Light control of farmed mink

Mink is an important fur animal, and its growth and development is closely related to light. If we pay attention to the control of light and make full use of the favorable effects of light on its growth, development and reproductive performance, it can effectively reduce the production cost and improve economic benefits.

The so-called light control is to use artificial or modern electronic technology to simulate the change of natural light cycle and provide appropriate light time and intensity for mink reproduction and hair change. in order to make mink production develop faster to meet the needs of human beings.

In the process of long-term evolution, the growth, development and breeding of minks have been closely related to the changes of natural photoperiod. In the natural state, minks change with the seasons, that is, they breed once a year and change their hair twice a year with the change of natural photoperiod. Under the condition of artificial light control, minks can reproduce at any time of the year, and can effectively shorten the breeding cycle and give birth to three births in two years. At the same time, it can make the mink winter skin mature ahead of time, slaughter ahead of time, save feed expenses and management costs, and greatly reduce the production cost.

The artificial light control scheme has nothing to do with the date when the sunshine begins to be shortened. Even in hot summer, short sunshine can promote the mink to grow winter hair in summer. However, in production, it should be noted that the winter hair growth of minks has a refractory period. After the winter hair matured, prolonging the light time could accelerate the development of sexual organs, but did not cause the growth of summer hair, and it did not begin to grow until after pregnancy. If the light is prolonged before the winter hair matures, it will prevent the development of winter hair and inhibit the growth of sexual organs. Therefore, farmers should pay attention to master the best period of artificial light control.

In production, light control feeding is generally carried out from December 21, giving 1 hour of light every day, extending to 8 hours a day on January 1, and then increasing 15-30 minutes every 5 days, to May 1 of the following year. Sunshine hours reached 15 hours and 25 minutes. By using this method, the mating conception rate of mink can be improved obviously. If you want to promote the maturity of winter wool, light control feeding is generally started on June 21, and 40 watt fluorescent lamps are mostly used to illuminate. The artificial light cycle changes twice as fast as the local natural light cycle, and it is adjusted once a week, which shortens the lighting time rapidly and promotes the rapid development of winter hair. Generally, the fur can mature in winter on October 6.

The light was prolonged by electric lamp 7-8 days after breeding, and the light hours reached 14 and a half hours a day. Open the cover of the small room in the light control shed during the lighting period, so that the mink was fully exposed to light until the litter began to give birth. By using this method, the newborn mink is lively and robust, and the survival rate of the newborn mink is higher.