Living off Land, uh, I mean Ponds....

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For those with a little bit of acreage or existing ponds, I thought this quote was interesting from:

http://agpublications.tamu.edu/pubs/efish/

go to the following pub:

PREPARING A FARM FISH POND FOR STOCKING

"A well-managed pond which has been properly stocked with blue or channel catfish can produce from 400 to 1,000 pounds of catfish per surface acre per year, suit-able for recreational fishing or for harvesting as a food source."

One of our ponds is already stocked & I'm noticing several hundred catfish hatchlings as well as some rather large catfish (4-6 lbs.). I might remodel the duckling cage with smaller wire & use it to protect the fish hatchlings until they grow large enough not to interest predators.

I've have about 15 ducks on one pond. They've cleared alot of the algae growth and are now working on our Texas sized grasshopper plague (billions & billions of hoppers is how are local paper described it).

I have a bit of canned tuna but I think fresh catfish would taste better for a change. That website has a plethora of articles on managing catfish ponds with tips so catfish don't taste "muddy". Plus articles on crawfish which we also have a few.

-- texan (bullseye@ranch.com), June 26, 1999

Answers

Fun facts to know

One pound of feed = one pound of catfish.
Two pounds of feed = one pound of chicken.
Ten pounds of feed = one pound of beef.

-- rb (phxbanks@webtv.net), June 26, 1999.


There is a local guy that is "farming fish" and even got a permit from the local government (town) to do it under agricultural zoning.

Don't forget about bullrushes. They are a VERY good resource for food and materials. The core is much like cucumbers.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), June 26, 1999.


Link

Fisheries
POND MANAGEMENT PUBLICATIONS

-- Brian (imager@home.com), June 26, 1999.


rb,

Thanks for the "fun facts".

The feed bill for horses, cattle, ducks, and now fish is getting up there. Of course, the loose ducks are staying pretty full foraging on grasshoppers. I wish I knew a good way of harvesting all those grasshoppers and freezing them for duck/fish food. I'd be a millionare if I could harvest & market all those grasshoppers!

-- texan (bullseye@ranch.com), June 26, 1999.


Brian,

Thanks for the link!

Concerning person in your area getting ag permit to aquaculture... This is growing industry albeit it's slowed a bit but still viable industry. I don't think I'll quite my day job to aquaculture but we've wanted to add more ponds to our ranch & this adds incentive. I'm going to contact someone at Tx A&M about the viability of cultivating freshwater shrimp. If imports increase in price & decrease in availability coupled with the expanding "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, which has lessened domestic shrimp production, pond raised shrimp might also prove to be profitable.

Plus I'm concerned if Y2k is >4 & <9 about making mortgage on ranch. Supply of catfish, cattle, hay, garden, resident ham radio operator, & our computer skills could help save the ranch.

-- texan (bullseye@ranch.com), June 26, 1999.



http://www.kurtsaxon.com/ foods07.html for instructions on raising catfish in a 55-gal barrel.

-- Shimrod (shimrod@lycosmail.com), June 26, 1999.

Hey Tex....

You located anywhere near Abilene?

-- Barry (bchbear@earthlink.net), June 26, 1999.


Barry,

No, we're located in the beautiful Red River Valley region.

Are you'll pretty soggy in Abilene right now?

-- texan (bullseye@ranch.com), June 26, 1999.


seems like al-d. mentioned pond,s

-- al-d. (catt@zianet.com), June 26, 1999.

Texan:

We are a good bit north of you [and fish don't grow as fast], but I understand where you are coming from. Our pond was stocked about 16 y ago. It is 3.5 a [16 ft at dam and 8 feet at head]. Some bass are 10 to 20 lb. Catfish; I can't even guess; some could stand in for a jaws scene. The things evolve. First, ducks and geese cleared out most of the cat tails and arrowroot. Then muskrats cleared the remaining cat tails. Then the geese built a nest on the muskrat den and collapsed it. Then beavers moved in. They decided the pond overflow was a leak. We spent 3 years clearing that mess. I won't even talk about the river otters. At present, we are back to fish, water and plants. Don't know what will happen next.

