The Ontario rabbit industry is hopping.
More and more people are choosing that low-fat, high-protein meat as a part of their diet, yet rabbit producers are increasingly challenged with low profit margins.
Since the industry is relatively new to North America (long established in Europe), rabbit growers have few Ontario-based resources available to them, including an accurate cost of production model.
Few breeders understand what their actual costs are per head, limiting their ability to benchmark themselves against other breeders and, without relevant data, the whole industry cannot move forward.
With that in mind, and funding from the Agricultural Management Institute (AMI), in the fall of 2010 Ontario Rabbit launched a Cost of Production course. Designed for breeders who are already established and experienced in the business, the program aims to help growers to not only establish but also to lower their individual cost of production, ultimately improving their gross margin.
Ken McCormack, policy and projects manager for the Ontario Livestock Alliance, which represents Ontario veal, goat, and rabbit breeders, describes the course as a How to Do Better program.
“We’re looking to help established rabbit growers define their costs, realize opportunities for savings, and ultimately make their operations more efficient,” he said. “We can also keep them informed about the newest and best management practices available.”
The program is designed in a series of six modules, held monthly. Each module is set up with expert guest speakers in various areas of production. Presentations cover topics such as best management practices, farm tax tips, nutrition and health, reproduction, biosecurity and disease control, marketing, and cost of production.
Participants are given worksheets at the end of each module, which requires them to evaluate their own management practices. Eventually, by breaking out their own costs, they will determine their cost of production per head. In addition, Ontario Rabbit gets current data, a necessity for any growing organization.
McCormack is pleased with registrations and feedback. Approximately 30 growers have enrolled for the six-month program. “If demand exists, we can look at running the program again, since we’ll already have developed the resources. We may even look to offer it on-line eventually, so that rabbit breeders in other regions can access our information. The completion of a comprehensive cost of production model, which will also result from this project, is of great benefit to the whole industry. We will have relevant data for our breeders to benchmark against.”
For more information on that and other AMI projects, visit www.takeanewapproach.ca. AMI champions farm business management by stimulating ideas and funding projects that strive to increase awareness, understanding, and adoption of management best practices which will enable Ontario farmers to meet their goals.
