Page 34 - Koi Net - On-Line Koi Magazine - Issue 1

NEW I am setting a new objective. And it’s a biggie Amanda and I are hugely grateful for the support we’ve
had so far; family, friends, hobbyists and the koi industry.
HEADLINE My new 10 year objective, starting from now, is to breed Those relationships and the support you have given us
a kohaku that will win a Grand Champion award at a UK
are very important to us.
OBJECTIVE, koi show (any UK koi show). Nothing’s changing at my end, I still have my day job.
AND HOW I If I thought my initial breeding objectives were tough . . . But, I’m dropping the ‘hobbyist’ label, because it’s
this next one is much tougher. potentially confusing. And the success we’ve had on the
PLAN TO
I have a high level plan to achieve that objective, as show scene with our ‘Byer kohaku’ demonstrates that
ACHIEVE IT follows: we’ve developed past that. Over the winter, I’ll be

■ find a way to rear significantly more fry than we are adjusting the labelling on my blog and facebook page
accordingly.
currently doing;
■ build a new grow-on facility dedicated to growing our Our new objectives in full are to:
best fish after tosai (a Grand Champion needs to be ■ Breed a UK-bred Grand Champion kohaku;
at least 75cm, probably more like 80cm+ and to ■ Become the ‘Go To’ breeder of kohaku in the UK;
achieve that, there’s the fairly heady tasks of growing
the koi to that size!); ■ Be considered as a great place to buy koi for showing;
■ build more relationships with people who want to ■ Be considered as a great place to buy beautiful
exhibit our kohaku at koi shows; and kohaku under £200;
■ with the increased scale, I’ll need to get better at ■ And to continue sharing knowledge and information to
moving on our surplus – and this means I need to support the koi hobby.
become more sales savvy, set-up sales relationships
I plan to continue with my blog, which I love writing and
in the trade and mature other channels like adding
sharing the story – as I strive towards my next life goal; to
the internet shopping pages to my blog site.
Amanda checking the tosai. breed a UK- bred Grand Champion.
Updated plan, in a little more detail
To those people who are part of the story so far; my
I need to free-up more of my available koi time for the family, readers of my blog and facebook page, people
breeding and rearing. So, a couple of years ago, we who have bought koi from us, and those who have also
scaled back from 3 shows a year to 2 shows a year. exhibited our ‘Byer kohaku’ at koi shows . . . Thank you.
To help with the And, I am now looking at stopping all together. This will We are very grateful for your support, and hope that you
workload, it’s become a be a significant compromise for me, because I love will continue to support us in this next phase.
family activity. Here’s my exhibiting my koi and whilst I will lose that enjoyment,
eldest daughter helping Adam Byer
with a harvest. I hope to still achieve the feedback on how well we are
breeding koi because I will give other hobbyists the
chance to take some of the best kohaku we breed; so
they can rear them, and exhibit them. I piloted the
approach this year – with several great awards being
won in this way. That’s given me the confidence to
pursue this approach further. And, it will free-up 2 more
weekends per year, and also remove the pre-, and post-
show husbandry aspects too. I’m not ruling out
reversing my decision on this in the future; but for now,
Small Kohaku ready for
we’ll see how it goes.
second selection.
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