Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Over the years, Franz has been secretly conducting some research, that is, how to breed French and British Angoran long-haired rabbits into modern German Angora rabbits.

This thing is usually kept as a pet in modern times, because it is good-looking and extremely docile. Or it can be used to obtain fur, because it has a high yield of plush and excellent fluff quality.

Its hair production is four times that of other long-haired rabbits and dozens of times that of ordinary rabbits.

But Franz was interested in its edible value, and yes, like many of his predecessors, he also had the idea of using rabbits to solve food problems.

As for the meat-to-feed ratio, Franz wasn't particularly worried. Because there is a lot of agricultural land in Austria, it is not a problem to have enough feed whenever there is a demand.

In fact, the meat ratio of rabbits is usually 2.8~3.5:1, although it is not as good as the 2.0:1 of chickens and ducks, but the gap with the usual 3.0:1 of domestic pigs is not very large.

Feed-to-meat ratio refers to the amount of feed consumed by raising livestock and poultry to gain one kilogram of weight, and a high meat-to-feed ratio indicates that the feed is used more, but the meat grows less. On the contrary, the lower meat content means that there are fewer flowers, but more meat.

So generally speaking, the lower the number, the better.

The ratio of meat to feed of Ashkenazi Angora rabbits is 3.1:1, which is actually very small compared to domestic pigs, but high-quality fur is not available in domestic pigs.

Franz hired professional tanners and tailors to make rabbit skins into garments, which could be sold for a very good price.

Laymen simply can't tell the material, and even insiders find the fur to be of extremely high quality.

Of course, Franz understands the truth that scarcity is expensive, and once the output is increased to a certain extent, the price will inevitably fall sharply. But isn't it true that people are looking for a higher quality experience with a small amount of money?

Franz is more concerned about what impact it will bring to its upstream and downstream industries, first of all, it will definitely revive the leather industry, and secondly, a large number of giant rabbits will inevitably increase the demand for feed, and again due to the decline in the cost of fur, the pattern of the clothing industry will also change.

So far, Franz has not actually eaten his own rabbits, not because he feels that he can't eat them, but because he is afraid of whether this kind of thing will have hidden diseases or something.

Each time, they were made into dishes and sent to the prison for the prisoners to eat, but it is unknown whether the rabbit meat was eaten by the prisoners or the jailers.

In short, so far, there have been no cases of sudden deaths in a short period of time, or of special anomalies occurring.

As for the problem that Europeans don't eat rabbits, there is no need to worry at all, because that is simply a rumor. The French eat about 20 million ducks and 1 million geese a year, as well as more than 30 million rabbits.

Many other aspects, such as the breeding environment and diseases, are also very advantageous, this rabbit does not like to exercise, and at the same time is extremely resistant to disease.

Based on Franz's experience with the four main regions of Austria, the rabbits are almost non-sick, and at least so far there have been no reported deaths.

It's very adaptable to the environment, as long as it doesn't get too hot. But this is also something that can't be helped, long-haired rabbits are already afraid of heat.

However, after dozens of generations of reproduction, Franz still has not found the variety he wants.

In order to speed up this research, Franz actually gave Mendel a batch of breeding rabbits, hoping that the great scientist could create some more miracles.

In fact, Mendel is very experienced in cultivating flowers and plants, and it is the first time to breed rabbits. But on both sides, it should be similar to cultivating flowers and plants.

Franz has collected most of the giant rabbit species in the world, but it seems that they are still a little worse than the ones he has seen in his previous life, and the growth cycle is either too slow or too small.

It simply did not achieve the dual-use effect that Franz demanded.

As for the natural disasters that this rabbit may bring, not to mention that Franz planned large-scale industrial breeding, and then to the living standards of Europeans in the nineteenth century.

If someone sees a bunch of rabbits outside the city, they must be beaten to death with a stick to improve the food for their families.

You know, at this time, the population of Europe began to swell, and every famine or economic crisis caused the extinction of species.

That's right! Eat it up!

Franz's sister, Maria Little, screamed with excitement when she saw his rabbit.

"Bunny!"

To be honest, Franz didn't like the shrill cry, so he gave her a few, but instructed her just in case.

"I'm giving you all female rabbits, don't let them run around, if there are too many baby rabbits, I'm going to get rid of them."

"Why? How cute is the little bunny, the palace is so big, can't I raise a few rabbits? Maria shook Franz's arm and tried to get through.

"It's very good. Thousands, tens of thousands, can this Schönbrunn Palace also be raised? ”

Mary lowered her head and looked like she wanted to cry. Obviously, this little girl has no plan, and if Franz doesn't give in, she will make a big fuss and call her mother.

Of course, Franz didn't let things get worse to that extent, in fact, Maria didn't dare either, after all, the eldest brother would beat people like a devil, and she subconsciously rubbed her ass.

In fact, Franz had known that this would be the case for a long time, so he left room in advance.

"Okay, will you add and subtract within a hundred?"

"Yes!"

"99-65 = How much?"

“34！” Mary replied cheerfully.

"Okay." Franz complimented him and then asked, "What about multiplication within a hundred?" ”

"I will! One by one gets one, one by two gets two." Maria began to memorize multiplication formulas, which were fine for an eight-year-old girl.

"What about division?"

"Yes," Maria whispered, this time clearly lacking in confidence.

"100, no more."

"Why?" Mary cried out reluctantly.

"Trigonometric Functions."

"No, it won't."

"Isn't that all there is to it?"

Maria rubbed her head and felt that Franz had a point, but something was wrong. In short, the rabbit is in hand, and this is the key.

So the little girl jumped and walked away.

Franz didn't pay much attention to the episode, he was still thinking about his own livelihood plans.

The domestic pig species in Austria is too degraded, not just in Austria, but in the whole of Europe, not so much as degraded to evolve a more suitable survival strategy.

But the navy of the future needs more brushes, and the soft bristles of the European pig are naturally not good.

So he also brought back breeding pigs from Asia to breed, which of course were not suitable for keeping in Schönbrunn Palace.

After several generations of crossbreeding, the ideal breed was obtained, but this was completely perverted in the eyes of people at the time.

There has been speculation about whether Archduke Franz had a special fetish for hybrids, or whether he had a grudge against animals

In addition, the carp farming program was not successful, and the carp stocked by Franz were not only not able to reproduce on a large scale, but were swept away by predators at a time when there were large numbers of ferocious freshwater fish in Europe's main rivers.

(End of chapter)