Shrimp farmers in Kentucky??

[huntr467]

Never heard of such a thing. But there is prawn farms in Ky.
Man you can grow just about anything in Ky. :D :eek: :D
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070412/us_nm/usa_tobacco_prawns_dc

[ceg4uk]

There are a few in Henderson Co. They offer the "freshwater" shrimp for sale on various dates in the fall when they drain their ponds and harvest the shrimp. They are good, but still not as tasty as the ocean shrimp caught wild in the Gulf of Mexico.

[Foam Steak]

How big are they when they get harvested in the fall? How many per lb? I would love to buy a half cooler of super fresh still flopping prawns this fall.

[Xi Bowhunter]

How big are they when they get harvested in the fall? How many per lb? I would love to buy a half cooler of super fresh still flopping prawns this fall.
Prawns get huge! Much bigger than a jumbo shrimp. I used to sell them when I worked at krogers, and sometimes they were so bigh that you could only get 10-15 in a pound!:rolleyes:

[quackrstackr]

There was a guy doing it locally a few years ago. I'm not sure if he's still in the business or not.

Like that article said, it's a tough market.

I have had a bunch of the ones that the local guy raised and they were enormous.

They are more bland than wild ocean shrimp and seem to have a more dense texture also.

[kyfanatic]

How big are they when they get harvested in the fall? How many per lb? I would love to buy a half cooler of super fresh still flopping prawns this fall.

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FoamSteak,the oldest and largest Shrimp farm in Kentucky is located on Highway 177 in Kenton County between Ryland Heights and Visalia on the Licking River.I can't quote the price ,but the shrimp are as big as saltwater shrimp.As someone else posted,they don't quite taste as good as the saltwater do.They sell them every fall a couple weeks prior to gun deer season,you can look them up in the phonebook under Bluegrass Shrimp.They also give tours of the place if you call in advance.

[kyfanatic]

Here's a link =
http://www.kypost.com/2003/09/23/shrimp092303.html

[Redlined]

A guy I work with has a shrimp farm in Nelson county.They drain all the ponds and sell completely out each fall in just a few hours.............

[Brewtus]

They sell shrimp, barbecue shrimp, shrimp cocktail, coconut shrimp, shrimp salad, fried shrimp, shrimp scampie, guess thats all I know about shrimp.:D

[pentail]

we have several up here around lexington. I have got to know a few pretty well and they let us frog gig around the ponds cause they think the frogs eat the young shrimp. don't know if they do or not, but as long as they think they do it is fine with me.:D the shrimp aren't bad, I like to dust em with cajun seasoning, grill them and dip em in garlic butter. they don't fry up to well though...

A lot of the farmers up here have started to raise tilapia in cages suspended out in the middle of the ponds, the shrimp stay on bottom so the middle of the ponds are kinda wasted space and it makes em a little more money.

[carpenterguy]

used to be a couple here in burkesville, but they're all dried up now

[john4]

I cage raised a couple hundred Tilapia a few years ago, worked out pretty good. Even if I don't raise them in a cage, I still like to put a few dozen in the pond every year as a management tool.
Every fall I get a couple pounds of fresh, still floppin KY prawn. Clean'em fry'em in some butter and chopped garlic, very good eating, very good.

[GSP]

I cage raised a couple hundred Tilapia a few years ago, worked out pretty good. Even if I don't raise them in a cage, I still like to put a few dozen in the pond every year as a management tool.


How did you catch them in the fall? Seine?

[john4]

How did you catch them in the fall? Seine?

No, I raised them in a cage. I made a 4'x4'x4' cage out of PVC pipe and a special water/fish netting found here www.aquaticeco.com (http://www.aquaticeco.com) I suspended the cage using floats so that the bottom of the cage was not resting on the pond floor. In the fall when it came time to harvest, I just dip netted them out of the cage until the cage was managable (most of the fish dip netted out) to lift out by hand.

Tilapia will die off when the water temp drops below 45*-50* so there is no worry of overpopulation in KY waters. The great thing about Tilapia in a pond geared toward sportfishing is that Tilapia are filter feeders. Thus, they clean the pond during the warm summer months and then in the fall when they start to slow down they make excellent feed for your Bass/Catfish etc..

[Foam Steak]

Good Post!

I marked it on my calendar to call Bluegrass Shrimp this fall.