2018 saw the opening of a hatchery on a spring water site with stock trout for sale, not far from Swinton farm. It now produces all the Rainbow and Brown Trout fingerlings needed for the trout farms.
Fertilized eggs are laid in troughs, upon hatching alevins
are revealed, these are tiny fish with a yoke sac attached to their belly, and
this is absorbed as they develop. Eventually they swim to the surface to fill
their swim bladder with air to become fry.
Fry feed on crumbs of fish food, as they grow they are moved
to bigger tanks outside were they are fed with larger fish pellets. They grow
and are known as Fingerlings.
Finally the fingerlings are moved to on growing earth ponds
in Swinton farm, Glasshouses, or Bessy Beck.
Swinton Trout farm
annually produces over 25 tons of rainbow trout for stocking both Leighton
reservoir and other fisheries. The fish
in the farm are used to the peaty slightly acid water from the reservoir which
leads to their easy and healthy transfer.
Glasshouses Trout
Farm is slightly larger than Swinton farm with a capacity of 35 tons; it is
in the Nidd valley about 10 miles from Leighton.
Swinton Trout Ltd can deliver small or large quantities of
rainbow trout to fisheries in the north of England and southern Scotland.
Fish between 1.5 and 3lb are readily available and orders for larger fish up to 15lb can be taken.