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Summary of full report
Crocodile Farming Research:
Hatching to Harvest
by SKJ Peucker, BM Davis and Dr RJ van Barneveld
September 2005
RIRDC Publication No 05/152 RIRDC Project No DAQ-287A
Crocodile farming is described as an emerging industry and as such has less experience with commercial intensive livestock principles than the more established industries such as pigs and poultry. Despite this comparative lack of intensive livestock skills, the crocodile industry is making rapid progress in closing the gap. Crocodile farming is moving from extensive outdoor practices, modelled on wild habitat observations which are much influenced by climatic conditions, to intensive housing with environmentally controlled housing being used for hatchlings and in some cases for grower animals on commercial farms. Several producers are going a step further and creating individual pens for grower animals to prevent fighting and subsequent skin damage, thus placing a more valuable product on the market. Such practices lead to higher returns on investment.
This report covers a range of crocodile R & D topics including nutrition, disease, genetics, animal capture, economics and extension practices. The report is intended to provide the reader with a current picture of research findings and recommendations. Some topics are presented in more detail than others, which reflects the state of the R & D progress for that particular topic. Reports on environmental, genetics and housing are mentioned only briefly. Conversely, the research covering manufactured feed for hatchling and grower crocodiles is advanced and is provided in more detail in this report.
Twenty years ago little scientific investigation had been undertaken into commercial crocodile production. Virtually no progress had been made on feeding manufactured diets despite the attention of the international research community. Considerable effort had been made in Zimbabwe and South Africa with little to show for those efforts. No one had identified the barrier(s) to the successful initiation of pelleted feeding. Further, no on-farm feed manufacturing equipment had been developed. Neither was there any technology available to show clients how to successfully manufacture pellets.
Significant progress on these
issues has been achieved by the DPI&F team at Townsville and includes
the development of:
Pelleted feeding is a
high industry priority and one that is being pursued rigorously by the
research team. As part of the nutrition program a Crocodile Nutrition Group
(CNG) has been formed and meets on an annual basis to discuss research
findings, compare progress with objectives and plan future directions.
A Crocodile Nutrition Research Strategic Directions (2002-2005) document
has been compiled which identifies and prioritises areas for research (see
Appendix A).
Researchers continue to address the issue of weaning hatchlings onto pellets. Following a series of free choice feeding exercises in 2001 recent work has focused on using a range of feed additives or attractants to diets. Attractants such as liver digest, prawn digest, chicken head and kangaroo digest, along with additives like liver or roast beef powder have been tried. These have proven to be unsuccessful in initiating feeding in young hatchlings. One finding that appears to be important in the research program is that acceptability of manufactured diets is related to the size of the animal rather than age.
Work on developing feeding strategies to grower crocodiles is also continuing. Growth rates of 16 grams/crocodile/day are being achieved. So far researchers have established that it is possible to manufacture on-farm, cold pressed, pelleted feed that crocodiles will eat. In addition, manufactured feed offers a 2.4:1 ratio over offal diets on a dry matter basis. This advantage translates into ingredient, transport and storage savings for producers.
Work on diet formulation continues. Results from trials using lupins at different inclusion levels are looking promising. The use of lupins in the diets did not affect intake and had no negative effects on crude protein or gross energy digestibility. The use of ingredients such as lupins offers the opportunity to look at a wider ingredient base and may lead to savings by using cheaper plant-based ingredients.
Other areas of research are reported below in less detail.
The genetics component of the program did not eventuate for a number of reasons. One reason in particular was the commencement of RIRDC project number US-109A with the title A genetic improvement program for farmed saltwater crocodiles. This was an extensive project and it was felt that our project would add little to the knowledge pool in the presence of this program. However, our program did cooperate with the research people who conducted this work.
Stunning equipment to capture crocodiles has been developed that was unique to Australia. This equipment has revolutionised the way in which animals are captured for relocation, measurement, examination and harvesting. Stunning equipment has attracted considerable international as well as national interest because more animals can be handled in a day’s work with less risk and injury to animals and staff alike. The equipment is now used in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Spain, Papua New Guinea and the USA. These countries collectively produce 70% of the world’s crocodilian skins.
Further, stunning as opposed to the traditional method, causes much less stress and fatigue for handlers. However there was some concern, expressed by Animal Ethics Committees, that stunning could be causing more stress to crocodiles. Consequently Departmental researchers collaborated with crocodile physiologists from the University of Queensland to examine stress levels in crocodiles captured by electrical stunning equipment and the traditional method of using a noose and pole.
With the noose and pole method animals do a body roll, struggle and thrash around compared to the quiet and minimal disturbance using the electrical stunning. Blood samples were taken and analysed for stress level indicators. Results demonstrated that capture by electrical stunning is less stressful for the animal. This finding supports the observation of researchers and producers that animals recover more rapidly from capture trauma and commence feeding sooner if they are stunned compared with being caught by noose and pole.
CrocProfit is a spreadsheet, forecasting tool for established farmers and potential investors in the crocodile industry. For example it will allow established farmers to estimate the impact of changes in skin price or to determine the effects of shifts in expenditure/income due to moving to manufactured feed or the effects an increase in mortality might have on their operation. The CD also contains reference material and a comprehensive list of contacts for related State Government departments and industry associations. This information package is now available from the DPI&F bookshop and will help considerably to eliminate the confusion and unwise investment decisions which occurred in other emerging industries such as ostrich farming.
Crocodile producers nationally are cooperating with the research team. Seminars, demonstrations, on-farm trials, publications and workshops have been employed to keep producers informed of research outcomes. Industry seminars are held annually in Queensland and the Northern Territory.
An example of this cooperation between researchers and industry is the Crocodile Research Seminar that was held in November 2003 in Cairns. Funded by RIRDC the seminar, for the first time, brought together all RIRDC funded crocodile project researchers under one roof to report their findings. Producers made their thoughts known and provided feedback in an open and constructive way throughout the day’s proceedings.
The crocodile R&D program
has produced successful outcomes in the areas of:
Detailed information
on outcomes from the R&D program can be found in DPI&F Crocodile
Research and Development Bulletin, Volume 3 and RIRDC publications.
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