulation to clean the cages with the doe present. Grower cages are cleaned when they are emptied at the time the rabbits go to slaughter. Light is set to 16 hours for does but growers and bucks have natural light. Feeding is automated and there is a sensor at the beginning of each row to set off feeding for the whole row; this can be a problem if the first rabbit is not eating. Cleaning under the cages is automated and occurs twice a day for females and constantly for growers. Airflow is controlled by fans on one side of the shed. There are evaporative cooling pads for summer. The rate of air exchange is 4m 3 /kg of rabbit/hour for does and 6m 3 /kg of rabbit/hour for growers. This farm has been working with research groups to evaluate different cage designs given the introduction of new regulations for cage size over the next 3-4 years. In the current production system the growers are moved from the doe cage at weaning and the current cage size for grower rabbits is 40cm wide x 80cm deep x 30cm high. The grower cages start with 6 rabbits and reduce to 2 rabbits as they grow, with rabbits being spread out into other cages. Pressure mats are obligatory for does and the does cages were also enriched with short pieces of timber hung from he cage roof. This was the only farm where any environmental enrichment in the cages was observed. 41

50 Photo 83 Left: New cage design with platform to increase floor area. Rabbits are all resting on the lower level and can access the raised area at either the back or the front of the platform. Photo 84 Right: Rabbit sitting on the raised platform area. The new regulations are likely to propose a housing system with a dual purpose cage that can accommodate either doe + litter or the weaned litter. The proposed size is 40cm wide x 105cm deep and 45cm high (or 60cm high where the cage has an internal platform) for a multi-purpose cage. New regulations are likely to set the limit at 40kg of rabbit/m2 of cage floor. If rabbits weigh 2.9 kg at end of growing period and there are 8 of them alive (23.2kg of live rabbit) the stocking rate is too high for the proposed cages as this gives kg/m2. So a whole litter could not be accommodated in the multi-purpose cage. There may also be problems of aggressive behaviour when rabbits are kept together as a litter for the whole growing period. These are some of the issues that the industry is thinking about for the likely refurbishment of farms once regulations are implemented in each country. The farmers pointed out that there is no law yet for cage size but it is a good time to be thinking of a different structure. That is why they have been involved with experiments on different cage designs. These farmers plan to expand in the next few years with a new facility for 5600 does 7 sheds with 800 does enabling an all-in all-out system. This type of system requires a multi-purpose doe/grower cage design. The driver for change is to reduce the labour cost of running the operations and maximise returns per cage. Cage occupation rate is a key financial indicator for the business. The cost of replacing cages but not sheds would be in the order of 25/cage and to build a new facility it would be approximately 150/cage. 42

51 Photo 85 Left: Home-made nest box cleaning machine and tubs for disinfecting and rinsing. Photo 86 Right: High pressure water nozzles for cleaning nest boxes. Current prices for rabbit were 1.65/kg liveweight, with a range over the last 12 months of /kg. About 40% of the market is for rural rabbit sold through traditional meat outlets and 60% is sold through the supermarkets. Most whole caresses are now sold without the head and dressing % is 57-58%, which reflects the higher liveweight at which rabbits are slaughtered compared to France and Spain. Consumption of rabbit meat in >50 years olds is 3 times that of younger people. There are some particular dishes that use rabbit in the south of Italy and consumption is higher in the winter. But more generally rabbit is eaten in a range of dishes. The majority of rabbit is still sold as whole carcasses but an increasing amount is now being sold as portions, ready to cook and processed into patties and sausages. Supermarkets have been taking the initiative and working on developing new products. In the farmer s experience, there has been a slight reduction in the industry size due to lower returns with high cost pressures and some reduction in consumer demand. There are rabbits imported from Hungry, Poland, Croatia, Argentina and China (frozen from Argentina and China) and also some from Spain and France. At the time of our visit the farmer estimated cost of production in the order of 1.70/kg; as returns were only 1.65/kg there is a period of the year when farmers go through a loss situation until prices pick up again. There does not appear to be any attempt to modulate production during periods of potential negative income. The farm is co-located with dairying, maize and lucerne near the Adda River. The farm also produces meat goats to utilise the waste fines from the rabbit feed. Pollution from effluent is a big issue in northern Italy with phosphorus and potassium being the main problem. Waste is stored in an earth tank for 4 months before spreading on the fields. The production of biogas from rabbit waste is being considered but there is debate over the implications of having antibiotic residues in the organic material. Commercial Farms and Slaughter House, Zoccorino, Lombardy, Italy The business visited is a family owned enterprise that has a breeding farm at one location and a growing out farm and slaughter house located together about 10 km way. Breeding Farm The breeding farm is the largest in the region with facilities (4 sheds but not an all-in all-out system) that house 5500 maternal doe cages and 1500 dry doe cages. It specialises in breeding only and the weaned rabbits are moved to the other farm for the growing period or sold to other local enterprises that specialise in growing out rabbits. 43

