Well it's time to harvest the white grapefruit, red grapefruit and five different tangerines we sell to but it is also time to harvest a few Gators as well. Florida has incredible high dewpoints for about 7 months a year that makes life hot and miserable but the other five months it is wonderful. This in turn makes the Gators come out and feed and lay up to bask in the sun without getting a sunburn. In the effort to maximize profits on the land I manage we harvest Gators as well. Stop by the nearest grocery, buy a couple beef lungs and set the lines in the middle of the night and then wake up the next morning to see what was hungry... This is what was harvested this morning... The largest was 9' 4"... The economy is improving in Europe at least because that is the destination for most alligator hides. Not counting the meat that has gone up in price to the point where it has some value. In years past the meat market on Gators was almost a give away type of thing. So we don't have a reality show that makes us look like mutant rejects unfit for humanity but in the effort to maximize profits on 2,500 acres do what you can to show a little revenue... By the way this is the closest a Hurricane fan will come to catching a gator this season...
Ralph, Any trouble with Boar? I know you can raise a bit of money on your farm by letting hunters use the land. Just a thought. Also, great idea about harvesting Gators. That's something I've wanted to hunt for a year now.
Well you guys need to decide which game animal or reptile you want to go after and come pay me a visit. We are not on the Chamber of Commerce list of must see visits for SW Florida but quite honestly it could be with our wildlife and the interest in how farming is done in our area. If I ever mention we grow and pack peaches on top of the citrus we grow I think we could get $10 bucks a head and cover our budgeted expenses... The wild hogs are a major pain and not only destroy everything in their path but according to our friends with the USDA have the capability to pass along E.coli and other fun additions to the crops... The Gators pretty much mind their own business but we do have the odd one that thinks my employees are their next meal and try to remove that thought from their walnut sized brain... Stu, they can hide but they have to come up for air sometime.... :shock:
Ralph, I saw a couple hogs down here on a golf course last spring. Need to keep the ball in the fairway better.
Ralph is needed in New York right now! http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/10/21/alligator-discovered-on-long-island-is-sixth-one-found-in-less-than-month/?test=latestnews
Outside the harvesting of things with four legs we also do a little bit of citrus harvesting as well... This is our 2nd load of Hamlin oranges going to the processing plant to be made into orange juice. This variety of orange is used to mix with the Valencia orange harvested later in the season. There are 640 ninety pound boxes on this trailer. Now we only have 698 trailers to go to be finished by April...The other half of the citrus production goes as a fresh pack to the grocery chains and is harvested into 855 lb bins and will go to a packing house on the East coast.
I don't see aligator shoes much anymore, at one time they were pretty fashionable. I haven't seen boots too much either, seems like when they go exotic they are using lizzard, snake or ostrich .. I've often wondered since ostrich is just a big bird why nobody does chicken or turkey! I drink Fla orange juice everyday Ralph, I wonder if any of it comes from your farm?
Terry first as a citrus grower for 30 plus years let me say thank you for drinking orange juice every day... I appreciate it personally along with the 76,000 jobs associated in some way with Florida citrus, it's a big deal in this state. The total impact of citrus in Florida’s economy is approximately $9 billion a year. I have sold much of our orange production to a processing plant that goes to Minute Maid and Florida's Natural the last couple years, maybe a little has made it your way. We did have some make it on a space shuttle trip a few years back. I am a miserable Nazi when it comes to buying OJ at the store, it must be 100% Florida juice or we don't buy it. I figure if I am picky about only one thing in life this might as well be it since it feeds us in the process...
If my math is correct, you will ship roughly 20,000 tons of oranges. That's a lot of orange juice! Wow!
Funny thing is that we have a decent size citrus industry in the Rio Grande Valley, yet I've never seen a Texas Orange Juice. I do love our Texas Ruby Red Grapefruit, which personally I like better than any other variety.
Sid, Yeah it is a large volume going to the OJ market. We get paid by the amount of sugar or lb solids in the oranges which is on the futures market. Just like oil, the speculators have changed the way business is done and in reality has no relation to what the crop size is or what we as farmers are doing. This in turn can lower or higher the price no matter what is being harvested. It has made the investment of owning citrus not as stable as in past years. To lower our risk we have half of our production in processing oranges and the other half in fresh fruit such as grapefruit, tangerines and such. It is more difficult to grow for fresh especially in our sub-tropical climate because of insect pressure and bacteria. California being an arid climate is almost 100% fresh fruit with less climate difficulties which makes a flawless piece of fruit.
Terry, I met with a group of Texas citrus farmers a few months ago at our farm. They were there to tour area citrus groves to learn how we are dealing with a new insect that carries a bacteria that kills citrus trees. Once infected the tree dies rather quickly and there is no cure. I met the Texas citrus mutual president, a scientist from Texas A&M and a few growers. I really enjoyed the visit and realized once again how much we have in common and how small this industry really is. I was supposed to fly to Texas last month to give a testimony in front of the Texas growers and share my experiences but the meeting was postponed until a later date. Texas has great tasting Ruby Reds and a few Florida growers have recently purchased property there to farm. I don't believe that there is enough volume of Texas oranges to have a commercial orange juice. You might find a few small locally squeezed businesses in the growing region though. When meeting with the Texas growers last month the main item I remember was they never go into their citrus groves at night. I asked why because we do a lot of night spraying in Florida. The answer was because its always windy at night in their area and the chance of getting shot by drug runners with machine guns was an everyday occurance. It was just too dangerous to chance it.... :shock:
Ralph, You're talking to a guy who keeps 3 gallons of OJ in the fridge constantly. I appreciate what YOU do for the country! How's your labor force holding up? As for the boar, I've never taken down more than 5 in a day. At the same time, I hunt with a crossbow, cold steel boar knife and/or an Arkansas tooth pick. I've yet to hunt with a rifle (it hasn't appealed to me), but I'm guessing on a slow football morning that between you, me, Tom and however many rounds Tom carries on him in a given moment.. we could put a small dent in your problem. Tom, It sounds like Ralph may be able to provide a location to cross that off the list!
Another thing, I've never seen "Calif" Orange juice in groceries here in Texas. It's always Florida Orange Juice. I wonder why that is.