Local NY Trout
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Family Owned and Operated since 1963 Stocking trout for private clubs, landowners and kids fishing derbies. Beaverkill Trout can also be found at many local restaurants. A fish, pay pond and roadside stand on premises. Look for their trout on our special menu. If it's not there is will be back soon. |
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Fish Farming in the Catskill Region
By Sally Fairbairne
source: http://www.catskillmtn.org/guide-magazine/articles/2001-10-fish-farming-in-the-catskill-region.html
In the Catskill Region, "alternative agriculture" usually means anything that's not dairy farming. We usually think of it as a new phenomenon. I recently visited a family that turned its back on dairy farming four decades ago, but continues to farm.
I met Sherry Shaver Bellows at the Pakatakan Farmers Market a few years ago when she started selling her fresh and smoked trout there. The Shaver fish farm, officially known as the Beaverkill Trout Hatchery was begun by Sherry's great grandfather as a hobby. Located at the headwaters of the pristine Beaverkill Valley that transects Ulster and Sullivan Counties, the hatchery continues to be a family business now in its fifth generation. The art and science of maintaining a healthy ecosystem for the fish have been handed down through these generations; a library of personal experiences based on years of trial and error.
Water is the heart of the farm - clean and cold and lots of it. In a dry year like this one, water is conserved but cannot be reused endlessly. Trout are very sensitive creatures - water only a few degrees too warm will stress them, a few degrees warmer than that will kill them. Ground water is the coldest, bubbling up from springs and wells located around the farm. Instead of going directly into any of the 20 plus ponds, the chilly water is sent through a water tower, just a large piece of PVC pipe to allow air, especially oxygen, to mix with it and to allow methane, a gas commonly found in groundwater to dissipate. As the water picks up oxygen, it also increases in temperature. Surface water, that is the Beaverkill and streams that flow into it are warmer because they are exposed constantly to the warmer air. Any time water splashes it gains air and evaporates. The Shaver family has learned how to manage all this science to produce excellent trout year after year.
The hatchery is truly a hatchery. Sherry and her family raise four kinds of trout: brook, brown, rainbow and golden rainbow. Not all fish spawn at the same time. For example, the golden rainbows do so in the fall and the rainbows in the spring. Reproduction is not left to chance. Humans manually strip the eggs from the females, then "tickle" a male to get him to release the milt containing the sperm to fertilize the eggs. The fertilized eggs go into the hatchery building where they are kept in trays in the ever-replenished cold, fresh water. The trays of eggs are examined routinely for dead eggs, which must be removed - a tedious job done with a feather and a baby's ear syringe.
The hatchlings, better known as fingerlings, will start out in the safety of the small tanks inside the hatchery building before growing large enough to go to one of the outdoor concrete ponds. It will be the first of many ponds that will be their homes as they grow larger. Most of the Shaver's business is selling fish to stock ponds. Beaverkill trout are delivered - often by the hundreds and thousands - to fishing clubs, chambers of commerce and private individuals all over the Northeast. If you want just a few fish for a small pond they can do that, too. Or you can pick up your order yourself so no one will know that your pond has been stocked.
The proper pond isn't so much a size issue as it is a quality issue. It needs to be at least 15 feet deep in some places so that the trout can get down to cool temperatures. It must have good water exchange that is adequate input and outgo. Rocks on the bottom are desirable for cover. You must decide whether you will maintain baitfish like minnows or you will feed your fish a commercial fish food daily. You can make pets of them by hand feeding, perhaps depending on your definition of a pet. While the types of trout are generally not mixed at the hatchery you can do it with some success in your own pond. Big trout will eat smaller trout so Sherry advises not stocking with a mix of sizes. For fishing contests they can stock ponds with tiger trout, a hybrid cross between brown and brook trout. They cannot reproduce but they can grow very large and tend to be fighters.
Sanitation is a constant concern at the farm. The concrete ponds are steam-cleaned every year; screens between ponds are cleaned every day, more often in autumn when the leaves are falling into the water. The upper ponds are somewhat self-cleaning with the muck accumulating in lower ponds where it is cleaned out and spread on the hayfields. (The hay is fed to the family's saddle horses.) It's a simple system, no hi-tech involved and works well.
The eating fish are not handled separately. They are chosen at the choicest size and type that customers want. The fish are available at several farmers' markets in the area. At the Bethel, NY market there is an annual "Chef's Challenge" when several area chefs cook Sherry's fish for a prize. Other foods from market vendors are used in the preparation of the dish. No matter which chef wins, Sherry's fish are always a winner. Sherry smokes some fish so smoked trout is also available at the farmers' markets. She also supplies 12 restaurants with fresh trout. Among her retail customers are some of her pond customers. Much as they love to eat trout, they can't bear to catch and eat the ones that they feed and watch every day.