52 The breeding lines and feed are supplied by the Martini Group, a privately owned business in Italy that specialises in animal feeds and is vertically integrated with seed stock production and slaughtering and processing plants. The farm operates a 3-way crossing system, purchasing does from one maternal line and bucks from the other line to produce the crossbred parental does on-farm. Bucks from a paternal growth line are also purchased. All matings are by AI and the farm keeps 130 bucks for semen collection. The sheds were converted from poultry production about 10 years ago. They are artificially lit for 15 hours per day. Faeces are removed 2 times per week in summer and once per week in winter. Although the target range is o C, in practice the temperatures range from o C depending on the season and the number of rabbits in the shed. Rarely is artificial heating used even though it does snow in the region in the winter. Photo 87 Left: External view of breeding sheds. Photo 88 Right: Internal view of breeding shed. The 5500 breeding does are inseminated in batches of 2200 does every 2 weeks. PMSG is not routinely used before AI and gonadotrophin releasing hormone is give via injection at the time of AI to stimulate ovulation. From birth to insemination there is controlled lactation. Primi-parous does are remated 38 days after birth of their 1 st litter and multi-parous does are re-mated 11 days after the litter is born. This prolongs the life of the does. Annual turn over of does is just over 100% per annum. Glass artificial vaginas are used for semen collection and they are water filled and heated in the oven to 60 o C in preparation. Semen doses are prepared to a concentration of 40 million sperm/dose. Semen is collected every week even though it is only used each fortnight as the weekly routine is needed to maintain buck libido and output. The average pregnancy rate from AI is 84% and does are culled after two failures to conceive. Photo 89 Left: Water filled glass artificial vagina for collecting semen. Photo 90 Right: Bucket of class cannula used for AI and washed ready for next use. 44

53 At birth litters are equalised for number and weight so that each healthy doe has the same number to rear, with primi-parous does given the lighter litters. Equalisation at this farm was to litter size of 8-9. This is done daily when the kittens are born from each AI cycle. This involves taking all the kittens born that morning away from the does, weighing them and sorting them into litter batches to give uniform weights in each litter, and returning a constant number to each doe. The lighter litters were returned to the maiden does as they produce less milk. In this system the chances of the doe receiving any of her own kittens back are remote. The difference at weaning is 600g for weaners reared by primi-parous does and 800g for weaners reared by multi-parous does. The kits are checked again throughout the first week and regrouped on size. Mortality from birth to weaning at 35 days is 3.8%. This was the first time I had seen the equilibration being done and I am unsure if it is done in the same manner on all farms. Previous conversations with farmers suggested that the doe either had some kits taken away or some added to her litter depending on the size of the litter, rather than all of the kits being taken away and redistributed. Photo 91 Left: Kits gathered up from all the does that kindling that morning and weighed for redistribution into litters of uniform weight and number. Photo 92 Right: Nest boxes with equilibrated litters ready to go back to the does. Kittens weight 500g at 30 days and 800g at 35 days when they are weaned, giving a growth rate in the last 5 days pre-weaning of 60g/hd/day. At weaning the growers are either moved to the other farm about 10 km away or sold to other farmers who will grow them out. Total production is approximately 20,000 weaners per month with 12,000 being sold. Photo 93 Left: Replacement does for breeding farm housed in groups until first mating. Photo 94 Right: Cages for transporting weaners to the growing out farm. 45

