Page:Care and Management of Rabbits.djvu/207

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CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF RABBITS
191

the hutch, he will receive four hundred and thirty-two pounds of rabbit meat from this little hutch which only occupies ground space of four by six feet!

This is a very conservative estimate, an estimate which we have not failed to achieve ourselves. It would be even possible to do better provided one had extra hutch room and could mature the young stock.

But indulging in figures is not always the best practice. We are apt to work the stock to death in an effort to get a large return from them. It is, as a matter of fact, possible to produce as many as one hundred and thirty-six rabbits from a single pair in the course of one year, provided all of the offspring is kept and mated as soon as they reach breeding age.

If the stock is to be sold for breeding purposes at an average price of five to ten dollars a head, which is not unusual where good registered stock is used in the beginning, one can easily produce ninety-six rabbits from four does in one year which should have an average