Guest Blogger - Jim Riley, Author www.jimrileybooks.com
Do you want to win a trivia game with your friends? Ask them this question: What type of Louisiana farm has over four hundred farmers, has an economic impact of over $7M to the state, but is virtually unknown?
Give them three guesses. Below are your answers to the three guesses.
1. Nope
2. Uh-uh
3. Good guess, but it’s wrong
This farming industry is on the verge of exploding into one of best kept secrets known to anyone with a few acres and a lot of patience. Your friends might have guessed one of the crop farms such as cotton, corn, wheat, soy beans or sugar cane for south Louisiana.
Give them three more guesses. Your answers are:
4. Get real
5. Getting Closer
6. Not even close
Your friends probably decided to switch to animals to try to find the answer. They may have come up with cows, chickens, goats, rabbits, sheep, horses or swine (that’s pigs for those of you from out of state), all great industries that contribute to our state’s rich heritage, but not the answer we’re looking for.
Three more guesses?
7. Is that legal?
8. You’re kidding, right?
9. You need help.
Your friends went to seafood, thinking there is plenty of seafood farming in Louisiana. Farmers make money growing catfish, oysters and alligators. They even make money growing bait for the seafood industry such as crickets, shiners, goldfish and worms. But none of these are the right answer.
Three final guesses. Your answers are:
10. That’s not farming
11. I won’t tell anyone you said that
12. Relax, it’s only a trivia question
I know. Your friends decided to try fruits and vegetables. While Louisiana farmers grow some of the tastiest watermelons, peaches, blueberries, strawberries, pecans, lemons, limes, Satsuma’s, grapefruit, kumquats and navel oranges in the world, your friends still haven’t guessed the correct answer.
Okay. Tell them to remove their fingers from around your neck and you will reveal the answer to them. Are you ready?
Deer Farming!
There are more deer farms in Louisiana than ever before. Of the four hundred farmers in our state, approximately one-third of them are “hobby farmers” and two-thirds are “Commercial Farmers”. What is the difference. The hobby farmer does it for fun and hopes not to lose too much money in the process. For the commercial farmer, it can be a very lucrative business.
How much do you think a good whitetail doe is worth?
A. $100
B. $250
C. $500
D. $1,000
E. $5,000
F. More than $5,000
The answer is ‘F’. A good whitetail doe is worth more than $5,000 in today’s market. What defines a good doe. She must have the bloodlines on the sire and the dame side that have produced good fawns. A buyer is looking for does capable of producing bucks with great antler length, antler mass and width between the antlers. Those are the characteristics that most hunters desire. The hunter is the ultimate demand side of the equation for this industry.
Besides selling does, the farmer also sells his bucks to other breeders or to commercial hunting preserves. These bucks can range anywhere from $500 to more than $15,000 depending on the number of antler tips (known as points in the industry), height, mass and width. A great breeder buck is worth several hundred thousand dollars.
A third product available for the hunter to sell is the semen from the buck. The semen is sold in a straw containing either one cc (cubic centimeter) or one-half cc each. A single buck can produce more than two hundred cc’s of semen each year. How much is it worth?
A. $100
B. $250
C. $500
D. $1,000
E. $5,000
F. More than $5,000
Answer: All of the above. Again, it depends on the bloodline of the buck.
There are many other advantages to raising Whitetail deer, but the best one is not economic. If you’ve never had the pleasure of bottle-feeding a newborn fawn, you’ve missed one of the most fulfilling joys of life. Once you try it, you’ll be hooked for life.
If you are interested in learning more about this industry contact Whitetails of Louisiana, an organization dedicated to providing information and education to its members and the public. The web site for this non-profit group is www.whitetailsofla.com. Go to their site and find out
how you can get involved in this exploding farming industry in Louisiana.
Do you want to win a trivia game with your friends? Ask them this question: What type of Louisiana farm has over four hundred farmers, has an economic impact of over $7M to the state, but is virtually unknown?
Give them three guesses. Below are your answers to the three guesses.
1. Nope
2. Uh-uh
3. Good guess, but it’s wrong
This farming industry is on the verge of exploding into one of best kept secrets known to anyone with a few acres and a lot of patience. Your friends might have guessed one of the crop farms such as cotton, corn, wheat, soy beans or sugar cane for south Louisiana.
Give them three more guesses. Your answers are:
4. Get real
5. Getting Closer
6. Not even close
Your friends probably decided to switch to animals to try to find the answer. They may have come up with cows, chickens, goats, rabbits, sheep, horses or swine (that’s pigs for those of you from out of state), all great industries that contribute to our state’s rich heritage, but not the answer we’re looking for.
Three more guesses?
7. Is that legal?
8. You’re kidding, right?
9. You need help.
Your friends went to seafood, thinking there is plenty of seafood farming in Louisiana. Farmers make money growing catfish, oysters and alligators. They even make money growing bait for the seafood industry such as crickets, shiners, goldfish and worms. But none of these are the right answer.
Three final guesses. Your answers are:
10. That’s not farming
11. I won’t tell anyone you said that
12. Relax, it’s only a trivia question
I know. Your friends decided to try fruits and vegetables. While Louisiana farmers grow some of the tastiest watermelons, peaches, blueberries, strawberries, pecans, lemons, limes, Satsuma’s, grapefruit, kumquats and navel oranges in the world, your friends still haven’t guessed the correct answer.
Okay. Tell them to remove their fingers from around your neck and you will reveal the answer to them. Are you ready?
Deer Farming!
There are more deer farms in Louisiana than ever before. Of the four hundred farmers in our state, approximately one-third of them are “hobby farmers” and two-thirds are “Commercial Farmers”. What is the difference. The hobby farmer does it for fun and hopes not to lose too much money in the process. For the commercial farmer, it can be a very lucrative business.
How much do you think a good whitetail doe is worth?
A. $100
B. $250
C. $500
D. $1,000
E. $5,000
F. More than $5,000
The answer is ‘F’. A good whitetail doe is worth more than $5,000 in today’s market. What defines a good doe. She must have the bloodlines on the sire and the dame side that have produced good fawns. A buyer is looking for does capable of producing bucks with great antler length, antler mass and width between the antlers. Those are the characteristics that most hunters desire. The hunter is the ultimate demand side of the equation for this industry.
Besides selling does, the farmer also sells his bucks to other breeders or to commercial hunting preserves. These bucks can range anywhere from $500 to more than $15,000 depending on the number of antler tips (known as points in the industry), height, mass and width. A great breeder buck is worth several hundred thousand dollars.
A third product available for the hunter to sell is the semen from the buck. The semen is sold in a straw containing either one cc (cubic centimeter) or one-half cc each. A single buck can produce more than two hundred cc’s of semen each year. How much is it worth?
A. $100
B. $250
C. $500
D. $1,000
E. $5,000
F. More than $5,000
Answer: All of the above. Again, it depends on the bloodline of the buck.
There are many other advantages to raising Whitetail deer, but the best one is not economic. If you’ve never had the pleasure of bottle-feeding a newborn fawn, you’ve missed one of the most fulfilling joys of life. Once you try it, you’ll be hooked for life.
If you are interested in learning more about this industry contact Whitetails of Louisiana, an organization dedicated to providing information and education to its members and the public. The web site for this non-profit group is www.whitetailsofla.com. Go to their site and find out
how you can get involved in this exploding farming industry in Louisiana.
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