
Twenty-one years ago, Daisy Moleko looked into breeding her own rabbits to improve her health. Today, she is the proud owner of MPBizRabbitry, a commercial rabbit farming business that teaches emerging farmers how to make a living out of rabbits by starting small with whatever space they have.
Rabbit meat is becoming increasingly popular due to its affordability as well as the very health benefits that brought Daisy to this business in the first place. The “all-white” meat of rabbits is packed with protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12, and other essential minerals, plus it’s super lean and low in cholesterol.
Daisy mentions that when she first discovered that there is a market for rabbit meat, the industry only had about 1% of the market share, but this has since steadily grown to about 30%. Along the way, she’s done her share of education, as many people still believe rabbits only exist to be pets, when, in reality, caged rabbits are specifically bred for commercial purposes.
Rabbits are bred not only for their meat, which can be used in all the same ways as chicken, but also for their hides, which are crafted into hats, gloves, blankets, toys, baby clothes and more. Besides, rabbit farming is generally regarded as a “humane” type of farming, which is gentle on the resources of Mother Earth too.
Because rabbit meat doesn’t have a lot of fat, one needs to get creative when you cook it. For this reason, as people started buying rabbit meat from Daisy, they also asked her for recipes, which led to her eventually compiling a cookbook titled RabbLicious, which is now available for sale online. A huge plus for Daisy is that her daughter has also become a rabbchef, a chef who specialises in rabbit dishes, and has contributed to this family cookbook.
Teaching her children all about the rabbit business is just one way in which Daisy’s legacy will live on, as she has also helped to create many rabbit entrepreneurs over the years. MPBizRabbitry offers a series of online courses that you can complete at your own pace, as quick as a rabbit or as slow as a snail, with practical components that you can start implementing straight away, while starting your own rabbit farm. The training includes a start-up kit with rabbits of the correct, pure bloodline and the option for onsite training and mentorship should you prefer it.
Although you won’t instantly make millions when starting out on a small scale, you can definitely start earning good money, even if you just start raising rabbits from home. Rabbits are pregnant for 31 days, and the new-born rabbits (called kittens) are ready to be slaughtered and skinned within another 60 days.
MPBizRabbitry has a well-established and steady market as they supply to their own RabbLicious Restaurants, Tjhesa Rabbit Buy & Braai outlets and online Rabb-Butcheries via an app with access to more than 100 000 clients. For this reason, there’s a great chance that MPBizRabbitry will be able to buy your rabbits back from you, even if you have not established your own market yet.
So, if you’re ready to get into the rabbit business too, you don’t need to pull a rabbit out of a hat, as MPBizRabbitry has done it on your behalf with a business model that has been tried, tested and proven over more than two decades. As you grow, Daisy and her team will also show you how to make money out of every component of the business.
As such, their training covers right through from rabbitry setup and meat processing and cage and feed manufacturing – to hide processing, tanning and producing leather products. For more info, email info@mpbizrabbitry.co.za or send a WhatsApp to 081 788 7984. Sharing is caring, so follow @NicheFarmers on Facebook, where you can share the details of your progress with other potential niche farmers.