Crawfish Tough Crop To Figure Out

By Don Molino

Voice of Louisiana Agriculture Radio Network

Even after that bitterly cold weather a few weeks ago, things are warming up quickly and that could mean a good supply of crawfish come spring. But Alan Lawson, who farms crawfish in Acadia Parish, says he’s seen females bringing out their offspring later than usual.

“When you have a big rain event,” says Lawson, “some thunderstorms and lighting—everybody always says lighting brings them out. And you’ll see the momma crawfish coming out with their babies on ‘em. Normally, we’ll see that in October. But this season it was into December we were still seeing the mommas coming out of their holes with the babies on ‘em.”

And that, says Lawson, could indicate perhaps a little bit later season in 2021.

“It’s really a very difficult crop to predict. It’s not like a grain crop where you plant it and you can tell, OK, we planted this day and we should harvest it within this widow and then we can be pretty close on our yield projections. “

“Crawfish, man, I don’t know,” says Lawson. “It’s tough to figure out and when you think you get it figured out something else happens and you realize you don’t have it figured out.”

This report a service of the Louisiana Crawfish Promotion Board.