Croc farming

[Richard nok]

My wife and I are looking to start a business in Thailand, and my has suggested croc farming. Seems doable, seems like there’s money in it, does anyone have experience of this? 

[Lamkyong]

great idea but make it snappy  there is a queue for such an enterprise

[steven100]

yes ......  croc farming may be profitable, but I've seen alot of farmers on crutches, and the tax man will chomp down on your income.  Don't expect it's a quick bite.

[kickstart]

Its been done , a guy near here use to do it ,the set can be expensive digging pits lining them with concrete putting up good fencing, and keeping the buggers in every year during the rainy season, the Thai news has stories about crocodile farms getting flooded and some crocks escaping in to the local rivers.

I would say the biggest problem is what to feed them on in this area we have a lot of broiler farms ,last count about 3 million birds in the area ,when it was pre-bird flu, pick up's loaded with dead chickens from the broiler farms use to leave our area going up to Nakon Sawan,to the crocodile farms ,but now dead birds are not supposed to leave the farms ( they do, only now they are ground up and feed to the local catfish ) .

The wife just said they eat chicken carcases from chicken slaughterhouses. 

So, start your farm near a chicken slaughterhouse,and then it is marketing, who is going to buy your crocks ,our local weekly market has a stall selling crocodile meat, last time I was they were doing a brisk trade, not certain if they rear and sell the meat or just buy in the meat to sell.

Disease can be a problem, set up must be good, you will not get your local vet in inject a croc , like you would a cow ,you are on your own ,and what about rules and regs ,I would say with crocs your local DLD, Depatment  of Livestock Development  ,would have a say .  

[djayz]

A few years ago, we visited my wife's friend's house in a small town in Korat. There are various neighbours around this friend's house. There, in their backyard(!!!!) they had a croc farm. 200 if I remember correctly. 

Anyways, to cut a long story short we got chatting They have to raise the creatures for 4 years before they're big enough to be slaughtered. Then, a company sends people round to their place and they stun, capture, weigh, categorize and haul the crocs off. The price depends primarily on the skin quality around the abdomen area, which is placed into 1 of 3 categories. The weight of the creature is also a factor.

Although there does seem to be money in it with minimum work involved, they only see money every 4 years. The payout is pretty good, but anything can happen in 4 years. What does one do with a bask of crocs if they can't be sold? 

The people I spoke to get their feed from a local poultry farm/slaughterhouse. 

Something I've been thinking about doing since then but I'd do it slightly differently. Instead of buying x00 every 4 years (and waiting 4 years for money), I'd but smaller numbers every 6 months. I'd still have to wait 4 years until they are ready to be sold, but then I'd have money coming in every half year.