Tag Archives: Rabbits

Make Rabbit Treats at Home

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. We have begun mailing our Gift Catalog for this year’s holiday season and will be featuring activities that highlight the items available.

For many people around the world, rabbits are a vital source of nutrition. Loved for being fluffy and social, rabbits are a popular pet in the United States. Do you have a pet rabbit?This holiday season, make rabbit treats for your pet.

Make rabbit treats

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Materials:

  • One cup of rolled oats
  • One fourth of a cup of rabbit food (the pellets)
  • Two bunches of parsley
  • Half a carrot
  • Half a banana
  • Tablespoon to one fourth of a cup of water
  • Oven

Grind the oats and rabbit pellets into a powder. A coffee grinder works great for this. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Next puree carrot, banana, parsley and add water. The mixture should be liquified, but not too watery. Place the powder into a large bowl and pour the liquified mixture into the bowl, stirring the ingredients together. This will form a stiff dough. Roll out the dough to one fourth of an inch thick. Cut it into small shapes. Place the treat on either a baking stone or a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Rabbit Treats

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Bake the treats for about half an hour, but don’t let them burn. Let the treats stay on the warm baking sheet for an hour. Do not give your bunny more than one treat per day.

For more details about making rabbit treats, read this article.

See how rabbits are changing lives in Georgia.

Find out how you can help a family with the gift of rabbits.

Rabbits Provide Vital Source of Income

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As one of the most popular pets in America, rabbits fill many roles here—pet, cartoon character, Easter egg porter.

But for many families rabbits are more than just cute animals; they create a vital source of income.

Rabbits Make a Great Gift

Photo by Russell Powell, courtesy of Heifer International.

The small animals rely on simple foods, such as grass and vegetables, to eat, and they do not require large areas of land to thrive. Moreover, the manure they produce fertilizes the land and enhances its productivity, a hugely valuable asset for a smallholder farmer.

These sturdy animals reproduce swiftly; they can have six litters of four to 12 babies, or kits, each year. Additionally, the offspring mature quickly, which means Heifer participants can Pass on the Gift in a few months, compared to the year or two it takes to share the offspring of a larger animal, such as a cow.

A gift of a rabbit transforms a family’s life, providing extra income for to buy more and better food, access health care and pay children’s school fees.

Anthonio Louis Fritznel organized a group of peers to raise rabbits to improve the La Sucrerie community in southern Haiti. Watch this video and see the impact rabbits can make on a community.

This holiday season, consider giving a trio of rabbits to help more people like Anthonio.

This post is part of our What to Give series, where we’re helping you choose the best Heifer gift for your loved ones. Read previous What to Give posts here, and subscribe to the What to Give series here.

Still don’t know what to give? Visit our full catalog page here.

From the Field: Heifer’s Work Around the World

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This weekly post shines a light on a handful of stories from Heifer.org’s “From the Field” section.

Heifer projects are filled with leaders, and they’re easy to spot. They typically have a grand vision that will improve their entire community. It’s their vision, combined with a passionate dedication to see it through, that inspires others to join the effort and, ultimately, reap great rewards.

Heifer project participants Tang Fuming and her husband in Xingjia Village

Tang Fuming and her husband in Xingjia Village

In China, Tang Fuming took the initiative to expand on her family’s small silkworm farming business by joining a Heifer project in her community. Once, her family earned barely enough to get by, but now they raise chickens and can afford medicine for their epileptic grandson. Today, Tang teaches her neighbors skills to empower them to improve their lives, too.

Anthonio Louis Fritznel has been blind since age 12, but that doesn’t stop him from doing what he can to make life better for residents of La Sucrerie community in southern Haiti. For two decades, Anthonio has inspired fellow community members with his true vision.

Schoolchildren in Armenia’s Lukashin village understand and appreciate the value of the leaders who teach them how to be the best they can be. During a Teachers’ Day celebration earlier this month, students showered their instructors with gifts and heartfelt thanks.

 

Rabbits Ensure a Better Life for Beso’s Large Family

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Story and Photos by: Marina Kazaryan, Project Assistant, Heifer Georgia

Kumisi is an average village in Georgia not far from Tbilisi. People here live, hope, labor and wish for a bright future, though circumstances are not always so favorable and they have to struggle. After establishing a Farmer Association, villagers discussed and eventually agreed to start rabbit farming with support from Heifer International. “When Heifer started the project in Kumisi, not everyone was convinced of its sustainability and usefulness,” said 31-year-old Beso Kakhelashvili. “However today, seeing how our households have expanded and how we keep developing, more and more people get involved.”

Beso received his rabbit family in a Passing on the Gift® (POG) ceremony from his neighbor Nodar. “Nodar’s family lives right next door to us. I could see how rapidly his farm grew and what benefits it brought to the family,” Beso said. “So, when the time came for the first POG in the village, I decided to join.” Ten four-month-old rabbits, two males and eight females, were the gifts that started what today is a successfully developing farm. 

