LIVINGSTON MANOR — Did you know the water that the trout live in has to be under 67 degrees or they start dying.

On April 24 Small Town country 4-H gathered at the Beaverkill Trout Hatchery in Livingston Manor, NY from 6 to 8 pm to learn what it takes to raise trout

The first thing the 4-H members got to do was observe and learn about where the trout hatch and what types of trout they raise. They raise four types of trout: Tiger, Brook, Brown, and Rainbow Trout. We were amazed to hear that rainbow trout live to be up to 12 years old. Brown trout live to be up to 20 years old! While we were in the hatch house, 4-H members were able to feed the baby trout. We also learned how they transport the trout by using nets to bring them to a pond or tank. Beaverkill Trout Hatchery does a nice job looking out for their trout. One way this is evident is that almost most of their ponds are dug into the landscape instead of poured concrete. This is important because the trout can scrape their fins right off when coming in contact repeatedly with the concrete. The trout have many predators, including bears, eagles, blue herons, ospreys, king fishers, minks, and raccoons. Beaverkill Trout Hatchery sells fish to fishing clubs, derby’s, and local restaurants. They sell to Henning’s Local, Cochecton Firehouse, Foster Supply restaurants, etc. Beaverkill Trout Hatchery sells 100 fish a week to Henning’s Local!

You can also visit Beaverkill Trout Hatchery every weekend (8:00 am to 5:00 pm) until labor day weekend to fish. Don’t forget your fishing pole!

4-H member Kaitlyn Scardefield says, “It was really fun to feed the trout and the golden trout were really cool!” 4-H member Nathan Diehl says, “My favorite part was when we got to feed the trout and watch them jump out of the water!”

Any Sullivan County youth ages 5-18 can enroll in 4-H for free, all year long. Learn more about this and other Cornell Cooperative Extension Sullivan County programs by calling 845-292-6180, emailing sullivan@cornell.edu, or visiting www.sullivancce.org