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Started By
Message
1
Posted on 6/11/14 at 9:41 pm to barry
quote:
What advantage do you provide over anyone else doing this?
Honesty and integrity. A lot of farmers who currently sell fingerlings have a bad reputation for being crooks, but the ones buying from them have no alternate choice and I have a good reputation which goes a long way in this industry. I also have done some experimenting at my current job with a few ponds on stocking rates and have found the best way to get the best survival and largest size on the fish in one growing season. Nobody else to my knowledge stocks fish the way I'm going to and it will ensure the customer gets the highest quality, healthiest fish and a uniform size.
The market for fingerlings is very short right now. I know some farmers who didn't even get to buy enough this year to stock their entire farm due to short supply. There is a large gap that must be filled by someone.
Posted on 6/11/14 at 9:42 pm to tigerpawl
quote:
Or you're a con-artist who wants to steal his idea.
Unless he has years of experience in aquaculture, he would go broke in 2 years
There's a lot involved that takes years of experience before being able to do this efficiently and mistakes can cost you tens of thousands of dollars.
Posted on 6/11/14 at 10:13 pm to deltaland
Not trying to be a dick and am actually interested. Also, this would be a question I would have as an investor. But why is nobody else raising the fish the way you plan on doing it? Are you the first person to ever experiment with and try this method? That seems somewhat hard to believe. And if it has been tried before then why isn't anybody else using this method if it is better? Are there trade offs now or in the future to doing this?
Posted on 6/11/14 at 10:33 pm to POCKET
It's a young industry that has only been around for about 3 decades. Many of the current farmers are older men set in their ways who still think that overstocking ponds = more fish and more money, but with the increase in feed and fuel prices that is no longer efficient. The key is to increase survival and lower overhead costs. I've found that by stocking lighter you end up with the same numbers due to higher survival rates.
The industry is starting to transition from the old into the new...and it will take innovation to survive. The past 4 years have yielded much innovation and change of doing things, and that will continue as the industry stabilizes and younger farmers begin to take the leadership positions of the industry.
Every farmer has a different way of doing things. All I know is I've seen the numbers..I've worked a fingerling farm of 2500 acres and we've had both lighter stocked ponds and heavy stocked ponds..and the lighter ones do better consistently every year.
There is only a trade off if you stock too light...I've found that 80,000 to 100,000 head per acre is the perfect medium. Any less and your numbers drop, any more and your survival drops. The lower the survival, the more money wasted. But this is merely a farming practice that enables profit margins to increase.
As far as advantage over competitors, my reputation for honest business is the biggest factor. I know for a fact one of my future competitors is trying to already keep me from getting in business by trying to buy property and also try to convince farmers not to lease land to me. I've been told by other farmers who know him and talk to him that he is worried to death that we will steal his customers.
The industry is starting to transition from the old into the new...and it will take innovation to survive. The past 4 years have yielded much innovation and change of doing things, and that will continue as the industry stabilizes and younger farmers begin to take the leadership positions of the industry.
Every farmer has a different way of doing things. All I know is I've seen the numbers..I've worked a fingerling farm of 2500 acres and we've had both lighter stocked ponds and heavy stocked ponds..and the lighter ones do better consistently every year.
There is only a trade off if you stock too light...I've found that 80,000 to 100,000 head per acre is the perfect medium. Any less and your numbers drop, any more and your survival drops. The lower the survival, the more money wasted. But this is merely a farming practice that enables profit margins to increase.
As far as advantage over competitors, my reputation for honest business is the biggest factor. I know for a fact one of my future competitors is trying to already keep me from getting in business by trying to buy property and also try to convince farmers not to lease land to me. I've been told by other farmers who know him and talk to him that he is worried to death that we will steal his customers.
Posted on 6/11/14 at 10:53 pm to deltaland
That makes sense. I assumed the industry had been around longer. Good luck 
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