Yamatoya Koi Farm - Nisai Harvest (Day 2)
Koibito Japan was at Yamatoya Koi Farm again today to take in the second day of Shiraishi san's Nisai Harvest. This time round many Showa were brought out of his mudponds...
Starting around 9 p.m. Koibito Japan headed off to Shiraishi san's main Nisai mudpond area where he has four Nisai ponds. Today he harvested two of those ponds, each containing 40 pcs, for a total of 80 fish for the day. The same as the day before we were greeted with high winds and plenty of rain, making the job of harvesting the koi that little bit tougher. All of the koi were found with no losses, and this time with no bear attacks to the feeders (see http://www.koibito-japan.com/news/latest-news/yamatoya-koi-farm-nisai-harvest-day-1).
The general level of the koi coming out of today's ponds was as good as yesterday, but we did notice the koi today had slightly better looking skin than the previous day. This difference Shiraishi san informed us, was mainly due to the difference between the ponds. Yesterday's ponds had more stoney base to them, whilst today's ponds had a much more familiar clay-like texture to the soil. This really does make a difference to the finishing of the koi at Yamatoya Koi Farm which have been feed through the summer mainly on sinking food.
Something Shiraishi san did mention to us was about the higher percentage of male Nisai which came out of today's pond. Koi Breeders of course do their very best to try and make sure they only put in female Jumbo Tosai into their mudponds, but in the case of Yamatoya Koi Farm, Shiraishi san finds it much more difficult to accurately sex the Showa Jumbo Tosai before they head to the ponds in May. The main reason for this is because he really doesn't push his Jumbo tosai koi to "super" Jumbo size (plus 40 cm), for two reasons, cost and also man-power, he runs the farm all by himself. However, we have found that the female Go-Sanke Nisai we have seen so far this harvest season at Yamatoya Koi Farm indicate that, while not the largest, Shiraishi san is still one of the leading koi breeders in Japan.
Finally, one showa that came out of the murpond, bore a striking resemblance to a famous fish which won a certain koi show in 2009, please see the the last few photos, you will know which koi it is when you see it. What a coincidence...!
Yamatoya Koi Farm - Nisai Harvest (Day 2) 1
Yamatoya Koi Farm - Nisai Harvest (Day 2) 2