Rabbit farming is not common in this region, so Beso and his fellow villagers had a lot to learn. Beso participated in trainings conducted by Heifer Georgia staff, featuring experts on Heifer’s 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development, rabbit keeping, forage production, and other topics. Today, Beso happily shares the valuable knowledge he received to help others.

Beso’s large family includes his grandparents, parents, brother and sister-in-law, and their young children. Before Heifer, the family owned one cow and a few beehives, but this would hardly suffice for such a large family, especially with his grandparents’ pension as their only stable source of income. Their situation has changed considerably since then.

At the beginning of the project, the family’s diet was enriched with rabbit meat. As their rabbit population increased, they started selling the meat. The additional income allowed them to invest in home renovations to make it more comfortable for the large family. Now they stay toasty warm, even in winter, which is notoriously snowy in Georgia. They also are able to buy new clothes, medicine for Beso’s grandparents, and additional nutrition and vitamin supplements.

The Kakhelashvilis added cattle, turkeys and sheep to their farm, where Beso works with his parents. The day before our visit, the sheep gave birth to three lambs. The weather wasn’t particularly warm, so, to the delight of the children, Beso and his neighbor arranged for the lambs to stay inside. Next time we have young ones, I’ll get the shed appropriately prepared and arranged for any weather condition,” Beso said. “My income from the rabbit farm will give me the possibility to purchase all the necessary equipment.”

“The concept of ‘Passing on the Gift’ is very important,” Beso said. “Neighbors help each other, share with and take care of each other, and that creates a special bond. This is vital in the village’s life.” Beso has already continued this tradition, and in 2011 gave away 10 rabbits to another family. He says he’ll gladly do it again.

 

Hop On Over and Give for Easter

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Heifer Hoppy Easter Basket

Our ‘Hoppy’ Easter Basket is filled with shares of a sheep, heifer, goat, rabbits, and a flock of ducks and chicks. These animals give families milk, eggs and meat for nutrition and a source of income. And with additional income there is money for school supplies, medicine and doctor expenses, and improved quality of living. The ‘Hoppy’ Easter Basket offers the hope a family needs for a sustainable future. And this hope continues as each family passes on gifts of animals and training to another. A gift basket from Heifer this Easter lasts much longer and helps more families than the usual Easter basket filled with marshmallow chicks or chocolate bunnies ever could.

Check out the rest of what Heifer has to offer this Easter!

Heifer Easter Basket

Give a Basket of Hope

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Heifer Easter BasketThe Hatch Hope Easter Basket, with its chickens and rabbits, offers just that to Heifer’s project partners. What can be more hopeful to a struggling farmer than a gift of fast-multiplying livestock? Rabbits are easy to care for and reproduce quickly, allowing their owners to sell the offspring for extra income once they’ve fulfilled Heifer’s Passing on the Gift promise; and chickens lay eggs and provide manure for vegetable gardens. That’s why this gift of Hope goes on and on, lasting much longer and helping more families than the usual gift basket filled with marshmallow chicks or chocolate bunnies ever could.

Check out the rest of what Heifer has to offer this Easter!

Heifer Easter Basket

Give Three Rabbits for a Gift that Truly Multiplies

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Rabbits provide so many advantages that the farmer must decide exactly how he or she would like to benefit. Depending on the breed, rabbits can provide fur, wool, manure, leather and protein. And farmers are almost guaranteed extra income from their endeavors.

Oleksandr Kohurta Passes on the Gift of a trio of rabbits to
Maria Herasymchuk’s twin girls, Vika and Lina.

Oleksandr Kohurta was one of the first project participants in the Khudiaky village, Ukraine, to recieve rabbits. He was not quite sure about the whole idea of rabbit breeding in the beginning. He thought he did not have enough experience in farming and that he would not be able to provide the proper conditions for the rabbits. However, after a month had passed, the rabbits had their first offspring. Oleksandr’s three rabbits had already multiplied to 33. He likes rabbit breeding so much, he now considers developing a full-scale rabbit farm. In 2010, Oleksandr Passed on the Gift to Maria Herasymchuk, single mother to twin girls, Vika and Lina. “From now on we will have high-quality, nutritious meat and a regular income for the family. The children already like playing with the animals and helping take care of them. They are looking forward to new little rabbits. There couldn’t be anything better than to see your child healthy and smiling,” Maria said.


Fertilizer
Rabbit manure is an important source of organic matter and is rich in nitrogen. It is a valuable compost when coupled with worm production and can also be used in conjunction with fish farming, as rabbit manure increases algae production in ponds, improving fish yields.

Protein
The meat from a rabbit is highly nutritious and a rich source of protein, which is necessary in the growth and repair of muscles. And because rabbits reproduce so quickly, families can have a constant supply. Rabbit meat is also low in fat, sodium and cholesterol.

Quick Pass On
Because rabbits can have up to six litters a year–or 40 rabbits–it becomes easy for families to give up some rabbits for sale or to fulfill their requirement of Passing on the Gift.

