Nutrient breeding schemes

Modern nutrition is a progressive branch of agriculture, as well as a successful business for many entrepreneurs. Nutrias are bred for their magnificent fur, as well as nourishing meat with high dietary characteristics.

Nutrias are easy to tame, if they are not scolded, punished or teased, they are absolutely not afraid of a person. With proper care, they can breed throughout the year, they are multiple and perfectly combine pregnancy and lactation. Therefore, farming is distinguished by high profitability and provides animal breeding with a high and stable income. In this publication, we will examine in detail all aspects of the competent organization of an animal farm, as well as learn the basic rules for caring for nutria.

In order for nutritional farming to bring maximum income, it is necessary to have special knowledge and practical skills that help to establish and optimize the process of growing nutria. Since in our country the industry has emerged relatively recently, domestic animal producers have an information deficit and do not know how to solve many practical problems.

In this publication, we will examine in detail the main aspects of an effective increase in the number of nutria, as well as learn about the basic standards of care for them. If you take care of animals correctly, you can ensure maximum profitability of the production of fur and meat, and at the same time reach the level of sustainable and dynamic development of the industry or private business.

Breeding

Nutrias breed all year round, the new pregnancy and lactation period are successfully combined with females. Sexual signs in animals are pronounced and visible to the naked eye: in males, the elongated penis is located 3 cm or 5 cm from the anus, and the female genital slit is right next to it.

They become half-matured by 3 or 4 months, the delay is a sign of "culling" individuals, they are not bred. Males are constantly ready to mate and are able to cover at least 4 females at a time. They have sexual activity repeated every 25-30 days, and the copulation of 3-4 times lasts 36 hours. Mating lasts no more than 30 seconds.After 3-4 days, the female again has a sexual desire.

Experts do not recommend one female to give birth more than 4 times a year, otherwise she can be brought to exhaustion, which often leads to their death in the reproductive age.

Pregnancy

Pregnancy of a female is determined by:

• the appearance of her nipples (they are greatly enlarged);
• relation to the male (aggressive rejection);
• weight (it grows fast);
• probing the abdomen bottom (for 45-50 days you can find moving lumps 1.5 -2 cm).

Pregnancy lasts no longer than 132 days, and no less than 127 days. In the last days of pregnancy, females are very sensitive to external stimuli, a frightened mother can bring dead or eat live babies. Therefore, before giving birth, the cell is recommended to be covered with a dark veil, and it is better not to disturb the future mother once again (do not iron, feel or move). Before delivery, it is necessary to warm the nest (use electric heaters and pass an extra layer of hay).

Night birth last from 20 minutes to 1-2 hours. It all depends on the number of offspring and the physical condition of the female. After giving birth, she eats the afterbirth and begins to care for the babies.

Caring for nutrillat

The offspring is born full, babies are covered with wool, they see well and move independently. At first they feed on colostrum, and later on breast milk. To maintain lactation at an optimal level, an apple and nettle are introduced into the mother’s diet.

If mother's milk is not enough, then the babies are brought to the mother, who has an excess of milk, or is fed with well boiled cow milk and soft cereal porridges. In flight, most often 4-6 babies, but only 4 can feed a full-fledged mother. If the babies were born blind or blind for 2-3 days of life, this shows that the mother’s feed contained little vitamin A, in which case it was enriched with inert flour, fish oil.

The suckling period ends 6 months after birth, the young are deposited in separate cells. For some time they adapt and “merge” into the general order of life in the nursery.

Nutria Care

First-class coypu should have fluffy and iridescent fur, well-developed teeth and orange cutters protruding.

Feline breeders acquire animals year-round, use bags for transportation over considerable distances, and also with a reinforced cage handle (made of plywood, metal mesh, size 60cmH 30cmH 40 cm).In order to avoid injuries are transported by 2-3 individuals together, the pregnant female is transported separately in a cage for walking.

Currently, there are two main methods of growing nutria: water and anhydrous.. The second is much cheaper: cells without pools are cheaper, feed consumption is 10-15% less and care is easier. This method of keeping on farms is used all year round or only in winter. At the same time, farmers note that the lack of a water reservoir limits the natural diet of animals, their physical load decreases, they quickly gain weight, and this negatively affects their reproductive abilities. In this case, the fur suffers greatly, it loses its luster, some hairs are underdeveloped, felting and fraying appear.

When water content nutria use original cells with a pool. Free and semi-free methods of keeping nutria are widely used. To do this, use ready-made or organize new suitable reservoirs (rates for fish farming or nearby backwaters). They protect access of predators there, prohibit livestock drinking water and block access of anglers and local residents.Around the reservoir there should be a lot of thickets suitable for animal feed, and their shores should be steep enough for them to build burrows. Animals necessarily feed, if the feed is small, they are in search of food can ruin the local gardens.

