Speaking of livestock and poultry, there are nothing more than those few, pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks and geese, why are the main sources of human meat in these animals?
If humans don't raise elephants to eat because they grow slowly and have low reproductive capacity, it's puzzling that another animal has failed to become the main meat of humans: rabbits. It is not for nothing that it feels like rabbits should be the main source of meat for humans, first of all, rabbits are cute in appearance. Should cute looks be eaten? Not to mention, there is really a causal relationship between the two, and aren't many foods that are nutritious but not accepted by most people just because of their abomination? For example, all kinds of insects.
Secondly, the growth rate of rabbits is still very fast, even if it is just grazing, it only takes about 4 months for a rabbit to fully grow, and this number still has room for improvement.
From this growth cycle, rabbits can be a qualified source of meat supply. The third and most critical point is that rabbits are super reproductive. In history, there have been many times when rabbits are flooded, taking Australia as an example, there were no rabbits at first, and after the rabbits landed there, it took only 60 years to develop from the first dozens to tens of billions, and this expansion capacity is quite explosive in the entire mammalian kingdom.
Why are rabbits so reproductive?
Because a rabbit only takes about 4 months to grow up, and at this time it has the ability to reproduce. The gestation period of rabbits is very short, from conception to cub birth only 1 month, while a single birth can give birth to up to 12 rabbits. So far, we have been able to feel the powerful reproductive ability of this animal, but it is not exaggerated enough, the most exaggerated place is that the day after giving birth to the cub, the female rabbit can turn on the pregnancy mode again, and the efficiency is amazing. And these newborn rabbits only need 4 months to become a member of the fertility army.
This is simply a life of two, two, three, three lives of all things, no matter how you think about it, you feel that as long as you raise two rabbits, it is not far from wealth freedom.
But such an animal has failed to become the main source of meat for humans, why? Although rabbits grow fast and have a strong reproductive ability, this animal is not very easy to keep. Whether it is pigs, cows and sheep, or chickens, ducks and geese, as long as they are given a circle, they can stay there with peace of mind, but rabbits are different, this animal is naturally restless, always thinking about how to escape, if the ground where they are kept is just ordinary land, it will be troublesome, and it will not be long before you find them digging holes and escaping.
In addition, rabbits are sensitive animals, and if they are kept in captivity, it is easy to make their spirits in a state of high tension for a long time, so they are easily frightened, and once frightened, they may cause a new problem, that is, illness.
As the saying goes: "raising poultry, easy to bankruptcy", that is, chickens, ducks and geese and other poultry are easy to get sick, such as the avian influenza that has been epidemic has led to the loss of many farmers' blood, and compared with these poultry, rabbits' disease resistance is worse, and it can even be said that rabbits' poor disease resistance is notorious.
If you want to keep rabbits from getting sick, you must give meticulous care, even the forage you eat must be as fresh and tender as possible, even so, it is still not possible to completely avoid the occurrence of diseases.
Even if the rabbit grows up without disease and disaster, the meat yield of this animal is not very high, about 30%, so although humans eat rabbits, they will not be kept in large-scale captivity, and naturally cannot become the main source of meat. Rabbits are difficult to keep in captivity, poor disease resistance, low meat production, such things are generally quite expensive, but why are the rabbits sold in supermarkets very cheap? Because the rabbit in the supermarket has no head, the rabbit is just a by-product of the rabbit head, just like the demand in chicken wings is large, it will produce a lot of rich chicken wing roots, so the price of wing roots is much lower than that of wings.