Snail Farming Manual

Snails are such a French-associated speciality, and are often ordered from menus by tourists due to the novelty factor. The French eat them because they can be very tasty and satisfying, but where do they actually come from?

Snails eaten in France are not all gathered from the wild, although a lot are…in Greece. But some are still bred in one of France's 200 snail farms. I visited snail breeders Béatrice and Pierre Fouquet, to find out how their snails come to be.

• State Regulations for Snail Farming. State laws apply to raising snails in a given state and to imports into certain states. Your state also may inspect and approve snail farming facilities. Contact your State's Agriculture Department. Other State government departments that cover natural resources, fish and wildlife, or environmental resources.
• 2.2 Disadvantages of snails farming Climate Without expensive artificial means of climate control, snail farming is restricted to the humid tropical forest zone, which offers a constant temperature, high relative humidity, preferably no dry season, and a fairly constant day/night rhythm throughout the year.

We rang the bell and looked around while we waited. Hiding in the undergrowth, everywhere we looked, were models and sculptures of snails in different sizes and styles. A smiling Béatrice came over to us, and started to show us around. Firstly, she took us to the breeding room. It was fascinating!

To snail farm, start by choosing your snails and picking a wind-free, moist location for their habitat, such as a trench. Next, use corrugated metal, plastic, or chicken wire to create a fence around the perimeter of the farm. Then, put down moist, loamy soil and place the snails into their new environment. SNAIL FARMING MANUAL UNDERSTANDING SNAIL FARMING BUSINESS. PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AFRICAN GIANT SNAIL. By Animal Research.

We learned that although snails are hermaphrodites, they need to mate – for around 12 hours! – in order to breed. Their sexual organs are where you might expect their ears to be, and 3 weeks after mating, they stick their head into a pot of earth, and spend a further 12 hours laying their 100 or so eggs. Another 3 weeks on and the eggs, rather than hatching, actually turn into snails.

Snail babies

The ‘breeds' of snail are the Petit Gris and Gros Gris, which originate in North Africa, and we were surprised at how large the Gros Gris are – their bodies around 3 inches long. Their cousins, the Petit Gris or garden snail, are the wild, native snails which are gathered and eaten in France and Britain.

Some snails from L'Escargot du Périgord are sold live to restaurants and private customers, but 80% are prepared and cooked by Pierre and Béatrice. This takes a lot of work. Accurpress ets 2016 manual. The snails are killed by being plunged into boiling water. I did ask Béatrice if that had caused any problems for her. 'What kind of problems?'. 'Um, worry about being unkind to the snails.' She laughed at my English sensibilities, and explained that it was very quick, and better than the slow deaths of the old days, when snails were smothered in salt and vinegar while still alive. Next, each snail is individually gutted, before being washed is salt and vinegar, and boiled in stock for an hour and a half. Some snails go into the Fouquet's pâtés, preserves, hors d'œuvres and tasty reheatable dishes, while others are stuffed back into shells and covered with garlic and parsley butter, for baking in a hot oven until bubbling and browned. The Béatrice and Pierre still eat and taste snails regularly, and Béatrice favours her preserved ‘Sauté d'Escargot's aux Pleurottes', which is snails in a sauce with mushrooms, crème fraîche and tarragon.

Why did you start the snail farm?

Béatrice explains the pens.

'We started up 15 years ago. I am from Paris, and Pierre is from the Charente, but we both went to agricultural college near Perpignan, where we met. After graduating, we found it hard to find work in that region, and Pierre worked on the sowing of sunflowers for 6 years, while I did agricultural consulting work all over the place. We only saw each other at weekends. After coming on holiday to Périgord and falling in love with the area, we decided to settle here, and wanted to set something up so that we were our own bosses and so that we could live and work together. We also wanted to do something a bit unusual. We had the advantage of me coming into contact with all different kinds of farms through my work, and we decided on snails.'

Do you still enjoy it?

'Oh yes! Everyday is different. And we sometimes forget our mistakes and make them again, which keeps things interesting! We have regular customers, we do chambres d'hôtes, and we don't answer to anyone. We wouldn't want to change our lives or work.'

The Fouquet's customers come from all over France and some order their snail goodies through the post. Others are regular customers at the farm shop or the markets in Thiviers (every Saturday morning) and Brantôme (each Tuesday between 15th June and 15th September). Silkk the shocker charge it 2 da game download. The farm also offers visits and tastings throughout the summer. It is a fantastic place to take children – and grown ups!

We took home a tin of the Sauté d'Escargot's aux Pleurottes, snails with garlic and parsley butter, in pastry shells, and a snail terrine.

• With thanks to Pierre and Béatrice Fouquet, L'Escargot du Périgord

Snail Farming – Professionally Specialized in Snail Business

Snail farming is today a lucrative business

A Foolproof Investment with Substantial Profits

Even if the economy caused the shrinking of the labor market, there are still ways and opportunities for successful and profitable investments. Touchstone Snails provides self-employment opportunities for people seeking consistent revenue and an alternative, but profitable job.

Touchstone Snails thanks to its hands-on experience and high quality academic knowledge, provides comprehensive services to anyone wishing to invest in a snail farming at home.

Our company's snail-farming professionals, with world-class expertise and experience, regularly visit our client's snail farms to provide them with consultation and support on how to make a snail farm and properly and efficiently managing their state-of-the-art snail farms.

