Raising a specialty fish with fragrant meat and keeping it in a "stilt house", a farmer in Ho Chi Minh City sells each fish for millions of dong.

While working as a “crane worker” (making cargo cranes), Mr. Sau Thanh (Ngo Van Thanh, Hiep Phuoc commune, Nha Be district, Ho Chi Minh City) was excited to switch to breeding civets. Yet, Mr. Sau Thanh won big, with each civet sold, he easily pocketed millions of dong.

Currently, Mr. Sau Thanh has 60 breeding mink, including 27 female mink.

Mr. Sau Thanh in a civet breeding farm. Photo: T.D

Raising mink is easier than… cats

Honestly, for a long time I thought that in Nha Be, farmers only knew how to raise fish and shrimp. Who would have thought that people also raise civets, a wild animal with an economic value that not many other pets can match.

"The problem is that raising civets for reproduction is very easy, requires little food and care, only the initial investment is a bit expensive. In general, raising civets is easier than... cats," Mr. Sau Thanh concluded concisely.

The day I visited Mr. Sau Thanh's breeding civet farm, his 13 female civets were waiting to give birth. In a few months, for each breeding civet sold, Mr. Sau Thanh will pocket millions of dong.

Strangely, I have never seen a place where civets are raised in "stilt houses" like Mr. Sau Thanh. Accordingly, in the middle of the breeding civet farm, Mr. Sau Thanh arranged a row of tall "stilt houses" for female civets, which looks no different from the time when people in the Southwest lived in stilt houses to prevent floods.

Checking breeding civets at a breeding civet farm. Photo: T.D

When asked why he has such a strange way of raising ferrets, Mr. Sau Thanh laughed: "To make it easier to clean the cage. Especially, to bend down to see if the female ferret is showing signs of heat before actively mating."

One of the things Mr. Sau Thanh likes most about raising civets is that they are "easier to raise than cats". The civets' favorite foods are bananas and tilapia, which are "plentiful" in Nha Be. Mr. Sau Thanh estimates that each day he only spends 3,000 VND on food for each civet. He only feeds the civets one meal a day. He peels the bananas and feeds them, and cleans the fish.

"Especially, there is no need to lift a finger when the civet gives birth. The mother civet takes care of her babies herself," Mr. Sau Thanh laughed happily.

According to Mr. Sau Thanh, female civets give birth twice a year. During the year, March and August are the breeding months for civets. From mating to giving birth takes more than 2 months. Female civets give birth to 3-4 babies at a time, sometimes even 6.

Raising civets for breeding, the cost of food is negligible. Photo: T.D

Mr. Sau Thanh added that newborn civets can be sold after 3 more months of raising. At this time, civets weigh about 1kg. Civets raised for 8 more months will become reserve civets. Female civets raised for about 1 year can reproduce.

Mr. Sau Thanh shared that raising civets should not be fed too much. If civets eat too much, they will become fat and have difficulty reproducing. He said that he once took a female civet to a veterinary facility to have her babies removed by caesarean section because the mother civet could not give birth naturally because she was too fat.

Another thing to note when raising breeding civets is that civets often suffer from athlete's foot, cracked feet and digestive tract, so the cage must be clean, airy, and free of mold...

Breeding civets to easily earn millions

"When I was still a "crane worker", I only thought that raising civets for breeding was mainly for fun. Then, when I saw that raising civets was easier than cats and had high economic value, I quit my job as a "crane worker"," Mr. Sau confided.

Reserve and young civet cats in the breeding civet farm of Mr. Sau Thanh. Photo: T.D

According to Mr. Sau Thanh, he currently sells about 20 civets for breeding each year, and the same number of civets for meat. The civets that are born are not beautiful and cannot be bred, so he switches to selling civets for meat. Currently, he is selling civets for meat to two traders in Tien Giang and Binh Duong. Depending on the needs of the customers, one trader only takes civets for meat weighing 2.5kg - 3.5kg/cive, the other takes civets weighing 4kg/cive. The price of civets that Mr. Sau Thanh sells at the farm is 1.3 - 1.4 million VND/kg.

According to Mr. Sau Thanh, civets raised for meat can be sold after 8-10 months at a weight of 2.5kg/animal. However, mink farm owners often keep them to fatten them up to 3-4kg/animal before selling them to increase their value.

Mr. Thanh shared that mink meat cannot be raised for more than 4kg/head because traders dislike it because it has too much fat. Traders even force the price to be lower than normal. So when the weight of the mink exceeds 4kg, the farm owner keeps it and forces the mink to weigh it.

"If we just stop or feed the ferrets less, they will lose weight to less than 4kg, and then they will be sold for a good price," said Mr. Thanh.

For civet breeding, Mr. Sau Thanh sells retail. Anyone who wants to raise civets can come to the farm to buy the breeding stock.

Visitors visit Mr. Sau Thanh's civet breeding farm. Photo: T.D

Accordingly, the current price of breeding civets at Mr. Sau Thanh's breeding civet farm is 14 - 15 million VND/pair; young civets are 6 million VND/pair; breeding males are 7 million VND/head; pregnant female civets give birth immediately are 25 million VND/head.

"For a long time, the output for civets has been relatively easy. The price of civets for breeding and civet meat on the market is quite high and stable. Traders come to our homes to buy civet meat, and customers come to the farm to buy civets for breeding," said Mr. Sau Thanh.

Source: https://danviet.vn/nuoi-con-dac-san-thit-thom-phuc-lai-cho-o-nha-san-anh-nong-dan-tpho-chi-minh-ban-tien-trieu-moi-con-20250328092700978.htm