Fish Farming Suits Small Farmer

Fish Farming Suits Small Farmer LIVESTOCK Miscellaneous Fish farming suits Todd Daniels because it allows him to generate significant revenue off just 16 acres      My business motto is based on being small scale I want to be a small farmer and stay a small farmer he explains     The Hayfield Minn man is licensed to sell live bass perch bluegills hybrid sunfish crappies and walleye He breeds all his own fish except for the walleye which he purchases wholesale grows into bigger fish and then sells retail     Daniels 16 acres consists of 14 ponds with one species of fish in each pond He switched to this type of management because he found that the yield from monoculture one species per pond is well over double of what it was when fish were mixed      My niche is to be able to sell the customer everything they might want to fill their pond I may only break even on the walleyes but they allow me to meet all the needs of my customers In some cases it s the walleye that bring them to my store and also end up buying other fish varieties he says     Since fingerlings are the most profitable he focuses on the small fish that range from 2 to 8 in long and are 1/2 to 1 1/2 years old      You can sell 100 small fish for every big fish you would have produced he explains Eating-size bass are much more valuable as brood stock than as food fish With food-sized fish the risks are so high Great fortunes have been lost because of it We have a short growing season in Minnesota and can t compete with commercial fishermen     Daniels niche is retail sales The majority of his customers are pond owners who want fish for their own personal fishing He also sells to lake homeowner associations that want to keep their lake populations strong Lastly he also wholesales fish to other farmers who grow the fish bigger and then re-sell them     Daniels also offers consulting to help people establish their ponds correctly     To set up his own operation he excavated 14 ponds The advantage of that over using natural ponds is that they re built to your specs and arranged so you can intensively manage them      You can always dig a hole but whether it will hold water is important to find out before you dig Daniels points out Water doesn t flow through clay so that s the kind of base you want     He says the best time to excavate fish ponds is in the fall when the water table is low Once the ponds have been filled he puts in straw or organic matter which together with sunlight brings on plankton production which provides food for the fish     The very first spring the pond is ready to seed with fish Daniels says that most people put in adults to generate the fry which by fall have grown into 3 to 7-in fingerlings that can be sold     Aquaculture is a very technical type of farming according to Daniels Everything has to be precise for it to work      Even then you re at the mercy of heat waves and bad winters There are plenty of ways to accidentally kill fish during nesting harvesting sorting or delivery There s always some new problem an endless parade of accidents and mistakes he explains      It is very time intensive especially since I provide personal service he explains     Still Daniels is excited about fish farming and says it can be successful if you start small pay your way learn more every year and get a little bit bigger as you can handle it      Or you can take out a loan borrow $50 000 to build and buy everything You can start big and make your money that way but the risk is much higher as some people have found out he says If you start small and grow as I ve done you ve got lower risk and less income I ve grown 20 to 30 percent each year for the past six years     To help save money Daniels has found innovative ways to make equipment such as a fish holding tank he made by converting a 300-gal milk bulk tank He also uses 200-gal plastic containers that once held jelly He bought two of those for only $50 instead of paying $600 each for commercial holding tanks     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Todd Daniels 73323 270th Ave Hayfield Min

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