<p>Rabbit farming is now becoming a major economic enterprise following renewed interest that has heralded attractive prices.</p> <p>Molo livestock officer Richard Maina has said that the emerging nutritional trends have led to more people abandoning consumption of red meat which is associated with high cholesterol. Maina added that consumers are opting for fish, chicken and rabbit meat.</p> <p>Consequently, many small scale farmers in parts of Nakuru County have started rearing rabbits which are easier to keep since they can be fed on various weeds that are readily available in their farms.</p> <p>Maina said breeding rabbits is easy since the animals give birth to between eight and twelve young ones after every three months. The rabbits can be fed on grass, cloves, dandelion, sow-thistle, plantation chick weed and grounded, among other wild plants. Farmers can also feed rabbits with kales, carrots, turnips, parsnips, broccoli, beetroots and chicory. The variety of feeds available for rabbits means unlike dairy cows and chicken, a farmer does not incur huge costs feeding them.</p> <p>However, rabbit keepers should be wary not to feed the animals with poisonous plants like dog&rsquo;s mercury, anomie, buttercups, hemlock, laburnum, poppy, spurge and privet.</p> <p>Maina urged more farmers to embrace rabbit farming for domestic consumption and for sale. The livestock officer said with the reduction of farms in Molo, farmers have to think of ingenious ways of feeding their families by utilising their small pieces of land to the maximum.</p> <p>He added that apart from new farming technologies, farmers must be resourceful in the way they manage their farms.&nbsp;</p>

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