Catfish Farming
The Secrets To Home-Scale Catfish Farming
The commercial catfish farming industry is not the soul provider for our catfish fillet needs at the supermarket these days. Though most catfish farming facilities are located in regions where the deep freeze of channel waters is not common, many states are home to small scale fish farms, and the yield produced from these private facilities is often more desirable than that from the larger farms. A small scale catfish farming site will ideally have a pond that is no smaller than .25 acres in order to raise up to 300 pounds of catfish per year. This is a great amount for personal and local use, such as small restaurants who want to raise their own fish for specialty dishes or for families who enjoy fishing and sharing their stock with neighbors and friends.
Small catfish farming facilities can be easily managed in a pond of up to 6 acres without causing much cost or concern, but if you go much larger than this you may have a harder time maintaining and caring for your lot. If you are interested in commercial sale, however, you will need to be well versed in health and safety codes, and inspected and approved by the USDA. Personal consumption, for food that you aren’t going to serve or sell to the public, is a good reason for catfish farming as well, so go ahead and stock up your small pond. You’ll be eating like a king in no time.
Feeding your personal stock pond of catfish is usually done with natural vegetation, and this can be purchased in bulk at a very reasonable cost. There will be some naturally occurring sustenance within your pond, depending upon how many catfish are present at any given time of the year, but they will need to be fed at least twice per week if not more. Most catfish will reach the perfect weight and texture by the time they are 18 months of age, but using proper methods of harvest will ensure that you only capture those who are ready for the pan. There are large mesh nets that can be used which allow for the smaller catfish to swim away, securing only those who are of formidable size.
Catfish farming is generally considered as a very responsible and beneficial source of seafood in America, as the private and segregated channeling of these tasty fish ensures that disease and waste is not spread throughout natural bodies of water. No diseases can get in, and when proper testing and handling occur, no diseases can be spread to wild seafood or to the consumer. There is a good chance that the seafood that you so enjoy from your local market or restaurant is a product of catfish farming.