Science Documentary: Industrial Rabbit Systems
Like 3 Dislike 0 Published on 8 Nov 2011
A documentary about a specific system created for science class. Clips were recycled from "Food Curated"
Voice over script:
47 ARBA recognized rabbit breeds
18 are cultivated for their fur or meat...
This is... Industrial! Rabbit! Systems!
This is John Fazio's rabbit farm in New York City. He delivers fresh New Zealand rabbit meat to high end New York restaurants. The open systems he uses for maintaining and conditioning each rabbit is intricate and interesting. Though there are a multitude, we'll discuss in brief the food and disposal of abiotic waste system, the breeding and weaning system, and the over arching system of buying and selling.
At the rabbit farm the rabbits consume roughly 5,000 ounces of rabbit food daily. After traveling through the rabbits digestive tracks the manure is deposited into the concrete latrine. Daily, water flushes through the latrine removing all the manure from the farm. Usually with such a large input you can expect a similar sized output, regarding the digestive system. Meaning lots of poop.
Fazio's farm contains 400 working does, who produce a litter monthly until they reach a certain age. After the doe and the buck interact in the means of breeding, she is expected to have a litter in a month. she is introduced to a nest box five days before giving birth. The females of the litter are used for further breedings to replace the does that have aged. The males are either sent to the slaughter house our are used for further breeding. Rabbits only leave mostly to be served as food and he never introduces rabbits from outside lines, but if the rabbits never left, the farm would be nearly a closed a system.
The buying and selling system of the farm is really the key thing that keeps it going. Though also a system it can be easily seen as more of a cycle. The the cycle starts with food. The food bought to feed the rabbits. The food results in well-fed plump rabbits ready to sell to restaurants. The restaurants pay for the fresh meat to serve to there customers. John Fazio receives the money from from the restaurants to buy more food for the rabbits and thusly, the cycle continues. There are plenty of off-shoots to the system like the rabbit manure which can be used to fertilize biotic things like plants and flowers.