Seven reasons you should raise grasscutters

Arinze Onebunne | credits: File copy

There are many reasons for keeping and raising grasscutters. Not only are they friendly, they will entertain you with their antics. In addition, the grasscutter will eat up your kitchen vegetable waste; they can be exhibited and exported too.

Grasscutter farming is great if you have a space as small as a room, parking store or kitchen. They give the farmer less trouble; they can get most or all of their food needs from grass. They are one of the most efficient bush-meat producers. In their wild state, grasscutters are one of the many creatures that practise polygamy. In domestication, they are more promiscuous.

Very cheap to start

Grasscutter raising can be started with a wooden cage and one family of grasscutter breeders normally called a colony, which is sold for N45,000 to N50,000 depending on the age and specie. A colony comprises one male and four females. The cage can be constructed at a cost of N10,000 by any roadside carpenter. The cages can be placed anywhere in the compound or even in the kitchen.

For meat production

Raising grasscutters for meat production is ideal; they are fast growing rodents, live the longest and are also the toughest of all domesticated rodents. They reach a good weight with little supplement feeding and the most preferred bush-meat. The male grasscutter on average reaches a size of up to two times larger than chicken meat. Additionally, they grow quickly and can be sold as a breeder at a young age of 12 weeks after a diet of primarily milk and pasture. This combination of cheap feed and fast maturation makes grasscutters profitable for those raising the rodents for market purposes. Another reason is that they are efficient converters of a wide range of vegetables and grass matters into meat.

For breeding stock production

This is one of the most lucrative aspects of the grasscutter farming. The turnover period could be very short, maximum of three to four months after birth. The grasscutter breeding family comprising one male and four females is referred to as a colony. This colony can produce between 50 and 56 more grasscutters in just one year if well managed. Imagine the financial gains!

For employment creation

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Seven reasons you should raise grasscutters