Production Ponds

J.M. Malone and Son Inc. has 138 fish production ponds on 1600 continuous acres, ranging in size from 1/10 acre to 40 acres. Water is supplies to these ponds with 34 wells and 12 miles of underground pipe. 930 acres of ponds have electrical service and are aerated during the summer months. The Farm is devided into nine bio-security zones for monitoring and prevention of diseases. Rvery effort is made to pump and filter water from pond to pond replacing the farm's dependence on groundwater.

Live Fish Holding Facility

Originally constructed in the 1950's, we have continually expanded our Live Fish Holding Facility to accomodate increase in sales. The majority of the facility consists of aerated 3000 gallon conctrete vats supplied with both bond water and filtered well water. Priorto fish harvest, a holding vat is filled with pond water to match temperature and chemistry of the water from which the fish are harvested. The harvested fish are then stocked into the holding vat and held for three days. Fish are treated for stress, parasites and bacterial diseases. After three days of hardening, fish are graded to standard sizes and held for sale. Fish inventory is kept fresh through sales forcasting and proper handling.

In 2003, to meet the growing demand for our fish, J.M. Malone and Son, Inc. began construction of an additional 30,000 sqaure foot drive-through live fish holding facility. The building, when complete, will contain forty 3,000 gallon rectangular holding tanks supplied with filtered well water from an aditional 4,000 square foot water filtration facility.

Central to the design of the new builing is a 2 ton overhead crane to facilitate handling large volumes of fish and a three lane covered driveway allowing multiple trucks to load simultaneous in comfort. Still underconstructionis a tailwater recovery system to collect, filter and reuse up to 1 million gallons of effluent per day from the new facility elsewhere on the farm.

Grass Carp Blood Analysis Lab

Built in 2003 the New Triploid Grass Carp Blood Analysis Labis designed to push the envelope of efficiency. In this new lab our full time seven person blood analyis crew can individually test 1000 grass carp per hour using the most effcient methods and newest equipment in the industry. Fish are transferred between the holding facility and lab with a 2 ton overhead crane. Once inside the lab, fish are hand sorted by size and a blood sample is taken from each fish. Fish and blood samples are placed into corresponding color coded, number coded nets and trays as they are processed through the lab. The lab utilizes a Coulter Multisizer 3 to analyze blood samples. As diploids are identified, blood samples are flagged and the corresponding fish is removed from the population of fish being sampled. diploids are isolated into secure holding vats within the lab while triploids are transferred from the lab via the crane to segregated vats in the holding facilities.

Largemouth Bass Feed Training Facility

Built in 2003, the Largemouth Bass Feed Training Facility is comprised of 10 innovative mixed cell rearing tanks, four rectangular tanks and 6 round fiberglass tanks supplied with filtered well water at a constant temperature of 65 degrees F. Two separate supply lines provide water to each tank. The first line is capable of providing each tank with 50 gallons of water per minute while the second utilizes an oxygen saturator to provide each tank with 20 gallons per minute of oxygen supersaturated with water. The mixed cell rearing tanks provide improved solids removal allowing for more frequent feedings and improved water quality. The round tanks are used to purge bass before sale improving handling.

Grass Carp Hatchery

Built in the early 1980's the grass carp hatchery is comprised of a brood fish conditioning tank and 24 upwelling incubators each capable of holding 1/2 million eggs. The hatchery is supplied with filtered well water heated with natural gas boilers. An automated system provides the incubators with zooplankton rich pond water once the fry are old enough to feed. Each incubator has a bottom drain affording no trauma removal of fry from the incubators for stocking.

Largemouth Bass Hatchery

Originally built to hatch produce hybrid striped bass, the bass hatchery was renovated in 2000 to accommodate the controlled spawning and incubation of largemouth bass. The hatchery is comprised of brood fish conditioning tanks, fry rearing tanks and 30 McDonald Jars each capable of holding 200,000 eggs. The hatchery is supplied with filtered well water heated with natural gas boilers. An automated system provides the incubators with zooplankton rich pond water once the fry are old enough to feed.

Catfish Hatchery

The new Catfish Hatchery was built in 2000, replacing the existing facility which was constructed in 1985. The 3600 square foot hatchery is comprised of 24 egg incubation troughs, 12 fry rearing troughs and 10 net pen tanks. The hatchery is supplied with filtered well water heated with natural gas boilers and produced 20 million channel catfish fry annually.

Water Filtration

The new 4000 square foot water filtration facility was built in 2003 and currently filters 1000 gallons of well water per minute. The well water first passes through a 20 foot tall aeration tower to oxidize dissolved iron and remove carbon dioxide. The water then flows into a 96,000 gallon reservoir from which it is pumped through sand filters into a 20 foot tall water tower. The water tower then provides the head pressure to supply water through a network of underground pipeline to our hatcheries and fish holding facilities.

Feed/Fertilizer Storage

The farm utilizes two bulk storage feed bins for catfish feed and has a 4000 square foot warehouse for the storage of bag feed for bass and minnows and fertilizer.

Shop

The 3500 square foot heated shop is used to maintain the farm's equipment.

Bulk Fuel Storage

The bulk fuel storage facility holds 30,000 gallons of farm fuel, farm diesel, and road diesel to service our fleet of vehicles.

Liquid Oxygen and Ice House

In 2009 the farm will install a 3000 gallon liquid oxygen tank to service our holding facility, harvest and delivery trucks and distributor trucks. An ice house will also be constructed to service our distributor trucks.