Feeding

Balancing nutrition is the basis of the health of nutria, it is it that by 50% determines the cost of skins and furs.

Experts state that the productivity of breeding depends entirely on the diet of animals. Both surplus and lack of essential foodstuffs reduce their reproduction and cause many diseases.

Under natural conditions, adult nutria eat about 4 kg of aquatic plants. They prefer delicate basal parts of plants, bulbs, rhizomes. Twigs, hay and fresh grass are poorly digested. Animals quickly grow in captivity if they are fed with mixed fodder, grain concentrates, adding roots (carrots, parsley and celery roots), vegetables (pumpkin, zucchini), fresh grass and hay, in predetermined proportions.

Now allocate Three main methods of complete feeding:

semi-wet masters;

They are a mixture of 60% (1: 1) moistened feed, crushed concentrates, succulent fodder, grass meal (in winter) or fresh young grass (in summer). Half of the diet in the morning spread in the feeder, and the second part in the evening. In winter, the mixture should be viscous, in the summer of liquid. Leftovers (especially in heat) are removed. With this diet, pets drink little.

dry granulated;

This is the most economical feed, pellets size 7-15 mm. convenient to transport, store and feed, they fall asleep in the feeder for 1-2 days. In this case, they organize drinking bowls with water, while consuming 100 g of dry granules, 150 g-200 g of water is drunk. Animals give a greater weight gain (by 15-30%) than with other methods of feeding.

combined.

In the morning, they feed grain that is pre-moistened or steamed, and interfere with powdered concentrates or bulk feed (moistened in a 1: 1 ratio). In the afternoon or in the evening they serve root vegetables or succulent vegetables, unglowed grass or hay. Aquatic rodents are reluctant to get used to new foods, so to radically change the diet or supplement it should be carefully and gradually.

Diet and nutrition composition of nutria is not the same at different periods of their life.So, before mating, the diet in males and females is the same, but males eat 20% -35% more. At the same time, corn is restricted in the diet because it leads to obesity, and this reduces the reproductive potential of the couple.

Young females eat 10-15% more adults, compared to them pregnant women eat more, and if the pregnancy is divided into 3 decades, then in the 1st decade they eat 5-10% more (they are fed ad libitum), in 2- w - 20% -40% more, in the 3rd decade females are transplanted into separate cells, their activity decreases, therefore the volume and caloric content of food is reduced by 20% -30%. If you stick to the rules, then the expectant mother should gain 2-3 kg. Undernourishment and overfeeding are equally dangerous, emaciated or obese individuals hardly give birth.

During lactation, the volume and caloric content of the feed again increase by about a third. The first 15-20 days, the mother eats him 80% -85% by herself, in 40-45 days in half with her puppies. Young animals are fed abundantly in the first 5-6 months of active growth; undernourishment during this period cannot be replenished by subsequent overfeeding. After 6 months of breeding and downhole individuals are fed the same.

Diet

Under natural conditions, adult nutria eat about 4 kg of aquatic plants. They prefer delicate basal parts of plants, bulbs, rhizomes.They have poorly digested branches, hay and fresh grass. Animals grow well in captivity, if fed them feed, grain concentrates, add to them the roots (carrots, parsley and celery roots), vegetables (pumpkin, zucchini), fresh grass and hay, in predetermined proportions.

Juicy vegetables and roots give fresh and clean, mold and rot are unacceptable. Hay should not be rotten, the grass is young, the water is fresh.

From the moment of birth, the cubs feed on colostrum and mother's milk, they progressively and carefully feed food from the 30th day of their diet, and on the 40-45th day the suction usually ends, and the puppies switch to concentrated and juicy food.

The development of babies depends entirely on the volume and quality of milk; if it is small, they are transferred to females with an excess amount of milk or supplemented with specially prepared mixtures of boiled cow milk and soft cereals.

The four months old youngstocked from the mother are given concentrated feed, the same as they were fed during their stay with the mother, gradually optimized so that it contains 13-14% of well-digestible protein, 5-10% of full-fledged animal protein, fat not less than 4 g and no more than 10 g per day per head.If they are fed with grass, vegetables or hay, they slowly recover and the quality of their fur leaves much to be desired.

Conditions

For the cultivation of nutria use insulated sheds with or without a pool. Cells are placed there in two tiers, at the top are settling breeding individuals, at the bottom - young ones. The number of cells should be optimally commensurate with the size of the room, as a rule, place no more than 15 cells.

