Farmed Rabbit

Products: Meat, skins/furskins

Synopsis – Australian Industry

Rabbits are mainly produced intensively in feedlot type farms but are also shot or trapped in the wild.  The main product is meat, with rabbit underfur also being used extensively in felt making processes for hats.  The farmed rabbit industry in Australia was established after the collapse of the industry based on rabbits harvested from the wild that resulted from the deliberate introduction in Australia of rabbit calicivirus in 1996.   This was enabled by the removal of state bans on rabbit farming in all states but Queensland and the Northern Territory.  There are now rabbit farms in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia.

Australian production of rabbit meat in 2006-07 was 324 tonnes, three times larger than in 1998-99. In the initial stages of the farmed rabbit industry, meat production was contributed by many small producers but there has been a trend to fewer but much larger farms.  In 1999 it was estimated there were 115 rabbit farms in Australia with an average of 57 breeding does each. By 2007, the number of farms had contracted to 43, but with an average size of 297 breeding does.

Background

World production of rabbit meat is currently around 1.1 million tonnes. The main producers are China and countries in the European Union.

At this stage of its development, the industry in Australia is oriented toward supplying the lucrative domestic markets that offers wholesale prices, compared to international prices.  In 2006-07, there were Australian rabbit meat exports of 2.5 tonnes, mainly to Germany, but this appears to have been game (wild) rabbit meat rather than farmed rabbit meat. From 2008/09 there has been increasingly small quantities of farmed Rabbit meat exported to Thailand.

Supported by growing demand for rabbit meat, the farmed rabbit industry in Australia is likely to continue to expand.  Some processors are anticipating that production expansion will require the development of export markets and have plans for obtaining export accreditation.  While average world trade prices for rabbit meat are low compared to current domestic prices, it is likely that Australia’s high quality rabbit meat will attract higher prices than this.

Links

• Farmed Rabbit Industry of Australia (www.fria.com.au), industry representative body in Australia, providing a regular newsletter.
• World Rabbit Science Association (www.world-rabbit-science.org), information on all aspects of rabbit production, including proceedings of recent conferences.