Eco-Rabbit Breeding 

Objective. This article is dedicated to the study of a promising direction in agricultural development—eco-rabbit farming.

Novelty. The concept of this eco-technology is based on principles of humane rabbit breeding. These principles prioritize the welfare of the rabbits while maintaining the profitability of breeding operations, rejecting harsh exploitation and exhaustion of the animals. Special attention in this eco-technology is given to creating optimal conditions for the rabbits. This involves establishing comfortable living systems with proper ventilation, lighting, and temperature control. Additionally, eco-rabbit farming employs measures to protect the animals from a wide range of harmful factors. For example, equipment includes systems to prevent rabbits from being poisoned by harmful gases in living quarters, such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, methane, and carbon dioxide, which are produced during the decomposition of rabbit waste. The equipment used in eco-rabbit farming also considers the innate needs that encourage the animals to express their natural vitality, avoiding veterinary manipulations often abused for profit. This approach ensures the physiological and psychological needs of the rabbits, representing an innovative method of their care and breeding.

Conclusions. Examples of eco-rabbit farming development demonstrate its promising nature not only within agricultural production but also beyond. An important factor is the low capital investment compared to other types of livestock farming. Flexibility in the placement and use of equipment helps achieve efficient resource use and production of high-quality rabbit meat. This achievement in rabbit meat production enhances food security by providing access to easily digestible and low-calorie protein. Eco-farms from Rabbax Technology could be a promising solution for sustainable and balanced agricultural development, meeting the population's needs for high-quality and safe food products.

Problem Statement. It is known that the leading branches of animal husbandry are playing crucial importance in meeting human needs for nutrition. Livestock production in almost all countries is now focused on technologies for the production of animal proteins by intensive, mechanized methods. Such technologies are also called “broiler”, “French”, etc. The essence of such technologies is that animals are restricted in movement, not driven out to pastures, actively fed with carefully selected combination of feeds, which contain growth stimulants, hormones and vice versa that delay sexual development. And animals gain mass at an accelerated rate, for example, a pig can be fattened up to 10-120 kg in 5-6 months.  However, the process of raising animals, depending on the methods used in these industries, is accompanied by certain disadvantages.

Firstly, there are significant economic burdens associated with the need to build specialized premises. From an economic perspective, opening an enterprise of this kind requires significant capital investments. Not every beginner has sufficient resources to invest hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to create his own livestock business.Even in small-scale animal-rearing activities, it is impossible to avoid the need to build farm buildings that provide minimum living conditions for the animals. For example, when raising cattle or pigs, it is necessary to purchase or lease a large plot of land on which to locate a farm with an appropriate yard for possible animal walking. In addition, it is necessary to build special placement with proper ventilation, sewerage system, heating in winter. All these steps require significant capital investments and become an obstacle for opening new, both small and large livestock farms.

Secondly, many livestock businesses utilize violent breeding/keeping practices, actively using medical additives in feed in order to increase the productivity of their business, while disregarding welfare and ethical standards in animal husbandry. Meat raised in this way is characterised by poor quality and high levels of antibiotics and hormones. This creates a serious risk of antibiotic resistance, where bacteria become resistant to antibiotic treatment, making it difficult to fight infectious diseases. In addition to this, the consumption of such meat can have a negative impact on human health. High levels of antibiotics and hormones can cause an imbalance of hormones, increasing the risk of developing chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. This jeopardises the well-being and health of the population.

Thirdly, modern animal husbandry, even in the context of small farms, requires significant daily human resource input. For example, the already mentioned keeping of pigs or cattle requires considerable labour to ensure minimum sanitary hygiene in animal housing, as well as constant supervision of access to food and water. Farmers need to regularly examine animals, monitor their health and take the necessary measures to ensure their welfare. This means that farm owners need to be mindful of employing workers on a regular basis or investing considerable effort themselves to ensure that animals are kept efficiently and responsibly.