Crawfish farming is considered by many to be a relatively environmentally friendly use of land.
This chapter (Chapter 9) from the Louisiana Crawfish Production Manual discusses other management considerations in commercial crawfish farming, including pond flood-up, population management, supplemental feeding, managing ponds for larger crawfish, diseases, predators, nuisance wildlife, control methods and deveoping your business.
Crawfish aquaculture relies on control of pond hydrology to simulate optimal wet and dry conditions occurring in natural riverine and wetland habitats. Crawfish grow and mature during the wet or flooded cycle and survive the dry periods by digging burrows.
Crawfish research and extension specialists in the LSU AgCenter often receive inquiries from producers regarding the need or benefit of liming ponds or fields used for crawfish production. The following article discusses calcium and water hardness requirements for crawfish, benefits and limitations of liming, and where to get your water and soil tested to determine if lime is required for your crawfish pond(s).
This document is Chapter 6 in the Louisiana Crawfish Production Manual. The chapter discusses factors to consider when stocking crawfish including species and size of crawfish, suggested months of stocking, handling crawfish broodstock, stocking rates, sex ratio and condition of broostock, and post-stocking recommendations.
This document is Chapter 3 in the Louisiana Crawfish Production Manual. The chapter discusses the differences between crawfish monocropping systems and crop rotational systems, including rice-crawfish-rice and rice-crawfish-fallow (or rice-crawfish-soybean) systems.
A device used to blow air into a pond to create movement of the water.
Commercial sales of crawfish in Louisiana date back to the late 1800s, and today's crawfish industry includes millions of pounds harvested from farms and natural habitats in the state. This publication covers a wide range of topics on crawfish production, including crawfish biology, pond design, forage management, stocking, water quality, harvesting, marketing and much more. (PDF Format Only)