As an old dairy farmer I wondered how hard can fish farming be? It's hard work I learned. True, it is seasonal, but during the busy times 14-hour days look too common. Orders for fish tend to be for hundreds, maybe thousands of a given size and type. For example 200 12" rainbows must be netted from the ponds by hand, sorted, graded/measured, counted and put into a tank for delivery. Since it is a family operation car seats and kids often go into the trucks at delivery time. Some buyers want to count every fish themselves as they go into their ponds so deliveries can also be tedious. Sherry says she doesn't blame them - fish are not cheap. The stocking season is generally during the spring, peaking in May and June whenever the customers' ponds are in the right condition. Three delivery trucks are on the road seven days a week then, with loading sometimes starting at 4 AM.
Hard work doesn't deter Sherry and the Shaver family. That's expected in any successful agricultural project. That Mother Nature can be such a difficult partner in aquaculture is sometimes very frustrating. The wildlife that abounds in the Catskill Region has found "gone fishin'" to be even easier than we humans ever imagined. Many fish in ponds are easy prey for all sorts of creatures. Sherry says she doesn't mind the bald eagles that come for a snack. They, at least, eat the fish they take. And seeing their majesty makes it worth giving up a few fish. Other birds catch and drop the fish, but don't eat them. Great blue herons and kingfishers nest nearby and many years of experience have taught the Shavers how to limit their predation. They have covered some of the ponds to keep birds and varmints out. Mink and raccoons are not above gorging themselves on trout, if the opportunity arises. However, it has been bears that have been the real threat to the hatchery livelihood. Overnight they can do thousands of dollars of damage by tearing apart pond structures. Anything that disrupts the water supply endangers the trout and bears have caused havoc in the past. An electric fence has helped to keep them out.
Sherry is not sure whether the next generation will want to run the hatchery. Her son Philip wants to see a bit of the world before he decides. The kids are learning from an early age what has to happen to keep the farm viable. Let's hope at least one of them falls in love with the life of watching fish grow and keeping the water cold.
Visitors are welcome at Beaverkill Trout Hatchery, especially on weekends. If you bring your own gear you can fish in the big pond for a fee and keep what you catch. If Sherry's not too busy she'll give you a tour. You may purchase fish to take home to your pond or to your kitchen. You can reach them at 845-439-4947. The farm is not far from the NYSDEC Little Pond Campsite so you could picnic and swim there and then catch your dinner at the Hatchery on your way home.
source: http://www.catskillmtn.org/guide-magazine/articles/2001-10-fish-farming-in-the-catskill-region.html
In the Catskill Region, "alternative agriculture" usually means anything that's not dairy farming. We usually think of it as a new phenomenon. I recently visited a family that turned its back on dairy farming four decades ago, but continues to farm.
I met Sherry Shaver Bellows at the Pakatakan Farmers Market a few years ago when she started selling her fresh and smoked trout there. The Shaver fish farm, officially known as the Beaverkill Trout Hatchery was begun by Sherry's great grandfather as a hobby. Located at the headwaters of the pristine Beaverkill Valley that transects Ulster and Sullivan Counties, the hatchery continues to be a family business now in its fifth generation. The art and science of maintaining a healthy ecosystem for the fish have been handed down through these generations; a library of personal experiences based on years of trial and error.
Water is the heart of the farm - clean and cold and lots of it. In a dry year like this one, water is conserved but cannot be reused endlessly. Trout are very sensitive creatures - water only a few degrees too warm will stress them, a few degrees warmer than that will kill them. Ground water is the coldest, bubbling up from springs and wells located around the farm. Instead of going directly into any of the 20 plus ponds, the chilly water is sent through a water tower, just a large piece of PVC pipe to allow air, especially oxygen, to mix with it and to allow methane, a gas commonly found in groundwater to dissipate. As the water picks up oxygen, it also increases in temperature. Surface water, that is the Beaverkill and streams that flow into it are warmer because they are exposed constantly to the warmer air. Any time water splashes it gains air and evaporates. The Shaver family has learned how to manage all this science to produce excellent trout year after year.
The hatchery is truly a hatchery. Sherry and her family raise four kinds of trout: brook, brown, rainbow and golden rainbow. Not all fish spawn at the same time. For example, the golden rainbows do so in the fall and the rainbows in the spring. Reproduction is not left to chance. Humans manually strip the eggs from the females, then "tickle" a male to get him to release the milt containing the sperm to fertilize the eggs. The fertilized eggs go into the hatchery building where they are kept in trays in the ever-replenished cold, fresh water. The trays of eggs are examined routinely for dead eggs, which must be removed - a tedious job done with a feather and a baby's ear syringe.