This holiday season, give the gift of rabbits to your son’s math tutor, Amanda, without whom Jason might never have learned his multiplication tables. Read more about Heifer’s work with rabbits here.

Heifer in Haiti: Rabbit Addition

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Enithe Luxius gives proper credit to her rabbit Jaqomy.

Image byGeoff Oliver Bugbee
Story by Katya Cengel
Enithe Luxius pulls out a smallnotebook inside of which she has charted a family tree. There is Mr. Sedye andGermaine and their descendants Osnel, Rony and Osny. On another page is Jakoband Jacqomy and their seven descendants.
The four rabbits HeiferInternational supplied Enithe on May 12 have already multiplied to 17.
Enithe was surprised by howquickly the rabbits reproduced.
“Any time we finish a cage for oneof them we have to build another house because we know it’s going to multiply,”she said through a translator.
That is a good thing, because themore rabbits Enithe has the more money she can make by selling them. Enithe’shusband works in construction in France, while she lives with their 12-year-oldson, Richardson Tinius, in a valley in the Saint Louis du Sud region of Haiti.It is a beautiful area surrounded by mountains and crossed by rivers, but whenit rains it floods and the crops and animals are destroyed.
Last time it flooded Enithe lostsix goats. Six months ago Heifer International partnered with a localorganization to deliver 400 rabbits to 100 families in the area. Because therabbits reproduce rapidly and can be kept in cages high off the ground, thegroups felt they would provide a feasible economic opportunity for thecommunity.
Enithe seems to agree and isexcited about raising more rabbits and maybe one day saving enough money tomove to an area less prone to flooding. Of course one rabbit she won’t beselling is the prolific Jacqomy.

Heifer Georgia: Creating Hope Through Market Access

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Steve Denne, Heifer International Chief Operating Officer, and Pietro Turilli, Vice President of Central and Eastern European programs, are visiting Heifer projects in Georgia. In the coming days we will share more about their visit, but first we want to share this overview of our work there.  


by Medea Tsitskishvili, Heifer Georgia

At present Heifer Georgia is implementing 18 projects in seven regions of Georgia and is assisting smallholder farmers in attaining improved nutrition and an increased and sustainable income by pursuing value-added activities and scaling up their operations. This assistance comes in various forms through providing high-quality plants and animals (heifers, horses, goats, sows, rabbits, poultry, and bee-hives) to improve production levels, providing trainings and equipment for micro-enterprises, promoting community development and sustainable agricultural techniques.

During its short lifespan, Heifer Georgia has developed a diversified project portfolio and established valuable partnerships with both local and international development organisations, such as GRM International, HEKS EPER, The Embassy of Japan, Polish Aid, Care International, Agro-Service Georgia.

Heifer Georgia was the first organisation that introduced industrial broiler hybrid breeds of turkeys and geese in Georgian agriculture and supported establishment of women-led poultry enterprises, thereby providing a unique opportunity to women to create a profitable business with access to good markets for geese and turkeys in the area. Heifer Georgia also started a project aimed at rebuilding the rabbit breeding industry in East Georgia through the establishment of three commercial rabbit breeding centers, encouraging sustainable small-scale rabbit farming for local people with the end result being profit generation.

Since July 2011, Heifer Georgia has employed “Market for Poor” (M4P) methodology and has focused on value-added market chain development projects, introducing functional linkage between suppliers, producers and final markets, supporting poor primary producers to enter markets.

Leadership Lessons from "The Rabbit King"

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Mike Thompson, author of the upcoming book The Anywhere Leader, recently concluded a visit to Heifer projects in Nepal and China where he looked for examples of inspirational leaders among our project participants. While in China, Mike met one of Heifer’s greatest success stories — a man who’s come to be known as “The Rabbit King.” Mike does a great job of telling his story on the Anywhere Leader blog:

Just outside of Chengdu, China, lives the Rabbit King – and yes, he goes by that name. It was given to him by his community, which deeply admires him. The Rabbit King was extremely poor before Heifer International provided him with a few rabbits to raise. Those few rabbits turned into 12,000 rabbits in a little more than five years.

The Rabbit King enjoyed years of nurturing and growing his broad, but sadly, about three weeks ago, he lost all but 30 of his rabbits to a massive flood. I asked the him about the consequences of losing almost 12,000 rabbits and being forced to start over. “It’s back to poverty,” he said. I expected tears to follow that comment and his next statement to be something like, “What are my family and I going to do?”

Not the Rabbit King; he didn’t speak of desperation and despair, but rather of confidence and opportunity.

He was thankful for the 30 rabbits that were spared, and he was even more thankful that no one in his family or his community was killed in the disaster. He was surprisingly positive, even as he took me around his farm and showed me the devastation. Even though a plan wasn’t in place yet, his mind was focused on rebuilding.

You can read the rest of his story here. While you’re at it, please also take a look at some of our previous posts about Mike’s travels to Heifer projects.