THERE'S A BIG MONEY IN THE SECRET ART OF FROG FARMING!

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"My breeding stock is now safe and they frolic around out there all during late spring and early summer," Leonard says. "When each female lays her eggs, they look just like tiny black seeds suspended in a clear jelly. These masses of eggs are called spawn and it clings to the grass and water plants all around the pond's edge for a little while, until I can get out to collect it. And I make it my business to do that as soon as possible so all these eggs won't sink to the bottom and get away from me!

"I generally harvest a couple of buckets full of the eggs at a time. Then I take 'em over to the incubator tray." This container—a wooden frame measuring 2' X 2' X 4" deep, with plastic wire screen nailed across its bottom—protects the delicate spawn (while it's suspended in a HOLDING POND) until it can hatch.

Since large tadpoles tend to feed on smaller ones—and on frog eggs—Leonard is quick to transfer each day's wiggly hatch from the incubator tray directly into the 50' X 20' X 4' deep holding pond. By the time all the new tads are removed from the tray, they've grown to about the same size and no longer seem much interested in bothering each other.

"I get about an 85% survival rate—nearly 17,000 tadpoles from each 20,000-egg hatch—and, believe me, that's hard to beat!" This "secret" hatching technique is one of the reasons Leonard Slabaugh makes such a profit from his frog farming operation.

Slabaugh believes that another reason is his special GROWING POND design. After just 4 to 5 months in Leonard's holding pool, his tadpoles have made the metamorphic change into frogs and are ready to spend the next couple of years fattening up in his three "U"-shaped mini-lakes. The arm of each "U" is about 150' X 15' X 4' deep and—because of their unusual shape—the bodies of water have more bank area in relation to their volume than do ordinary round or oblong lakes. From a bird's-eye view, in fact, this "growing area" on the Slabaugh farm looks like a long winding canal, rather than a series of three ponds.

HAPPINESS IS A CLEAN HOME

Although some farmers have experimented with giant plastic-lined or concrete pools, Leonard has found that earth ponds—with natural plant growth on their banks—produce greater numbers of healthier frogs. Furthermore, he has encouraged this growth by sowing a permanent "pasture mix" of wild seeds and clover around his mini-lakes. (A couple of goats on the outside of the fences keep everything nicely trimmed where passersby can see it.) A few local Missouri water plants in the pools themselves add a final touch.

(A little further south in Arkansas, frog farmer Vol Brashears keeps the banks of his vest-pocket lakes thriving with watercress, peppermint, iris, lilies, cane, and other native bog plants. Vol also believes a natural setting is better for his aquatic livestock and that it sets up an "eco-balance" that keeps frog ponds naturally clean and pure.)

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