Trout fishing great on Ridgeland Colony

Peter Waldner goes fishing every Tuesday, and if you make arrangements ahead of time, you will be able to get a taste of the freshest trout you will ever put in the frying pan. That is, of course, unless you catch it yourself.

Waldner, and a staff of five to 10, spend Tuesdays processing the weekly harvest of steelhead trout at the Colony’s “fish farm”, which began in a converted hog barn some 23 years ago, and more recently moved into a new state-of-the-art facility at the Ridgeland Colony, just off Highway 12, six miles north of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Peter Waldner is a willing tour guide for the new aqua-farming facility, but because bio-security comes along with all the bells and whistles, visitors get a birds’ eye view of operation from behind the glass of a second-level viewing room. Aqua-farming is nothing new for the Ridgeland Colony and it was more than two decades ago that fish were added to a long list of agricultural enterprises, which included dairy, pigs, poultry layers and honey bees. There is also Ridgeland Manufacturing, which today uses laser cutting and welding, to create a variety of parts for agricultural equipment.

Innovation and diversity are the order of the day at Ridgeland and the next enterprise being considered, according to Peter Waldner, will be the processing of fish byproducts by composting heads and bones left behind when the steelhead trout are filleted for market.

Now that their new barn is in operation, there will be a lot more fish heads and bones for that compost pile. The new facility has increased production capacity from 60 tonnes to 200 tonnes of trout annually, Waldner says. The new barn is three times the size of the old one.

Ridgeland did the concrete work and metal work, and brought in a lot of the equipment from Spain and Denmark, to complete the new facility.

There are six tanks 12 metres in diameter and three metres deep, and another dozen larger tanks measuring 26 metres wide and three metres deep, which run the full length of the barn.

This impressive array of tanks is connected with an equally impressive system of automatic feeding equipment, oxygenators, “ozone-ators”, bio-filters and a maze of water recycling pipes, to create the perfect growing conditions for this hungry species of trout.

And trout do have healthy appetites, and these healthy appetites require quite the feeding regimen. One hundred and sixty tonnes of fish meal is shipped in from Surrey, BC every year, Waldner explains. Six semi-loads of shrimp meal pellets, each carrying 26 tonnes, arrive at Ridgeland every two months.

Waldner points out that these pellets are custom-manufactured for the different growth stages of the trout and range in size from a powder-like substance for the tiniest of fingerlings, to 5mm pellets for nearly fully grown fish.

An overhead water circulation system completes this most efficient way of raising fish in a controlled environment.

Solids are removed from the tanks with drum filters and bio-filters, with thousands of tiny plastic discs, where good bacteria removes ammonia from the liquid before it is pumped back through the system and returns to the tanks from overhead ducts, with a controlled amount of ozone and oxygen added through tubes from the monitoring equipment.

If oxygen levels ever drop below a certain level, the computerized equipment will call Waldner on his cell phone. In the mechanical room, dozens of oxygen tanks stand at the ready in case any unforeseen failure of the equipment will create a need for an emergency oxygen supply for the fish.

Much like fishermen, aqua-farmers raising steelhead trout must be patient. It takes approximately 18 to 22 months from the time the eggs hatch until the trout is ready for the frying pan.

When Ridgeland Aqua Farms was raising arctic char, they operated their own fish hatchery, but now they bring in 120,000 trout eggs a year. The fertilized eggs are flown in from the United States, 20,000 at a time, every two months. Eggs begin hatching within days of arrival, Peter says.

During the growing period, fish pumps move the fish through grader pipes, which drop the fish into the appropriate growing tank according to size, small, medium or large. Fish are graded in this manner once or twice during the growing period, Waldner explains. After the trout reach a certain size, they aren’t graded any more.

When the trout reach market weight of between four and five pounds, they are moved to a conditioning tank stocked with pure well water to get the fish ready for the processing facility next door. A large green pipe connects the barn and on processing day the fish swim over to the other building.

They have been processing on average 1,500 pounds per week, Waldner says, but because orders fluctuate somewhat, there are always a few extra trout in the conditioning tank to fill extra orders.

All of the trout at Ridgeland Aqua Farms stay in the Manitoba market, and whatever is left after wholesale orders are filled is available on a first order, first serve basis. Ridgeland Aqua Farms’ website has price lists and a shopping cart, offering a convenient way for customers to pre-order trout for pick-up at the Colony.

Waldner says in addition to fresh and frozen trout they have been marketing smoked trout for just over a year on a provincial licence, allowing up to 200 tonnes annually. Initially, plans had been to expand their market beyond the provincial borders. While waiting for Canadian Food Inspection Agency approval (which was delayed and delayed, and finally never materialized), Waldner perfected the smoking process that was started when the smoking facility was brought up to federal standards.

Testing and the development of a nutrition label was carried out at the Portage Food Development Centre and Ridgeland worked out a quality management plan, he said.

Ridgeland Aqua Farms abandoned the idea of getting Canadian Food Inspection Agency approval, which in the end was proving to be extremely costly, and was constantly bogged down in red tape, and decided to depend on a Manitoba market alone.

Operating strictly on a provincial license and switching from arctic char to steelhead trout has been a worthwhile move, Waldner says.

Currently, there is no trouble marketing all the trout produced. Waldner says they haven’t been actively pursuing a direct consumer sales market or the restaurant market, but there is certainly room for increased production to serve those areas in the future.

“There are not always leftovers, but there are usually a few five-pound packages available for pick up if you come by Wednesday afternoon. In order to avoid disappointment, it is best to call ahead if you want more than five pounds.”

Waldner says he keeps a list of people who would like to buy any surplus and if he is short one week, he promises to put those customers on the top of the list the following week.

Asked for his recommended method of preparation for steelhead trout, Waldner says he personally likes it smoked, however it is good pan-fried or prepared on a cedar plank, as well.

“I don’t eat nearly as much as I used to, when I took what was left over. Leftovers are hard to come by these days.”