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Snail farming

  • 25-08-2016 9:21am
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 461
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    I was reading this has got more popular in ireland over the last 3/4 years. Would the start up costs be much?


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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,807 Birdnuts
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    ETTG featured it last season I think - not sure about the costs but there does seem to be huge demand in markets like France and the Far East.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,410 endacl
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    I hear it's a slow business, but it can really bring you out of your shell.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24 nudedragon


    looking into it at the moment myself.
    have seen my parents break their backs all their lives at beef, with very little to show for it. I have decided no use in flogging a dead horse so thats the reason im looking at other options.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,719 _Brian
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    Two snail farms next door here, but we are in France.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,125 patsy_mccabe
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    I'd be afraid that they'd break out and cause an accident on the roads.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,297 cj maxx
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    Thought rhe thread was about sMall farming , look twice and read once eh !


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,559 pedigree 6
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    There's a couple snail farming up around (I think) myshall, fenagh direction in Carlow.
    Afaik they are on twitter as well.

    Has anyone here had l'escargot and what did you think of it?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,460 tractorporn
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    pedigree 6 wrote:
    There's a couple snail farming up around (I think) myshall, fenagh direction in Carlow. Afaik they are on twitter as well.


    Yeah it's a Polish girl. I contacted her last year but she wasn't very forthcoming with information. I got the feeling she was happy enough being the only producer and if you wanted any info your could pay her for it. Which is fair enough too she's gotta make a living too.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,559 pedigree 6
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    Yeah it's a Polish girl. I contacted her last year but she wasn't very forthcoming with information. I got the feeling she was happy enough being the only producer and if you wanted any info your could pay her for it. Which is fair enough too she's gotta make a living too.

    I wouldn't blame her.
    If I had a niche product I wouldn't be telling the whole world how to do it and steal my secrets.

    I'm in the dairy business I can see where she's coming from.;) :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,460 tractorporn
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    pedigree 6 wrote:
    I wouldn't blame her. If I had a niche product I wouldn't be telling the whole world how to do it and steal my secrets.

    She had been muttering about setting up an Irish snail co-op for exporting to France but that has all gone quite again.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,261 50HX
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    Yeah it's a Polish girl. I contacted her last year but she wasn't very forthcoming with information. I got the feeling she was happy enough being the only producer and if you wanted any info your could pay her for it. Which is fair enough too she's gotta make a living too.


    interesting... i had the opposite experience with her, went up to see the set up and couldn't have been more helpful,

    hope to get something in place this autumn so ready to go next spring
    all depends what level you want to get in at

    it's the breeding of the snails is the biggest problem,- you have to keep cross breeding to reduce disease

    after that set up costs are low but it is labour intensive esp harvest time


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 461 kerosene
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    Is there only one harvest a year or do you have a regular cycle throughout the year?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,460 tractorporn
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    50HX wrote:
    interesting... i had the opposite experience with her, went up to see the set up and couldn't have been more helpful,


    I emailed her she probably gets a heap of people emailing her so she's right to treat everyone that way. Face to face is always the best way.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 461 kerosene
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    Id imagine the fee to see her is to seperate the genuinely interested from the ( i wouldnt mind having a look around the place) type.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,135 kowtow
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    Are we going to have a snail price and a snail chit chat thread?

    Sounds very exciting.

    Love snails.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,807 Birdnuts
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    pedigree 6 wrote: »
    Has anyone here had l'escargot and what did you think of it?

    Yes - with a garlic sauce and side salad plus French bread. Heavenly with a class of Red Wine. People who turn up their nose at such things don't know what there missing. I think we as a nation are very conservative and unadventurous when it comes to trying out new food.:(


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,261 50HX
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    kerosene wrote: »
    Is there only one harvest a year or do you have a regular cycle throughout the year?

    one a year harvest - roughly october time


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,261 50HX
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    I emailed her she probably gets a heap of people emailing her so she's right to treat everyone that way. Face to face is always the best way.


    yeah she was featured on nationwide a year or 2 ago and got plagued with people arriving at the gate "just to see what twas all about"

    spent nearly a full day with her and she had a presentation put together as well

    you'd have to admire her - to set it up from zero and get so many knocks along the way and still keep at it whilst holding down a full time job

    she states at the beginning that you have to be passionate about it and it defo is the fact

    there are so many variables but if you get it cracked and could ramp up to a few acres of them then they would pay well.....compaired to my suckers here:)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 461 kerosene
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    I was wondering is it something that would give you a bit of pocket money or could you make a living at it. I seen a few figures quoted but they seemed a bit too good to be true. If you had an acre of land to get started would 3k get you up and running or would that be a bit on the low side.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,202 amacca
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    Birdnuts wrote: »
    Yes - with a garlic sauce and side salad plus French bread. Heavenly with a class of Red Wine. People who turn up their nose at such things don't know what there missing. I think we as a nation are very conservative and unadventurous when it comes to trying out new food.:(

    Twice, had them the second time just to make sure I didn't get a bad lot the first time. Passable at best I thought....wouldn't order again....

