SmartAqua already discussed the large impact that small variances in
FCR, survival, and harvest size can have on a budget or business plan. Yield is another category that can have huge
impacts and is often overlooked.
If we define yield as the amount of saleable weight of an aquaculture or
any seafood product, anything less than 100% is a loss in margin. Unfortunately we rarely get to sell 100% of
the product we have been growing for months or years, but we can do our best to
minimise the loss in yield.
In the example aquaculture farm, for each 1000mt produced, a 1% loss in
yield can impact margin by $80,000 or $0.08/kg of production.
Unfortunately, yield impacts can happen in a variety of ways and the
total can be much more than 1%. Some
ways yield can be impacted are:
- · Poor feed strategy does not put the maximum amount of flesh on the frame.
- · Pre harvest starvation reduces the amount of flesh on the frame.
- · High content of fat in the gut cavity increases the weight of the gut relative to the rest of the product.
- · Poor heading & filleting practices, blunt knives, etc., leaves meat on the frame.
- · Excessive trimming increases the amount of “throw-away” or waste.
There are many
ways to lose out on yield. The important
thing is to know what is optimal and set this as a benchmark (best practice),
then have the systems in place to track the performance versus the
benchmark. Once you can make the
comparisons you will see where the focus needs to be and the actions required to
correct.
SmartAqua
