Welcome to Trout Farming U.K. My name is Martyn Horne, I qualified from Sparsholt College, Hampshire, U.K. in 1997, after attending a 2 year National Diploma Fisheries Management course, as a mature student, if there is such a thing!
During my 2 years of study as a mature student, I worked all my holidays, and work placements at one of the biggest Rainbow Trout producing companies in England, Test Valley Trout. I am Now employed by there direct competition, Trafalger Fisheries.
I have often been asked what I do for a living, when I reply "I'm a Trout farmer", the usual response is "what?, you fish for Trout all day!"
If only this were true!
The Trout farming industry tend to have a large turn over of personnel, due to the mis-conception that Trout farming is an easy way to make lots of money. If you want to make vast amounts of money and do very little for it, then ornamental farming is for you.
Trout farming is far more technical and precise. A Carp will grow in next to no water, with no oxygen, and some idiot will pay huge amounts of money for it to stock his pond. Trout on the other hand, need a well oxygenated amount of water flow, and will only sell for a pittance, as they are going to be knocked on the head.
A Carp will be caught again and again, by an angler paying £6-10, a Trout will be caught once by an angler paying £30-60. A Trout will only survive a couple of years, whereas a Carp will survive 15. The number of coarse anglers greatly out number the number of Trout anglers. Trout that are not destined for re-stocking, are sold for the retail market, Trout are not as popular as Cod, so the demand is minimal. These points all result in hard work to produce the best quality trout, with little return due to the apposing markets.
Now that I have pointed out that Trout farming is not as easy as Ornamental farming, (spit!), and does not pay as well, you may ask, WHY!
It's a challenge to keep the fish alive, a challenge to diagnose and treat the many disease's Trout are prone to. A challenge to find an open market, a challenge to produce the finest Trout possible.
IT'S A WAY OF LIFE!

I have created this site in order to, not only help students, and potential fish farmers, but also enlighten the public to what fish farming actually entails.
Click on the buttons to the left and right of the window, to see how intense, and technical Trout farming is. Some of the information within this site does get a bit specialized, but I hope you find it informative.
Please use the mail page for criticism, or praise. Thank you for visiting my site.