Saturday
Tour of the farm and harvesting marron
Tony took us for a farm tour , which also acted as an farm inspection and maintenance appraisal , as a new pipe coupling was required to be fitted at one of the ponds . We then loaded net , tubs , rinsing tank , all the equipment needed for harvesting Marron on the trailer and moved up to ponds at top of property . We removed the hides , netted the pond , scooped up marron into tubs , these were either rinsed of mud in tub or washed with hose connected to pond pump , this is to remove bacteria in the mud from the marron as this can kill them , it is also important to not expose marron too long and transport marron to purging tanks quickly.
Marron Purging Tanks
These tanks are oxygenated and have continual water flow. Marron were removed from tanks a small number at a time , and weighed and sorted . Egg bearing females were returned to pond Three along with any soft shell marron . Small marron under 40g were returned to pond Six .
Sunday
We harvested and processed 70 Trout
Equipment needed for harvesting was set up at an outside purging tank , only suitable and set up outside for winter . We all scooped trout from tank, and killed the trout with a double pronged spike , one for brain one at start of spine . These are kept in an ice slurry until ready for processing .
The trout are then moved to the processing room , which meets all health dept. regulations . Washable floors, walls, stainless steel work benches, hot water, sink etc. Proper PPE is needed for processing Trout, such as steel mesh glove , apron , rubber boots . There the trout were gilled and gutted and cleaned. They are then packed on ice ready for packaging and delivery .
Unfortunately I did not have the camera on Sunday for the trout processing, and of course I cannot go into too much detail or specifics about certain aspects of production until further study and progress into the course is achieved . It was a very interesting and enlightening experience , I had a fantastic time and look forward to the next field trip , and of course I now have more questions than when I started.
This feedback was supplied by Michael who has justed the course.
