Outsiders are usually wrong in assuming Louisianans have alligators in their backyards — but at the LSU AgCenter’s Aquaculture Research Station, that is exactly the case.
Just down a gravel road from the station stands a metal building that about 100 alligators have called home since April.
AgCenter research associate Millie Williams said the AgCenter’s facility is the only one built specifically for alligator research in the U.S. The building houses 24 tanks, each filled with warm water, a few alligators and enough space to grow them to the market-preferable length of 4 feet. The process takes about 16 to 18 months, according to Robert Reigh, director of the AgCenter’s Aquaculture Research Station.
Reigh said Louisiana’s alligator industry needed more research for about 20 years, but there had never been a facility capable of doing so with methods similar to what most farmers use. Two years ago, construction began on the AgCenter’s alligator facility, which was largely funded by donations from the alligator industry, he said.
The alligator industry has matured beyond a hobby within the last 30 years, according to Reigh, meaning there is a new, significant demand for diets, usually in the form of pelleted feed. Both Reigh’s and Williams’ focus at the facility is on nutrition and lowering the cost of gator diets.
Reighand Williams focus their work at the facility on nutrition and lowering the cost of alligator diets.
Reigh said the alligator industry has matured beyond a hobby only within the last 30 years, meaning there is a new, significant demand for diets, usually in the form of pelleted feed.
Cargill in Franklinton, La., is the No. 1 producer of alligator feed, but its pellets are composed of expensive animal byproducts, Williams said.
Because farmers are always interested in lowering their costs, the AgCenter’s research includes substituting less-expensive plants for some animal ingredients in alligator feed. One project she has worked on involves digestibility studies of feed with greater plant content and how it affects growth compared to Cargill-fed alligators.
Another study explores feeding strategies with the goal of finding out how to grow alligators faster and the effects of feeding alligators more or less often.
Reigh said not much is known yet about alligator nutrition, but he pointed out that a lot of research also had to be done before companies could produce different feeds tailored for the needs of puppies, overweight and senior dogs.
Williams said animal byproducts like those used in Cargill’s feed cost up to $1,400 per ton, but plant products are generally much cheaper with prices in the $600 per ton range.
Knowing how a variety of ingredient combinations affects alligators is important because prices of ingredients shift and it is good to know about acceptable substitutes that provide for reasonable growth rates and hide qualities, Reigh said.
“If you have 25 percent corn gluten, you can take out 6 and put in something else because the price of corn gluten just went up, so it allows you to maintain your price,” Reigh said.
Noel Kinler, manager of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ Alligator Program, said the existence of an alligator industry in Louisiana is important because it makes alligators a valued resource — something industry participants, coastal landowners and others all care about protecting.
The program Kinler oversees was created in 1972 to allow farmers to collect alligator eggs from the wetlands — about 80 percent of which is privately owned — and raise them through ranching permits and agreements with landowners. Farmers can sell most of the grown alligators for hides and meat, but LDWF requires at least 12 percent to be returned to the wild to sustain the population.
Kinler said Louisiana farms at least 250,000 alligators and harvests 32,000 wild alligators annually, accounting for about 75 percent of total U.S. alligator production.
“If we were unable to sell alligators on a commercial basis, we would have a difficult time regulating the harvest,” he said. “Nobody would really want to go out and harvest alligators if there was no value associated with it.”
Kinler said alligator meat is “in great demand” and sells for $8 to $9 a pound. A centimeter of a farmed alligator’s belly skin is worth between $7 and $7.75, with most market size alligators having about 25 centimeters of belly skin, he said.
Reigh said alligator skins produced in Louisiana are often shipped to France and Italy, where they are tanned and used to make luxury goods. Wild alligator skins, which are usually larger, are used to make items such as purses and boots, while farmed alligator skins are used for watch bands, wallets and other small items, he said.
About 80 percent of the alligator skins Europe receives are from Louisiana, Williams said.
“The farmers’ process has actually revived the species,” Williams said. “It’s probably one of the most successful reemergences of species. It’s good for the landowners and it’s good for coastal restoration because the landowners where the eggs are collected from, they collect money from it and there’s also an incentive to keep their coastal land in good condition because they’re making some money off of it.”
In the 1990s, the Louisiana alligator industry grew to the point of overproduction because too many farmers got in the business, Reigh said. It stabilized, though, and now there are fewer than 50 large-scale producers in the state.
Reigh said while industries such as catfish have declined in Louisiana due to imports, there are no alligator imports, so the demand for Louisiana alligators likely will not disappear any time soon.
“These guys are in it for the long term,” Reigh said. “This isn’t something that’s going to go away tomorrow, so they’re interested in finding better ways to produce their crop more effectively.”
“If we were unable to sell alligators on a commercial basis, we would have a difficult time regulating the harvest. Nobody would really want to go out and harvest alligators if there was no value associated with it.”

Gallery • 2 Photos

Richard Redmann

An Alligator hisses in its enclosure Aug. 22, 2013 at LSU's Alligator Research Station.