Cold will push 'em down, but crawfish outlook still good

It’s hard to predict exactly what the crawfish season will bring, but indications thus far are that it will be decent.
“We had as good a summer as you could get. You couldn’t dial it up better,” said David Savoy, an Acadia Parish crawfish farmer. “We had plenty of rain and that kept the ground moist — and that’s good for our stock.”
On the flip side, however, Savoy said the winter got off to a bad start as far as crawfish farming is concerned.
“It was cold and dry,” he said. “Up until right now, we didn’t get hardly any rain.” That was just days before a gully-washing weekend rain.
Cold weather, such as expected the rest of this week, sends crawfish into a lethargic state where they don’t feed as much and many bury themselves in the mud.
Warmer temperatures make crawfish more active and they are therefore caught more easily. Last year’s cold winter saw good crawfish harvests delayed until March.
Savoy, who farms 1,672 acres in the Richard area, said he’s seeing fewer farmers out harvesting at this time.
“I also don’t see the demand right now that we had last year at this time,” he said. “And I think that’s because crawfish are fairly plentiful right now.”
He explained that the crustaceans were not as plentiful at this time last year and that may have sent consumers into a kind of mild “panic.”
“I think they were thinking, ‘I’d better get my crawfish now because they’re only going to go up (n price) as the year goes on’,” he said.
Savoy said the high demand for crawfish usually kicks in after the Super Bowl.
“It’s like someone throws a big switch and everyone says, ‘Now it’s time for crawfish’,” he said.
Looking forward, Savoy is optimistic.
“I think we’re going to have a decent year, maybe a little bit up from last year,” he said. “I’m not knocking down the door right now, but I’m making a little bit. Last year at this time I was working to pay labor and bait — and those costs never go down.”
Add to that the fact that gas prices are now lower than they have been in years and that “extra disposable income” should boost crawfish sales, he said.
Savoy said he’s now getting between $3 and $3.25 a pound for live crawfish.
As for the weather, if it holds out for a little longer before a big freeze hits, Savoy said farmers should be okay.
“Once the crawfish get a little size to them they can stand some cold,” he said.