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Who is the report targeted at?
The report is targeted at rabbit farmers and associated industries, funders of R&D for the rabbit industry and policy makers with regard to rabbit importation.

Background
Rabbit producers in Australia are keen to find out how the industry is structured and what technologies are being used in Europe. A number of farmers have travelled to Europe to gather information on housing, management and husbandry. Some farmers have undertaken training in artificial insemination (AI) of rabbits. Based on this information the industry is making decisions on how to develop in Australia, ranging from the introduction of AI, inclusion of antibiotics in feed for prophylactic control of disease, and design cages and waste management systems. It is timely to review the state of play in Europe with regard to a number of these issues so that investment decisions, both by industry members and RIRDC, are based on current and objective information.

Aims/Objectives
In conjunction with the RIRDC Program Manager, the scope and goals of the study were agreed. They covered collecting information in a range of areas including:
i. Production – industry structure, use of AI, protein and antibiotics in feed, feed conversion efficiency, shed design.
ii. Processing – target weights and age, % rabbit portioning, labour for processing, by-products.
iii. Marketing – market segments.
iv. Value Chain – gross margins for production and processing.
v. Innovation and research

The major aim of the project was to capture technical information and as many photographic images as possible to demonstrate new technologies.

Methods used
Much of the information was drawn from visits to commercial farms in Europe and from industry publications in the home-country language. Some information was not readily available due to its commercial sensitivity but, overall, members of the industry were very forthcoming and generous in the way they shared information. The information was collected from only a small number of enterprises in each country (2-3) so will not represent the full range of production systems, but every attempt was made to gain an overview of the meat rabbit industry in each country.

The information in the report was gathered during May and June 20007 while Dr Sandra Eady undertook a Research Fellowship at INRA, Toulouse, in France. The itinerary covered travel to rabbit facilities in France, close to Cholet in north western France and research facilities at Toulouse in south western France. In Spain the rabbit enterprises that were visited were located near Tortosa and Valencia in north eastern Spain. Rabbit enterprises visited in Italy were located in the northern regions around Milan. A period of 3 days was spent making visits in each country, generously organised and hosted by INRA, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia and Università degli Studi di Milano.

Results/Key findings
Global rabbit production is in the vicinity of 1.1 million tonnes of carcase meat, or approximately 857 million rabbits. The majority is produced in Europe (50%) while Asia (predominantly China) produces 41%. France, Italy and Spain account for 76% of production within Europe. The bulk of the industry in these three European countries is industrialised, producing rabbits under intensive farming vii conditions in specialised sheds. However, there still exists a significant level of home production which was most evident in Spain. France, Italy and Spain contribute 15.4%, 40.2% and 20.8%, respectively, of the total rabbit production in Europe.

Rabbit consumption is stable or slightly decreasing in these countries and efforts are underway to increase the consumer appeal of rabbit by introducing “quick cook” meals and a variety of cuts of meat, rather than rely on the traditional whole carcass (including heads) presentation.

The productivity of rabbits in Europe is higher than for Australian rabbits. Statistics for the French and Australian rabbit industries are given below.

* In the absence of periodic disease outbreak such as enterocolitis in France and calici virus in Australia.

 The national rabbit breeding program in Australia, Crusader, is based on a composite line formed from 3 breeds that has a universal breeding objective to improve both maternal and growth traits in the one line of rabbits. In contrast the European system is based on a cross-breeding structure with specialized lines for maternal or growth attributes. This is enabled by the size and organisation of the industry, particularly in France. The performance of some of the maternal lines in France may warrant their importation to Australia but there are difficult and expensive quarantine issues to overcome.

The most recent advances in technology are in the area of automation of sheds for feeding, cleaning and temperature control. New management systems have been developed to improve rabbit health, most notable the development of “all-in all-out”” systems where-by rabbits are produced in one batch on a 6 week cycle allowing for the sheds to be vacated for a short period for intensive cleaning between batches. The adoption of artificial insemination is widespread in the industry and enables many of the management systems to operate.

There has been a recent review of housing for rabbits and regulations for housing including cage sizes will be introduced to EU countries over the next 3-4 years. This will see a further upgrading of technology as old cage configurations are replaced but will also signal the exit of older farmers with smaller farms who do not want to make the shift. Abattoirs are upgrading with new technology to automate as much of the process as possible and to introduce more efficient chilling and cleaning systems. Innovation in feed mills has been in the integration of activities such as feed formulation, ingredient mixing and tracking ingredients and products, with advanced IT systems.

One of the major challenges to rabbit production in Europe remains the disease - epizootic rabbit enterocolitis (ERE), a digestive tract disorder in growing rabbits. Enormous use of antibiotics still underpins profitable rabbit production in Europe with only a small level of abatement since the first occurrence of ERE in the mid-1990s. French exports to Japan in 2006 were banned for a period because of presence of antibiotics in the meat; the issue of antibiotics in meat is of concern to domestic consumers; and the widespread use of antibiotics in animal feed has implications for drug resistance and human health.

Implications for relevant stakeholders
When looking at the structure of the rabbit industry in Europe, Australian farmers need to understand the role of the private breeding companies and the farmer Unions in enabling certain breeding and management practices, such as structured cross-breeding systems and “all-in all-out” shed designs. In Australia where the industry is small there are barriers to the adoption of some of these technologies that related to scale, industry organisational structures and investment required.

Trends in rabbit marketing in Europe to improve the appeal of rabbit to a young time-poor consumer should be considered in Australia. Where rabbit producers are targeting a market for meat portions, there may be improved returns from setting a higher target weight at slaughter – say 3kg rather than the more common weight of 2.5kg for whole carcasses. This is because meat yields are higher off a heavier carcass.

Rabbit farmers in France, Spain and Italy are well supported by government research and technology transfer services. Due to the privatisation of most advisory services in Australian agriculture and the small R&D budget for rabbits, the industry in Australia needs to invest themselves in much of the training and technology that receives public support in Europe.

The technology applied in abattoirs is reliant on access to manufactures of specialised equipment. In Europe, enterprises manufacturing rabbit equipment are also the major suppliers of abattoir equipment for poultry. It is likely that Australian processors would need to source such equipment from Europe which would be expensive and only within the financial reach of large operators with a high throughput of rabbits.

Recommendations
Many of the technological advances observed in European enterprises have a high capital cost and require a certain scale of production to yield a viable return on the investment. However, there are some technologies that could be introduced to most Australian farming enterprises once they reach 400-500 doe size. These would include artificial insemination, automated feeding systems and computerised information management systems for tracking production.

To make a sensible recommendation on pursuing rabbit importation from Europe requires a thorough analysis of why kittens are dying from birth to weaning so that a better assessment can be made on whether the losses are due to environmental effects, like disease, or genetic factors such as poor mothering ability and/or milk production. The important message is that a systematic evaluation should be made of any introductions to be able to determine the overall merit of the introduction. In the first instance, there may be advantages in exporting Crusader rabbits to France to allow for their evaluation in that country given the quarantine restrictions would be lower.

Given the niche market for rabbit in Australia, as a high value healthy gourmet meat, it would be preferable to avoid the feeding of antibiotics for disease control in growing rabbits. Consumers in this market are looking for a “clean green” product that is free of chemicals and drugs. The rabbit industry should value and protect their reputation for such attributes.
 

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