54 There are 2 full time people in the shed running the enterprise. Five people work part time equilibrating the litters on the mornings when kittens are being born (3-4 days per fortnight). For AI there are 3 extra people in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. AI takes 10 hours to complete 3 hours in the morning to collect and prepare semen, 6 hours in the afternoon to do the AI and then cleaning equipment. Labour rates are 1000/mth net of taxes. All breeding stock are vaccinated for myxomatosis. During lactation the kits and doe are fed a medicated feed from day to prepare the kittens for weaning. The doe go back onto a white feed without medication after weaning. Water is medicated once a month to help control bacterial infection in breeding does. The shed had computerised data records and production levels are reviewed monthly. Grower Enterprise The associated grower farm is located approximately 10km from the breeding farm. Weaners are collected each fortnight and delivered by truck into freshly vacated and cleaned cages in the grower facility. The owner of the overall business looks after the growers, with his wife running the office associated with the two farms and the slaughter house. Photo 95 Left: Grower shed co-located with slaughter house. Photo 96 Right: Internal view of grower cages in two tiered configuration. Photo 97 Left: Grower rabbits early in the growing period are house at 3-4 per cage. Photo 98 Right: The number of rabbits per cage is reduced as they grow, with rabbits destined for the heavier market (3kg) housed singly towards the end of the growing period. 46

55 On arrival the grower rabbits go on to a restricted diet (about 80%) to try and reduce the incidence of ERE. Losses can be >20%. The critical period is at 60 days when clostridia disease and ERE can kill a lot of rabbits. Sometimes medication is given in the water to reduce losses which the incidence is high. The farmer has tried lots of different combinations of medication and feels that the use of feed restriction has helped. There is a common feeling amongst farmers that withdrawal of effective antibiotics for use in rabbits by the EU commission has led to the ERE problem. It is an on-going a serious production challenge to rabbit farmers. There are 3-4 rabbits housed per cage when they first arrive in the shed and the number per cage is gradually reduced at the rabbits grow. With the introduction of EU regulations, it will be difficult to change the size of existing cages; some partitions could be taken out of the cages but this would not meet all the new size requirements, especially for height (45 cm). Also if rabbits are housed in larger groups, the farmer felt there will be more injuries to the rabbits. The change in cage size will be an EU directive that each country will have to implement and adopt with their own standards. If cages have to be replaced completely a number of farmers will leave the industry due to the investment required. Slaughter House The slaughter house is located alongside the grower facility and is a medium sized slaughter house for the region, with a throughput of 200,000 rabbits per month. The slaughter chain is approximately 200m and rabbits are processed at the rate of 1000 rabbits/hour at peak operational load. The technology applied in abattoirs is reliant on access to manufactures of specialised equipment. In Europe, enterprises manufacturing rabbit equipment are also the major suppliers of abattoir equipment for poultry. It is likely that Australian processors would need to source such equipment from Europe which would be expensive and only within the financial reach of large operators with a high throughput of rabbits. Rabbits are collected from farms on the day of slaughter from 4am with the last rabbits arriving at the slaughter house by 7am. Processing is finished by 12 noon on most days. The dressing % is about 53% to 58% and the carcass weight is 1.4 to 1.5 kg. During processing the head stays on the carcass. At the end of the chain, the rabbits are chilled to 4 o C for a minimum of 45 minutes before packing. The slaughter house employs 14 people for about 5 hours per day during the week and occasionally on Saturdays. The following sequence of photographs shows the slaughter chain in operation. Photo 99 Left: Truck with cages that collects rabbits early on the morning of slaughter. Photo 100 Right: Transport crates stacked on the delivery truck that can be unloaded by forklift on arrival at the abattoir. 47

56 Photo 101 Left: Live rabbits arriving in crates. Photo 102 Right: Crates are sent down a set of covered rollers to the operator who does the stunning. Photo 103 Left: Rabbits are taken out of the crate and stunned using an electrical current applied to the head. Photo 104 Right: Stunning table with electrical probes at one end. Photo 105 Left: Detailed view of stunning apparatus from above. Photo 106 Right: Detailed view of stunning apparatus from side. 48

