Page:Care and Management of Rabbits.djvu/21

Rh of age. The rabbit is a rapid grower and very prolific and is, in fact, the only animal known to us that reproduces its own weight so rapidly.

It is possible, even when very conservative, to produce as much as 400 pounds of rabbit meat on a space of ground only 3x6 feet in size within one year. The rabbit does not require large houses and runs or pastures as do other forms of live stock. In fact, the domesticated rabbit is a hutch rabbit and it really does better under confinement in the proper kind of a hutch than it does where it has more liberty.

Being a rapid grower and favoring certain kinds of feed which is comparatively cheap, even under high prices for all feedstuffs, it is possible to produce a pound of rabbit meat for a very small figure. One breeder, who has made quite a success of raising rabbits entirely for meat purposes, tells me that he can produce a pound of rabbit meat as cheaply as he can produce one egg from his poultry. This