Raising "specialty" animals, farmers earn hundreds of millions of dong in profit

After researching through many information channels, in October 2023, Mr. Pham Van Tuan went to a civet breeding facility in the old Ho Do commune (now Tran Phu ward) and spent nearly 80 million VND to buy 10 civet breeds (7 females and 3 males) for testing.

Civet farming model of Mr. Pham Van Tuan in Tien Dien commune.

Mr. Tuan said: "Through research on social networks, I found that many farmers raising civets not only escaped poverty but also had a good income. Compared to other animals, civets are easy to raise and care for, so I decided to sell 2 cows as capital, and at the same time renovate the nearly 15 m2 cow barn ^to raise civets."

When he first started raising the animals, Mr. Tuan encountered many difficulties due to lack of experience and not understanding the characteristics of the animals, which led to the minks growing slowly, reproducing slowly, and even biting each other to death. With determination, he continued to explore and learn to change the appropriate raising methods. The cages were always kept clean and dry, and the food was always fresh and nutritious so that the minks could grow well.

Civets are considered a "specialty" of the forest that brings high economic value.

Thanks to buying quality breeding stock and ensuring proper technical care, after 5 months the female minks gave birth. Each mink gave birth to 2 litters/year, each litter had 3-4 minks. Initially, he did not sell them but only raised them to multiply the herd. Through that, his model has grown, with 40-50 minks always in the cage.

“As the number of minks increases, I have to invest in expanding the farm to an area of over 100 square meters ^. The farm is equipped with cooling fans and a misting system to reduce the temperature on hot summer days. Minks like to live alone, so separate cages must be made for each one; only keep males and females together when they want to reproduce,” said Mr. Tuan.

The barn is equipped with a misting system for cooling and is cleaned daily.

According to Mr. Tuan, the cage must be clean, airy and high. In particular, it is necessary to bathe and balance the amount of food every day to limit the mink from becoming too fat, which will make it difficult to reproduce. More importantly, the most taboo thing about raising mink for reproduction is inbreeding, when the baby mink is born, it will grow slowly, have poor resistance, be susceptible to disease and have a low survival rate. Therefore, he often uses about 3-4 males to take turns for breeding.

Starting in late 2024, his civet farming model has generated income. He sold 20 pairs of breeding civets for more than 6 million VND/pair; commercial civets cost 1.4 million VND/kg. From selling breeding and commercial civets, after deducting expenses, his family earned nearly 120 million VND in profit. At this time, he is continuing to supply breeding animals to many customers in the province.

Ferrets are easy to keep.

After nearly 2 years of raising civets, Mr. Tuan realized that this is a wild animal that is easy to raise, has high resistance, requires little care, and food is easy to find. Every day, he feeds the civets twice, morning and evening, with the main foods being ripe bananas, tilapia, and chicken necks. On average, an adult civet will eat about 200-250 grams of tilapia per day and 2 ripe bananas.

"Raising mink is quite easy, so I can do many other things every day. In the future, I will continue to breed, expand the scale of the farm, and at the same time improve the output and quality of mink breeding as well as commercial products, to meet market demand." - Mr. Tuan said.

Mr. Le Thanh Binh - Vice Chairman of Tien Dien Commune People's Committee said: The civet farming model of Mr. Pham Van Tuan, Phuc My village initially brought stable income, life is increasingly improved. The local government also introduced people to visit and learn. Currently, Mr. Tuan has accumulated experience and is always willing to share techniques, guide buyers to raise the breed. This is a model that needs to be promoted and encouraged for many other farming households to learn and follow to develop family economy, increase income.

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/nuoi-con-dac-san-nong-dan-thu-lai-ca-tram-trieu-dong-post293589.html