Farming under water

Original story by Gregor Heard, Stock Journal

YABBY farming is just like any other farming sector, according to yabby producer Trevor Domaschenz.

You have good years, you have bad years and you’re always at the mercy of the elements.

Prior to the breakdown of the Victorian yabby industry in 2004, Mr Domaschenz said he could grow up to four tonnes of yabbies a year, sold for a live weight of $10 a kilogram on farm or up to $15/kg in Melbourne during times of peak demand.

In the past most of his yabbies went overseas, some ended up in markets in Melbourne, with some going direct to restaurants.

“It’s different to other commodities, you’ve got to have the yabbies for the markets and consistently supply a good live product. You can never fill the market,” he said.

This year, in his first year back in the human consumption market for some years with a more viable licence, Mr Domaschenz has much humbler ambitions.

“We just want to try to re-establish the yabby industry – ruined by regulations that make no sense – and hopefully sell a few this Christmas.”

Central to a good season is getting sufficient rainfall to fill the turkey nest yabby ponds that cover around 25 hectares across his Patyah property.

“We are mainly sheep and grain farmers but yabbies can be very important to us in the wetter years that ruin our crops,” he said.

“This one is shaping that way, we are the wettest we have been in the middle of July since 1996.”

If the ponds have water, the yabbies will come up and breed. Once they have had time to grow out, Mr Domaschenz then catches them from boats in opera house nets.

“It’s the same as filling your household dam, we’re looking for good rain over the winter and spring to get enough water to fill the ponds.”

Once the yabbies are caught, they are taken into a storage shed for a period of purging – a requirement not necessary in other states.

“If we had our way, we’d store the yabbies in a holding dam in a large sock net, which is what they do elsewhere and is by far the best option for the yabbies themselves.

“Storing in a shed in summer is a backward step.”

Mr Domaschenz said getting involved in aquaculture had meant a steep learning curve .

“We initially got into it as a means of diversification and making use of our water in the late 80s.”

He said there had been a lot of work going into the location of the yabby ponds.

“We were always mystified as to why one swamp would be chock full of yabbies and one just down the road would have hardly any, and we think its because of soil type.

“They need free calcium for their shells they are very fussy about the conditions.”

Generally, there will be enough natural food for the yabbies, especially when the ponds are rotated over the seasons to allow the natural food sources to re-establish, but if feeding is required, Mr Domaschenz said lupins would be the preferred feed stock.

“If they didn’t eat them all, after a few days they float to the edge and don’t contaminate the water.”

There is still a lot to be learnt in terms of the humble yabby, Mr Domaschenz said.

“The trick is to get them to moult. Unlike fish, yabbies have to moult into a new shell.

“They absorb the calcium from their shell into little buttons in their head. Then they then grow a new shell, pump it full of water to the size they want and gradually replace the water with meat – during this stage they can nearly double in size.

“They then harden the shell from the button.”

Mr Domaschenz said a lot of research has been done into yabbies, but not many dams are suitable commercially – although the conditions found in his local West Wimmera shire were near ideal for yabbies.

“We reckon it’s the home of the yabby.”