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), June 26, 1999.



Texan......

I lived in Abiline for some time during the mid-80's and have fond memories of fishin' for Cat in many a stock pond. I punched a lot of holes when oil&gas was in a frenzy and dippin' a rod went with the territory. As I recall, these stock ponds would regenerate quite nicely with little or no attention and could provide a food source for many months.

-- Barry (bchbear@earthlink.net), June 26, 1999.


Z1X4Y7:

Did you get rid of the beavers? If so, feel free to share this information. We have a similar problem, and clearing the part of the dam for water flow has become a daily task.

On the plus side, they are clearing the weeds, lily pads, even removing stumps :-)

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), June 26, 1999.


Tim....

beaver meat is VERY delicious! especially BBQ'd

it's a very lean meat.....except for the fatty tail (i've never had a chance to try the tail.....we got all our meat from a Game and Fish guy who shot them and had previously been feeding the meat to his dogs)

give it a try.....you'll be surprised how good it is........most game laws allow you to take beaver (or other animals) if they are doing damage to your property....check with the Game and Fish people in your area

-- andrea (mebsmebs@hotmail.com), June 27, 1999.


Be carefull if you plan on killing beaver on the west coast. They have been specifically identified as a critical element in the "threatened" coho salmon's habitat. Adverse habitat modification of Endangered Species can be interpreted as a prohibited "take" with a very big fine (up to $25,000.)

-- marsh (armstrng@sisqtel.net), June 27, 1999.

I'm up in MI, and the DNR sez it's okay to hunt them since it's on our property. Ideally, we'd like to trap them and relocate to a better place, but my mother has a (don't laff) recipe for pickled beaver that I think she wants to try...

Until the beavers arrived, we were keeping our fishing area clear using lake rakes. However, the beavers are doing a great job of clearing our fishing area from weeds, lily pads and silt next to our dam. The part we don't like is that they're bringin up these long logs which are small in diameter along with brush and debri and just toss them over the dam. We're getting great kindling out of the ordeal, but as Z1X4Y7 stated, the beavers don't like to see water running over the dam itself.

In essence, they're building a dam on top of our ours to stop the water flow. We knock part of their work to let the water flow over so our neighbors' stream bed doesn't dry up, but they return in the evening, build it up again, and we blow it down again...a viscious struggle which brings the movie "Caddyshack" to mind. :-)

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), June 27, 1999.



Tim:

Yes, so far, so good. We are up to our ears in beavers in this area. We actually have people who do "beaver removal" for a living. We hired one who came in an trapped them [pretty cheap for the service]. The female was about 65 lbs. Could have eaten my dog. They clean up things well. It was when they started to fell the big oaks that I wasn't amused. For the time being, the otters have left. Let's hope they aren't Y2K compliant

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), June 27, 1999.


Tim:

Trapping and removal seems like a humane solution. Just south of us there is a low water bridge over a large creek. Every spring, the beavers dam the creek and flood the road. DNR comes in, relocates them and dynamites their dam. By fall [every year], they have returned [maybe not the same ones] and rebuilt the dam. This has been going on for 10 y. I suppose you just learn to live with some things.

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), June 27, 1999.


Skin the tail of a small to mediun size beaver (25/30lbs) Slice into 1/2 inch stakes and marinate over night is 1/2 cup vinegar and 1 T. salt, in fridge. Season with salt and pepper to taste, sprinkel flour on stakes and brown in bacon fat. When brown add 1/2 cup red wine, 1/2 lb mushrooms, 1 chopped onion and garlic to taste. cover with water and simmer in pan 45/60 min until tender. Great on rice. yumm.

-- && (&&@&&.&), June 27, 1999.

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