Underlying factors influencing the technical parameters of organic rabbit farms in France

Summary

The organic rabbit production was unknown and few researches were carried out. In this exploratory study, the first aim was to describe the organic rabbit production systems in France and characterize their technical parameters. Secondly, we researched the main factors influencing these parameters. To reach these goals, data from 2012 to 2017 from 9 organic rabbit farms were compared with data from 2014 from conventional rabbit farms. The organic farmers were interviewed twice. Mainly located in the North-West of France, 22% the organic rabbit production and 33% of the conventional ones bred only rabbits: It is a secondary production. Organic rabbit production was a new developing niche market, with about 30 farmers in France in 2017 and 66% of them settled after 2013. Their systems were extensive with 4 to 10 adults/ha compared to 20 rabbits/ha of the conventional farms. Unlike rabbits in organic systems, conventional rabbits were kept in a highly controlled environment in closed buildings (>99%). In 89% of the organic farms, does were kept in movable cages and 100% of the meat rabbits in parks. The reproduction management was flexible in organic farms. The technical performances were lower than in conventional farms. All farms had different technical performances but none of the farm was significantly performing better than the others. Overall, fertility rate was 57% for organic farms. Per parturition, 8.8 kits were born, among them 8.0 were alive and 6.2 weaned. In conventional farms, numbers were higher: 10.7 total born, 10.1 born alive and 8.6 weaned. Mortality rates were a lot higher in organic litters than in conventional. Multiple factors influencing the technical performances have been identified in organic farms. The genetic potential (fertility, prolificacy, meat conformation, growth rate) seemed to be the most important. Then the sanitary issues (diseases, parasites and predators) were an important concern due to sudden and irregular episodes with heavy consequences. Other factors pointed out were the working time, the feed quality and quantity, the farmer experience and the access to information.