    Didn't like shark either - although maybe I just got a load of cartilage there, certainly chewed like it.


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  • Site Banned Posts: 6,498 XR3i
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    was thinking aboot snail-farming myself, but if they break-out and attack the neighbours my insurance won't cover them


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,261 50HX
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    kerosene wrote: »
    I was wondering is it something that would give you a bit of pocket money or could you make a living at it. I seen a few figures quoted but they seemed a bit too good to be true. If you had an acre of land to get started would 3k get you up and running or would that be a bit on the low side.


    again it's based on your system - if you are not breeding them and just buy in to grow and fatten them 3 k would get you up and running

    as a result of not breeding your profit will be a lot less

    that's what i can gather from it at the moment

    the one thing people overlook is that it ain't a case of shoving them into a plot and leave them be

    like any crop they need to be minded


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 343 feartuath
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    Seriously how do you look after an acre of them.
    Are they in containers of some sorts to keep them from straying or being eaten by vermin.
    How does one look after them.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,261 50HX
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    feartuath wrote: »
    Seriously how do you look after an acre of them.
    Are they in containers of some sorts to keep them from straying or being eaten by vermin.
    How does one look after them.

    funnily enough they are fenced in

    they need to be fed


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 461 kerosene
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    50HX wrote: »
    kerosene wrote: »
    I was wondering is it something that would give you a bit of pocket money or could you make a living at it. I seen a few figures quoted but they seemed a bit too good to be true. If you had an acre of land to get started would 3k get you up and running or would that be a bit on the low side.


    again it's based on your system - if you are not breeding them and just buy in to grow and fatten them 3 k would get you up and running

    as a result of not breeding your profit will be a lot less

    that's what i can gather from it at the moment

    the one thing people overlook is that it ain't a case of shoving them into a plot and leave them be

    like any crop they need to be minded
    Surely long term, breeding would be the only option, how much would the initial stock likely cost?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,261 50HX
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    kerosene wrote: »
    Surely long term, breeding would be the only option, how much would the initial stock likely cost?

    don't know the answer to that yet but it's not just an initial expense

    you'd need to keep introducing new stock


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,026 Amalgam
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    My grandfather would drive us out in the morning to pick them as a family, in France, from the grass borders and small irrigation canals surrounding fields. 3, 4, 5 kilos some days. There are seasonal limits in the area (Bouches-du-Rhône) now, as picking them wild is having an impact.

    Reading between the lines (recipes), there's not much to the taste of the snail on its own, much like frogs legs, the method of cooking them is to pile on the butter/garlic/tomato/herbs..


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,563 mayota
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    Any trouble with liver fluke?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,012 roosky
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    pedigree 6 wrote:
    I wouldn't blame her. If I had a niche product I wouldn't be telling the whole world how to do it and steal my secrets.


    Thats why we keep telling ye sheep are nothing but hardship and a waste of time and money 😂


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,174 Muckit
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    I'm small farming for ages. It's nothing new. Loads of small farms in Ireland.

    *Gets glasses* ...... oh wait...ahhh... snail farming! :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,135 kowtow
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    mayota wrote:
    Any trouble with liver fluke?

    What, bullying?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 461 kerosene
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    I was looking at www.gaelicescargot.com it really is a very interesting operation.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,719 _Brian
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    @irishsnailfarm on Twitter provide training, supplies and help with markets according to their blurb. Might interest OP.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,563 mayota
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    kowtow wrote: »
    What, bullying?

    No, miracidium.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 30,217 whelan2
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    Good article on snail farming on page 32 of the country living part of the farmers journal this week


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,123 Who2
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    amacca wrote: »
    Twice, had them the second time just to make sure I didn't get a bad lot the first time. Passable at best I thought....wouldn't order again....

    Didn't like shark either - although maybe I just got a load of cartilage there, certainly chewed like it.

    In aus shark is what you get when you get a fish and chips. If it was sitting beside cod I can guarantee you most wouldn't know the difference. Crocodile is pure cartralidge alright. Never tried snails it wouldn't appeal to me and I've this thing in my head that they are like scallops, I'm probably way off.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,998 Danzy
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    Would you be looking at a meat or milking system?


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