In November 2010, the Nationwide TV crew visited Goatsbridge Trout Farm for a day for a feature on our trout farming operations here in Kilkenny.
Take a look at the video for a look at what happened on the day and a further insight into the running of things here at Goatsbridge Trout Farm.
Goatsbridge Trout Farm is on Kilkenny’s Taste Trail – we welcome visitors! You can find out more about the trail here.
Hi there,
I’m Mag from Goatsbridge Premium Irish Trout.
On this blog I’m going to share all the news we have as we develop our fantastic Irish trout products. It’s also a place for you to catch up on food related events that we are taking part in, hear about other artisan food producers and join us on the journey as we strive to make the world more aware of our heavenly tasting Irish trout products!
We are also going to share lots of trout related recipes so no excuses for not cooking!
Enjoy.
Did you know that rainbow trout were introduced into the UK from north America and the sea-going version in the USA are called ‘steel head’.The Americans were very proud of that fact when we went benchmarking in north Carolina last November.They told me everything good in Europe originated in America.!!!
Anyway to continue our life cycle.The eyed eggs shown in my previous blog have hatched.The time of hatching depends on the water temperature. an enzyme is secreted which softens the eggs shell and allows the alevin to break through.The alevin has retained its yoke sac and we sometimes refere to this as the SWIM-UP stage. We don’t feed as the alevin get its nutrients from the sac.I had a family who came for a visit yesterday and they were absolutely in awe.
I took this photograph this morning and it shows 2 alevin. it is quite hard to get a detailed photo and they are approximately 16mm.Another few weeks and they will loose their sac and require food. Very expensive food may I add. i just got word this morning that the food price will increase by €50/tonne which is very bad news indeed. Its a combination of fish meal/fish oil prices but you know what I have heard all the excuses before.Chin up.!!
We buy our eggs from a specialised hatchery in the USA and the Isle of Man. We kept our own brood stock up to a number of years ago but found it much more convenient to buy them in 6-8 times a year as learnt that it’s better for our farm management. We could only strip eggs once a year and our brood stock took up lots of pond space and lost condition after the process . We buy our eggs from Trout Lodge who are very active in research and development of the best quality eggs possible in terms of disease resistance etc.
We don’t buy the cheapest but we do buy the best.
The eggs arrive by plane into Heathrow airport and are transported by road to Dublin. Unfortunately we can no longer clear these eggs in Dublin which is a pain!
The eggs are striped from the hens(females) and mixed with the milt of the cocks (males) where they fertilise.
They hatch at 300º days i.e. 30 days at 10º Celsius.
They usually arrive at 240º days and will generally hatch 4-5 days later depending on the water temperature here.
The eggs photographed arrived on the 21st of December and they’re shown above just before they hatched 25th January. They’re called ‘eyed ova’ at this stage. Notice one egg has hatched.
Isn’t it fascinating?! Living nature.
Please send me any questions you have and feel free to make comments. I have none to date.!!!
Went to visit 4 trout farms in Gdansk Poland. Unlike the more developed world these guys can make something out of nothing. Spent 5 days travelling around and brought home many simple ideas. Have installed some oxygen cones sourced on that trip which means we can now oxygenate our first 6 ponds for young fish, which is vital during the summer months.