Snail Farming Edible Snails

Touchstone Snails is committed to assisting you by providing comprehensive integrated business consulting services.

Specifically, Touchstone Snails undertakes to:

1. help you construct and install by yourselves your own snail farming unit
2. convert an existing greenhouse into a sustainable and profitable snail farming unit
3. provide you with know-how for the proper and smooth management of an intensive snail farming unit
4. ensure that all your snail production is absorbed
5. offer specialized consulting services and feasibility studies with regards to the following:

• Curtain method
• Specialized feasibility studies
• On line software for the facility's day-to-day management
• Snail farming facility construction plans
• Snail farming equipment
• List of materials
• Assembly guide
• Breeding chamber
• Irrigation system
• Corridors
• Electric fence
• Plants
• Breeder snails
• Production in 120 days
• Pesticide spraying guide
• Weight progress
• Mortality assessment
• Snail enemies
• Harvesting
• Trade
• Processing

Touchstone Snails is breaking new ground again, presenting an innovative new snail breeding method: the curtain method.

Snail Farming Greece

Using the curtain method in a snail farm has a lot of advantages, mainly pertaining to the better management of snails as well as the facility's hygiene.

With the use of the curtain method, snail feces fall to the ground without coming into contact with the snails.

In addition and very importantly, this method ensures satisfactory ventilation conditions, which, in turn, prevent diseases from being spread.

The curtain method has zero impact on the snail's life cycle. Snails do not need to be placed in a horizontal position; they can move, mate or sleep just as comfortably in a vertical position or, even, upside down.

The curtain method makes daily inspections and tasks much easier for the snail farmers since the snail breeders have visible contact with all snails at all times without disturbing them or without being required to bend over in order to lift the breeding pallets.

This way, there is a clear picture of the stages of fertilization, birth and offspring development. Also, it is much easier to trace and remove dead snails, which should be disposed of on a daily basis in order to ensure a clean farm with good hygienic conditions, not only in a small scale snail farming but also in a large scale snail farming.

The curtain method makes snail harvesting simpler, since snail farmers do not need to keep bending as would have been the case with breed pallets.

In our experience, snail farming based on the curtain method has undoubtedly many advantages, most importantly, in terms of hygiene and, secondly, in terms of cutting short the time required for snail farming tasks and rendering them easier.

Perhaps the only disadvantage is the higher construction cost versus other farming methods. However, taking into account that just one fifth of the plot is required, since the curtain method-based snail farming results in a five-fold increase of the breeding area, an area of 1,000 square meters can provide us with a 5,000 square-meter farm. As a consequence, this leads to an accelerated write-off of the extra capital required.

By faithfully implementing Touchstone Snails' know-how, you can have about 26,000 kg in an area of 1,000m².

The High nest method is no longer available.

This is a correct, functional nest which is very convenient in terms of snail feeding. Said nest can:

• host a considerable number of snails
• provide good ventilation and lighting conditions
• keep the flora at high levels
• contribute to good soil aeration
• offer satisfactory monitoring and visual inspection of the snails as well as snail enemies
• help the selective harvesting of snails.

The high nest method is no longer available. Touchstone brings in and introduces a new innovative method of snail rearing –The Curtain Method-with productivity performance five times more than the traditional method of the high nest

High-nest method disadvantages:

• Increased movement
• Contributes to aestivation
• Mandatory presence of flora
• Structure balance
• The nest's weight

By faithfully implementing Touchstone Snails' know-how, you can get more than 6,500 kg out of an area of 1,000 square meters.

• Area required: 1000m2
• Altitude: 0-600m. Commencement of production process from September to May
• Altitude: 800 -1200m. Commencement of production process from March to October
• Daily water consumption: 2.5 tons average
• Minimum management time

• You can construct and install your farming facility on your own.
• We offer all the materials, ready-to-use and delivered to your plot.
• Helix Aspersa Muller snails, mature and certified as breeder snails.
• Stainless steel electric film for integrated protection of the snails and snail offspring.
• Power supply appliance for the SNAIL BARRIER fence.
• Special, dry natural feed that contributes to the fast growth of snails.
• Special software program for the manage of the production cycle on the internet.

Touchstone Snails always advises you to make a decision based on your own needs.

Touchstone Snails offers you an agreement in writing, thus ensuring our long-term cooperation.

The curtain method

• Agreement Form ΚEN06
• Agreement Form ΚEN07
• Agreement Form ΚEN08

Upon signing of the agreement, a Touchstone Snails consultant will visit your grounds within three business days and with your cooperation, the project will begin. Our company's consultant will be in touch with you whenever you wish, offering day-to-day support until completion of the snail farming unit (in terms of construction).

The production process is the most important and difficult part of snail farming. Touchstone Snails will be right by your side on a 24/7 basis, providing you – through a modern online software program – with management of your unit, offering day-to-day monitoring and support.

We offer a contract for the purchase of the production to all collaborating snail farmers. This way, the purchase of each farmer's entire production at the best price is fully ensured.

Touchstone Snails is registered in the Register of Traders/Businesses who are active in the intra-community trade for snail trade purposes, with reg. no ΜΜΕΖ 466. Our company exports snails to European countries from snail farms that operate under the professional guidance of Touchstone Snails and are equipped with an Approval Certificate.

We supply the European market with superior quality snails and are well known for our consistency and service.

Today, Touchstone Snails has founded Touchstone Snails Processing with its own snail processing plant.