The hatchlings, better known as fingerlings, will start out in the safety of the small tanks inside the hatchery building before growing large enough to go to one of the outdoor concrete ponds. It will be the first of many ponds that will be their homes as they grow larger. Most of the Shaver's business is selling fish to stock ponds. Beaverkill trout are delivered - often by the hundreds and thousands - to fishing clubs, chambers of commerce and private individuals all over the Northeast. If you want just a few fish for a small pond they can do that, too. Or you can pick up your order yourself so no one will know that your pond has been stocked.
The proper pond isn't so much a size issue as it is a quality issue. It needs to be at least 15 feet deep in some places so that the trout can get down to cool temperatures. It must have good water exchange that is adequate input and outgo. Rocks on the bottom are desirable for cover. You must decide whether you will maintain baitfish like minnows or you will feed your fish a commercial fish food daily. You can make pets of them by hand feeding, perhaps depending on your definition of a pet. While the types of trout are generally not mixed at the hatchery you can do it with some success in your own pond. Big trout will eat smaller trout so Sherry advises not stocking with a mix of sizes. For fishing contests they can stock ponds with tiger trout, a hybrid cross between brown and brook trout. They cannot reproduce but they can grow very large and tend to be fighters.
Sanitation is a constant concern at the farm. The concrete ponds are steam-cleaned every year; screens between ponds are cleaned every day, more often in autumn when the leaves are falling into the water. The upper ponds are somewhat self-cleaning with the muck accumulating in lower ponds where it is cleaned out and spread on the hayfields. (The hay is fed to the family's saddle horses.) It's a simple system, no hi-tech involved and works well.
The eating fish are not handled separately. They are chosen at the choicest size and type that customers want. The fish are available at several farmers' markets in the area. At the Bethel, NY market there is an annual "Chef's Challenge" when several area chefs cook Sherry's fish for a prize. Other foods from market vendors are used in the preparation of the dish. No matter which chef wins, Sherry's fish are always a winner. Sherry smokes some fish so smoked trout is also available at the farmers' markets. She also supplies 12 restaurants with fresh trout. Among her retail customers are some of her pond customers. Much as they love to eat trout, they can't bear to catch and eat the ones that they feed and watch every day.
As an old dairy farmer I wondered how hard can fish farming be? It's hard work I learned. True, it is seasonal, but during the busy times 14-hour days look too common. Orders for fish tend to be for hundreds, maybe thousands of a given size and type. For example 200 12" rainbows must be netted from the ponds by hand, sorted, graded/measured, counted and put into a tank for delivery. Since it is a family operation car seats and kids often go into the trucks at delivery time. Some buyers want to count every fish themselves as they go into their ponds so deliveries can also be tedious. Sherry says she doesn't blame them - fish are not cheap. The stocking season is generally during the spring, peaking in May and June whenever the customers' ponds are in the right condition. Three delivery trucks are on the road seven days a week then, with loading sometimes starting at 4 AM.
Hard work doesn't deter Sherry and the Shaver family. That's expected in any successful agricultural project. That Mother Nature can be such a difficult partner in aquaculture is sometimes very frustrating. The wildlife that abounds in the Catskill Region has found "gone fishin'" to be even easier than we humans ever imagined. Many fish in ponds are easy prey for all sorts of creatures. Sherry says she doesn't mind the bald eagles that come for a snack. They, at least, eat the fish they take. And seeing their majesty makes it worth giving up a few fish. Other birds catch and drop the fish, but don't eat them. Great blue herons and kingfishers nest nearby and many years of experience have taught the Shavers how to limit their predation. They have covered some of the ponds to keep birds and varmints out. Mink and raccoons are not above gorging themselves on trout, if the opportunity arises. However, it has been bears that have been the real threat to the hatchery livelihood. Overnight they can do thousands of dollars of damage by tearing apart pond structures. Anything that disrupts the water supply endangers the trout and bears have caused havoc in the past. An electric fence has helped to keep them out.
Sherry is not sure whether the next generation will want to run the hatchery. Her son Philip wants to see a bit of the world before he decides. The kids are learning from an early age what has to happen to keep the farm viable. Let's hope at least one of them falls in love with the life of watching fish grow and keeping the water cold.
Visitors are welcome at Beaverkill Trout Hatchery, especially on weekends. If you bring your own gear you can fish in the big pond for a fee and keep what you catch. If Sherry's not too busy she'll give you a tour. You may purchase fish to take home to your pond or to your kitchen. You can reach them at 845-439-4947. The farm is not far from the NYSDEC Little Pond Campsite so you could picnic and swim there and then catch your dinner at the Hatchery on your way home.
