Rabbits of breed silver
Silver rabbits became famous for their unusual fur color and became popular in private farming due to the very valuable skin.
Rabbit Silver
About the silver breed
Rabbits of the silver breed were bred by livestock breeders of domestic rabbit breeding in Soviet times in the 50s of the last century in the Poltava region.
Silver rabbits have appeared featuring French champagnes.
The silver breed is sometimes found under the names Poltava silver or Soviet silver. They all share the same representatives with silver fur. Today, you can often hear them under the name European silver.
Thick and soft to the touch, industrial fur with a silver sheen is widely used for sewing fur products. Considering the large size of Russian silver rabbits, animal skins are quite large.
Today, large silver is economically bred by rabbit breeders in central Russia, despite the fact that this breed is widespread throughout the Russian territory.
Crossbreeding with impurities of other subspecies of breed representatives allows you to display a line of a darker generation of silver shades, for example, according to the type of chinchilla. At the same time, professional rabbit breeders who raise animals for the subsequent use of skins in the fur industry do not cross individuals of the same shades, so as not to be able to fix a pure light or, on the contrary, a dark modified gene.
Exterior standard
In the photo and video, silver rabbits can differ from each other in a variety of color shades, but the only common feature for all of them in the characteristics of their color standard is a silvery shade of fur. At the same time, the tips of the ears of rabbits are Soviet silver, the end of the tail and paws are often much darker in shade than the main color. The hairs at the base are colored in a lighter tone, gradually darkening towards the end of the pile. The body of the cover is snow-white, and the downy fiber casts a blue-blue palette.
The description of the silver rabbit breed includes a set of individual breed characteristics in the description:
- harmoniously built constitution with correct proportions and developed muscles, straight dorsal region and large sacrum,
- body elongated up to 0.55-0.58 meters,
- developed wide chest with an average girth of 35 centimeters,
- middle head with straight upright set ears 9 to 13 centimeters long,
- strong paws.
The average adult silver rabbit weighs between 4.5 and 5 kilograms. The characteristics of the breed notes that an individual adult could have a mass of up to 6.5 kilograms.
Rabbits at birth are uniform in color and can be either black-gray or smoky. The full shade provided by the breed standard is formed in silver rabbits no earlier than 2-3 months old. It is during this period that it is recommended to acquire animals for breeding, since the color palette is already clearly manifested.
Cultivation Approaches and Production Value
The productivity of silver rabbits varies by up to 60 percent for young animals that have reached the age of three to four months. Despite the fact that animal skins are widely used in production, rabbit dietary meat with a wide layer of fat is no less in demand.
For silver rabbits, early maturity is characteristic. So, the intensity of growth and development of young animals, depending on the age category, is:
- at 1 month - live weight up to 1 kilogram,
- in 2-2.5 months - up to 2 kilograms,
- at 3-3.5 months - up to 3 kilograms,
- at 4-4.5 months - up to 4 kilograms.
Bunnies are distinguished by their fertility, bringing up to 9 rabbits per okrol. Good milk performance allows you to feed the rabbits yourself, without human intervention. The natural maternal instinct makes it possible to preserve and raise offspring as much as possible, including someone else's. With proper feeding, the silver rabbit shows stable reproductive qualities and the vitality of the young.
To maintain the productivity of an adult at the proper level, rabbit breeders are inclined to the shed system of breeding and keeping the color of a light silver rabbit. This is due to the fact that this breed shows great results under conditions close to natural. In the limited space of cage housing, animals begin to lose in productive value.
For keeping a light breed, a temperature regime of up to 20-23 degrees is preferable, since rabbits of the silver breed with thick fur tolerate cold living conditions better than heat. In hot weather, they look for shade. Therefore, it will not be superfluous to make them proper shelters, where the rabbit could hide from the sun's rays.
Reviews of rabbit breeders for many years of breeding and keeping the breed of a light silver rabbit did not find any flaws in her. Among the advantages of the breed and the advantages for breeding, many note:
- excellent adaptation of animals to housing conditions,
- picky about the feed ration,
- high productive value,
- the maternal instinct of raising rabbits fixed at the genetic level in rabbits,
- the vitality of young animals,
- intensive growth rates,
- early maturity and early maturity.
Habits and nutrition
Among the merits of the rabbits of the breed, there is more silver - the calm nature and friendliness of animals that can get along with other representatives. Quite curious and playful, they quickly get used to the owner and freely adapt to new conditions. The exception is female rabbits during the upbringing of offspring, which may show excessive aggression when protecting the nest.
Owner reviews claim that silver representatives prefer a stable mode.
Meat and skinning direction Large silver can be kept both on an industrial scale and in private households. Often this breed can be seen as a pet when kept in an apartment in a cage, but this type of animal keeping is not preferable, since the large size of the animal requires a lot of space.
The food ration for silver rabbits can consist of any food mixtures or natural food. In summer, fresh greens are the best way to replenish your rabbit's nutritional deficiencies. For the winter period, rabbit breeders prefer to make a choice in favor of dry hay as feed. For light silver, coniferous and deciduous branches, as well as shoots of fruit trees, are often added to the diet. Among the succulent feed, rabbits give preference to potato crops, legumes, carrots. Bran and silage must be included in the feed ration.