Feeding versus Fertilization in Baitfish Farming: Which is More Profitable when Feed Prices are High?
Carole Engle, Nathan Stone, and Larry Dorman 

Fish feed prices have increased by about 55% since 2007. Additional increases in fuel and electricity rates, fertilizer prices, and other input costs have continued to increase costs of production. Many farmers have cut back on key operating inputs during these times of high prices. Enterprise budgets for golden shiners were used to calculate the costs associated with different feed prices and yields that are associated with different levels of fertilization and feeding. Yields of baitfish below 450 lb/ac were not profitable at 2007 feed prices; profits increased by $200/acre for every 50-lb increase in baitfish yield. At feed prices of $375/ton and above, baitfish farms must produce yields of 500 lb/acre to be profitable. Switching from feeding to only fertilizing baitfish ponds reduces yields by 200 lb/ac, for a loss of $128,000. The savings from not buying feed compensate for the cost of fertilizer, but not the lost value from lower yields. Farms will lose more money fertilizing and not feeding. It is more economical to feed to produce yields of 500 lb/ac, even at current high feed prices.

Are Hybrid Catfish Fingerlings Worth More Than Channel Catfish Fingerlings?
Ganesh Kumar and Carole Engle  

Production studies that compare production of channel-blue hybrid catfish with various strains of channel catfish provide conflicting results. This study attempted to arrive at a breakeven price for hybrid catfish fingerlings after analyzing data from two experimental and ten commercial ponds that compared hybrid catfish to normal channel catfish and four experimental trials that compared hybrid catfish to NWAC -103 channel catfish foodfish growout. Variables considered included stocking density, length and weight of fingerlings at stocking, survival, feeding rate, and net yield. When compared to normal channel catfish strains, the value of hybrid fingerlings was 0.74 + 0.74 cents/inch/ fingerling more than that of normal catfish strains. When compared to NWAC -103 channel catfish, the hybrid fingerlings had a value that was 0.61 + 1.32 cents/inch/ fingerling greater than the price of NWAC -103 fingerlings. The coefficients of variation were high reflecting the wide variation in results of production studies involving hybrid catfish. However, at a hybrid fingerling cost of 1.89 cents/inch, production costs ($/lb) of normal and NWAC -103 foodfish were $0.011-$0.018/lb lower than that of hybrid foodfish. Farmers should carefully evaluate production performance, costs, and the value of hybrid fingerlings under their own farming conditions.

The Economic Trade-offs between Stocking Fingerlings and Stockers: A Mixed Integer Multi-stage Programming Approach.
Carole Engle, Ganesh Kumar and David Bouras

A mixed integer-programming model of catfish growout was developed that included seven fingerling, six stocker, and eight foodfish production activities as well as options to purchase and sell fingerlings, stockers, and foodfish. Results showed that profits are maximized on farms of 102 ha and larger by adopting a three-phase production system that includes a stocker phase. On farms smaller than 102 ha, profits are maximized by understocking 17.5-cm fingerlings in multiple-batch. The choice of stocking fingerlings or stockers depended on the efficiency of the stocker production phase; at stocker FCRs of 2.4 or above or survivals less than 40%, stocking fingerlings in multiple-batch was more profitable than the three phase system with stockers. Additional research is needed to develop farm-level datasets of the variability in key stocker production parameters to expand this model to explicitly evaluate the effect of risk on the optimal management strategy.

Effects of Feeding Frequency on Multiple-batch Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus Production and Costs When Understocked with Large Stockers
Adam S. Nanninga and Carole R. Engle

Increased prices of feed, the greatest component of production costs, have forced some catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, farmers to feed less often to reduce expenditures. This study evaluated the effects of three feeding frequencies (every day ED, every other day EOD, or every third day E3D) when large stockers (69 + 2 g) were under-stocked with carryover fish (>350 g) in multiple-batch catfish production. Twelve 0.04-ha earthen ponds were stocked with 11,115 stockers/ha (69 + 2 g) and 2,240 kg/ha of carryover fish (400 + 10 g) on March 15, 2006 , with four replicates per treatment. Ponds were harvested completely 9-11 October 2006. Gross and net yield increased significantly (P < 0.05) with increased feeding frequency, and total feed fed was greatest for the ED feeding treatment. Growth of stockers decreased significantly as feeding frequency decreased. In this study, growth of carryover fish decreased when fed EOD as compared to ED feeding. Dressout yields of market-sized fish were significantly lower when fish were fed E3D. The partial budget showed a loss of -$896/ha for switching from every day feeding to every other day feeding and a loss of -$2,367/ha for switching from every day feeding to every third day feeding (at a feed price of $260/MT). ED feeding continued to be more profitable up to a feed price of $413/MT.