Silver rabbits became famous for their unusual color of fur and became popular in breeding by private farms thanks to a very valuable skin.
Rabbit Silver
About the silver breed
Silver rabbits were bred by livestock breeders of domestic rabbits in Soviet times in the 50s of the last century in the Poltava region.
Silver rabbits appeared with the participation of French champagne.
The silver breed is sometimes found under the names Poltava silver or Soviet silver. All of them combine the same representatives with silver fur. Today, you can often hear them called European silver.
Thick and soft-touch fur for industrial production with silver tint is widely used for sewing fur products. Given the large size of Russian silver rabbits, animal skins are rather large.
Today, large silver is economically bred by rabbit breeders in central Russia, despite the fact that this breed is widespread throughout Russian territory.
Crossing with impurities of other subspecies of pedigree representatives allows us to draw a line of a darker generation of silver shades, for example, by the type of chinchilla. At the same time, professional rabbit breeders raising 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 vice versa dark altered gene.
Exterior Standard
In the photo and video, silver rabbits can differ in a variety of color shades, but the only common feature for all in characterizing the standard of their color is a silver 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 painted in a lighter tone, gradually darkening towards the end of the pile. The skeleton of the cover is snow-white, and the downy fiber is cast with a blue-blue palette.
The description of the breed silver rabbit includes a set of individual breed characteristics in the description:
- a harmoniously composed constitution with the right proportions and developed muscles, a straight dorsal region and a large sacrum,
- elongated body up to 0.55-0.58 meters
- developed broad chest in girth of an average of 35 centimeters,
- middle head with ears straight upright from 9 to 13 centimeters long,
- strong paws.
The weight of the average adult silver rabbit ranges from 4.5 to 5 kilograms. The characteristics of the breed notes that a single adult individual could have a mass of up to 6.5 kilograms.
Rabbits at birth are uniform in color and can be both black-gray and smoky. The full shade provided by the breed standard is formed in silver rabbits no earlier than 2-3 months of age. It is during this period that it is recommended to purchase animals for breeding, as the color palette is already clearly manifested.
Growing Approaches and Productive Value
The productivity of silver rabbits varies up to 60 percent for young animals who have reached the age of three to four months. Despite the fact that animal skins are widely used in production, rabbit diet meat with a wide layer of fat is no less in demand.
Silvery rabbits are characterized by early maturity. So, the intensity of growth and development of young animals, depending on the age category, is:
- in 1 month - live weight up to 1 kilogram,
- in 2-2.5 months - up to 2 kilograms,
- in 3-3.5 months - up to 3 kilograms,
- in 4-4.5 months - up to 4 kilograms.
The rabbits are fertile, bringing up to 9 rabbits for a scent. Good milk performance allows you to feed rabbits yourself, without human intervention. The natural maternal instinct makes it possible to preserve and grow offspring as much as possible, while including others. While ensuring proper feeding, silver rabbit shows stable reproductive qualities and vitality of young animals.
To maintain the productivity of an adult at the proper level, rabbit breeders are inclined to a shedovoy system of breeding and color content of light silver rabbit. This is due to the fact that this breed shows great results under conditions close to natural. In a limited space of cellular content, animals begin to lose in productive value.
For keeping light breed, a temperature regime of 20-23 degrees is preferable, since silver rabbits with thick fur tolerate cold living conditions rather than heat. In the hot season, they are looking for a shadow. Therefore, it will not be superfluous to give them proper shelter, where the rabbit could hide from the sun's rays.
Reviews of rabbit breeders over a long-term period of breeding and keeping the breed of 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 keeping conditions,
- fickle diet
- high productive value
- the maternal instinct for raising rabbits, which was fixed at the genetic level in rabbits,
- the vitality of young animals,
- intensive growth
- precocity and early maturity.
Habits and Nutrition
Among the advantages of rabbits, the breed has more silver - a 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. An exception is the rabbits during the rearing of offspring, which may be unnecessarily aggressive in protecting the nest.
Responses of owners claim that silver representatives prefer a stable mode.
Meat-skinning Large silver can be found 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 maintenance is not preferable, because the animal needs a lot of space due to its large size.
The feed ration of silver rabbits can consist of any feed mixtures or from natural nutrition. In the summer, the best way to replenish the lack of nutrients in the rabbit body is fresh herbs. For the winter period, rabbit breeders prefer to choose dry hay as feed. For light silver, conifers and deciduous branches, as well as shoots of fruit trees, are often added to the diet. Among juicy feed rabbits prefer potato culture, legumes, carrots. Bran and silage must certainly be included in the feed ration.
