Rural Missouri - October 2024 - 16

photo courtesy Ozark Fisheries
Above left: The team hatches fish eggs in large tanks indoors. One tank can hold 350,000 eggs. A mature goldfish can lay 20,000 eggs per season,
and a mature koi can lay 200,000. " Our spawning and selling seasons are at the same time, " Margaret says. " So, it's like having planting and harvesting
at the same time. We are really busy in April, May and June. " Above right: An underwater view shows the variety of color in this tank of koi.
less than 40% of them to a sellable size. "
Once in the ponds, the team drives a modified feed
truck down the pond levees, blowing feed into the ponds.
" The fish have learned the sound of our feed truck blower, "
Margaret says. " The koi associate the loud sound and
vibration with being fed. They won't respond and swim
toward a gas truck, but if I'm driving the lawn mower,
they'll come across the pond to me. "
Baby fish receive a fine powder feed, while adult fish
receive a larger sinking feed. " We feed sinking pellets, so
the fish go down in the water, " she says. " While we love to
see the fish at the top, if we can see them, so can predators.
We don't want them visible from above. "
Once the fish reach their ideal size and color, the team
uses a seine or large net to catch the fish. The team drags
the net through the water and slowly a big red ball of fish
is inside the net and can be bucketed out.
" Our fish spend 99% of their lives in dirt ponds, but
when they are ready to sell, we transport them to our raceways
to be shipped, " Margaret says. " We use live-haul tank
trucks to move our fish, and we use a custom-made 'fish
waterslide' to move from the truck into their tanks so we
don't stress the fish. "
Ozark Fisheries produces five types of goldfish (common,
sarasa, shubunkin, white common and red and
calico fantails); two types of koi (standard and butterfly
fin), as well as a handful of other critters, including minnows,
crayfish, bullfrog tadpoles and trapdoor snails.
" Common goldfish is our bread-and-butter fish, and
we raise the largest number of these fish, " Margaret says.
" Most of them are sold at the inch or 2-inch size. "
Through the years, Ozark Fisheries has found efficiencies
in production and customer service. In fact, they were
16 RURAL MISSOURI | OCTOBER 2024
one of the first fish farms to ship fish in a cardboard box.
In the 1950s they moved away from shipping fish in a
metal container on the railroad to shipping in a cardboard
box with plastic bags, water and pure oxygen.
Fish farming requires a hardworking crew. The Missouri
farm employs 20 team members, many of whom
have worked for decades at the farm. Ozark Fisheries also
utilizes the H-2A agricultural worker program for extra
help during the busy season.
Beyond the fish, the business includes a cow-calf Angus
operation called Circle F Cattle Company (the Circle is for
the O in Ozark and the F is for Fisheries). " Some years the
fish do really well; sometimes the cattle do really well, "
Margaret says. " So having that diversity really helps. "
As the fish market has evolved, the family has matched
demand. Ozark Fisheries delivers large wholesale orders
to distributors and pet supply businesses. In 2017, they
started an e-Commerce site, Toledo Goldfish, for customers
to order small quantities of fish for their home aquariums
or koi ponds. This type of innovation is what has
made this family business thrive for nearly 100 years.
To learn more about Ozark Fisheries or Toledo Goldfish,
visit www.ozarkfisheries.com or www.toledogoldfish.com.
Stoutland
Ozark Fisheries.
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http://www.ozarkfisheries.com http://www.toledogoldfish.com

Rural Missouri - October 2024

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