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Grasscutter Farming in Nigeria
Grasscutter Farming in Nigeria
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This tutorial was originally published here on www.africabusinessclassroom.com
Ever thought of grasscutter farming and the possibilities of making money from it?
This article entails every detail on how to start grasscutter farming business in
Nigeria and make good income from it.
So if you do not know about grasscutter business, you are welcome to learn and
enlighten yourself.
Some of the people who are reading this article right now will be wondering what the
heck I am talking about? Grasscutter!?
Well, yes! At least you have a slightest idea of what I am talking about, the only thing
is that, I won’t want to call it a “big rat” like you might be thinking or calling it,
instead it will be better and learned if you call it “Grasscutters (Thryonomys
swinderianus)”.
At least these will erase the idea that you are selling a “big rat” to your customers.
And moreover, if you know how much you will be making from rearing grasscutter,
then you look at every grasscutter you see with a precious eye.
Wait!
People like you said, this is the best business book in Africa
A healthy matured grasscutter which weight about 4-4.5kg for male body weight and
a body weight of 3-3.5kg for female can be sold for #2,500-#3,000 or more (2017
estimate)
Multiply this to the number of grasscutter you have and see how much you will be
earning in a year.
Even, depending on your locality, you can sell higher than my estimated price if the
market price of your area is high.
I hope now you understand my point when I said that; Grasscutter farming business in
Nigeria is a good source of income.
Anyone that is determined to make it in agriculture in Nigeria can start it up, provided
that he/she follows the right managements and steps which I will be writing down in
this article.
At least it will be wise to know what to tell your customers when selling grasscutter to
them.
• Grasscutter which is a source of meat has high protein which is really good for
the body.
• Unlike red meats which have high cholesterol, grasscutter meat has white meats
so if you are looking for a good meat which is not a red meat here is an
alternative for you.
• Over all, nutrient obtained from animal products has high percentage of vitamin
A, Vitamin B, riboflavin, magnesium, Iron, Niacin etc unlike in plants products.
Having discussed that, lets quickly jump to our main topic; how to start a grasscutter
business in Nigeria
This area should be easily accessible, in a flood-free zone, it should also be noise-free,
well aired and ventilated, with feed and a water source, as well as being secure.
Also know that the size of the building will depend on the number of grasscutters that
are been kept in it.
You should also know that grasscutters do not sleep where they use to feed. So make
provision for that, if possible always clean the pen daily.
You can use same pen for the same purpose like rearing of adults, mating, and also a
pen for giving birth and feeding the young ones but it is highly recommended to use a
different pens for different purpose.
There are two different types of pens, the open pen and closed pen.
The pen or cage can be in the dimension of about 180cm-190cm in length, 60cm-
70cm in width and 45cm-50cm in height.
If you are really not sure of how to construct the pen or cage, you can get in touch
with a builder who knows exactly how to do it.
For feeding and drinking trough; this is exactly where the grasscutter will be eating
and drinking.
Like I previously wrote; that grasscutter don’t like to sleep in where they eat and that
you should always clean the pen or cage.
When you have a feeding and drinking trough; you won’t have to necessarily clean
the whole pen every day, instead, your grasscutter will have to enter into the trough to
eat and feed, then come out to the pen to sleep.
If you want your grasscutter farming business in Nigeria to be successful, then you
must not select the grasscutters randomly.
Instead, select your grasscutter by weight. The females should all have around the
same size of weight and you should also avoid weight differences of greater than
500g. And the male grasscutter should be 0.5 to 1 kg heavier than the females.
The male can be identified by his wrinkled, brown genitals, while the female can be
identified by the closeness of the anus to the genital area and also for young
grasscutter, the male can also be identified by the distance between the genitals and
the anus, which is twice as larger than that of the young female.
The grasscutter food supplement should meet all the animal’s daily requirements,
though their diets usually consists mainly of green forage; and can be supplemented
by feed with high energy value, or added protein and minerals.
Grasscutters can eat fresh or dried bread, corn or sorghum bran, groundnut, palm
kernel cakes, wheat bran, brewers dried grain, broken rice at wheat grains Cassava,
potato, yam or taro pellets, peels and scraps from cassava or other tubers Corn,
sorghum, millet, rice .
And can eat shells like powdered oyster, snail or egg shells, bone meal and cooking
salt.
Grasscutters can also eat vegetables like ripe or unripe fruit, cores from the crowns of
palm, coconut or pineapple trees or banana plants, the bark of certain trees, green
papaya, the trunk of the papaya, bamboo shoots, leaves and tops from pineapples.
For water provision; there should be a constant provision of water always for the
grasscutter.
Sometimes you might want to give them water before feeding them to normalize their
health.
5) Grasscutter Growth;
Like I wrote before, a healthy matured grasscutter which weight about 4-4.5kg for
male body weight and a body weight of 3-3.5kg for female can be ready for sale but
you won’t want to sell them off like that without having them reproduce for you; it
will be a wasting of money if you will have to go back and purchase another young
ones.
Grasscutter Sexual maturity: This is when the grasscutter is ready for reproduction
and breeding. For the male it can be from 8 months (32 weeks) at a lowest body
weight of 2.5 kg. And For the female: 6.5 months (26 weeks) at a lowest body
weight of 1.8 kg.
Grasscutter Gestation Period; this is the period of time the animals develops inside
the mother’s body till it is born. After mating, be sure that the female grasscutter is
pregnant. You can check this by using a little cotton buds or white cloth to clean the
female grasscutter genitals; if it is reddish brown, then it’s pregnant , if it’s not, then
it’s not pregnant. Normally, the gestation period takes up to 5 month approximately.
The possible number of litters per year; Litters are the sets offspring at one birth of
an animal. Grasscutter in a year can give birth to two set of litters and each litters will
consist of 3-4 young grasscutters.
You should know that young grasscutters, even when very small, already resemble
fully grown adult grasscutter. They can move around easily within a few hours after
delivery. Make sure you provide their mother with enough supplementary food and
also enough water that will aid in breast milking.
Grasscutter Weaning or suckling period; this is the act of breast feeding the young
grasscutter. The normal period for weaning the young grasscutter should not be more
than 40 days after birth; if extended, the mother grasscutter will begin to feel weak.
During or after the weaning, the baby grasscutters should then be put in a separate pen
or cage according to weights and sex.
Know that grasscutter’s pen should not be over crowded. A pen of young grasscutter
should contain at least 10-15 grasscutters; remember according to weights and sex.
Other health managements care and issues that could occur in your grasscutter
farming business in Nigeria.
Let’s quickly look at the other possible care and some issues which might occur when
rearing grasscutter.
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