Introduction to the Market Price and Farming Methods of Leeches

Leeches, also known as medicinal leeches, are recorded as early as in the "Shennong Bencao Jing" (Divine Farmer's Materia Medica). After processing, their dried products are used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat stroke, high blood pressure, blood stasis, amenorrhea, and traumatic injuries. Historically, they were mainly caught in the wild, but artificial breeding has now been achieved successfully. Let us take a look at leech prices and farming methods below!

How much does a jin of leeches cost?

Historically, leeches were mainly caught in the wild. Due to the abuse of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in recent years and environmental pollution from the "three wastes" of industry and agriculture, wild natural resources have declined sharply. With the in-depth development of the medicinal value of leeches, market demand potential is huge, and price trends are rising year by year. At present, the price of clean-water leeches is about 600-650 yuan per jin, salt-water leeches about 450-500 yuan per jin, and alum-water leeches about 430-450 yuan per jin, and market prices are expected to remain firm in the later period.

What varieties of leeches are there?

1. Whitmania pigra: Whitmania pigra is currently the main breeding variety in China. It mainly feeds on animal blood, and also feeds on plankton and mollusk larvae in the water. Its main characteristics are large individuals, fast growth, high reproduction rate, and easy harvesting.

2. Whitmania acranulata: Whitmania acranulata has one yellow longitudinal band on each side of its body, a grayish-yellow ventral surface, and one band on each side edge formed by clusters of dark brown spots. It feeds on aquatic earthworms and insect larvae, and cannot suck blood.

3. Hirudo nipponia: Hirudo nipponia has a narrow and long body, slightly cylindrical, and slightly flattened dorsoventrally. It mainly sucks the blood of humans and livestock, and in nature mainly feeds on the blood of fish and other animals. It is not easy to raise artificially on a large scale, and in medicine it is mostly used as a live specimen.

4. Whitmania laevis: Whitmania laevis has a body slightly spindle-shaped, gradually tapering toward the front, with the mouth opening in front of its posterior margin. It is relatively small in size, often feeds on snails and insect larvae, has low reproductive output, and low yield, so it is not suitable for artificial large-scale farming.

5. Poecilobdella javanica: The living habits and medicinal functions of Poecilobdella javanica are similar to those of Whitmania pigra, and it also has a large body, high yield, and is easy to raise, so Poecilobdella javanica can also be used as an excellent variety for artificial large-scale farming.

Farming Methods for Leeches

1. Selection of breeding leeches: It is best to buy breeding leeches from professional farms, or capture wild breeding leeches manually and domesticate them as breeding stock. Choose robust, thick, lively, and active adult leeches that quickly curl into a ball when touched, and that are more than three years old, as breeding leeches.

2. Stocking of breeding leeches: Before entering the pond, breeding leeches can be soaked and disinfected with 8-10 mg/L bleaching powder solution or 10 mg/L potassium permanganate solution. They can be stocked in spring, summer, and autumn. For each leech weighing 20-30 grams, stock 300 kg per mu.

3. Feeding: In artificial leech farming, the main food put in is river snails. You can put in 25 kg of river snails per mu at one time, letting them reproduce naturally for the leeches to feed on freely. When bait is insufficient, you can feed some earthworms and insects, and at the same time feed animal blood once a week.

4. Water quality regulation: Although leech pond farming has a relatively large water body and is not easy to spoil, attention should still be paid to water quality. Water that is yellowish-brown or light green is better, with a water depth of 60 cm, water transparency of 10-20 cm, and pH neutral or slightly acidic.

5. Graded rearing: During the leech rearing process, large, medium, and small leeches should be separated in time. Ponds for small leeches, medium leeches, and breeding leeches can be set up. The breeding leech pond should be placed between the medium and small leech ponds, and filter nets should be installed on the pond walls so they can filter and separate on their own.

6. Overwintering management: When the temperature drops below 10°C, leeches stop feeding and drill into the mud or leaf litter to hibernate. Select large and robust individuals for breeding stock, generally retaining 25-30 kg per mu, and put them together into the breeding leech pond to overwinter.

7. Harvesting: Leeches can be harvested twice a year. In mid-to-late June, take out the breeding leeches that have already reproduced for two seasons, process them, and sell them. In mid-to-late October, those stocked in early spring have generally grown up, and part of them can be considered for harvest, but most should be harvested in the second year.

Disease Prevention and Control of Leeches

1. Dryness disease

[Symptoms] Sick leeches have poor appetite, move little or not at all, are thin and weak, have shrunken bodies, lose water and shrink, and the whole body turns black.

[Prevention and control] Soak the leeches in 1% salt water, or feed them with yeast tablets or oxytetracycline mixed into the feed.

2. White spot disease

[Symptoms] Sick leeches have white dot-like bubbles and small white spots on the body surface, move inflexibly, cannot keep their bodies balanced when swimming, and have no appetite.

[Prevention and control] Raise the water temperature to above 28°C, soak them in 2 mg/kg mercuric nitrate, and regularly disinfect the pond water with bleaching powder.

3. Gastroenteritis

[Symptoms] Sick leeches have poor appetite, are lazy to move, and have red and swollen anus.

[Prevention and control] Mix 0.4% sulfaguanidine with feed and feed it, and feed 0.2% oxytetracycline mixed into the feed.

4. Prostration disease

[Symptoms] There are no symptoms during the course of the disease, movement is poor, they soak at the bottom of the water for a long time, and finally die from prostration.

[Prevention and control] Change the water frequently, ensure sufficient feed supply, keep the water quality between neutral and slightly acidic, and prevent water quality deterioration.