I grew up with a different mentality compared to other kids of my age, always wishing and aiming for things beyond my reach, in some ways my dad encouraged my idea a lot, I have never been the type to want things that people of my age group crave. I have always been a business oriented young man since my childhood days. This influence the type of things I crave and dream for. knowing how business oriented I'm, I have always find other ways to get myself involved especially in the aspect of livestock farming with the support of my dad.
There is always a kind fantasy nurtured by a child, mine has always been having a livestock farm of my own, this was made possible by my dad. realisation of my livestock farm dream started with establishing a rabbit farm which started like a child's play. I have shared what inspired me to build a life stock farm in my previous post, so I will just have to share a little bit of it but the only part I felt I never really talked about was the role my immediate family played in the establishment.
the idea of building a rabbit farm did not cross my mind by accident but it was never about having a Rabbit farm. As a kid we had this neighbour that has a lot of pets, I would say he is obsessed with pets, I have never seen someone with that much pet. it is not as if he sells it, I guess he just enjoy keeping them around. Among all his pet there was one I love the most his rabbits, 4 of them but there was one I play with the most I call him Bucky. male rabbits are called a buck, I guess I just added "y" to it, very creative
I enjoyed spending time with Bucky a lot, sometimes I would bring carrots from my house to feed the rabbits, over time my interest in this animals grew. eventually we moved away from that area but the idea of having a rabbit never left my mind. immediately I was able to get some funds before getting admission into Higher institution, I bought 5 rabbits. I have never felt that happy before, I jubilated for days but I never knew female rabbits were more difficult to manage compared to the males.
Here comes the issue, the initial plan was just for me to buy some rabbits and keep them as pet but overtime they started reproducing and their numbers kept increasing. As you know, there is more to pet than just keeping them around, there is a need to feed them. As the number increased it became really difficult to cope with feeding them though rabbits survive solely on vegetables and fruits but they also have medications which is quite expensive. My dad knew the reason I purchased the rabbit in the first place was because I wanted a pet but he thought I had some kind future plans for them in case their number increase but I didn't.
Probably because it never occurred to me that rabbits were capable of procreating which is really weird 😅, if not I would have at least thought of it. seeing how I was struggling to manage the rabbits all by myself in our compound, he walked up to me one day and asked me if I had any future plans for this rabbit. I can still remember the expression on my face that day because it was so obvious that I had no idea what I have gotten myself into. As if that wasn't hard enough my admission into higher institution also came in around that time making the pressure unbearable.
| Image | Image |
|---|---|
 |  |
 |  |
Pictures of my rabbit farm
So my dad suggested that I should take a portion of our fenced farm land, decorate it for the rabbits. since almost everyone in the family already had some kind of livestock farm going on the land, it was time I join the club with mine. my dad financed the entire decoration of the rabbit cages and that was how my rabbit farm began. eventually he proposed that I sell out some of it though I did not like the idea because I have form some kind of attachment with the rabbits, letting some of it go wasn't something I thought I would do but I realise it was a realistic move because the rabbit farm needs to generate funds that will be used on the farm without having to depend on my dad.
My first sale was massive which happened before I went to school, never knew the demand for rabbits was high due to inadequate supply, I mean how many rabbit farm do we have out there. it felt good to finally have everything under control but as good as the sale was, it was really emotional for me. having to load the rabbits that were bought into the cages of the buyers and seeing the way the rabbit were clinging to my hands, it was as if they knew they were being sold. that moment was agonising and ever since then I never allowed that level of attachment with any of the rabbits ever again.
After I left for school, he promised to always help me look after the rabbits and take care of the business. the funny aspect of it was that my dad had to learn how to manage rabbits because of my rabbit farm. To an extent he became better at it more than I could and due to that a few years after getting admission I wanted to slack off and let my dad manage the rabbit farm but my dad never forgot to remind me that the rabbit farm is 100% my responsibility, from that I learnt to take care of my business affairs.
For most people, they make business errors because they fail to create a boundary between family and business but in my case it was the opposite. the first error I made while starting my rabbit farm was due to lack of realistic business experience which did not originate from sentimental feelings towards family, though I was very young. As a result of my dad's love for me which assisted me in transforming few pets to a rabbit farm, I believe missing business and love of family allowed me to make better decisions for my business and if I find myself in the same situation again, the approach would not be the same because I'm not the same kid I was years ago but I wouldn't mind getting my family involved in my business endeavours.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "Business and love" in hive learners community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
Image 1 - Source
All pictures are mine except indicated otherwise