57 Photo 107 Left: After stunning rabbits are hung from the chain by a single back leg and have their throats cut. Photo 108 Right: Rabbits pass over a tank for collection of blood. Photo 109 Left: Rabbits enter the processing rooms which are separated from slaughter area. Photo 110 Right: Rabbits have ears and skin around the head removed. Photo 111 Left: Skin on the hind legs is opened up. Photo 112 Right: A special knife with a bulbous point is used to open up the skin on the back legs to avoid damage to the muscle. 49

58 Photo 113 Left: The skin is manually pulled down off both back legs and the rump of the carcass. Photo 114 Right: The carcases move into the next room of the processing area. Photo 115 Left: Carcasses enter the first of the automated equipment which is designed to remove the front legs with a cutting device. Photo 116 Right: Carcasses emerge from the machine with front legs removed at the mid-joint. 50

59 Photo 117 Left: The carcasses enter a second machine that removes the skin from the carcase. This is done by clamping the skin flap that covered the rump of the carcass and drawing down on the skin as the clamps are pulled downwards by a sloping belt. Photo 118 Right: The skin is pulled free of the carcass. Photo 119 Left: The skins and front legs are removed from the processing area by a suction tube. Photo 120 Right: The carcasses advance through a water wash to the next room of the processing area. 51

60 The Photo 121 Left: Internal organs are removed from each carcase. Photo 122 Right: Carcasses are washed manually after internal organs are removed. Photo 123 Left: Carcasses enter a machine which cuts off the hind legs. Photo 124 Right: Carcasses drop down onto a slatted belt from where they are manually loaded onto the chain that takes them into the chilling area. Photo 125 Left: Carcasses are picked off the belt and hung on the second chain that takes them into the cold rooms for chilling. Photo 126 Right: Carcasses enter the chilling room. 52

61 Photo 127 Left: Carcasses hang in the chilling room until they are chilled to 4 o C for 45 mins. Photo 128 Right: Carcasses exit the chilling room into the packing area on the same chain. Photo 129 Left: Carcasses are taken off the chain and packed into black plastic trays lined with waxed paper. Photo 130 Right: Rabbit carcasses are packed at 5-6 rabbits per tray depending on the size. Photo 131 Left: Customer labels are laid out on the shoulder section of the carcass. Photo 132 Right: Customer labels are fixed in place with a plastic ticket fired from a pneumatic gun; the ticket giving the slaughter house details. 53

62 Photo 133 Left: Each tray of meat is weighed and a sticker printed with the weight and lot number. Photo 134 Right: Each tray is labelled with the lot number which allows the carcass to be traced back to the slaughter house, the day and week of the year the rabbit was slaughtered and the farm from which the rabbit originated. Photo 135 Left: Stacks of meat trays are stored in the cold room on pallets until shipping. Photo 136 Right: Weighing station for the pallets of trays which are weighed prior to loading into trucks. 54

63 Photo 137 Left: Large truck at the loading bay being filled with meat trays to go to supermarkets. Photo 138 Right: Small van taking delivery of smaller quantities of meat to go to butcher shops. Photo 139 Left: Ultrasonic and liquid cleaning bath for hangers on second chain that moves the carcasses through the cold room. Photo 140 Right: Brush cleaner for the hangers on the first section of the chain that moves the carcasses through the processing section. All rabbits are packed and cleared from the facility on the day of slaughter, being dispatched in trucks belonging to the business for delivery to large supermarket clients or being collected by smaller meat wholesalers. Supermarkets take 60% of the rabbits slaughtered. There is a trace back system that allows the product to be traced to farm, year, week and day of slaughter. This information is included on a label that goes on each carton of rabbits. The business has two trucks for rabbit pickup and four trucks for meat delivery. Waste products are sucked out of the plant through large shutes and are removed for incineration. EU regulations stipulate that waste products cannot be used to manufacture meat meal. The transport cost for blood it too high to make it worthwhile processing further so it is also included with solid waste for disposal. 55