The Huron Expositor, 1994-03-16, Page 85Producer portrait
When water works wonders
OTIERVILLB -- Years ago,
when Tony Drescher was still a
tobacco grower, working acres of
rich farmland south of Woodstock
on the way to Tillsonburg, he ac-
quired a modest hobby. Learning as
he went along, Drescher began to
raise trout, all the while continuing
to farm tobacco.
But times and markets change, as
we all know, and Drescher has now
been farming trout exclusively and
full-time for 15 years or so: "It's
not such hard work, not so labor-
intensive as tobacco farming was,
but here there are no seasons, so
you never have time off, and that
takes some adjusting to..."
For a time, Drescher managed
two large trout farms, even hatching
his own young fish, but when a son
who had been working with him
opted for a career away from the
operation, Drescher scaled back,
getting out of the hatching business
and selling one of the farms. This
he manages on his own.
Today, Drescher focuses his atten-
tions on one long cement raceway -
- 32 feet wide by 200 feet long --
in which, at any given time, he
tends some 75,000 fish at various
stages from fingerling to adult. This
vast artificial trout pond is
separated with screen into a series
of pens to keep trout together ac-
cording to their stage of develop-
ment. Drescher raises rainbow trout,
for which there is a particularly
healthy demand, but he notes that
some Ontario growers -- and there
are perhaps eighty to a hundred
altogether at this time -- also raise
speckled trout in this fashion.
On an average day, Drescher
monitors the three -horsepower
blowers that oxygenate the water,
checks stocks in self -feeders and
may vacuum the raceway to keep
the water clean. Drescher's fish are
raised on a high -protein com-
bination of fish meal, soya meal,
bone meal and vitamins, making
them extremely nutritious pound for
pound. Because they are
coldblooded, according to Drescher,
"they don't need extra fat to warm
themselves," so they're a v ._
source -of ` biein. (T
`phis
coldbloodedness comes in handy
through the winter months when
their habitat averages a temperature
of 4°C.)
In addition, in the course of the
workday, Drescher may harvest
some of his mature stock -- in this
sort of business, the crop is always
likely to be in season -- sending off
his fish with a distributor who will
promptly clean and m uket them.
Many of Drescher's trout end up in
Quebec, where the demand for
fresh farm -raised trout is particular-
ly strong.
"It's not a quick return in this
business," Drescher points out,
"because these days a trout may be
between one and a half and two
years old when you harvest it.
Growers used to harvest them
smaller and younger, but now the
demand is for trout closer to two
pounds in weight and it takes a
long time to raise a trout to that
size -- when they're little, they just
can't eat all that much, so growing
takes a while."
Fortunately Drescher and his wife
have a continuing fondness for trout
and often enjoy them at home,
where they couldn't be fresher.
How would he shop for fresh trout?
"Lots of people go by the color of
the flesh, but I'd check the firmness
of the meat. You used to be able to
check the eye for freshness, too,
since the eye discolors first, but
most consumers don't like to look
their dinner in the eye and now
trout is often sold in fillets, so you
have to use another way of judging
freshness."
In general, distributors have to
understand the perishable'nature of
this commodity and treat it with
dispatch, but Drescher adds one
final useful word of advice: buy
from a store you trust, since careful
storage and speedy turnover here
are just as essential.
For over 15 years, Tony Drescher has carefully nurtured his fish
from fingerlings to prime, entree -ready adults at his operation
in Otterville In southern Ontario.
Farm Progress '94 -Page 23A
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