When Ozark Fisheries was founded in 1926, most of Route 66 was still a dirt road.
That didn’t stop Charles Furrow and Frederick Lawrence Bailliere from starting what would become one of the world’s largest suppliers of goldfish and koi.
This year, the fourth-generation, family-owned business earned state status as a century farm, which means it has been operating continuously in Missouri for 100 years.
Dwaine Yoder transports a bucket of fish to be packaged for shipping Wednesday at Ozark Fisheries in Stoutland. The company supplies fish across the United States and into Canada.
Today, the fish farm in Stoutland ships goldfish and koi to buyers across North America.
Nearly 200 million fish are hatched every year in both Stoutland and a second farm the company acquired in Indiana during the early 1970s. The farms manage a string of at least 300 ponds, with each one covering about an acre.
Ozark Fisheries sells five types of goldfish and two types of koi, as well as byproducts or “pond scavengers” it recovers, including crayfish, snails and tadpoles. A separate Black Angus cattle operation founded in the 1950s called Circle F has allowed the company to expand into beef sales.
Michael Boure adds air to a bag of goldfish Wednesday at Ozark Fisheries in Stoutland. In order to ship live fish, Ozark Fisheries uses medical-grade oxygen while packaging. The company guarantees fish will arrive alive, but it takes extra precautions to ensure the fish survive the shipping process.
Making waves
Margaret Cleveland, Bailliere’s great-granddaughter and the senior vice president of Ozark Fisheries, grew up working on the fish farm with her family.
“Most people don’t know where goldfish come from,” Cleveland said, “and a lot of the goldfish throughout the U.S. are produced in the Midwest.”
Most of the fish are sold to pet stores, water garden suppliers and plant nurseries. Smaller fish are often used as feeder fish, and some are sent to research labs and science kit companies.
“Fish go to lots of fun different locations, but most notable are the fish sold to celebrities, fish that have gone into space and even to the presidential Camp David residence,” Cleveland said.
In her role at Ozark Fisheries, Cleveland manages the farm in Missouri, often juggling a number of tasks.
Goldfish are assembled on a scale to be weighed before shipping Wednesday at Ozark Fisheries in Stoutland. This year, Ozark Fisheries celebrates 100 years of business supplying goldfish and koi across the United States. The company hatches nearly 200 million fish every year in Stoutland and a second farm in Indiana.
She keeps the website updated, and she likes to post news about the fish on the farm’s social media sites. Her favorite job is working directly with the fish and choosing the most suitable ones to fill customer orders. That’s what she did growing up.
“(Ozark Fisheries has) kept our family closer because it provides a location for everyone to come and hang out,” she said. “It’s family-owned, so the whole family has a piece of it.”
A century of fish
The company casts a wide net for those it considers family. Among its 30 employees are a father-son duo, a mother-daughter duo and a father-daughter duo. Sales Manager Becca Witt’s father, Roy Mitschele, previously managed the cattle operation.
“What an accomplishment, right?” Witt said. “To be a family farm and survive fluctuations in the economy, to survive family dynamics and to come out on top and celebrate not just 100 years in business but a century farm.”
While the 100th anniversary was officially marked in April, Cleveland is planning a celebration at the end of July for customers and family, including her 94-year-old grandmother.
A weight reference floats above a tank of goldfish Wednesday at Ozark Fisheries. When shipping smaller fish, the business often measures by weight instead of the number of fish.
William Tyler, co-owner of Malawi Aquatics in Florissant, said he’s going to the party. Tyler has been a customer for over 15 years and drives to the farm every other Friday to pick up his orders.
“Any time you can be around that long, you have to be doing something right,” he said.
Traditionally, the farm operated on a wholesale model. When Margaret Cleveland joined the business full time in 2018, her brother, Joseph, decided to try e-commerce as a sales outlet. Online orders now cover about 50% of the company’s total sales on Amazon and eBay.
Hooked on growth
Both goldfish and koi are types of carp. Goldfish typically remain small, 6 to 8 inches or so, and live up to 10 years. Koi can grow as long as 2 to 3 feet and live 30 years or more.
Goldfish tend to come in solid colors, while koi have variegated patterns. Koi also have whiskers called barbels, while goldfish do not.
Michael Boure, back, and Peter Decker, front, seal boxes of live fish at Ozark Fisheries in Stoutland. Most of the shipping happens within one day or overnight, but Ozark Fisheries products often survive after three to four days of transportation.
They spawn in late spring during a six- to eight-week period when the company will typically hatch a year’s worth of fish all at once. Summer is the busiest season, based on the increase in feeder fish sales and customers restocking their ponds.
During the colder months, preparation for the next hatching season begins, and sometimes, Ozark Fisheries employees will cut ice and drain the ponds to collect fish for winter orders.
“We’re basically planting our new crop and harvesting at the same time,” Margaret Cleveland said.
Margaret Cleveland holds a goldfish Wednesday at Ozark Fisheries in Stoutland. Goldfish can grow to be 8 to 12 inches long and can live up to 10 years.
The business guarantees that products will arrive alive, but shipping live fish takes extra precautions. Ozark Fisheries uses Styrofoam, ice and pure oxygen to ensure the fish survive the shipping process. The losses during transit average about 3%, Cleveland said.
She hopes to continue expanding the farm, possibly into a fifth generation of the family.
“We hope that Ozark Fisheries exists for future generations and 100 more years of selling fish,” she said.
“It’s really special to be able to continue that legacy.”