Living environment should be bright, well ventilated without drafts, while sharp fluctuations in temperature and humidity are unacceptable. It is important that the cell placement does not interfere with sanitary and hygienic processing.

With single-tier cell placement, they often organize walking areas and pools. In hot weather, grass is put on the roofs of the cages, in the winter they are warmed (they make a dry bed of hay).

The room

Most often for breeding build houses of wood and upholstered them with a grid of metal (so that the animal does not gnaw it). Depending on what climatic conditions and why contain nutria they organize different types of cellular systems:

• On a territory with a cold climate or in winter, cells are placed above the ground close to each other and insulation is placed between them, the walls are insulated with wooden shields, and the roofs with rags.Small nettings without a pool are arranged in a shed (they are carpeted with layers of hay) or in the open air. Houses are built 1-or 2-chamber for the content of animals in frosty weather. The near room is aft, the far one is breeding. In a frosty climate, animals are kept only in a special building, it is built of brick, slate or adobe. In areas where winter lasts more than 3 months, the room should be heated.

Fig. 1 Cage for nutria with mesh walking and a wooden house: 1 - walking; 2 - door; 3 - house

• In areas with a hot (warm) climate or in summer, cells are organized with a walking range, it is settled in the sun, and the nets are deepened 30 cm into the ground (maximum 50 cm). From above create a peak of 20-30 cm and direct it to the inside of the pen at a right angle. The floor is concreted or laid with stones. Organize the shadow curtain and pool.

For the organization of such homes using cement, brick, plywood boards, rods and metal mesh. A dry and warm house is not deepened into the ground; walls and partitions are made of concrete or red brick, so they are organized so that no drafts occur. Often houses make steam rooms, their living space is divided by a partition.

A comfortable temperature for breeding nutria is 15-20 degrees, they tolerate heat up to 40 degrees and severe frost.

In general cases, for a female of 5-7 youngsters or for 8-7 animals that have been laid out, they build houses of size (cm): D-100, W-60-80, At -70 (rear) -50 (front) walls. As a rule, they make square holes with sides of 20 cm. The dimensions of the cells depend on the age, weight and number of individuals living, as well as on the type of breeding.

Pool

Pools are used for swimming and watering. The slope of the floor walking should be directed toward the pool, their width should be the same. The depth of an artificial reservoir, as a rule, is not less than 30 cm and not more than 40 cm., The length is about 60 cm or 70 cm. Filling takes place through special pipes or the original tray at the outer wall of the pool.

At the bottom, create a special hole for draining dirty water, if necessary, close it with a stopper. In the outer wall create a special slot, which is typed water surplus.

To create a series of isolated pools using a wide concrete chute, which are blocked by valves.

Disease protection (short)

Nutrias are distinguished by good health, if the basic sanitary and hygienic rules for their maintenance are followed,then pets grow beautiful and strong.

Among the infectious diseases that most often affect nutria, paratyphoid fever (salmonellosis) and pasteurellosis are distinguished. They are caused by pathogenic bacteria. Infection occurs through infected animals, dirty water and feed. Mortality from these diseases ranges from 90% to 95%. As a rule, they occur in acute form, lasting from 12 hours to 3 days. The animal becomes inactive, apathetic, at first it does not eat well, and with time it refuses to eat. The beast is rapidly losing weight is clogged up in a dark corner, its feces become liquid bloody, vomiting, abundant salivation, and before the death of the nose is released blood mixture.

For breeding, only full-fledged individuals are acquired, before being combined with the main herd, they are kept in an insulator and monitored. If there were isolated cases among the livestock,then the unhealthy individual is isolated and killed, and the contact group of animals is separated from the main livestock and kept in quarantine, after which their cells are disinfected.

Veterinarians recommend vaccination as a prophylactic and antibiotics for surgical treatment of the disease.

To avoid total death or single diseases of farm animals, it is necessary to periodically inspect them, as well as to clean the room and cages in a timely manner, in addition, it is important to exclude the contact of breeding individuals with stray animals.

Nutria fur

Fur nutria - the main criterion for the separation of breeding animals on:

• ordinary
• colored.

Nutria with natural color of fur are healthy and fertile. As a result of the selection work, many new nutria species with the original color of the skins appeared: white with a cream tint (Italian), black (Argentine), and white (Azerbaijani). These are unique breeds, the fur of which is highly valued, and fur products from it are expensive to sell. The main criteria for evaluating fur are considered uniformity of color, originality of color, shine, thickness of the cushion and length of guard hair.